An intrafamilial outbreak in West Bengal, India, involving 5 deaths and person-to-person transmission was attributed to Nipah virus. Full-genome sequence of Nipah virus (18,252 nt) amplified from lung tissue showed 99.2% nt and 99.8% aa identity with the Bangladesh-2004 isolate, suggesting a common source of the virus.

Intracellular aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein tau into filamentous inclusions is a defining characteristic of Alzheimer disease. Because appearance of tau-aggregate bearing lesions correlates with both cognitive decline and neurodegeneration, it has been hypothesized that tau aggregation may be directly toxic to cells that harbor them. Testing this hypothesis in cell culture has been complicated by the resistance of full-length tau isoforms to aggregation over experimentally tractable time periods. To overcome this limitation, a smallmolecule agonist of the tau aggregation reaction, Congo red, was used to drive aggregation within HEK-293 cells expressing fulllength tau isoform htau40. Formation of detergent-insoluble aggregates was both time and agonist concentration dependent. At 10 M Congo red, detergent-insoluble aggregates appeared with pseudo-first order kinetics and a half-life of approximately 5 days. By 7 days in culture, total tau levels increased 2-fold, with ϳ30% of total tau converted into detergent-insoluble aggregates. Agonist addition also led to rapid losses in the tubulin binding activity of tau, although tau was not hyperphosphorylated as judged by occupancy of phosphorylation sites Ser 396 / Ser 404 . Tau aggregation was associated with decreased viability as detected by ToPro-3 uptake. The results, which establish a new approach for analysis of tau aggregation in cells independent of tau hyperphosphorylation, suggest that conformational changes associated with aggregation are incompatible with microtubule binding, and that toxicity associated with intracellular tau aggregation is not acute but develops over a period of days.

Deletion of the human SHANK3 gene near the terminus of chromosome 22q is associated with Phelan-McDermid syndrome and autism spectrum disorders. Nearly all such deletions also span the tightly linked IB2 gene. We show here that IB2 protein is broadly expressed in the brain and is highly enriched within postsynaptic densities. Experimental disruption of the IB2 gene in mice reduces AMPA and enhances NMDA receptor-mediated glutamatergic transmission in cerebellum, changes the morphology of Purkinje cell dendritic arbors, and induces motor and cognitive deficits suggesting an autism phenotype. These findings support a role for human IB2 mutation as a contributing genetic factor in Chr22qter-associated cognitive disorders.

Background. Dengue viruses (DV) belong to the family Flaviviridae, with four serotypes referred to as DV-1, DV-2, DV-3, and DV-4. A large-scale outbreak of dengue fever occurred in 2012 involving several districts of West Bengal. Objective. To present a comprehensive picture of the dengue fever outbreak in 2012 and to identify the prevailing serotypes. Materials and Methods. Serum samples were collected from suspected dengue fever cases. Samples from fever cases <5 days duration were tested for dengue NS1 antigen employing Pan Bio (Australia) NS1 ELISA kit. Serum samples of ≥5 days fever were tested for dengue-specific IgM by MAC ELISA test kit prepared by the National Institute of Virology Pune, India. Serotyping of dengue samples was done by dengue-specific reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results. The number of dengue cases in 2012 clearly outnumbered the dengue cases in 2010 and 2011. The majority of the cases were in the age group 11-30 years with a male preponderance. Outbreak occurred during the months of Aug.-Nov. indicating increased vector transmission in the monsoon and postmonsoon periods. The prevailing serotypes in this outbreak were Den1, Den3, and Den4.

Background and Objectives. Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the most important cause of acute and epidemic viral encephalitis. Every year sporadic JE cases are reported from the various districts of West Bengal, indicating its endemicity in this state. JE vaccination programme has been undertaken by the State Health Department of West Bengal. This study was aimed at seeing the present scenario of JE among acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) cases in West Bengal. Materials and Methods. Blood and/or CSF samples were referred from suspected AES cases to the referral virology laboratory of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine from different hospitals of Kolkata. IgM antibody capture ELISA was performed on the CSF and serum samples by JE virus MAC ELISA kit supplied by the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Results. The present study reveals that 22.76% and 5% of the AES cases were positive for JE IgM in 2011 and 2012, respectively. JE is mainly prevalent in children and adolescents below 20 years of age with no gender predilection. Although the percentages of JE positive cases were high in 2011, it sharply decreased thereafter possibly due to better awareness programs, due to mass vaccination, or simply due to natural epidemiological niche periodicity due to herd immunity.