Aspartate-β-hydroxylase and hypoxia marker expression in head and neck carcinomas: implications for HPV-associated tumors.

Background: A proportion of head and neck carcinomas (HNSCCs) are induced by high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and are associated with better patient outcomes compared to patients with HNSCCs related to tobacco and alcohol abuse. In the microenvironment of solid tumors, including HNSCCs, oxygen levels are often reduced, and a hypoxic state is induced. This can lead to a poor treatment response and a worse patient prognosis.

Mosquitoborne viruses, Czech Republic, 2002.

Specimens from residents (N = 497) of an area affected by the 2002 flood were examined serologically for mosquitoborne viruses. Antibodies were detected against Tahyna (16%), Sindbis (1%), and Batai (0.2%) viruses, but not West Nile virus.

[Antibodies against mosquito-born viruses in human population of an area of Central Bohemia affected by the flood of 2002].

In the Central-Bohemian area affected by the flood of 2002, 497 residents were screened for antibodies against the mosquito-borne viruses Tahyna (TAHV), West Nile (WNV), Sindbis (SINV) and Batai (BATV; syn. Calovo) using the haemagglutination-inhibition (HIT) and plaque-reduction neutralization (PRNT) tests. Blood samples were collected in September 2002 when the mosquito populations showed the maximum density following the flood.