The seventh blind test of crystal structure prediction: structure generation methods.

A seventh blind test of crystal structure prediction was organized by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre featuring seven target systems of varying complexity: a silicon and iodine-containing molecule, a copper coordination complex, a near-rigid molecule, a cocrystal, a polymorphic small agrochemical, a highly flexible polymorphic drug candidate, and a polymorphic morpholine salt. In this first of two parts focusing on structure generation methods, many crystal structure prediction (CSP) methods performed well for the small but flexible agrochemical compound, successfully reproducing the experimentally observed crystal structures, while few groups were successful for the systems of higher complexity. A powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) assisted exercise demonstrated the use of CSP in successfully determining a crystal structure from a low-quality PXRD pattern.

Long-term visual pathway alterations after elemental mercury poisoning: report of a series of 29 cases.

Background: There are few clinical data on retinal involvement after acute exposure to high concentrations mercury and the available reports are based on a small number of patients suffering chronic exposure. The purpose of this paper is to report findings in workers acutely exposed to very high concentrations of mercury vapor with the aim of providing data on a possible direct retinal involvement.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients and 16 controls were evaluated in a comparative case series.

Exploratory field study on the effects of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) sow vaccination at different physiological stages mimicking blanket vaccination.

Background: The objective of the present study was to explore the benefits of Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) blanket vaccination in a sow herd on productive parameters, PCV-2 infection and immune status in sows and their progeny. For this purpose, 288 sows were distributed among four balanced experimental groups. One group remained as negative control group and the other three received 1 mL of PCV-2 Ingelvac Circoflex® intramuscularly at different productive cycle moments: before mating, mid gestation (42-49 days post-insemination) or late gestation (86-93 days post-insemination); phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was used as negative control item.

Assessment of three commercial ELISAs for the detection of antibodies against Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at different stages of the immune response.

Three commercial ELISAs -two based on spike (E1 and E3) and one on nucleocapsid protein (E2)-were used to analyze the development and persistence of antibodies against Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Seventy-five four-week-old PEDV-negative piglets were inoculated orally with a European G1b PEDV (INOC) and fourteen were kept as controls (CTRL). After the inoculation, E3 detected positive animals as soon as 7 days post inoculation (dpi), while the earliest detection with E1 and E2 was at 14 dpi.

Fecal microbiota transplantation from warthog to pig confirms the influence of the gut microbiota on African swine fever susceptibility.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the causative agent of a devastating hemorrhagic disease (ASF) that affects both domestic pigs and wild boars. Conversely, ASFV circulates in a subclinical manner in African wild pigs, including warthogs, the natural reservoir for ASFV. Together with genetic differences, other factors might be involved in the differential susceptibility to ASF observed among Eurasian suids (Sus scrofa) and African warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus).