Assembly of respiratory syncytial virus matrix protein lattice and its coordination with fusion glycoprotein trimers.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an enveloped, filamentous, negative-strand RNA virus that causes significant respiratory illness worldwide. RSV vaccines are available, however there is still significant need for research to support the development of vaccines and therapeutics against RSV and related Mononegavirales viruses. Individual virions vary in size, with an average diameter of ~130 nm and ranging from ~500 nm to over 10 µm in length.

Toward Shared Decision-Making in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Health care decisions are a critical determinant in the evolution of chronic illness. In shared decision-making (SDM), patients and clinicians work collaboratively to reach evidence-based health decisions that align with individual circumstances, values, and preferences. This personalized approach to clinical care likely has substantial benefits in the oversight of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), a type of nontraumatic spinal cord injury.

The shadows of waiting and care: on discourses of waiting in the history of the British National Health Service.

Waiting is at the centre of experiences and practices of healthcare. However, we know very little about the relationship between the subjective experiences of patients who wait in and for care, health practitioners who 'prescribe' and manage waiting, and how this relates to broader cultural meanings of waiting. Waiting features heavily in the sociological, managerial, historical and health economics literatures that investigate UK healthcare, but the focus has been on service provision and quality, with waiting (including waiting lists and waiting times) drawn on as a key marker to test the efficiency and affordability of the NHS.

An RSV Live-Attenuated Vaccine Candidate Lacking G Protein Mucin Domains Is Attenuated, Immunogenic, and Effective in Preventing RSV in BALB/c Mice.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading viral respiratory pathogen in infants. The objective of this study was to generate RSV live-attenuated vaccine (LAV) candidates by removing the G-protein mucin domains to attenuate viral replication while retaining immunogenicity through deshielding of surface epitopes.

Methods: Two LAV candidates were generated from recombinant RSV A2-line19F by deletion of the G-protein mucin domains (A2-line19F-G155) or deletion of the G-protein mucin and transmembrane domains (A2-line19F-G155S).

Mucosal administration of a live attenuated recombinant COVID-19 vaccine protects nonhuman primates from SARS-CoV-2.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the COVID-19 global pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped RNA virus that relies on its trimeric surface glycoprotein spike for entry into host cells. Here we describe the COVID-19 vaccine candidate MV-014-212, a live, attenuated, recombinant human respiratory syncytial virus expressing a chimeric SARS-CoV-2 spike as the only viral envelope protein.

Waiting for the Doctor: Managing Time and Emotion in the British National Health Service, 1948-80.

This article examines patients' and doctors' emotional and psychological entanglements with the development of appointment systems in British general practice between the 1948 and 1980. Waiting, especially in the form of the queue, has been subject to recent historical analyses. However, the focus has often been on negative emotional responses, on how waiting has been politicized, and on the disciplinary power of the waiting room.

Packaging of Diisopropyl Fluorophosphatase (DFPase) in Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles Protects Its Activity at Extreme Temperature.

Enzymatic decontamination of organophosphate compounds offers a biofriendly pathway to the neutralization of highly dangerous compounds. Environmental dissemination of enzymes, however, is an ongoing problem considering the costly process of production and chemical modification for stability that can diminish catalytic activity. As a result, there is interest in the potential for enzymatic encapsulation in situ or into nascent bacterial membrane vesicles to improve catalytic stability across various environmental challenges associated with storage and field deployment.

Planetary healthy publics after COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a sign of a global malaise. The pandemic is an outcome of what we term a planetary dysbiosis, for which underlining drivers include inequality and the exploitation and extraction of human and non-human labours. The implication is that the usual fixes to outbreaks of infectious diseases (ie, surveillance, pharmaceutical measures, and non-pharmaceutical measures) will be insufficient without a thorough reappraisal of and investment in planetary health.

Allomelanin: A Biopolymer of Intrinsic Microporosity.

Melanin is a ubiquitous natural pigment found in a diverse array of organisms. Allomelanin is a class of nitrogen-free melanin often found in fungi. Herein, we find artificial allomelanin analogues exhibit high intrinsic microporosity and describe an approach for further increasing and tuning that porosity.

Synthetic Porous Melanin.

Commonly known as a skin pigment, melanin has a vital role in UV radiation protection, primarily acting as a radical scavenger. However, a lesser known natural property of melanin, observed in some melanized organisms, is its capacity to adsorb toxins, including metals and organic molecules. Inspired by this, we set out to generate a synthetic porous melanin that would pave the way to enhancing the natural adsorbent properties of melanin and melanin-like materials.

A Respiratory Syncytial Virus Attachment Gene Variant Associated with More Severe Disease in Infants Decreases Fusion Protein Expression, Which May Facilitate Immune Evasion.

This study identified a genotype of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) associated with increased acute respiratory disease severity in a cohort of previously healthy term infants. The genotype (2stop+A4G) consists of two components. The A4G component is a prevalent point mutation in the 4th position of the gene end transcription termination signal of the G gene of currently circulating RSV strains.

The Design of Vaccines Based on the Shielding of Antigenic Site Ø of a Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein Immunogen.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), for which there is currently no licensed vaccine, displays a fusion (F) protein that is considered a vaccine target. This protein has an antigenic site called site Ø, which has been shown to elicit potent, neutralizing antibodies and has therefore been considered important in the formulation of RSV vaccines. However, this site is also the least conserved region on the F protein across RSV subtypes.

Historicising "containment and delay": COVID-19, the NHS and high-risk patients.

Despite the first case of the novel coronavirus only being reported to the WHO at the end of December 2019, humanities and social science scholars have been quick to subject local, national and international responses to COVID-19 to critique. Through television and radio, blogs, social media and other outlets, historians in particular have situated the ongoing outbreak in relation to previous epidemics and historicised cultural and political responses. This paper furthers these historical considerations of the current pandemic by examining the way the National Health Service (NHS) and discourses of risk have figured in public and policy responses.

Antigenicity and immunogenicity of unique prefusion-mimic F proteins presented on enveloped virus-like particles.

Pre-fusion stabilizing mutations (DS-Cav1) in soluble fusion (F) proteins of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were previously reported. Here we investigated the antigenic and immunogenic properties of pre-fusion like RSV F proteins on enveloped virus-like particles (VLP). Additional mutations were introduced to DS-Cav1 (F-dcmTM VLP); fusion peptide deletion and cleavage mutation site 1 (F1d-dcmTM VLP) or both sites (F12d-dcmTM VLP).

Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein-encoding DNA Vaccine Is Less Effective in Conferring Protection against Inflammatory Disease than a Virus-like Particle Platform.

Formalin-inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination causes vaccine-enhanced disease (VED) after RSV infection. It is considered that vaccine platforms enabling endogenous synthesis of RSV immunogens would induce favorable immune responses than non-replicating subunit vaccines in avoiding VED. Here, we investigated the immunogenicity, protection, and disease in mice after vaccination with RSV fusion protein (F) encoding plasmid DNA (F-DNA) or virus-like particles presenting RSV F (F-VLP).

Evaluation of the role of respiratory syncytial virus surface glycoproteins F and G on viral stability and replication: implications for future vaccine design.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains a leading cause of infant mortality worldwide and exhaustive international efforts are underway to develop a vaccine. However, vaccine development has been hindered by a legacy of vaccine-enhanced disease, poor viral immunogenicity in infants, and genetic and physical instabilities. Natural infection with RSV does not prime for enhanced disease encouraging development of live-attenuated RSV vaccines for infants; however, physical instabilities of RSV may limit vaccine development.

Using urine metabolomics to understand the pathogenesis of infant respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection and its role in childhood wheezing.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in infants causes significant morbidity and is the strongest risk factor associated with asthma. Metabolites, which reflect the interactions between host cell and virus, provide an opportunity to identify the pathways that underlie severe infections and asthma development.

Objective: To study metabolic profile differences between infants with RSV infection, and human rhinovirus (HRV) infection, and healthy infants.

Development of a Genetic System for CP1 (), a Wax Ester Producing Strain Isolated From an Autotrophic Biocathode.

Here, we report on the development of a genetic system for sp. strain CP1, previously isolated from the Biocathode MCL community and shown to oxidize iron and grow as a cathodic biofilm. Sequence analysis of the small and large subunits of the 16S rRNA gene of CP1, as well as comparison of select conserved proteins, indicate that it is most closely related to HP15 and sp.

The Morphology and Assembly of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Revealed by Cryo-Electron Tomography.

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract disease in young children. With repeat infections throughout life, it can also cause substantial disease in the elderly and in adults with compromised cardiac, pulmonary and immune systems. RSV is a pleomorphic enveloped RNA virus in the family.