SummaryActin, one of the most abundant proteins in the eukaryotic cell, also has an abundance of relatives in the eukaryotic proteome. To date though, only five families of actins have been characterized in bacteria. We have conducted a phylogenetic search and uncovered more than 35 highly divergent families of actin-like proteins (Alps) in bacteria. Their genes are found primarily on phage genomes, on plasmids and on integrating conjugative elements, and are likely to be involved in a variety of functions. We characterize three Alps and find that all form filaments in the cell. The filaments of Alp7A, a plasmid partitioning protein and one of the most divergent of the Alps, display dynamic instability and also treadmill. Alp7A requires other elements from the plasmid to assemble into dynamic polymers in the cell. Our findings suggest that most if not all of the Alps are indeed actin relatives, and that actin is very well represented in bacteria.

IMPORTANCE Most children with retinoblastoma in the United States are diagnosed as having a large intraocular tumor burden that requires intensive ocular-salvage treatment or enucleation. OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity on the extent of disease and the outcomes of retinoblastoma.

Chicken is, among farmed species, the target of the highest levels of antimicrobial use (AMU). There are considerable knowledge gaps on how and when antimicrobials are used in commercial small-scale chicken farms. These shortcomings arise from cross-sectional study designs and poor record keeping practiced by many such farmers. Furthermore, there is a large diversity of AMU metrics, and it is not clear how these metrics relate to each other. We performed a longitudinal study on a cohort of small-scale chicken farms ( n = 102) in the Mekong Delta (Vietnam), an area regarded as a hotspot of AMU, from October 2016 to May 2018. We collected data on all medicine products administered to 203 flocks with the following aims: (1) to describe types and quantities of antimicrobial active ingredients (AAIs) used; (2) to describe critical time points of AMU; and (3) to compare AMU using three quantitative metrics: (a) weight of AAIs related to bird weight at the time of treatment (mg/kg at treatment); (b) weight of AAIs related to weight of birds sold (mg/kg sold); and (c) “treatment incidence” (TI), or the number of daily doses per kilogram of live chicken [Vietnamese animal daily dose (ADDvetVN)] per 1,000 days. Antimicrobials contained in commercial feed, administered by injection ( n = N = 6), or antimicrobials for human medicine ( n = N = 16) were excluded. A total of 236 products were identified, containing 42 different AAIs. A total of 76.2% products contained AAIs of “critical importance” according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On average, chickens consumed 791.8 (SEM ±16.7) mg/kg at treatment, 323.4 (SEM ±11.3) mg/kg sold, and the TI was 382.6 (SEM ±5.5) per 1,000 days. AMU was more common early in the production cycle and was highly skewed, with the upper 25% quantile of flocks accounting for 60.7% of total AMU. The observed discrepancies between weight- and dose-based metrics were explained by differences in the strength of AAIs, mortality levels, and the timing of administration. Results suggest that in small-scale chicken production, AMU reduction efforts should preferentially target the early (brooding) period, which is when birds are most likely to be exposed to antimicrobials, whilst restricting access to antimicrobials of critical importance for human medicine.

SummaryEconomic evaluations are critical for the assessment of the efficiency and sustainability of animal health surveillance systems and the improvement of their efficiency. Methods identifying and quantifying costs and benefits incurred by public and private actors of passive surveillance systems (i.e. actors of veterinary authorities and private actors who may report clinical signs) are needed. This study presents the evaluation of perceived costs and benefits of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) passive surveillance in Vietnam. Surveys based on participatory epidemiology methods were conducted in three provinces in Vietnam to collect data on costs and benefits resulting from the reporting of HPAI suspicions to veterinary authorities. A quantitative tool based on stated preference methods and participatory techniques was developed and applied to assess the non‐monetary costs and benefits. The study showed that poultry farmers are facing several options regarding the management of HPAI suspicions, besides reporting the following: treatment, sale or destruction of animals. The option of reporting was associated with uncertain outcome and transaction costs. Besides, actors anticipated the release of health information to cause a drop of markets prices. This cost was relevant at all levels, including farmers, veterinary authorities and private actors of the upstream sector (feed, chicks and medicine supply). One benefit associated with passive surveillance was the intervention of public services to clean farms and the environment to limit the disease spread. Private actors of the poultry sector valued information on HPAI suspicions (perceived as a non‐monetary benefit) which was mainly obtained from other private actors and media.

HighlightsHigh mortality (2.6 chickens/100 chickens/week) in small-scale Mekong Delta flocks.Disease most common in the brooding period; mortality peaks in the 5–10 week period.Antimicrobials use (AMU) most common in the early (‘brooding’) period.Farmers tend to repeat AMU behavior over consecutive flock cycles.AMU was associated with the density of veterinary drug shops.

Background Neuroblastoma is a biologically and clinically heterogeneous disease. Based on recent studies demonstrating an association between the primary tumor site, prognosis, and commonly measured tumor biological features, we hypothesized that neuroblastomas arising in different sites would show distinct genomic features reflective of the developmental biology of the sympathicoadrenal nervous system. Methods We first compared genomic and epigenomic data of primary diagnostic neuroblastomas originating in the adrenal gland (n = 646) compared to thoracic sympathetic ganglia (n = 118). We also evaluated association of common germline variation with these primary sites in 1027 European-American neuroblastoma patients. Results We observed higher rates of MYCN amplification, chromosome 1q gain, and chromosome 11q deletion among adrenal tumors, which were highly predictive of functional RNA signatures. Surprisingly, thoracic neuroblastomas were more likely to harbor ALK driver mutations than adrenal cases among all cases (odds ratio = 1.89, 95% confidence interval = 1.04 to 3.43), and among cases without MYCN amplification (odds ratio = 2.86, 95% confidence interval = 1.48 to 5.49). Common germline single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in BARD1 (previously associated with high-risk neuroblastoma) were found to be strongly associated with predisposition for origin at adrenal, rather than thoracic, sites. Conclusions Neuroblastomas arising in the adrenal gland are more likely to harbor structural DNA aberrations including MYCN amplification, whereas thoracic tumors show defects in mitotic checkpoints resulting in hyperdiploidy. Despite the general association of ALK mutations with high-risk disease, thoracic tumors are more likely to harbor gain-of-function ALK aberrations. Site of origin is likely reflective of stage of sympathetic nervous system development when malignant transformation occurs and is a surrogate for underlying tumor biology.

Combining epidemiological information, genetic characterization and geomapping in the analysis of influenza can contribute to a better understanding and description of influenza epidemiology and ecology, including possible virus reassortment events. Furthermore, integration of information such as agroecological farming system characteristics can provide new knowledge on risk factors of influenza emergence and spread. Integrating viral characteristics into an animal disease information system is therefore expected to provide a unique tool to trace-and-track particular virus strains; generate clade distributions and spatiotemporal clusters; screen for distribution of viruses with specific molecular markers; identify potential risk factors; and analyze or map viral characteristics related to vaccines used for control and/or prevention. For this purpose, a genetic module was developed within EMPRES-i (FAO’s global animal disease information system) linking epidemiological information from influenza events with virus characteristics and enabling combined analysis. An algorithm was developed to act as the interface between EMPRES-i disease event data and publicly available influenza virus sequences in OpenfluDB. This algorithm automatically computes potential links between outbreak event and sequences, which are subsequently manually validated by experts. Subsequently, other virus characteristics such as antiviral resistance can then be associated to outbreak data. To visualize such characteristics on a geographic map, shape files with virus characteristics to overlay on other EMPRES-i map layers (e.g. animal densities) can be generated. The genetic module allows export of associated epidemiological and sequence data for further analysis. FAO has made this tool available for scientists and policy makers. Contributions are expected from users to improve and validate the number of linked influenza events and isolate information as well as the quality of information. Possibilities to interconnect with other influenza sequence databases or to expand the genetic module to other viral diseases (e.g. foot and mouth disease) are being explored.Database OpenfluDB URL: http://openflu.vital-it.chDatabase EMPRES-i URL: http://EMPRES-i.fao.org/

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