Objective: Farmworkers are at increased risk of adverse health outcomes related to occupational heat exposure and inadequate access to water, shade, or rest breaks. Presently, there is a dearth of studies examining the prevalence of dehydration and related factors in U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the last 25 years, biology has entered the genomic era and is becoming a science of 'big data'. Most interpretations of genomic analyses rely on accurate functional annotations of the proteins encoded by more than 500 000 genomes sequenced to date. By different estimates, only half the predicted sequenced proteins carry an accurate functional annotation, and this percentage varies drastically between different organismal lineages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) contribute high disease burdens amongst the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and are public health problems in Angola. This study reports the prevalence, intensity and risk factors for schistosomiasis and STH infection in Huambo, Uige and Zaire provinces, Angola, to inform a school-based preventive chemotherapy program.
Methods: A two-stage cluster design was used to select schools and schoolchildren to participate in parasitological and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) surveys across Huambo, Uige, and Zaire provinces.
The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted frontline workers' health in 2020. The objective of this commentary is to evaluate some of the challenges faced by undocumented farmworkers in the context of the current global pandemic and possible risk mitigation strategies. Undocumented farmworkers make considerable contributions to the U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfrican swine fever virus (ASFV) is a highly contagious pathogen which causes a lethal haemorrhagic fever in domestic pigs and wild boar. The large, double-stranded DNA virus replicates in perinuclear cytoplasmic replication sites known as viral factories. These factories are complex, multi-dimensional structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Manage
January 2020
Efforts to mitigate outdoor water use in Florida's urban landscapes increasingly include promotion of regionally appropriate landscaping based on its documented effectiveness. Targeted initiatives, however, require an understanding of mechanisms underpinning low irrigation use in single-family homes with Florida-Friendly Landscaping (FFL). This paper reports survey research conducted in southwest Florida to identify factors associated with irrigation practices among FFL clients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, an alphavirus vector platform was used to deliver replicon particles (RPs) expressing African swine fever virus (ASFV) antigens to swine. Alphavirus RPs expressing ASFV p30 (RP-30), p54 (RP-54) or pHA-72 (RP-sHA-p72) antigens were constructed and tested for expression in Vero cells and for immunogenicity in pigs. RP-30 showed the highest expression in Vero cells and was the most immunogenic in pigs, followed by RP-54 and RP-sHA-p72.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 2011, an unusually large number of independent Hendra virus outbreaks were recorded on horse properties in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Urine from bat colonies adjacent to the outbreak sites were sampled and screened for Hendra and other viruses. Several novel paramyxoviruses were also isolated at different locations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFK506 and rapamycin (Rap) are immunosuppressive drugs that act principally on T-lymphocytes. The receptors for both drugs are FK506-binding proteins (FKBPs), but the molecular mechanisms of immunosuppression differ. An FK506-FKBP complex inhibits the protein phosphatase calcineurin, blocking a key step in T-cell activation, while the Rap -FKBP complex binds to the protein kinase target of rapamycin (TOR), which is involved in a subsequent signalling pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStormwater ponds are installed in urban developments to provide the ecosystem services of flood control and water treatment. In coastal areas, these ponds are connected to watersheds that can drain directly into protected estuaries, making their design, function, and maintenance critical to environmental protection. However, stormwater ponds in residential areas are increasingly managed as aesthetic amenities that add value to real estate rather than as engineered devices with special maintenance requirements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHendra and Nipah viruses (genus Henipavirus, family Paramyxoviridae) are highly pathogenic bat-borne viruses. The need for high biocontainment when studying henipaviruses has hindered the development of therapeutics and knowledge of the viral infection cycle. We have performed a genome-wide siRNA screen at biosafety level 4 that identified 585 human proteins required for henipavirus infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses are often thought to have static structure, and they only remodel after the viruses have entered target cells. Here, we detected a size expansion of virus particles prior to viral entry using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and single molecule fluorescence imaging. HIV expanded both under cell-free conditions with soluble receptor CD4 (sCD4) targeting the CD4 binding site on the HIV-1 envelope protein (Env) and when HIV binds to receptor on cellular membrane.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, bats have been identified as a natural reservoir for a diverse range of viruses. Nelson Bay orthoreovirus (NBV) was first isolated from the heart blood of a fruit bat (Pteropus poliocephalus) in 1968. While the pathogenesis of NBV remains unknown, other related members of this group have caused acute respiratory disease in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hendra virus (HeV) is a pleomorphic virus belonging to the Paramyxovirus family. Our long-term aim is to understand the process of assembly of HeV virions. As a first step, we sought to determine the most appropriate cell culture system with which to study this process, and then to use this model to define the morphology of the virus and identify the site of assembly by imaging key virus encoded proteins in infected cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bats are a major reservoir of emerging infectious viruses. Many of these viruses are highly pathogenic to humans however bats remain asymptomatic. The mechanism by which bats control viral replication is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Wongabel virus (WONV) is an arthropod-borne rhabdovirus that infects birds. It is one of the growing array of rhabdoviruses with complex genomes that encode multiple accessory proteins of unknown function. In addition to the five canonical rhabdovirus structural protein genes (N, P, M, G, and L), the 13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the only flying mammal, bats harbor a number of emerging and re-emerging viruses, many of which cause severe diseases in humans and other mammals yet result in no clinical symptoms in bats. As the master regulator of the interferon (IFN)-dependent immune response, IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) plays a central role in innate antiviral immunity. To explore the role of bat IRF7 in the regulation of the IFN response, we performed sequence and functional analysis of IRF7 from the pteropid bat, Pteropus alecto.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBecause farm labor supervisors (FLSs) are responsible for ensuring safe work environments for thousands of workers, providing them with adequate knowledge is critical to preserving worker health. Yet a challenge to offering professional training to FLSs, many of whom are foreign-born and have received different levels of education in the US and abroad, is implementing a program that not only results in knowledge gains but meets the expectations of a diverse audience. By offering bilingual instruction on safety and compliance, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) FLS Training program is helping to improve workplace conditions and professionalize the industry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor the last 10 years, the Partnership for Citrus Workers Health (PCWH) has been an evidence-based intervention program that promotes the adoption of protective eye safety equipment among Spanish-speaking farmworkers of Florida. At the root of this program is the systematic use of community-based preventive marketing (CBPM) and the training of community health workers (CHWs) among citrus harvester using popular education. CBPM is a model that combines the organizational system of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and the strategies of social marketing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanomedicine (Lond)
April 2015
Aim: Influenza virus remains a major threat, with outbreaks continuing to occur. Few treatment options are available and drug resistance can emerge rapidly. New drugs that can quickly be adapted to virus mutations are needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) is an arthropod-borne rhabdovirus that is classified as the type species of the genus Ephemerovirus. In addition to the five canonical rhabdovirus structural proteins (N, P, M, G, and L), the large and complex BEFV genome contains several open reading frames (ORFs) between the G and L genes (α1, α2/α3, β, and γ) encoding proteins of unknown function. We show that the 10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an arbovirus that is responsible for 'bluetongue', an economically important disease of livestock. Although BTV is well characterised at the protein level, less is known regarding its interaction with host cells. During studies of virus inclusion body formation we observed what appeared to be a large proportion of cells in mitosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Replication of positive-sense RNA viruses is associated with the rearrangement of cellular membranes. Previous work on the infection of tissue culture cell lines with the betacoronaviruses mouse hepatitis virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) showed that they generate double-membrane vesicles (DMVs) and convoluted membranes as part of a reticular membrane network. Here we describe a detailed study of the membrane rearrangements induced by the avian gammacoronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in a mammalian cell line but also in primary avian cells and in epithelial cells of ex vivo tracheal organ cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHendra virus (HeV) is a highly pathogenic zoonotic paramyxovirus that causes fatal disease in a wide range of species, including humans. HeV was first described in Australia in 1994, and has continued to re-emerge with increasing frequency. HeV is of significant concern to human health due to its high mortality rate, increasing emergence, absence of vaccines and limited post exposure therapies.
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