Characterization of Medusavirus encoded histones reveals nucleosome-like structures and a unique linker histone.

The organization of DNA into nucleosomes is a ubiquitous and ancestral feature that was once thought to be exclusive to the eukaryotic domain of life. Intriguingly, several representatives of the Nucleocytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDV) encode histone-like proteins that in Melbournevirus were shown to form nucleosome-like particles. Medusavirus medusae (MM), a distantly related giant virus, encodes all four core histone proteins and, unique amongst most giant viruses, a putative acidic protein with two domains resembling eukaryotic linker histone H1.

Functional convergence in gastric lysozymes of foregut-fermenting rodents, ruminants, and primates is not attributed to convergent molecular evolution.

Convergent evolution is a widespread phenomenon. While there are many examples of convergent evolution at the phenotypic scale, convergence at the molecular level has been more difficult to identify. A classic example of convergent evolution across scales is that of the digestive lysozyme found in ruminants and Colobine monkeys.

Virus-encoded histone doublets are essential and form nucleosome-like structures.

The organization of genomic DNA into defined nucleosomes has long been viewed as a hallmark of eukaryotes. This paradigm has been challenged by the identification of "minimalist" histones in archaea and more recently by the discovery of genes that encode fused remote homologs of the four eukaryotic histones in Marseilleviridae, a subfamily of giant viruses that infect amoebae. We demonstrate that viral doublet histones are essential for viral infectivity, localize to cytoplasmic viral factories after virus infection, and ultimately are found in the mature virions.

The Neighborhood as a Unit of Change for Health: Early Findings from the East Harlem Neighborhood Health Action Center.

Place-based approaches have been promoted as one way to reduce health inequities by addressing community-level factors that shape health, such as housing quality, healthcare systems, the built environment, and social capital. In 2016-2017, the NYC Health Department's Center for Health Equity launched three Neighborhood Health Action Centers (Action Centers), which use a place-based approach to improve health in neighborhoods with disproportionate burdens of premature mortality. We describe this approach and the genesis of the Action Centers.

TOWARDS A NOVEL MODULAR ARCHITECTURE FOR CERN RADIATION MONITORING.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has the legal obligation to protect the public and the people working on its premises from any unjustified exposure to ionising radiation. In this context, radiation monitoring is one of the main concerns of the Radiation Protection Group. After 30 y of reliable service, the ARea CONtroller (ARCON) system is approaching the end of its lifecycle, which raises the need for new, more efficient radiation monitors with a high level of modularity to ensure better maintainability.