Effect of molnupiravir on SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised patients: a retrospective observational study.

Introduction: Continued SARS-CoV-2 infection among immunocompromised individuals is likely to play a role in generating genomic diversity and the emergence of novel variants. Antiviral treatments such as molnupiravir are used to mitigate severe COVID-19 outcomes, but the extended effects of these drugs on viral evolution in patients with chronic infections remain uncertain. This study investigates how molnupiravir affects SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised patients with prolonged infections.

gene rearrangement as a subclonal change in -positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

We report here on a case of -positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) that has acquired a gene rearrangement as a subclonal change. The 19-year-old female patient presented with B symptoms, pancytopenia, and circulating blasts. The bone marrow aspirate was hypercellular and was infiltrated by an immature blast population that was confirmed as B-ALL by flow cytometry.

Influenza antiviral resistance in the Asia-Pacific region during 2011.

Despite greater than 99% of influenza A viruses circulating in the Asia-Pacific region being resistant to the adamantane antiviral drugs in 2011, the large majority of influenza A (>97%) and B strains (∼99%) remained susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitors oseltamivir and zanamivir. However, compared to the first year of the 2009 pandemic, cases of oseltamivir-resistant A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses with the H275Y neuraminidase mutation increased in 2011, primarily due to an outbreak of oseltamivir-resistant viruses that occurred in Newcastle, as reported in Hurt et al. (2011c, 2012a), where the majority of the resistant viruses were from community patients not being treated with oseltamivir.

An outbreak of human rhinovirus species C infections in a neonatal intensive care unit.

We describe an outbreak of human rhinovirus type C infection in 7 infants in our neonatal/pediatric intensive care unit. Five infants had clinically significant apneic episodes and 5 required increased oxygen or ventilatory support. Infants shed virus detectable by polymerase chain reaction for a median of 4 weeks.

Utility of serum Campylobacter specific antibodies in determining prior Campylobacter infection in neurological disease.

Campylobacter jejuni has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS); however, little information exists on the utility of Campylobacter serology in determining recent infection in the patient population. C. jejuni specific antibodies (CAs) were measured in 420 blood donors (controls), 99 patients with recent C.

Protecting children's rights in the collection of health and welfare data.

Program managers and researchers promoting children's rights to health, education, and an adequate standard of living often gather data directly from children to assess their needs and develop responsive services. Gathering information within a participatory framework recognizing children's views contributes to protection of their rights. Extra precautions, however, are needed to protect children because of the vulnerabilities associated with their developmental needs.

Meningococcal vaccine failure in conjunction with an unusual meningococcal cluster in southern Tasmania.

The following is a report of an unusual family cluster of group C invasive meningococcal disease in Tasmania. This unusual case cluster raises several important issues of public health significance regarding vaccine failure and nucleic acid amplification testing use in the setting of invasive meningococcal disease.

Absence of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA in lymphoma samples from Tasmania, Australia.

Aims: It has been postulated that the recent world-wide increase in the incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) may have been caused by human infection with simian virus 40 (SV40) (a lymphotropic monkey virus that was introduced to man from contaminated poliovirus vaccines between 1955 and 1963); therefore, we set out to determine the incidence of SV40 DNA positivity in lymphoma samples from patients in Tasmania, Australia.

Methods: One hundred lymph node samples, 50 from patients with lymphomas and 50 from controls, were tested using PCR amplification of three SV40-specific primer pairs followed by dot-blot hybridisation.

Results: All of the samples tested contained amplifiable DNA, but none contained amplifiable SV40 sequences with any of the primer sets used.

Does the addition of information on genotype improve prediction of the risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer beyond that obtained from skin phenotype?

The authors quantified improvement in predicting cutaneous malignant melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin made possible by information on common variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R) in a 1998-1999 population-based case-control study of subjects aged 20-59 years of northern European ancestry in Tasmania, Australia. Melanin density at the upper inner arm was estimated by spectrophotometry. DNA samples were genotyped for five MC1R variants: Val60Leu, Asp84Glu, Arg151Cys, Arg160Trp, and Asp294His.

Randomised controlled trial of reflexology for menopausal symptoms.

Objective: Clinical experience suggests that reflexology may have beneficial effects on the symptoms occurring in menopausal women, particularly psychological symptoms. This study aims to examine that effect rigorously.

Design: Randomised controlled trial with two parallel arms.