Cryo-EM-based discovery of a pathogenic parvovirus causing epidemic mortality by black wasting disease in farmed beetles.

We use cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) as a sequence- and culture-independent diagnostic tool to identify the etiological agent of an agricultural pandemic. For the past 4 years, American insect-rearing facilities have experienced a distinctive larval pathology and colony collapse of farmed Zophobas morio (superworm). By means of cryo-EM, we discovered the causative agent: a densovirus that we named Zophobas morio black wasting virus (ZmBWV). We confirmed the etiology of disease by fulfilling Koch's postulates and characterizing strains from across the United States. ZmBWV is a member of the family Parvoviridae with a 5,542 nt genome, and we describe intersubunit interactions explaining its expanded internal volume relative to human parvoviruses. Cryo-EM structures at resolutions up to 2.1 Å revealed single-strand DNA (ssDNA) ordering at the capsid inner surface pinned by base-binding pockets in the capsid inner surface. Also, we demonstrated the prophylactic potential of non-pathogenic strains to provide cross-protection in vivo.

Restrictions on wave equations for passive media.

Most derivations of acoustic wave equations involve ensuring that causality is satisfied. Here, the consequences of also requiring that the medium should be passive are explored. This is a stricter criterion than causality for a linear system and implies that there are restrictions on the relaxation modulus and its first few derivatives. The viscous and relaxation models of acoustics satisfy passivity and have restrictions on not only a few, but all derivatives of the relaxation modulus. These models are described as a system of springs and dampers with positive parameters and belong to the important class of completely monotone systems. It is shown here that the attenuation as a function of frequency for such media has to increase slower than a linear function. Likewise, the phase velocity has to increase monotonically. This gives criteria on which one may judge whether a proposed wave equation is passive or not, as illustrated by comparing two different versions of the viscous wave equation.

Tin-containing silicates: alkali salts improve methyl lactate yield from sugars.

This study focuses on increasing the selectivity to methyl lactate from sugars using stannosilicates as heterogeneous catalyst. All group I ions are found to have a promoting effect on the resulting methyl lactate yield. Besides, the alkali ions can be added both during the preparation of the catalyst or directly to the solvent mixture to achieve the highest reported yield of methyl lactate (ca. 75 %) from sucrose at 170 °C in methanol. The beneficial effect of adding alkali to the reaction media applies not only to highly defect-free Sn-Beta prepared through the fluoride route, but also to materials prepared by post-treatment of dealuminated commercial Beta zeolites, as well as ordered mesoporous stannosilicates, in this case Sn-MCM-41 and Sn-SBA-15. These findings open the door to the possibility of using other preparation methods or different Sn-containing silicates with equally high methyl lactate yields as Sn-Beta.

Conversion of sugars to lactic acid derivatives using heterogeneous zeotype catalysts.

Presently, very few compounds of commercial interest are directly accessible from carbohydrates by using nonfermentive approaches. We describe here a catalytic process for the direct formation of methyl lactate from common sugars. Lewis acidic zeotypes, such as Sn-Beta, catalyze the conversion of mono- and disaccharides that are dissolved in methanol to methyl lactate at 160 degrees C. With sucrose as the substrate, methyl lactate yield reaches 68%, and the heterogeneous catalyst can be easily recovered by filtration and reused multiple times after calcination without any substantial change in the product selectivity.

High yield of liquid range olefins obtained by converting i-propanol over zeolite H-ZSM-5.

Methanol, ethanol, and i-propanol were converted under methanol-to-gasoline (MTH)-like conditions (400 degrees C, 1-20 bar) over zeolite H-ZSM-5. For methanol and ethanol, the catalyst lifetimes and conversion capacities are comparable, but when i-propanol is used as the reactant, the catalyst lifetime is increased dramatically. In fact, the total conversion capacity (calculated as the total amount of alcohol converted before deactivation in g(alcohol)/g(zeolite)) is more than 25 times higher for i-propanol compared to the lower alcohols. Furthermore, when i-propanol is used as the reactant, the selectivity toward alkanes and aromatics declines rapidly over time on stream, and at 20 bar of pressure the liquid product mixture consists almost exclusively of C(4)-C(12) alkenes after approximately a third of the full reaction time. This discovery could open a new route to hydrocarbons via i-propanol from syn-gas or biobased feedstocks.

Control of endoparasites in horses with a gel containing moxidectin and praziquantel.

A gel formulation containing moxidectin (20 g/kg) and praziquantel (125 g/kg) reduced the geometric mean faecal strongyle egg count in horses to below 100 eggs per gram of faeces (epg) for at least 12 weeks despite their being exposed continuously to reinfection from pasture grazed by treated and untreated horses. The geometric mean egg count of horses treated with a proprietary paste containing abamectin (3.7 g/kg) and praziquantel (46.2 g/kg) increased steadily from six weeks after the treatment, peaking at over 820 epg after 12 weeks. Relative to the efficacy of the abamectin/praziquantel treatment, the reduction in mean faecal egg count compared with the pretreatment counts was significantly (P<0.05) better in the horses treated with moxidectin and praziquantel from eight weeks after the treatment. Both products eliminated tapeworms from horses in a non-invasive modified critical trial.

Evaluation of a single injection of a sustained-release formulation of moxidectin for prevention of experimental heartworm infection after 12 months in dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a single injection of a sustained-release formulation of moxidectin in preventing heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) infection for 12 months in dogs. ANIMALS: 14 healthy dogs. PROCEDURE: Group A (nontreated control dogs; n = 6) received sterile vehicle administered SC, and group B (treated dogs; n = 6) received a sustained-release formulation of moxidectin administered SC. All dogs were housed in a heartworm-endemic area for 11.5 months, and heartworm antigen and modified Knott tests were performed monthly. All dogs (including 2 additional control dogs [group C]) were then inoculated with infective-stage larvae (L3) of D. immitis, and 4.5 months later, all dogs were euthanatized and post-mortem examinations were performed. Adult D. immitis were counted and measured, and their age was estimated. RESULTS: All dogs in groups A and C were infected with young (4- to 4.5-month old) adult male and female D. immitis. No dogs in group B were infected with heartworms. CONCLUSIONS AND. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The age of heartworms recovered suggests that infection was the result of experimental inoculation and not natural exposure to mosquitoes during the 11.5-month period the dogs resided in a heartworm-endemic area. A single SC injection of a sustained-release formulation of moxidectin was effective in providing protection against heartworm infection after 12 months in dogs. This formulation is a convenient method of heartworm prophylaxis that could eliminate the problem of poor owner compliance.

Efficacy of moxidectin and other anthelmintics against small strongyles in horses.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of moxidectin to ivermectin, oxibendazole and morantel against some gastrointestinal nematodes in horses. DESIGN: Faecal egg count reduction after treatment. PROCEDURE: A farm was selected where the population of small strongyles in horses was known to be resistant to oxibendazole. Horses were allocated to treatment groups based on faecal egg counts. After treatment, faecal samples were taken up to 109 days after treatment and faecal egg counts estimated. Faecal cultures were used to estimate the contribution of small and large strongyles to the faecal egg counts at each sampling. RESULTS: Moxidectin (0.4 mg/kg) suppressed faecal egg counts for 109 days after treatment in most horses compared to 40 days with ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg), 13 days with morantel (9.4 mg/kg) and less than 13 days with oxibendazole (10 mg/kg). Most of the faecal egg count was attributable to small strongyles based on faecal culture, although Strongylus vulgaris was present in some samples in low numbers. Oxibendazole resistance in small strongyles was confirmed and a less than expected efficacy of morantel was also seen. CONCLUSION: Moxidectin was highly effective in reducing faecal egg counts after treatment for at least 12 weeks and up to 16 weeks in most horses. These horses were infected with a population of small strongyles known to be resistant to oxibendazole and possibly morantel. The duration of the reduction in faecal egg counts after treatment with moxidectin (0.4 mg/kg) was at least twice that of ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg) and greater than four times that for morantel and oxibendazole.