Recombinant Measles Virus Vaccine Expressing the Nipah Virus Glycoprotein Protects Against Lethal Nipah Virus Challenge.

Recombinant Measles Virus Vaccine Expressing the Nipah Virus Glycoprotein Protects against Lethal Nipah Virus Challenge.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(3): e58414
Yoneda M, Georges-Courbot MC, Ikeda F, Ishii M, Nagata N, Jacquot F, Raoul H, Sato H, Kai C

Nipah virus (NiV) is a member of the genus Henipavirus, which emerged in Malaysia in 1998. In pigs, infection resulted in a predominantly non-lethal respiratory disease; however, infection in humans resulted in over 100 deaths. Nipah virus has continued to re-emerge in Bangladesh and India, and person-to-person transmission appeared in the outbreak. Although a number of NiV vaccine studies have been reported, there are currently no vaccines or treatments licensed for human use. In this study, we have developed a recombinant measles virus (rMV) vaccine expressing NiV envelope glycoproteins (rMV-HL-G and rMV-Ed-G). Vaccinated hamsters were completely protected against NiV challenge, while the mortality of unvaccinated control hamsters was 90%. We trialed our vaccine in a non-human primate model, African green monkeys. Upon intraperitoneal infection with NiV, monkeys showed several clinical signs of disease including severe depression, reduced ability to move and decreased food ingestion and died at 7 days post infection (dpi). Intranasal and oral inoculation induced similar clinical illness in monkeys, evident around 9 dpi, and resulted in a moribund stage around 14 dpi. Two monkeys immunized subcutaneously with rMV-Ed-G showed no clinical illness prior to euthanasia after challenge with NiV. Viral RNA was not detected in any organ samples collected from vaccinated monkeys, and no pathological changes were found upon histopathological examination. From our findings, we propose that rMV-NiV-G is an appropriate NiV vaccine candidate for use in humans. HubMed – depression

Depression among Chinese University Students: Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Correlates.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(3): e58379
Chen L, Wang L, Qiu XH, Yang XX, Qiao ZX, Yang YJ, Liang Y

The purpose of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of depression in Chinese university students, and to identify the socio-demographic factors associated with depression in this population. A multi-stage stratified sampling procedure was used to select university students (N?=?5245) in Harbin (Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China), who were aged 16-35 years. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to determine depressive symptoms of the participants. BDI scores of 14 or higher were categorized as depressive for logistic regression analysis. Depression was diagnosed by the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). 11.7% of the participants had a BDI score 14 or higher. Major Depressive Disorder was seen in 4.0% of Chinese university students. There were no statistical differences in the incidence of depression when gender, ethnicity, and university classification were analyzed. Multivariate analysis showed that age, study year, satisfaction with major, family income situation, parental relationship and mother’s education were significantly associated with depression. Moderate depression is prevalent in Chinese university students. The students who were older, dissatisfied with their major, had a lower family income, poor parental relationships, and a lower level of mother’s education were susceptible to depression. HubMed – depression

Inbreeding Avoidance Drives Consistent Variation of Fine-Scale Genetic Structure Caused by Dispersal in the Seasonal Mating System of Brandt’s Voles.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(3): e58101
Liu XH, Yue LF, Wang da W, Li N, Cong L

Inbreeding depression is a major evolutionary and ecological force influencing population dynamics and the evolution of inbreeding-avoidance traits such as mating systems and dispersal. Mating systems and dispersal are fundamental determinants of population genetic structure. Resolving the relationships among genetic structure, seasonal breeding-related mating systems and dispersal will facilitate our understanding of the evolution of inbreeding avoidance. The goals of this study were as follows: (i) to determine whether females actively avoided mating with relatives in a group-living rodent species, Brandt’s voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii), by combined analysis of their mating system, dispersal and genetic structure; and (ii) to analyze the relationships among the variation in fine-genetic structure, inbreeding avoidance, season-dependent mating strategies and individual dispersal. Using both individual- and population-level analyses, we found that the majority of Brandt’s vole groups consisted of close relatives. However, both group-specific FISs, an inbreeding coefficient that expresses the expected percentage rate of homozygosity arising from a given breeding system, and relatedness of mates showed no sign of inbreeding. Using group pedigrees and paternity analysis, we show that the mating system of Brandt’s voles consists of a type of polygyny for males and extra-group polyandry for females, which may decrease inbreeding by increasing the frequency of mating among distantly-related individuals. The consistent variation in within-group relatedness, among-group relatedness and fine-scale genetic structures was mostly due to dispersal, which primarily occurred during the breeding season. Biologically relevant variation in the fine-scale genetic structure suggests that dispersal during the mating season may be a strategy to avoid inbreeding and drive the polygynous and extra-group polyandrous mating system of this species. HubMed – depression

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