Integration of publicly available case-based data for real-time coronavirus disease 2019 risk assessment, Japan.

In response to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan, a national COVID-19 cluster taskforce (comprising governmental and nongovernmental experts) was established to support the country's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in conducting daily risk assessment. The assessment was carried out using established infectious disease surveillance systems; however, in the initial stages of the pandemic these were not sufficient for real-time risk assessment owing to limited accessibility, delay in data entry and inadequate case information. Also, local governments were publishing anonymized data on confirmed COVID-19 cases on their official web sites as daily press releases. We developed a unique database for nationwide real-time risk assessment that included these case lists from local government web sites and integrated all case data into a standardized format. The database was updated daily and checked systematically to ensure comprehensiveness and quality. Between 15 January 2020 and 15 June 2021, 776 459 cases were logged in the database, allowing for analysis of real-time risk from the pandemic. This semi-automated database was used in daily risk assessments, and to evaluate and update control measures to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 in Japan. The data were reported almost every week to the Japanese Government Advisory Panel on COVID-19 for public health responses.

Inherited chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 and autoimmune connective tissue diseases.

BACKGROUND: Entire genome of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) that integrates into human chromosomes is called chromosomally integrated HHV-6 (ciHHV-6). Several viral infections have been suggested to be involved in autoimmune connective tissue diseases (CTDs). Reactivated HHV-6 from the integrated viral genome can induce immune responses against the virus. Thus, it is plausible that ciHHV-6 is associated with autoimmune CTDs. OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether the prevalence of ciHHV-6 was significantly higher in patients with autoimmune CTDs than in a healthy population. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 846 peripheral blood samples collected from autoimmune CTD patients were analyzed. Since there was a large number of samples, they were pooled into 24 samples per group. Copy numbers of HHV-6 DNA were measured by real-time PCR. The threshold level for distinguishing between ciHHV-6 and active viral infection and the reliability of pooled DNA analysis were examined as initial validation experiments. RESULTS: The threshold level was 1.6 × 10^6 copy/mL in whole blood. The reliability of pooled DNA analysis to identify one ciHHV-6 sample among 23 HHV-6 DNA-negative samples was high. No HHV-6 DNA was detected in any of the pooled DNA samples collected from the patients. The probability of the present study including the 846 autoimmune CTD patient's samples was statistically not different with a healthy Japanese population which was 0.2 % or 0.6 %. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in the prevalence of ciHHV-6 between a healthy population and patients with autoimmune CTDs.

Expression of Escherichia coli araE and modified lacY genes in Campylobacter jejuni is not sufficient for arabinose transport.

INTRODUCTION: Unlike Escherichia coli , Campylobacter jejuni is unable to import a range of sugars, including arabinose, which makes common expression vectors, such as pBAD33, non-functional in these bacteria. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the E. coli transporters AraE and modified LacY (LacYA177C) would enable C. jejuni to uptake arabinose. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS: The respective genes of E. coli were constitutively expressed in C. jejuni strain 11168H after integration into the chromosome via homologous recombination. Vectors carrying these genes also contained a reporter gene, gfp, under the control of the arabinose-inducible promoter, pBAD. These constructs were verified in E. coli by demonstrating the induction of gfp in the presence of arabinose. Integration of the genes into one of the rRNA gene clusters was verified by PCR and genome sequencing. The latter also confirmed that the inserted gene clusters contained no mutations. Expression of the gfp gene in the presence of arabinose inducer was monitored using fluorescence microscopy of colonies and fluorimetry using both whole cells and lysates. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated the inability of C. jejuni to use arabinose transporters, which are fully functional in E. coli , suggesting a remarkable difference in the physiology of these bacteria.

Uptake and biological effects of synthetic glucocorticoids in common carp (Cyprinus carpio).

Uptake and biological effects of synthetic glucocorticoids (GCs) were analyzed using common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Fish were exposed to clobetasol propionate (CP) or clobetasone butyrate (CB) individually or in mixture at 1 µg L(-1) for 21 days. Bioconcentration factor (BCF) of CB was calculated as 100, and BCF of CP was less than 16. No effects were found in fish erythrocyte and leukocyte numbers and serum glucose levels after exposure to the selected GCs. On the other hand, serum concentrations of free amino acids significantly increased in GC-exposed groups. Thus, exposures to synthetic GCs at relatively low concentrations seemed to cause enhancement of protein degradation and subsequent increase of serum free amino acids without a corresponding increase in serum glucose levels, an effect which might be related to partial induction of gluconeogenesis by GC.