Design, optimization, and inference of biphasic decay of infectious virus particles.

Virus population dynamics are driven by counter-balancing forces of production and loss. Whereas viral production arises from complex interactions with susceptible hosts, the loss of infectious virus particles is often approximated as a first-order kinetic process. As such, experimental protocols to measure infectious virus loss are not typically designed to identify non-exponential decay processes.

Physical Demands of Brazilian Air Force Critical Combat Tasks.

Introduction: The present study aimed to identify the physical demands of Brazilian Air Force (BAF) critical Combat Tasks (CTs) and investigate the occurrence of differences in their difficulty perceived ratings, considering aspects such as sex, military experience, and academic degree of the evaluators.

Methods: The Subject Matter Expert (SME) cohort was assembled based on the BAF's Physical Training Specialists (n = 13, military, at least 2 years of experience). Based on the BAF's previous studies, a questionnaire defining and rating the physical demands of 12 BAF critical CTs was developed.

Three cases with chronic obsessive compulsive disorder report gains in wellbeing and function following rituximab treatment.

Immunological aetiology is supported for a subgroup with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and conceptualized as autoimmune OCD. The longitudinal clinical course is detailed for three severely ill cases with OCD and indications of immunological involvement with off-label rituximab treatment every six months. All cases showed clear and sustained gains regarding symptom burden and function for over 2.

Bacteriophage Φ21's receptor-binding protein evolves new functions through destabilizing mutations that generate non-genetic phenotypic heterogeneity.

How viruses evolve to expand their host range is a major question with implications for predicting the next pandemic. Gain-of-function experiments have revealed that host-range expansions can occur through relatively few mutations in viral receptor-binding proteins, and the search for molecular mechanisms that explain such expansions is underway. Previous research on expansions of receptor use in bacteriophage λ has shown that mutations that destabilize λ's receptor-binding protein cause it to fold into new conformations that can utilize novel receptors but have weakened thermostability.