RNA virus genomes are efficient and compact carriers of biological information, encoding information required for replication both in their primary sequences and in higher-order RNA structures. However, the ubiquity of RNA elements with higher-order folds—in which helices pack together to form complex 3D structures—and the extent to which these elements affect viral fitness are largely unknown. Here we used single-molecule correlated chemical probing to define secondary and tertiary structures across the RNA genome of dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV2). Higher-order RNA structures are pervasive and involve more than one-third of nucleotides in the DENV2 genomic RNA. These 3D structures promote a compact overall architecture and contribute to viral fitness. Disrupting RNA regions with higher-order structures leads to stable, nonreverting mutants and could guide the development of vaccines based on attenuated RNA viruses. The existence of extensive regions of functional RNA elements with tertiary folds in viral RNAs, and likely many other messenger and noncoding RNAs, means that there are significant regions with pocket-containing surfaces that may serve as novel RNA-directed drug targets.

Objective: To describe the time elapsed from onset of pediatric convulsive status epilepticus (SE) to administration of antiepileptic drug (AED).Methods: This was a prospective observational cohort study performed from June 2011 to June 2013. Pediatric patients (1 month-21 years) with convulsive SE were enrolled. In order to study timing of AED administration during all stages of SE, we restricted our study population to patients who failed 2 or more AED classes or needed continuous infusions to terminate convulsive SE. Results:We enrolled 81 patients (44 male) with a median age of 3.6 years. The first, second, and third AED doses were administered at a median (p 25 -p 75 ) time of 28 (6-67) minutes, 40 (20-85) minutes, and 59 (30-120) minutes after SE onset. Considering AED classes, the initial AED was a benzodiazepine in 78 (96.3%) patients and 2 (2-3) doses of benzodiazepines were administered before switching to nonbenzodiazepine AEDs. The first and second doses of nonbenzodiazepine AEDs were administered at 69 (40-120) minutes and 120 (75-296) minutes. In the 64 patients with out-of-hospital SE onset, 40 (62.5%) patients did not receive any AED before hospital arrival. In the hospital setting, the first and second in-hospital AED doses were given at 8 (5-15) minutes and 16 (10-40) minutes after SE onset (for patients with in-hospital SE onset) or after hospital arrival (for patients with out-of-hospital SE onset). Conclusions:The time elapsed from SE onset to AED administration and escalation from one class of AED to another is delayed, both in the prehospital and in-hospital settings. Status epilepticus (SE) is one of the most common pediatric neurologic emergencies.1 It has a mortality of 0%-3% 2-7 and morbidity that includes cognitive and neurodevelopmental impairments, epilepsy, and recurrent SE.2,8-10 SE is often refractory to the initial antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), 11,12 and refractory SE is associated with poor outcome. 12 Patient age, etiology, and SE duration all affect outcome, 5,9,13 but only SE duration is a potentially modifiable factor by rapid AED treatment. By convention, the treatment of convulsive SE is a sequence of AEDs, typically