Global Comprehensive Outlook of Hantavirus Contagion on Humans: A Review

Hantaviruses are rodent viruses that have been identified as etiologic agents of 2 diseases of humans: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and nephropathiaepidemica (NE) in the Old World and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the New World. Orthohantavirus is a genus of sin- gle-stranded, enveloped, negative-sense RNA viruses in the family Hantaviridae of the order Bunyavi- rales. The important reservoir of Hantaviruses is rodents. Each virus serotype has its unique rodent host species and is transmitted to human beings with the aid of aerosolized virus, which is shed in urine, fae- ces and saliva and hardly by a bite of the contaminated host. Andes virus is the only Hantavirus identified to be transmitted from human-to-human and its major signs and symptoms include fever, headache, mus- cle aches, lungs filled with fluid etc. In the early 1993, this viral syndrome appeared in the Four Cor- ner location in the south western United States. The only accepted therapeutics for this virus is Ribavirin. Recently, serological examinations to identify Hantavirus antibodies have become most popular for in- vestigation among humans and rodent reservoirs.

I Correct or Canceling You

This contribution studies the debated terms “politically correct” and “cancel culture” on Twitter and in particular investigates the meaning that people give when they label something or someone as politically correct or indicate a case of cancel culture in the Italian context, where they are not yet widespread as they are in the USA and Britain. A textual analysis of a corpus of tweets selected through a set of hashtags was carried out to identify thematic clusters to understand features and meanings given to these expressions, along with their ways of using in the various situations and contexts. The main results show different meanings of the term, in the negative sense as a limitation of freedom of speech, and in a positive sense as the exclusion of some terms that may offend some people or groups. In this case, the meaning of a word is relative and depends on the situation and context in which it is used. Furthermore, the recourse in the discourses of cancel culture is only rhetorical; there are no actions of cancellation or boycott of someone or something.

First Report of citrus virus A in Texas associated with oak leaf patterns in Citrus sinensis

In 2018, Navarro et al. (2018a, b) identified two new negative sense coguviruses in citrus, citrus concave gum-associated virus (CCGaV) and citrus virus A (CiVA). Since then, the members of the genus Coguvirus have been also detected in other plant species (Xin et al. 2017; Wright et al. 2018; Svanella-Duma et al. 2019). In 2016, leaf flecking with oak leaf patterns were observed in five plants among embryo-rescued navel orange (NO) (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) trees grafted on C22 (C. sunki x Poncirus trifoliata) rootstock, maintained in a shade house. Madam Vinous (MV) sweet orange trees graft-inoculated with blind buds from the symptomatic NO plants developed the same symptoms in the new growth. These symptoms were similar to those on the citrus concave gum (CG) source tree of the California isolate CG301, one of the standard citrus disease isolates used as a positive control for biological indexing (Roistacher et al. 2000). None of the trees with oak leaf symptoms tested positive with reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for a panel of viruses and viroids commonly infecting citrus (Table S1) . In this study, CG301 leaf RNA-Seq data was used as a platform to identify any viral agent(s) associated with the oak leaf symptoms observed in the symptomatic NO trees (Fig. S1). Of ~162.8 million paired-end CG301 RNA-Seq reads (150 bp), de novo assembly of ~9.6 million reads, not mapped to C. sinensis genome (v.1.1), yielded 5,375 contigs. BLASTn using NCBI virus database (txid 10239) identified two contigs, #49 (6,715 nt) and #20 (2,764 nt), which exhibited ~96% sequence identity, respectively, to RNA1 and 2 of CiVA isolate W4 (MG764565; MG764566) and 71-73% identity to that of CCGaV isolate CGW2 (KX960112; KX960111). 5'-Nuclease assay developed based on contig #20 detected coguviral sequences in the five symptomatic NO and graft-inoculated MV trees as well as in CG301 but not in 44 asymptomatic field trees located near the shade house where the symptomatic NO trees had been kept. A full genomic sequence of the coguviruses present in CG301 and a symptomatic NO tree was reconstructed by RT-PCR. Both CG301 and NO isolate have a 6689 nt long negative sense RNA1 (MT922052; MK689372) encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and a 2739 nt long ambisense RNA2 (MT922053; MK689373) encoding movement protein (MP) and nucleocapsid protein (NP). The isolate CG301 and NO share ~96% nucleotide sequence identity. The genome of both CG301 and NO isolate share 95.4-97.8 % sequence identity to that of CiVA isolate W4 and 70-72.9 % sequence identity to CCGaV isolate CGW2. BLASTp showed that RdRp of CG301 and NO isolate have 96.3-97.7 % sequence identity to CiVA W4 RdRp and ~77 % to CCGaV CGW2 RdRp. These data indicated the presence of CiVA in the symptomatic NO trees and in the concave gum source tree CG301. Recent reports of CiVA in South Africa and Greece indicated a potential wider distribution of CiVA in various citrus growing regions that may be associated with two graft-transmissible citrus diseases, citrus concave gum and impietratura disease (Roistacher et al. 2000; Velázquez et al. 2019; Beris et al. 2021; Bester et al. 2021). Although the source of CiVA in the symptomatic NO trees and the degree of CiVA prevalence in Texas had not been determined yet, a possible involvement of vector(s) or other means of spread (e.g. seed transmission) cannot be ruled out (Timmer et al. 2017). The current study demonstrated the need for further studies to determine the level of threat of coguviruses for citrus production in Texas.

Particularities of Surgical Treatment for the Neuropathic Diabetic Foot

Diabetic neuropathy is one of the chronic complications of diabetes and along with other complications causes a pathology called diabetic foot. The present study analyzed a group of 164 patients admitted to the surgery department of the Clinical Hospital “Doctor Ioan Cantacuzino” Bucharest, between September and December 2019. The results of the study highlight the potential for contamination of neuropathic lesions and the need for curative surgery, most conservative. The conclusion of the analysis emphasizes that the imbalance of the underlying disease changes, in a negative sense, the prognosis of any complication of it.

Insights into Paramyxovirus Nucleocapsids from Diverse Assemblies

All paramyxoviruses, which include the mumps virus, measles virus, Nipah virus, Newcastle disease virus, and Sendai virus, have non-segmented single-stranded negative-sense RNA genomes. These RNA genomes are enwrapped throughout the viral life cycle by nucleoproteins, forming helical nucleocapsids. In addition to these helical structures, recombinant paramyxovirus nucleocapsids may occur in other assembly forms such as rings, clam-shaped structures, and double-headed nucleocapsids; the latter two are composed of two single-stranded helices packed in a back-to-back pattern. In all of these assemblies, the neighboring nucleoprotein protomers adopt the same domain-swapping mode via the N-terminal arm, C-terminal arm, and recently disclosed N-hole. An intrinsically disordered region in the C-terminal domain of the nucleoproteins, called the N-tail, plays an unexpected role in regulating the transition among the different assembly forms that occurs with other viral proteins, especially phosphoprotein. These structures, together with the helical nucleocapsids, significantly enrich the structural diversity of the paramyxovirus nucleocapsids and help explain the functions of these diverse assemblies, including RNA genome protection, transcription, and replication, as well as encapsulation.

The Effort-Reward Model and Its Effect on Burnout Among Nurses in Ecuador

Burnout has harmful consequences for individuals and organizations. The study of its antecedents can help us to manage and prevent it. This research aims to explore the role of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model as well as the mediation of the working experience in the burnout processes. For this purpose, we have conducted a study in 629 employees from two hospitals in the city of Guayaquil (Ecuador). For this study, the Spanish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was applied, as well as the ERI Questionnaire, along with other socio-demographical and occupational variables. A statistical analysis was performed with the obtained data, using structural equation models (SEMs). Results showed that employee effort has a stronger and statistically significant direct effect on emotional burnout, whereas the perception of the obtained reward also had this effect but indirectly in a negative sense, with job experience as a mediating variable.

ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Nyamiviridae 2021

Nyamiviridae is a family of viruses in the order Mononegavirales, with unsegmented (except for members of the genus Tapwovirus), negative-sense RNA genomes of 10–13 kb. Nyamviruses have a genome organisation and content similar to that of other mononegaviruses. Nyamiviridae includes several genera that form monophyletic clades on phylogenetic analysis of the RNA polymerase. Nyamiviruses have been found associated with diverse invertebrates as well as land- and seabirds. Members of the genera Nyavirus and Socyvirus produce enveloped, spherical virions. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the family Nyamiviridae, which is available at ictv.global/report/nyamiviridae.

The structure of a native orthobunyavirus ribonucleoprotein reveals a key role for viral RNA in maintaining its helical architecture

The Bunyavirales order of RNA viruses comprises emerging pathogens for which approved preventative or therapeutic measures for human use are not available. The genome of all Bunyavirales consists of negative-sense RNA segments wrapped by the virus-encoded nucleocapsid protein (NP) to form ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). RNPs represent the active template for RNA synthesis and the form in which the genome is packaged into virions, functions that require inherent flexibility. We present a pseudo-atomic model of a native RNP purified from Bunyamwera virus (BUNV), the prototypical Bunyavirales member, based on a cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) average at 13 A resolution with subsequent fitting of the BUNV NP crystal structure by molecular dynamics. We show the BUNV RNP possesses relaxed helical architecture, with successive helical turns separated by ~18 A. The model shows that adjacent NP monomers in the RNP chain interact laterally through flexible N- and C-terminal arms, with no helix-stabilizing interactions along the longitudinal axis. Instead, EM analysis of RNase-treated RNPs suggests their chain integrity is dependent on the encapsidated genomic RNA, thus providing the molecular basis for RNP flexibility. Overall, this work will assist in designing anti-viral compounds targeting the RNP and inform studies on bunyaviral RNP assembly, packaging and RNA replication.

Efficient incorporation and template-dependent polymerase inhibition are major determinants for the broad-spectrum antiviral activity of remdesivir

Remdesivir (RDV) is a direct antiviral agent that is approved in several countries for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). RDV exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity against positive-sense RNA viruses, e.g., SARS-CoV-2 and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and non-segmented negative-sense RNA viruses, e.g., Nipah virus (NiV), while several segmented negative-sense RNA viruses such as influenza (Flu) virus or Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) are not sensitive to the drug. The reasons for this apparent pattern are unknown. Here, we expressed and purified representative RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRp) and studied three biochemical parameters that have been associated with the inhibitory effects of RDV-triphosphate (TP): (i) selective incorporation of the nucleotide substrate RDV-TP, (ii) the effect of the incorporated RDV-monophosphate (MP) on primer extension, and (iii) the effect of RDV-MP in the template during incorporation of the complementary UTP. The results of this study revealed a strong correlation between antiviral effects and efficient incorporation of RDV-TP. Delayed chain-termination is heterogeneous and usually inefficient at higher NTP concentrations. In contrast, template-dependent inhibition of UTP incorporation opposite the embedded RDV-MP is seen with all polymerases. Molecular modeling suggests a steric conflict between the 1′-cyano group of RDV-MP and conserved residues of RdRp motif F. We conclude that future efforts in the development of nucleotide analogues with a broader spectrum of antiviral activities should focus on improving rates of incorporation while capitalizing on the inhibitory effects of a bulky 1′-modification.