Electronic Health Record Data for Lyme Disease Surveillance, Massachusetts, USA, 2017-2018.

Lyme disease surveillance based on provider and laboratory reports underestimates incidence. We developed an algorithm for automating surveillance using electronic health record data. We identified potential Lyme disease markers in electronic health record data (laboratory tests, diagnosis codes, prescriptions) from January 2017-December 2018 in 2 large practice groups in Massachusetts, USA.

Outcomes up to age 36 months after congenital Zika virus infection-U.S. states.

Background: To characterize neurodevelopmental abnormalities in children up to 36 months of age with congenital Zika virus exposure.

Methods: From the U.S.

Contact Tracing and Exposure Investigation in Response to the First Case of Monkeypox Virus Infection in the United States During the 2022 Global Monkeypox Outbreak.

Background: In May 2022, the first case of monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection in the United States in the current global outbreak was identified. As part of the public health and health care facility response, a contact tracing and exposure investigation was done.

Objective: To describe the contact tracing, exposure identification, risk stratification, administration of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), and exposure period monitoring for contacts of the index patient, including evaluation of persons who developed symptoms possibly consistent with MPXV infection.

Ribavirin as a potential therapeutic for atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors.

Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (AT/RT) are highly aggressive, malignant tumors and are the most common malignant brain tumor in children under 6 months of age. Currently, there is no standard treatment for AT/RT. Recent studies have reported potential anti-tumoral properties of ribavirin, a guanosine analog and anti-viral molecule approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of hepatitis C.

Evaluation of Placental and Fetal Tissue Specimens for Zika Virus Infection - 50 States and District of Columbia, January-December, 2016.

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause congenital microcephaly and brain abnormalities (1), and detection of Zika virus RNA in clinical and tissue specimens can provide definitive laboratory evidence of recent Zika virus infection. Whereas duration of viremia is typically short, prolonged detection of Zika virus RNA in placental, fetal, and neonatal brain tissue has been reported and can provide key diagnostic information by confirming recent Zika virus infection (2). In accordance with recent guidance (3,4), CDC provides Zika virus testing of placental and fetal tissues in clinical situations where this information could add diagnostic value.

Zika virus evolution and spread in the Americas.

Although the recent Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in the Americas and its link to birth defects have attracted a great deal of attention, much remains unknown about ZIKV disease epidemiology and ZIKV evolution, in part owing to a lack of genomic data. Here we address this gap in knowledge by using multiple sequencing approaches to generate 110 ZIKV genomes from clinical and mosquito samples from 10 countries and territories, greatly expanding the observed viral genetic diversity from this outbreak. We analysed the timing and patterns of introductions into distinct geographic regions; our phylogenetic evidence suggests rapid expansion of the outbreak in Brazil and multiple introductions of outbreak strains into Puerto Rico, Honduras, Colombia, other Caribbean islands, and the continental United States.

Chemotherapy-Resistant Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells Are Not Enriched for Leukemic Stem Cells but Require Oxidative Metabolism.

Chemotherapy-resistant human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells are thought to be enriched in quiescent immature leukemic stem cells (LSC). To validate this hypothesis , we developed a clinically relevant chemotherapeutic approach treating patient-derived xenografts (PDX) with cytarabine (AraC). AraC residual AML cells are enriched in neither immature, quiescent cells nor LSCs.

Male-to-Female Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus-United States, January-April 2016.

We report on 9 cases of male-to-female sexual transmission of Zika virus in the United States occurring January-April 2016. This report summarizes new information about both timing of exposure and symptoms of sexually transmitted Zika virus disease, and results of semen testing for Zika virus from 2 male travelers.

Use of an anti-viral drug, Ribavirin, as an anti-glioblastoma therapeutic.

The median survival for glioblastoma patients is ~15 months despite aggressive surgery and radio-chemotherapy approaches. Thus, developing new therapeutics is necessary to improve the treatment of these invasive brain tumors, which are known to show high levels of the eukaryotic initiation factor, eIF4E, a potent oncogene. Ribavirin, the only clinically approved drug known to target eIF4E, is an anti-viral molecule currently used in hepatitis C treatment.

The Bad, the Good and eIF3e/INT6.

Recent research on translation and protein synthesis in several pathologies, including cancer, peripheral artery disease, and wound healing, demonstrates the key role played by translational factors in tumorigenic and angiogenic processes. This review will focus on one specific translational factor, eIF3e also called INT6, the "e" subunit of the translation initiation factor eIF3. INT6/eIF3e has recently been described as a multifunction protein playing a role in translation, protein degradation, DNA repair, nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, cell cycle and control of cell response to low oxygen (hypoxia or ischemia) through modulation of the Hypoxia Inducible Factors (HIFs).

Metformin inhibits growth of human glioblastoma cells and enhances therapeutic response.

High-grade gliomas, glioblastomas (GB), are refractory to conventional treatment combining surgery, chemotherapy, mainly temozolomide, and radiotherapy. This highlights an urgent need to develop novel therapies and increase the efficacy of radio/chemotherapy for these very aggressive and malignant brain tumors. Recently, tumor metabolism became an interesting potential therapeutic target in various cancers.

A robust and rapid xenograft model to assess efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents for human acute myeloid leukemia.

Relevant preclinical mouse models are crucial to screen new therapeutic agents for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Current in vivo models based on the use of patient samples are not easy to establish and manipulate in the laboratory. Our objective was to develop robust xenograft models of human AML using well-characterized cell lines as a more accessible and faster alternative to those incorporating the use of patient-derived AML cells.

Selected enteropathogens and clinical course in children hospitalized with severe acute gastroenteritis in Barbados.

Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of selected bacterial and viral enteropathogens in children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis and the secondary aim was to characterize the clinical course and the outcome.

Methodology: A retrospective audit of children (<15 years) admitted with acute gastroenteritis during January 2008 to October 2010. Stool samples were analyzed for bacterial pathogens and for the Rotavirus.

Int6/eIF3e is essential for proliferation and survival of human glioblastoma cells.

Glioblastomas (GBM) are very aggressive and malignant brain tumors, with frequent relapses despite an appropriate treatment combining surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In GBM, hypoxia is a characteristic feature and activation of Hypoxia Inducible Factors (HIF-1α and HIF-2α) has been associated with resistance to anti-cancer therapeutics. Int6, also named eIF3e, is the "e" subunit of the translation initiation factor eIF3, and was identified as novel regulator of HIF-2α.

Sense of effort revisited: relative contributions of sensory feedback and efferent copy.

Although controversial, muscular effort perception is frequently attributed to the efferent copy of the associated motor command. While peripheral/sensory information is thought to be necessary for force modulation/control, it is not involved in initial force production. We recently showed in right-handers, that perception of effort was asymmetric for grasp-force tasks.

Induced differentiation of acute myeloid leukemia cells by activation of retinoid X and liver X receptors.

Use of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) as a differentiation agent has been limited to acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) as non-APL leukemias are insensitive to ATRA. We recently demonstrated that the rexinoid, bexarotene, induces differentiation and therapeutic responses in patients with refractory AML. Rexinoids bind and activate retinoid X receptors (RXRs); however, rexinoids alone are incapable of activating retinoic acid receptor (RAR)/RXR complexes, suggesting that myeloid differentiation can occur independent of RAR.

Mitochondrial energetic and AKT status mediate metabolic effects and apoptosis of metformin in human leukemic cells.

Previous reports demonstrate that metformin, an anti-diabetic drug, can decrease the risk of cancer and inhibit cancer cell growth. However, its mechanism in cancer cells is still unknown. Metformin significantly blocks cell cycle and inhibits cell proliferation and colony formation of leukemic cells.

Upper limb kinesthetic asymmetries: gender and handedness effects.

Proprioceptive and motor information contribute to movement representation; however, the equivalence of homologous contralateral sensorimotor processes as a function of gender and handedness has received little attention. The present work investigated asymmetry in contralateral reproductions of movements elicited by tendon vibration in right and left handed young adults of both genders. With eyes closed, illusions of elbow flexion movement elicited by a 100 Hz vibration applied to the distal tendon of the right or left triceps muscle were matched concurrently with the opposite limb.

Asymmetry in grasp force matching and sense of effort.

While asymmetries in upper limb force matching have been observed, the mechanisms underlying asymmetry in the sense of effort have not been conceptualized. The aim of this study was to investigate asymmetries in the perception and reproduction of grasp force. Forty-two young adults, 22 right-handed (RH) and 20 left-handed (LH), were, respectively, divided into three groups according to differences between their right and left-hand strength (left stronger than right, right stronger than left and right & left equivalent).

Use of gene probes and adhesion tests to characterise Escherichia coli belonging to enteropathogenic serogroups isolated in the United Kingdom.

Nine hundred and twenty-five Escherichia coli isolates from cases of diarrhoea in the United Kingdom and belonging to enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) O serogroups were examined for virulence properties. The tests included adhesion to HEp-2 cells, the fluorescence actin staining (FAS) test (which correlates with the ability to cause attaching and effacing lesions) and DNA hybridisations with probes to detect sequences for eaeA (E.

Catabolite repression of the adhesion of Vero cytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli of serogroups O157 and O111.

The virulence traits that mediate Vero cytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) adherence are unclear. Many VTEC strains possess the eaeA gene which is involved in the attaching and effacing effects of enteropathogenic E.

Detection and differentiation of the gene for toxin co-regulated pili (tcpA) in Vibrio cholerae non-O1 using the polymerase chain reaction.

The polymerase chain reaction has been used to differentiate the gene which encodes the toxin co-regulated pili (tcpA) of the El Tor and classical biotypes of Vibrio cholerae O1. The same PCR primers were applied to strains belonging to non-O1 serogroups that produced cholera toxin. The size of fragment amplified was either identical to the tcpA of biotype El Tor (471 bp) or to the tcpA of biotype classical (617 bp).

Isolates of Escherichia coli O44:H18 of diverse origin are enteroaggregative.

One hundred thirteen strains of Escherichia coli O44:H18 isolated in several countries over 25 years were examined for adhesion to tissue culture cells and for hybridization with DNA probes. Fifty-nine strains were from sporadic cases of infection; 54 were from 12 outbreaks. Of the 113 strains, 85 showed aggregative adhesion to HEp-2 cells; 36 were from sporadic cases and 49 were from 9 outbreaks.

Hybridization of strains of Escherichia coli O157 with probes derived from the eaeA gene of enteropathogenic E. coli and the eaeA homolog from a Vero cytotoxin-producing strain of E. coli O157.

A total of 375 Escherichia coli O157 strains were tested by colony hybridization with the eae probe from the central portion of the eaeA gene of the classical enteropathogenic E. coli strain E2348/69. They were also tested with a probe, eaeO157, from the C-terminal end of the eae gene homolog from a Vero cytotoxin (VT)-producing strain of E.