TWiV 481: And biles to go before I delete
The TWiVodrome considers the intestinal tract as an alternative infection route for MERS coronavirus, and how reduced accumulation of defective viral RNAs might lead to severe influenza. <span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span><span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span>&lt;span data-mce-type=”boo...
Source: virology blog - February 18, 2018 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology defective interfering particle DI particle gastrointestinal transmission influenza intestinoid MERS coronavirus organoid viral viruses Von Magnus particle Source Type: blogs
Obviousness: Rarely Obvious
Pacific Biosciences has made new thrusts in theirongoing intellectual property action against Oxford Nanopore, adding two recently issued patents to the fray. Oxford has publicly brushed these off as"another pore excuse for a lawsuit", but certainly the battle is not over. One of these patents, 9,542,527"Compositions and methods for nucleic acid sequencing", appears to concern using hairpin linkages to read both strands, much likethe 9,404,146"Compositions and methods for nucleic acid sequencing" patent that PacBio led with. Since Oxfordhas announced they will abandon their"2D&...
Source: Omics! Omics! - March 21, 2017 Category: Bioinformatics Authors: Keith Robison Source Type: blogs
TWiV Special: Vincent Munster on MERS-coronavirus and Ebolavirus
At the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana, Vincent speaks with Vincent Munster about the work of his laboratory on MERS-coronavirus and Ebolaviruses.
You can find this TWiV Special at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below.
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Source: virology blog - February 8, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology bat camel ebolavirus MERS MERS coronavirus MERS-CoV outbreak transmission viral viruses zoonosis Source Type: blogs
TWiV 418: Of mice and MERS
The TWiVsters describe a new animal model for MERS coronavirus-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome, produced by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the mouse gene encoding an ortholog of the virus receptor.
You can find TWiV #418 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below.
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Become a patron of TWiV! (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - December 4, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology acute respiratory disease syndrome cell receptor coronavirus CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing MERS-CoV permissive susceptible viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Online symptom checkers: You ’ ll still want to call a doctor when something ’ s wrong with you
Doctors make mistakes. I strongly believe in being open about this, and I have written about my own missed or delayed diagnoses on this and other blogs. But guess what? Research supports what I’ve long suspected: when it comes to making the correct diagnosis, doctors are waaaay better than computers.
A recent study compared the diagnostic accuracy of 234 physicians with 23 different computer programs. The authors gave mystery clinical cases of varying severity and difficulty to doctors, and ran the same cases through various online “symptom-checker” programs. The cases came from The Human Diagnosis Project, which...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Health Health care Managing your health care Source Type: blogs
Diseases Jumping from Animals to Humans: Leiter Lecture Up for Viewing
At the annual Joseph Leiter Memorial Lecture held earlier this month, guest speaker Jonna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD, talked about her specialty—diseases that jump from animals to humans. “Most of the infectious diseases that we see today like Ebola, MERS, even Zika originated from an animal host,” she told the audience. “How can we stop… (Source: NLM In Focus)
Source: NLM In Focus - May 31, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Posted by NLM in Focus Tags: Events Source Type: blogs
Zika virus, like all other viruses, is mutating
Not long after the appearance of an outbreak of viral disease, first scientists, and then newswriters, blame it all on mutation of the virus. It happened during the Ebolavirus outbreak in West Africa, and now it’s happening with Zika virus.
The latest example is by parasitologist Peter Hotez, who writes in the New York Times:
There are many theories for Zika’s rapid rise, but the most plausible is that the virus mutated from an African to a pandemic strain a decade or more ago and then spread east across the Pacific from Micronesia and French Polynesia, until it struck Brazil.
After its discovery in 1947 in Uganda...
Source: virology blog - April 15, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Commentary Information genome microcephaly mutation pandemic transmission viral virulence virus viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs
To Improve Pandemic Preparedness, Update The Priority Review Voucher Program
Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would add the Zika virus to the list of diseases in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) priority review voucher (PRV) program. The Senate HELP Committee has also recently advanced similar legislation. This is a positive step that would help incentivize needed research and development (R&D) to fight the disease. However, it also illustrates the fact that the PRV platform could be used far more proactively to help address future pandemics before they strike.
Incentive For Innovation
In 2007 the US government created the PRV as an incentive to dri...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 22, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Kenneth Gustavsen Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Global Health Congress Ebola FDA outbreaks pandemic priority review Research Zika Source Type: blogs
Zika Genome Sequences Available from NCBI
And now Zika. Dengue, Ebola, West Nile, MERS coronavirus, and influenza viruses each have their own resource for virus data retrieval at NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Data scientists at NCBI are working 24/7 to make information about Zika as accessible and searchable as possible—as quickly as possible. They know that making bioinformatics… (Source: NLM In Focus)
Source: NLM In Focus - March 17, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Posted by NLM in Focus Tags: Products Source Type: blogs
Moving beyond metagenomics to find the next pandemic virus
I was asked to write a commentary for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences to accompany an article entitled SARS-like WIV1-CoV poised for human emergence. I’d like to explain why I wrote it and why I spent the last five paragraphs railing against regulating gain-of-function experiments.
Towards the end of 2014 the US government announced a pause of gain-of-function research involving research on influenza virus, SARS virus, and MERS virus that “may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses such that the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity and/or tra...
Source: virology blog - March 14, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Commentary Information aerosol transmission benefits coronavirus ferret gain of function H5N1 influenza MERS metagenomics moratorium pathogenicity pause risks SARS viral viruses Source Type: blogs
A promising Ebolavirus antiviral compound
A small molecule antiviral compound has been shown to protect rhesus monkeys against lethal Ebolavirus disease, even when given up to three days after virus inoculation.
The compound, called GS-5734, is a nucleoside analog. After uptake into cells, GS-5734 is converted to a nucleoside triphosphate (illustrated, bottom panel) which is incorporated by the viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase as it copies the viral genome. However, the nucleoside is chemically different from ATP (illustrated, top) and no further nucleotides can be incorporated into the growing RNA strand. RNA synthesis ceases, blocking production of infect...
Source: virology blog - March 3, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information antiviral compound chain terminator ebolavirus nucleoside analog RNA polymerase rna synthesis viruses Source Type: blogs
TWiV 369: Camel runny noses and other JNK
On the latest episode of the science show This Week in Virology, a swarm of virologists discusses testing of a MERS coronavirus vaccine for camels, and how a neuronal stress pathway reactivates herpes simplex virus.
You can find TWiV #369 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - December 27, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology virus viruses herpesvirus vaccine viral reactivation coronavirus immunity herpes simplex virus methylation MERS-CoV camel phosphorylation shedding chromatin histone JNK methyl/phospho switch neur Source Type: blogs
TWiV 364: It’s not SARS 2.0
On episode #364 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent, Rich, and Kathy speak with Ralph Baric and Vineet Menachery about their research on the potential of SARS-like bat coronaviruses to infect human cells and cause disease in mice.
You can find TWiV #364 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - November 22, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology bat coronavirus gain of function host range infectious viral DNA MERS pathogenesis SARS spike glycoprotein tropism viruses zoonoses zoonosis Source Type: blogs
Outbreak at Konkut University: MERS-CoV infection ?
The School of Veterinary Medicine at Konkut University is surprisingly close to Konkut University Hospital, where a number of patients were recently treated for MERS CoV virus infection. In the following campus map, the Veterinary School and Hosital are denoted by numbers 15 and 30, respectively; and number 12 identifies the Animal Science School.
Significantly, a paper published by the school in 2007 suggests that at least some of the veterinary staff have been involved in work with camels. [1]
Have these patients been tested for MERS CoV viral infection?
Reference:
1. Reference:
1. Abd El-Aty AM1, Goudah ...
Source: GIDEON blog - November 3, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Diagnosis Epidemiology ProMED Korea MERS-CoV Source Type: blogs
