scholarly journals Sequence Heterogeneity of TT Virus and Closely Related Viruses

2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (7) ◽  
pp. 2990-3000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yury E. Khudyakov ◽  
Mian-er Cong ◽  
Barbara Nichols ◽  
Deoine Reed ◽  
Xiao-Guang Dou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Agent ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unknown Etiology ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Genome Region ◽  
Tt Virus ◽  
Genetic Groups ◽  
New Genotype ◽  
Genotype 2 ◽  
High Degree

ABSTRACT TT virus (TTV) is a recently discovered infectious agent originally obtained from transfusion-related hepatitis. However, the causative link between the TTV infection and liver disease remains uncertain. Recent studies demonstrated that genome sequences of different TTV strains are significantly divergent. To assess genetic heterogeneity of the TTV genome in more detail, a sequence analysis of PCR fragments (271 bp) amplified from open reading frame 1 (ORF1) was performed. PCR fragments were amplified from 5 to 40% of serum specimens obtained from patients with different forms of hepatitis who reside in different countries (e.g., China, Egypt, Vietnam, and the United States) and from normal human specimens obtained from U.S. residents. A total of 170 PCR fragments were sequenced and compared to sequences derived from the corresponding TTV genome region deposited in GenBank. Genotypes 2 and 3 were found to be significantly more genetically related than any other TTV genotype. Moreover, three sequences were shown to be almost equally related to both genotypes 2 and 3. These observations suggest a merger of genotypes 2 and 3 into one genotype, 2/3. Additionally, five new groups of TTV sequences were identified. One group represents a new genotype, whereas the other four groups were shown to be more evolutionary distant from all known TTV sequences. The evolutionary distances between these four groups were also shown to be greater than between TTV genotypes. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that these four new genetic groups represent closely related yet different viral species. Thus, TTV exists as a “swarm” of at least five closely related but different viruses. These observations suggest a high degree of genetic complexity within the TTV population. The finding of the additional TTV-related species should be taken into consideration when the association between TTV infections and human diseases of unknown etiology is studied.

scholarly journals Molecular Phylogeny of the Psittacid Herpesviruses Causing Pacheco's Disease: Correlation of Genotype with Phenotypic Expression

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (20) ◽  
pp. 11260-11267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth K. Tomaszewski ◽  
Erhard F. Kaleta ◽  
David N. Phalen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Phenotypic Expression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Genotype 3 ◽  
European Isolate ◽  
Genotype 4 ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Genotype 2 ◽  
Serotype 1

ABSTRACT Fragments of 419 bp of the UL16 open reading frame from 73 psittacid herpesviruses (PsHVs) from the United States and Europe were sequenced. All viruses caused Pacheco's disease, and serotypes of the European isolates were known. A phylogenetic tree derived from these sequences demonstrated that the PsHVs that cause Pacheco's disease comprised four major genotypes, with each genotype including between two and four variants. With the exception of two viruses, the serotypes of the virus isolates could be predicted by the genotypes. Genotypes 1 and 4 corresponded to serotype 1 isolates, genotype 2 corresponded to serotype 2 isolates, and genotype 3 corresponded to serotype 3 isolates. The single serotype 4 virus mapped to genotype 4. DNA from a virus with a unique serotype could not be amplified with primers that amplified DNA from all other PsHVs, and its classification remains unknown. Viruses representing all four genotypes were found in both the United States and Europe, and it was therefore predicted that serotypes 1, 2, and 3 were present in the United States. Serotype 4 was represented by a single European isolate that could not be genetically distinguished from serotype 1 viruses; therefore, the presence of serotype 4 in the United States could not be predicted. Viruses of genotype 4 were found to be the most commonly associated with Pacheco's disease in macaws and conures and were least likely to be isolated in chicken embryo fibroblasts in the United States. All four genotypes caused deaths in Amazon parrots, but genotype 4 was associated with Pacheco's disease only in Amazons in Europe. Genotypes 2, 3, and 4, but not 1, were found in African grey parrots. Although parrots from the Pacific distribution represent a relatively small percentage of the total number of birds with Pacheco's disease, all four genotypes were found to cause disease in these species.

Use of TEM in Plant Disease Diagnosis: A Xylem-Limited Bacterium Associated with Diseased ‘Toronto’ Creeping Bentgrass

1981 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 414-415
Author(s):  
Karen K. Baker ◽  
David L. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Osmium Tetroxide ◽  
Plant Disease ◽  
Leaf Tissue ◽  
Infectious Agent ◽  
Creeping Bentgrass ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Unknown Etiology ◽  
Agrostis Palustris ◽  
Putting Greens ◽  
Plant Disease Diagnosis

Plant disease diagnosis is most often accomplished by examination of symptoms and observation or isolation of causal organisms. Occasionally, diseases of unknown etiology occur and are difficult or impossible to accurately diagnose by the usual means. In 1980, such a disease was observed on Agrostis palustris Huds. c.v. Toronto (creeping bentgrass) putting greens at the Butler National Golf Course in Oak Brook, IL.The wilting symptoms of the disease and the irregular nature of its spread through affected areas suggested that an infectious agent was involved. However, normal isolation procedures did not yield any organism known to infect turf grass. TEM was employed in order to aid in the possible diagnosis of the disease.Crown, root and leaf tissue of both infected and symptomless plants were fixed in cold 5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer, post-fixed in buffered 1% osmium tetroxide, dehydrated in ethanol and embedded in a 1:1 mixture of Spurrs and epon-araldite epoxy resins.

scholarly journals Viral Profiling Identifies Multiple Subtypes of Kaposi’s Sarcoma

mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina C. Hosseinipour ◽  
Kristen M. Sweet ◽  
Jie Xiong ◽  
Dan Namarika ◽  
Albert Mwafongo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kaposi's Sarcoma ◽  
Kaposi’S Sarcoma ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Real Time Quantitative Pcr ◽  
Treatment Naïve ◽  
First Time

ABSTRACTKaposi’s sarcoma (KS), caused by KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), is the most common cancer among HIV-infected patients in Malawi and in the United States today. In Malawi, KSHV is endemic. We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients with HIV infection and KS with no history of chemo- or antiretroviral therapy (ART). Seventy patients were enrolled. Eighty-one percent had T1 (advanced) KS. Median CD4 and HIV RNA levels were 181 cells/mm3and 138,641 copies/ml, respectively. We had complete information and suitable plasma and biopsy samples for 66 patients. For 59/66 (89%) patients, a detectable KSHV load was found in plasma (median, 2,291 copies/ml; interquartile range [IQR], 741 to 5,623). We utilized a novel KSHV real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) array with multiple primers per open reading frame to examine KSHV transcription. Seventeen samples exhibited only minimal levels of KSHV mRNAs, presumably due to the limited number of infected cells. For all other biopsy samples, the viral latency locus (LANA, vCyc, vFLIP, kaposin, and microRNAs [miRNAs]) was transcribed abundantly, as was K15 mRNA. We could identify two subtypes of treatment-naive KS: lesions that transcribed viral RNAs across the length of the viral genome and lesions that displayed only limited transcription restricted to the latency locus. This finding demonstrates for the first time the existence of multiple subtypes of KS lesions in HIV- and KS-treatment naive patients.IMPORTANCEKS is the leading cancer in people infected with HIV worldwide and is causally linked to KSHV infection. Using viral transcription profiling, we have demonstrated the existence of multiple subtypes of KS lesions for the first time in HIV- and KS-treatment-naive patients. A substantial number of lesions transcribe mRNAs which encode the viral kinases and hence could be targeted by the antiviral drugs ganciclovir or AZT in addition to chemotherapy.

Narrowing the mindware gap in medicine

Diagnosis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat Croskerry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Clinical Reasoning ◽  
Medical Errors ◽  
Medical Error ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
The United States ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Medical Educators ◽  
High Degree

Abstract Medical error is now recognized as one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Of the medical errors, diagnostic failure appears to be the dominant contributor, failing in a significant number of cases, and associated with a high degree of morbidity and mortality. One of the significant contributors to diagnostic failure is the cognitive performance of the provider, how they think and decide about the process of diagnosis. This thinking deficit in clinical reasoning, referred to as a mindware gap, deserves the attention of medical educators. A variety of specific approaches are outlined here that have the potential to close the gap.

Framing the diaspora and the homeland: language ideologies in the Cuban diaspora

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (254) ◽  
pp. 49-69
Author(s):  
Gabriela G. Alfaraz
Keyword(s):  
Language Ideology ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cuban Spanish ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Cuban Diaspora ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
High Degree

Abstract This article discusses language ideologies in relation to political ideologies in the Cuban diaspora in the United States. The findings of three longitudinal attitude studies, two conducted using the methods of perceptual dialectology, and a third with the matched-guise method, indicated that the diaspora’s political beliefs have a robust effect on its beliefs about Cuban Spanish in the diaspora and in the homeland. The perceptions studies showed that the national variety has a high degree of prestige in the diaspora, and that it has very low prestige in Cuba. The results of the matched-guise test showed that participants were unable to differentiate voices recorded in the 1960s and the 1990s, and that social information about residence in Cuba or the diaspora was more important to judgments of correctness than the presence of nonstandard variants. It is argued that the diaspora’s language ideology is maintained through erasure and essentialization: social and linguistic facts are erased, and the homeland is racially essentialized. It is suggested that through its language ideology, the Cuban diaspora claims authenticity and legitimacy vis-à-vis the homeland.

scholarly journals Similarly Lethal Strains of Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Trigger Markedly Diverse Host Responses in a Zebrafish Model of Sepsis

mSphere ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia E. Barber ◽  
Brittany A. Fleming ◽  
Matthew A. Mulvey
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Host Responses ◽  
Inflammatory Condition ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Zebrafish Model ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Variable Impact ◽  
Degree Of Heterogeneity

ABSTRACT Sepsis is a life-threatening systemic inflammatory condition that is initiated by the presence of microorganisms in the bloodstream. In the United States, sepsis due to ExPEC and other pathogens kills well over a quarter of a million people each year and is associated with tremendous health care costs. A high degree of heterogeneity in the signs and symptomology of sepsis makes this disease notoriously difficult to effectively diagnose and manage. Here, using a zebrafish model of sepsis, we find that similarly lethal but genetically distinct ExPEC isolates can elicit notably disparate host responses. These variances are in part due to differences in the levels and types of flagellin that are expressed by the infecting ExPEC strains. A better understanding of the variable impact that bacterial factors like flagellin have on host responses during sepsis could lead to improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these often deadly infections. In individuals with sepsis, the infecting microbes are commonly viewed as generic inducers of inflammation while the host background is considered the primary variable affecting disease progression and outcome. To study the effects of bacterial strain differences on the maladaptive immune responses that are induced during sepsis, we employed a novel zebrafish embryo infection model using extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) isolates. These genetically diverse pathogens are a leading cause of sepsis and are becoming increasingly dangerous because of the rise of multidrug-resistant strains. Zebrafish infected with ExPEC isolates exhibit many of the pathophysiological features seen in septic human patients, including dysregulated inflammatory responses (cytokine storms), tachycardia, endothelial leakage, and progressive edema. However, only a limited subset of ExPEC isolates can trigger a sepsis-like state and death of the host when introduced into the bloodstream. Mirroring the situation in human patients, antibiotic therapy reduced ExPEC titers and improved host survival rates but was only effective within limited time frames that varied, depending on the infecting pathogen. Intriguingly, we find that phylogenetically distant but similarly lethal ExPEC isolates can stimulate markedly different host transcriptional responses, including disparate levels of inflammatory mediators. These differences correlate with the amounts of bacterial flagellin expression during infection, as well as differential activation of Toll-like receptor 5 by discrete flagellar serotypes. Altogether, this work establishes zebrafish as a relevant model of key aspects of human sepsis and highlights the ability of genetically distinct ExPEC isolates to induce divergent host responses independently of baseline host attributes. IMPORTANCE Sepsis is a life-threatening systemic inflammatory condition that is initiated by the presence of microorganisms in the bloodstream. In the United States, sepsis due to ExPEC and other pathogens kills well over a quarter of a million people each year and is associated with tremendous health care costs. A high degree of heterogeneity in the signs and symptomology of sepsis makes this disease notoriously difficult to effectively diagnose and manage. Here, using a zebrafish model of sepsis, we find that similarly lethal but genetically distinct ExPEC isolates can elicit notably disparate host responses. These variances are in part due to differences in the levels and types of flagellin that are expressed by the infecting ExPEC strains. A better understanding of the variable impact that bacterial factors like flagellin have on host responses during sepsis could lead to improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these often deadly infections. Podcast: A podcast concerning this article is available.

scholarly journals Genetic and Phenotypic Characterization of Grapevine vein clearing virus from Wild Vitis rupestris

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Beach ◽  
Michael Kovens ◽  
LeAnn Hubbert ◽  
Shae Honesty ◽  
Qiang Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Phenotypic Characterization ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Grape Cultivar ◽  
Vitis Rupestris ◽  
Vein Clearing ◽  
Berry Quality ◽  
Young Leaves ◽  
Natural Range

Grapevine vein clearing virus (GVCV), a new member of the genus Badnavirus in the family Caulimoviridae, is associated with a vein clearing and vine decline disease that severely affects grape production and berry quality in commercial vineyards in the Midwest region of the United States. In this paper, the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of GVCV-VRU1 and GVCV-VRU2, two isolates from wild Vitis rupestris grapevines in their native habitat, are described. The GVCV-VRU1 genome is 7,755 bp long while the GVCV-VRU2 genome consists of 7,725 bp, both of which are different from the genome of the GVCV-CHA isolate (7,753 bp), which was originally discovered in the grape cultivar ‘Chardonel’. The nucleotide sequence identity among GVCV-VRU1, GVCV-VRU2, and GVCV-CHA ranges from 91.6 to 93.4%, and open reading frame (ORF) II is the most divergent ORF with only 83.3 to 88.5% identity. Sequence analysis of the ORF II indicated that GVCV isolates genetically similar to GVCV-VRU1 and GVCV-VRU2 also are present in commercial vineyards. Symptoms of GVCV-VRU1- or GVCV-VRU2-infected wild V. rupestris grapevine appeared initially as translucent vein clearing on young leaves and progressed to vein necrosis on mature leaves. Inoculation of GVCV-VRU1 or GVCV-VRU2 by grafting onto grape cultivar Chardonel resulted in mild mottle and leaf distortion. The natural range of wild V. rupestris grapevines overlaps with commercial vineyards in the Midwestern United States. Therefore, the discovery of GVCV isolates in wild V. rupestris grapevines has important implications for epidemics and management of the GVCV-associated disease.

Dimensions of Jewish-American Identity

1973 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 891-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itai Zak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Jewish American ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
The Common ◽  
High Degree

The main problem posed in this study is: What are the content and structure of Jewish and American identity? The Jewish-American Identity Scale, which was adapted and refined for this study, was administered in 1971 to four samples, totaling 1006 Jewish-American college students from various parts of the United States. Initially, factor analysis was applied to the separate samples. Intersample comparisons of factor structures indicated a high degree of congruency; consequently, the samples were combined for subsequent analyses. Factor analysis of the test scores demonstrated that most of the common factor variance was appropriated by two relatively orthogonal factors. Items dealing with American identity and those dealing with Jewish identity had medium to high loadings on the two respective factors. These findings supported the hypothesis of the duality and the orthogonality of dimensions of Jewish and American identity, and cast doubt on the notion forwarded by some researchers that Jewish-American identity forms a bipolar continuum.

scholarly journals Learning from Past Policy: Assessing United States Foreign Policy over Indonesia in Resolving the 1999 East Timor Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sigit S. Nugroho
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
The United States ◽  
East Timor ◽  
United States Foreign Policy ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The U.S

Assessing the output of past foreign policy is instrumental for any country to learn policy-relevant insights, to appreciate its experience, and to improve its future conduct. To glean such insights, this article borrows Baldwin’s framework in assessing the success and failure in foreign policy. Using a case study analysis, it assesses the United States’ (U.S.) influence attempt towards Indonesia to resolve the 1999 East Timor humanitarian crisis. President Clinton’s decision to undergo an influence attempt primarily aimed to change Indonesia’s policy while gaining support from U.S. allies in the process. The article finds that Clinton’s decision was a highly successful attempt. This finding is based on several factors: (1) the attempt effectively attained the intended primary and secondary goals at a considerably high degree; (2) it was conducted at a considerably low cost for the U.S.; (3) it inflicted a high cost towards Indonesia; (4) the increase in Clinton’s stake strengthened the U.S. resolve to pursue the influence attempt; and (5) Clinton had successfully overcome the difficult undertaking as Indonesia possessed higher stake over East Timor. These findings provide some lessons for both U.S. and Indonesian foreign policymakers to chart future relations for the two nations.

On the Evolution of the Northwest Coast Indian Communities (A Soviet-American Discussion and Its Sequel)

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (51) ◽  
pp. 141-172
Author(s):  
Igor V. Kuznetsov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Franz Boas ◽  
Class Theory ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Public Campaign ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right ◽  
High Degree

The article is devoted to the discussion among Soviet and U.S. scholars about the social organization of the Indians of the Northwest Coast of North America. In the classic textbooks on “primitive history”, the Indians of this region—the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl)—are mentioned as examples of a high degree of social differentiation based on a (fishing and maritime) foraging economy and even as instances of pre-state structures. The proposed concepts were, to varying degrees, determined by external factors: personal political views, high-profile events, or government pressure. In 1897, Franz Boas recognized the potlatch ceremony—demonstrative exchanges of gifts and destructions of surplus, a practice exotic to Europeans—as an analogue of a credit operation. This interpretation, not empirically substantiated, originated from a public campaign to legalize potlatch. In the 1930s, Julia Averkieva, a Soviet intern of Boas, interpreted some fragments of her mentor’s teaching through the Marxist class theory framework, shifting the emphasis from potlatch to slavery: the Northwest Indians allegedly began the transition to slavery from a classless system in which the potlatch was an instrument for preserving property equality. Averkieva’s interpretation became canonical in the USSR, whilst also finding some reception outside the socialist camp. In the United States, relativistic cultural interpretations dominated; domestic evolutionary Marxist models were marginal and were not rooted in the Soviet tradition. However, after the collapse of the USSR, they also became part of the research mainstream, being criticized not only from the right, but also from the left—from anarchist viewpoints.

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