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Today's Headlines: June 21, 2018

Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases 

Polio Has Not Returned to Venezuela, WHO Says ( Newsweek) Polio has not returned to Venezuela, according to the WHO, despite reports that a case of the virus had been identified as the country reels from an economic and political crisis.  Go to article


Domestic Preparedness & Response

Are We Prepared for Nuclear Terrorism? ( NEJM) Gale and Armitage (March 29 issue) provide detailed scenarios of intentional exposure of the public to ionizing radiation. Such an incident of any size would be a disaster, and the detonation of an improvised nuclear device would be catastrophic. The authors wisely note the importance of efforts to avoid these incidents and the need for education, prevention, preparedness, planning, and necessary resources. Go to article


Government Affairs & National Security

Key Nuclear Expert Departs White House as North Korea Negotiations Loom ( Washington Post) A key US official involved in denuclearization talks with North Korea is leaving the White House just as the Trump administration prepares to engage in high-stakes negotiations with the isolated regime, the official confirmed to The Washington Post. Go to article


Medicine & Public Health

Ebola Outbreak in Congo 'Largely Contained', Says WHO ( Reuters) Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak has been "largely contained" and no new cases of the disease have been confirmed since the last known sufferer died on June 9, the WHO said on Wednesday. The UN health body said it viewed the situation with "cautious optimism", despite the difficulty of tracking down people who may have been exposed to the deadly virus in remote forests close to the Congo River. Go to article

New Flu Vaccine Only a Little Better Than Traditional Shot ( AP News) A newer kind of flu vaccine only worked a little bit better in seniors this past winter than traditional shots, the government reported Wednesday. Overall, flu vaccines barely worked at all in keeping people 65 and older out of the hospital, with roughly 24 percent effectiveness. Go to article

Four Principles to Make Evidence Synthesis More Useful for Policy ( Nature) Reward the creation of analyses for policymakers that are inclusive, rigorous, transparent and accessible, urge Christl A. Donnelly and colleagues. Go to article


Science & Technology

Oxitec to Apply New Generation of Self-Limiting Mosquito Technology to Malaria-Spreading Mosquitoes ( Oxitec) Oxitec, Ltd. ("Oxitec"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), today announced it is entering into a cooperative agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a new strain of Oxitec's self-limiting Friendly™ Mosquitoes to combat a mosquito species that spreads malaria in the Western Hemisphere. Go to article

Gene-Edited Farm Animals are on Their Way ( BBC News) Scientists have created pigs that are immune to one of the world's costliest livestock diseases. The team edited the animals' DNA to make them resist the deadly respiratory disease known as PRRS--a move that could prevent billions of pounds in losses each year. Go to article

Intraamniotic Zika Virus Inoculation of Pregnant Rhesus Macaque Produces Fetal Neurologic Disease ( Nature Communications) Zika virus infection of pregnant women can cause fetal microcephaly and other neurologic defects. We describe the development of a non-human primate model to better understand fetal pathogenesis. Go to article

Unanswered Questions About the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Origin, Pathology, and the Virus Itself ( The Lancet) The influenza epidemic of 1918 represented the greatest failure of medical science in the 20th century. Fortunately, research throughout subsequent years has been making amends. Some studies have applied RT-PCR to the tissue samples from that time, whereas others have reconstructed the pathogen in its virulent state. But the resurrection of the 1918 influenza virus leaves questions unanswered. Go to article

A Naturally Occurring Antiviral Ribonucleotide Encoded by the Human Genome ( Nature) Viral infections continue to represent major challenges to public health, and an enhanced mechanistic understanding of the processes that contribute to viral life cycles is necessary for the development of new therapeutic strategies. Viperin, a member of the radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) superfamily of enzymes, is an interferon-inducible protein implicated in the inhibition of replication of a broad range of RNA and DNA viruses, including dengue virus, West Nile virus, hepatitis C virus, influenza A virus, rabies virus and HIV. Go to article

Genetically Modified Bacteria Enlisted in Fight Against Disease ( Nature) People often take medicines to rid themselves of problem bacteria. Now, a counterintuitive approach--turning genetically modified bacteria into medicines--is gaining ground. Several companies are testing whether engineered bacteria can treat conditions that affect the brain, liver and other organs--and even kill other, harmful microbes. Go to article

Genome Editing by Natural and Engineered CRISPR-Associated Nucleases (Nature Chemical Biology) Over the last decade, research on distinct types of CRISPR systems has revealed many structural and functional variations. Recently, several novel types of single-polypeptide CRISPR-associated systems have been discovered including Cas12a/Cpf1 and Cas13a/C2c2. Despite distant similarities to Cas9, these additional systems have unique structural and functional features, providing new opportunities for genome editing applications. Go to article


Other 21st Century Threats

Horrific Details on Syria Chemical Attacks Left Out, for Now, From UN Report ( New York Times) At least twice this year, the Syrian military fired Iranian-made artillery shells filled with a chlorine-like substance that oozed poison slowly, giving victims just a few minutes to escape. In another attack, Syrian forces dropped a chemical bomb on the top-floor balcony of an apartment building, killing 49 people, including 11 children. Their skin turned blue. These details and others blaming Syria for atrocities in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, were uncovered by a UN commission investigating and documenting possible war crimes in the 7-year-old conflict. But when the commission issued a report on Wednesday, the details were omitted. Go to article


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