Prevalence of incidental humeral intracondylar fissures in brachycephalic breed dogs in CT studies.

Humeral intracondylar fissures (HIF) have been predominantly reported in spaniel breeds and proposed to be possible risk factors for humeral condyle fractures (HCF). We hypothesized that the prevalence of incidental HIF in French Bulldogs may be greater than that of other brachycephalic breeds. A retrospective, observational, prevalence study was performed using CT examinations of French bulldogs and other brachycephalic breed dogs presenting for an unrelated condition. Two European College of Veterinary Diagnostic and Imaging-certified radiologists reviewed the images of the humeral condyles of these dogs. A classification system was devised to grade the findings. We considered a Score 1 to be normal, Score 2 to have centralised sclerosis, Score 3 to have a partial fissure and Score 4 to have a complete fissure. A total of 228 elbows were reviewed from 122 dogs. Of this population, 145 elbows were from French Bulldogs, 54 were from Pugs, and the remainder were from a mix of other brachycephalic breeds. The prevalence of HIF (score 3 or 4) in elbows of the French bulldog, pug and other breed groups was 6.9% (CI 2.8-11%), 5.6% (CI 0-11.7%), and 3.4% (CI 0-10.15%), respectively. At a dog level, the prevalence of HIF (score 3 or 4 present in at least one elbow) was found to be 11.8% (CI 4.6-19%) in French Bulldogs, 11.1% (CI 0-22.9%) in Pugs, and 5.26% (CI 0-15%) in the other breed group. There was no significant difference between the breed groups. The inter-reviewer reliability for CT scoring of HIF based on Cohen's weighted kappa was low at 0.19.

Outcomes of dogs undergoing surgery for gastric dilatation volvulus after rapid versus prolonged medical stabilization.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the outcomes of dogs surgically treated for gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV) after rapid versus prolonged medical stabilization. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study, monoinstitutional. SAMPLE POPULATION: One hundred and sixty-two dogs with GDV. METHODS: Dogs presenting with a GDV were allocated to 1 of 2 groups, immediate or delayed. In the immediate group, dogs were stabilized for 90 min prior to undergoing surgery. In the delayed group, dogs underwent surgery after at least 5 h of stabilization. Medical stabilization included gastric decompression and placement of an indwelling nasogastric tube to prevent further gastric dilatation in all dogs. Short-term outcomes were compared between surgical timings by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Dogs (n = 89) in the immediate group underwent surgery a median time of 2.1 h after presentation (range 1.9-2.5 h), whereas those in the delayed surgery group (n = 73) were operated a median time of 9.8 h (range 5.4-13.7 h) after presentation. Survival rates did not differ between dogs undergoing immediate or delayed surgery at discharge (70/89 and 60/73, respectively) or at 1 month postoperatively (68/89 and 55/73, respectively). The degree of gastric torsion was differently distributed between the 2 groups (P = .05). In the immediate group, 19, 52, and 9 dogs had a 0°, 180° and 270° gastric torsion respectively, whereas in the delayed group, 27, 32, and 5 dogs had a 0°, 180° and 270° gastric torsion respectively. Hyperlactatemia 24 h after initiation of fluid therapy was associated with an increased in-hospital mortality risk and at 1 month postoperatively. CONCLUSION: No survival benefit was detected as a result of proceeding to surgery after either a rapid or a prolonged medical stabilization. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The aggressive stabilization and monitoring protocol described here can be considered as an alternative to stabilize dogs with GDV prior to surgery within 13.7 h of presentation. Further research is required to investigate the potential risks and benefits of prolonged over rapid stabilization and to identify candidates for each approach.

Advocating for Early-Career Nurse Innovators: Modeling the Institute of Medicine Report.

The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health was published by the of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in 2011. The Missouri Nurses Foundation and Missouri nurses modeled a sustainable project, the Early Career Nurse Innovator Project, exemplifying the intent of that report. The Missouri Nurses Foundation Executive Board comprises experienced nurses, nurse educators, nurses in other leadership roles, retired nurses, public members of the board, and administrative support staff. This article describes a project that was developed, implemented, and evaluated to recognize and encourage early-career nurses who have designed and led innovations to improve and promote the health of Missourians. Five of these early-career nurses were the recipients of monetary awards to encourage future innovations; the second recognition cycle is in the planning phase. Through the work of the Missouri Nurses Foundation, the scholarship of bedside nurses was recognized.

Co-expression of a cyclizing asparaginyl endopeptidase enables efficient production of cyclic peptides in planta.

Cyclotides are ultra-stable, backbone-cyclized plant defence peptides that have attracted considerable interest in the pharmaceutical industry. This is due to their range of native bioactivities as well as their ability to stabilize other bioactive peptides within their framework. However, a hindrance to their widespread application is the lack of scalable, cost-effective production strategies. Plant-based production is an attractive, benign option since all biosynthetic steps are performed in planta. Nonetheless, cyclization in non-cyclotide-producing plants is poor. Here, we show that cyclic peptides can be produced efficiently in Nicotiana benthamiana, one of the leading plant-based protein production platforms, by co-expressing cyclotide precursors with asparaginyl endopeptidases that catalyse peptide backbone cyclization. This approach was successful in a range of other plants (tobacco, bush bean, lettuce, and canola), either transiently or stably expressed, and was applicable to both native and engineered cyclic peptides. We also describe the use of the transgenic system to rapidly identify new asparaginyl endopeptidase cyclases and interrogate their substrate sequence requirements. Our results pave the way for exploiting cyclotides for pest protection in transgenic crops as well as large-scale production of cyclic peptide pharmaceuticals in plants.

Pregnancy-Related Deaths, Florida, 1999-2012: Opportunities to Improve Maternal Outcomes.

Objectives To examine pregnancy-related deaths (PRDs) in Florida, to identify quality improvement (QI) opportunities, and to recommend strategies aimed at reducing maternal mortality. Methods The Florida Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (PAMR) Committee reviewed PRDs occurring between 1999 and 2012. The PAMR Committee determined causes of PRDs, identified contributing factors, and generated recommendations for prevention and quality improvement. Information from the PAMR data registry, and live births from Florida vital statistic data were used to calculate pregnancy-related mortality ratios (PRMR) and PRD univariate risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Between 1999 and 2012, the PRMR fluctuated between 14.7 and 26.2 PRDs per 100,000 live births. The five leading causes of PRD were hypertensive disorders (15.5%), hemorrhage (15.2%), infection (12.7%), cardiomyopathy (11.1%), and thrombotic embolism (10.2%), which accounted for 65% of PRDs. Principal contributing factors were morbid obesity (RR = 7.0, 95% CI 4.9-10.0) and late/no prenatal care (RR = 4.2, 95% CI 3.1-5.6). The PRMR for black women was three-fold higher (RR = 3.3, 95% CI 2.7-4.0) than white women. Among the five leading causes of PRDs, 42.5% had at least one clinical care or health care system QI opportunity. Two-third of these were associated with clinical quality of care, which included standards of care, coordination, collaboration, and communication. The QI opportunities varied by PRD cause, but not by race/ethnicity. Conclusion Gaps in clinical care or health care systems were assessed as the primary factors in over 40% of PRDs leading the PAMR Committee to generate QI recommendations for clinical care and health care systems.

Clinical Nurse Specialist Perceptions' of Spiritual Care: Nurses Need Support, Care Falls Short.

The clinical nurse specialist (CNS) is positioned to influence spiritual care at three levels of practice: patient, nurse, and system. This study, the first to explore CNS spiritual care, reports on CNSs' perceptions in providing spiritual care. Four themes were extracted from interview data: 1) Providing direct spiritual support for patients, 2) Nurses need support in providing spiritual care, 3) Using existing resources, and 4) Spiritual care falls short. Not one CNS mentioned barriers to their direct provision of spiritual care. Results support that CNSs can improve spiritual care delivery.

Clinical Nurse Specialists' Perceptions of Care for Vulnerable Patients.

The vulnerable and underserved are populations that have higher risks in health care. A clinical nurse specialist is an advanced practice registered nurse who can help mitigate risks and provide holistic care for these patients. Researching clinical nurse specialists' perceptions of their role in caring for the vulnerable populations is important to ensuring quality care and filling in current practice weaknesses.

Nursing Leader Collaboration to Drive Quality Improvement and Implementation Science.

Nursing leadership opportunities to improve quality and align resources in health care exist. An estimated 18% of United States gross domestic product is spent on health care delivery systems that produce poor outcomes. The purpose of this article was to describe how quality improvement and implementation science initiatives enhance outcomes using nursing leadership strategies that play an integral role in aligning key colleagues to drive the collaborative process. A critical appraisal of the literature was conducted, which supports the importance of evidenced-based practice improvement, collaborative change process, and professional role of nursing leadership. Limited evidence exists related to practice strategies for nursing leaders to implement sustainable change at the unit level for successful alignment of resources. Strategies based on Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory are recommended to address the gap in the literature. The strategies aim to increase meaningful knowledge or the "why," create a tipping point, and implement sustainable change starting with the end in mind. Nurse leaders are a central component for driving alignment and implementing change at the unit level. Uses of the described evidenced-based strategies have implications for nursing practice, education, and scholarship.

Use of immunodampening to overcome diversity in the malarial vaccine candidate apical membrane antigen 1.

Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is a leading malarial vaccine candidate; however, its polymorphic nature may limit its success in the field. This study aimed to circumvent AMA1 diversity by dampening the antibody response to the highly polymorphic loop Id, previously identified as a major target of strain-specific, invasion-inhibitory antibodies. To achieve this, five polymorphic residues within this loop were mutated to alanine, glycine, or serine in AMA1 of the 3D7 and FVO Plasmodium falciparum strains. Initially, the corresponding antigens were displayed on the surface of bacteriophage, where the alanine and serine but not glycine mutants folded correctly. The alanine and serine AMA1 mutants were expressed in Escherichia coli, refolded in vitro, and used to immunize rabbits. Serological analyses indicated that immunization with a single mutated form of 3D7 AMA1 was sufficient to increase the cross-reactive antibody response. Targeting the corresponding residues in an FVO backbone did not achieve this outcome. The inclusion of at least one engineered form of AMA1 in a biallelic formulation resulted in an antibody response with broader reactivity against different AMA1 alleles than combining the wild-type forms of 3D7 and FVO AMA1 alleles. For one combination, this extended to an enhanced relative growth inhibition of a heterologous parasite line, although this was at the cost of reduced overall inhibitory activity. These results suggest that targeted mutagenesis of AMA1 is a promising strategy for overcoming antigenic diversity in AMA1 and reducing the number of variants required to induce an antibody response that protects against a broad range of Plasmodium falciparum AMA1 genotypes. However, optimization of the immunization regime and mutation strategy will be required for this potential to be realized.

Equitable Access to Genomic Molecular Testing for Australian Cancer Patients: Insights from the Victorian Precision Oncology Summit.

The Victorian Precision Oncology Summit, convened in 2023, was a joint initiative between the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance (VCCC Alliance) and the Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium (MPCCC) and was proposed to guide a coordinated state-wide conversation about how the oncology sector can overcome some of the current obstacles in achieving equity of access to clinical cancer genomics for Victorian patients. Themes that emerged from discussion groups at the Summit include standardisation, centralisation, funding, education and communication and insights across those themes are outlined in this manuscript. The event served as a large consultation piece for the development of a broader precision oncology roadmap, which explores equitable access to molecular testing for Victorian patients, currently in development by the VCCC Alliance and MPCCC in collaboration with other key Victorian and national stakeholders. While this symposium was a Victorian initiative, it is felt that the insights garnered from this consultation piece will be of interest to consumer groups, clinicians, researchers, educators, policy makers and other key stakeholders in other states of Australia as well as in other countries implementing comprehensive genomic profiling within complex health systems.

Answering a Call to Action: Reducing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Using a Healthcare Champion Model.

Prenatal alcohol exposure and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) remain critical public health issues. Alcohol use in pregnancy is a leading preventable cause of birth defects, developmental disabilities, and learning disabilities. Alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) is effective at reducing excessive alcohol use. However, this clinical preventive service remains critically underutilized in primary care. In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for the creation of FASD Champion programs to promote clinician education about FASDs. Six professional health organizations and groups providing reproductive and child health services set out to create FASD Champion programs. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists FASDs Prevention Program was created to focus on reducing alcohol-exposed pregnancies. The American Academy of Pediatrics' Champion program maintains the goal of improving health outcomes for children with FASDs by improving pediatricians' diagnostic capacity. The American Academy of Family Physicians has prioritized training family physician champions to improve the delivery of alcohol SBI among adult patients. The University of Alaska Anchorage has partnered with the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses to assure advanced practice registered nurses and midwives have the knowledge and skills to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies and FASDs. The American Association of Medical Assistants has prioritized expanding the knowledge and skills of medical assistants related to promoting alcohol-free pregnancies. Finally, the Champions program at the University of Texas at Austin was established to train health social workers in alcohol SBI. Through the advocacy, education, and mission of these 6 health sectors in collaboration with national organizations and educational institutions, the evidence-based approach of alcohol SBI is being disseminated throughout the United States to reduce the harmful effects of prenatal alcohol exposure.

Hyperpolarisation of Mitochondrial Membranes Is a Critical Component of the Antifungal Mechanism of the Plant Defensin, Ppdef1.

Plant defensins are a large family of small cationic proteins with diverse functions and mechanisms of action, most of which assert antifungal activity against a broad spectrum of fungi. The partial mechanism of action has been resolved for a small number of members of plant defensins, and studies have revealed that many act by more than one mechanism. The plant defensin Ppdef1 has a unique sequence and long loop 5 with fungicidal activity against a range of human fungal pathogens, but little is known about its mechanism of action. We screened the S. cerevisiae non-essential gene deletion library and identified the involvement of the mitochondria in the mechanism of action of Ppdef1. Further analysis revealed that the hyperpolarisation of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) activates ROS production, vacuolar fusion and cell death and is an important step in the mechanism of action of Ppdef1, and it is likely that a similar mechanism acts in Trichophyton rubrum.

Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on symptoms and immune phenotypes in vaccine-naïve individuals with Long COVID.

Background: Long COVID contributes to the global burden of disease. Proposed root cause hypotheses include the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 viral reservoir, autoimmunity, and reactivation of latent herpesviruses. Patients have reported various changes in Long COVID symptoms after COVID-19 vaccinations, leaving uncertainty about whether vaccine-induced immune responses may alleviate or worsen disease pathology. Methods: In this prospective study, we evaluated changes in symptoms and immune responses after COVID-19 vaccination in 16 vaccine-naïve individuals with Long COVID. Surveys were administered before vaccination and then at 2, 6, and 12 weeks after receiving the first vaccine dose of the primary series. Simultaneously, SARS-CoV-2-reactive TCR enrichment, SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses, antibody responses to other viral and self-antigens, and circulating cytokines were quantified before vaccination and at 6 and 12 weeks after vaccination. Results: Self-report at 12 weeks post-vaccination indicated 10 out of 16 participants had improved health, 3 had no change, 1 had worse health, and 2 reported marginal changes. Significant elevation in SARS-CoV-2-specific TCRs and Spike protein-specific IgG were observed 6 and 12 weeks after vaccination. No changes in reactivities were observed against herpes viruses and self-antigens. Within this dataset, higher baseline sIL-6R was associated with symptom improvement, and the two top features associated with non-improvement were high IFN-ß and CNTF, among soluble analytes. Conclusions: Our study showed that in this small sample, vaccination improved the health or resulted in no change to the health of most participants, though few experienced worsening. Vaccination was associated with increased SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein-specific IgG and T cell expansion in most individuals with Long COVID. Symptom improvement was observed in those with baseline elevated sIL-6R, while elevated interferon and neuropeptide levels were associated with a lack of improvement.

A natural history study to track brain and spinal cord changes in individuals with Friedreich's ataxia: TRACK-FA study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Drug development for neurodegenerative diseases such as Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is limited by a lack of validated, sensitive biomarkers of pharmacodynamic response in affected tissue and disease progression. Studies employing neuroimaging measures to track FRDA have thus far been limited by their small sample sizes and limited follow up. TRACK-FA, a longitudinal, multi-site, and multi-modal neuroimaging natural history study, aims to address these shortcomings by enabling better understanding of underlying pathology and identifying sensitive, clinical trial ready, neuroimaging biomarkers for FRDA. METHODS: 200 individuals with FRDA and 104 control participants will be recruited across seven international study sites. Inclusion criteria for participants with genetically confirmed FRDA involves, age of disease onset ≤ 25 years, Friedreich's Ataxia Rating Scale (FARS) functional staging score of ≤ 5, and a total modified FARS (mFARS) score of ≤ 65 upon enrolment. The control cohort is matched to the FRDA cohort for age, sex, handedness, and years of education. Participants will be evaluated at three study visits over two years. Each visit comprises of a harmonized multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Spectroscopy (MRS) scan of the brain and spinal cord; clinical, cognitive, mood and speech assessments and collection of a blood sample. Primary outcome measures, informed by previous neuroimaging studies, include measures of: spinal cord and brain morphometry, spinal cord and brain microstructure (measured using diffusion MRI), brain iron accumulation (using Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping) and spinal cord biochemistry (using MRS). Secondary and exploratory outcome measures include clinical, cognitive assessments and blood biomarkers. DISCUSSION: Prioritising immediate areas of need, TRACK-FA aims to deliver a set of sensitive, clinical trial-ready neuroimaging biomarkers to accelerate drug discovery efforts and better understand disease trajectory. Once validated, these potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers can be used to measure the efficacy of new therapeutics in forestalling disease progression. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrails.gov Identifier: NCT04349514.

Rescue of neurological deficits in a mouse model for Angelman syndrome by reduction of alphaCaMKII inhibitory phosphorylation.

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurological disorder characterized by mental retardation, motor dysfunction and epilepsy. We show that the molecular and cellular deficits of an AS mouse model can be rescued by introducing an additional mutation at the inhibitory phosphorylation site of alphaCaMKII. Moreover, these double mutants no longer show the behavioral deficits seen in AS mice, suggesting that these deficits are the direct result of increased inhibitory phosphorylation of alphaCaMKII.

Humeral intracondylar fissures in French bulldogs.

BACKGROUND: French bulldogs have previously been reported to be at an increased risk of developing humeral condylar fractures (HCF). Humeral intracondylar fissures (HIF) are thought to be a predisposing factor for HCF occurrence in skeletally mature dogs particularly when the fracture occurs during normal activity. We hypothesised that HIF may be a predisposing factor for HCF in French bulldogs. METHODS: A retrospective case series of nine French bulldogs that had sustained HCF and where CT was performed prior to surgery. RESULTS: Five of the fractured humeri had sclerosis adjacent to the fracture site. Six of the contralateral intact humeri were diagnosed with HIF on the basis of a partial (2/6) or complete (4/6) hypoattenuating area extending between the distal articular surface and the supratrochlear foramen in the sagittal plane, with adjacent sclerosis (6/6). CONCLUSIONS: Recognition of sclerosis at the intracondylar fracture surface on CT can prompt suspicion that HIF preceded HCF. A predisposing HIF has potentially great clinical significance for this breed if we draw parallels with breeds such as the springer spaniel for whom HIF and HIF-associated condylar fracture is well documented.

Rate of detecting CIN3+ among patients with ASC-US using digital colposcopy and dynamic spectral imaging.

The present study compared two methods for the detection of severe cervical dysplasia in women with atypical squamous cells of underdetermined significance (ASC-US) cytology; digital colposcopy with adjunctive dynamic spectral imaging (DSI) and conventional colposcopy. IMPROVE-COLPO was a two-arm cross-sectional study of US community-based colposcopy. The active (prospective) arm of this study recruited patients examined by digital colposcopy and adjunctive DSI. Preceding consecutive patients that had been examined with conventional methods were used as historical controls in the retrospective arm of the study after being matched in number to those in the prospective arm by a colposcopist. In the present study, the primary measure was the number of women detected with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3 or worse (CIN3+) following punch biopsy. The study included 1,353 retrospective and 1,226 prospective patients eligible for this analysis who were examined by 146 colposcopists in 42 community-based clinics. The patient baseline characteristics were comparable between the two arms. The average number of biopsies taken per patient was higher among the prospective arm patients (including standard and DSI-assisted biopsies) compared with the retrospective arm control patients (1.21 vs. 0.97 respectively). Biopsy detected 31 patients with CIN3+ [2.29%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.56-3.24] in the retrospective arm, and 48 patients with CIN3+ (3.92%; 95% CI, 2.90-5.16) in the prospective arm. The difference in the number of patients detected with CIN3+ in the two arms of the study was 1.62% (95% CI, 0.30-3.04; P=0.022), which corresponds to a 70.9% relative increase in the prospective compared with the retrospective arm. Biopsy appeared less efficient in detecting patients with CIN3+ in the retrospective arm compared with the prospective arm. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the retrospective arm and the prospective arm in terms of: i) Biopsies taken (over the entire population) per patient detected with CIN3+ (42.2 in the retrospective arm vs. 30.8 in the prospective arm; P=0.164) and ii) positive predictive value of using biopsies to identify patients with CIN3+ (2.83 vs. 3.92; P=0.118). Adoption of digital colposcopy with DSI increased the number of biopsies collected from ASC-US patients compared with retrospective controls of standard colposcopy and detected a significantly higher number of patients who were CIN3+. The number of additional biopsies taken in the prospective arm compared with the retrospective arm was too small to explain the increased detection of patients with CIN3+ observed in the prospective arm, suggesting that biopsies in the prospective arm were better at identifying CIN3+.

Circular Permutation of the Native Enzyme-Mediated Cyclization Position in Cyclotides.

Cyclotides are a class of cyclic disulfide-rich peptides found in plants that have been adopted as a molecular scaffold for pharmaceutical applications due to their inherent stability and ability to penetrate cell membranes. For research purposes, they are usually produced and cyclized synthetically, but there are concerns around the cost and environmental impact of large-scale chemical synthesis. One strategy to improve this is to combine a recombinant production system with native enzyme-mediated cyclization. Asparaginyl endopeptidases (AEPs) are enzymes that can act as peptide ligases in certain plants to facilitate cyclotide maturation. One of these ligases, OaAEP1b, originates from the cyclotide-producing plant, Oldenlandia affinis, and can be produced recombinantly for use in vitro as an alternative to chemical cyclization of recombinant substrates. However, not all engineered cyclotides are compatible with AEP-mediated cyclization because new pharmaceutical epitopes often replace the most flexible region of the peptide, where the native cyclization site is located. Here we redesign a popular cyclotide grafting scaffold, MCoTI-II, to incorporate an AEP cyclization site located away from the usual grafting region. We demonstrate the incorporation of a bioactive peptide sequence in the most flexible region of MCoTI-II while maintaining AEP compatibility, where the two were previously mutually exclusive. We anticipate that our AEP-compatible scaffold, based on the most popular cyclotide for pharmaceutical applications, will be useful in designing bioactive cyclotides that are compatible with AEP-mediated cyclization and will therefore open up the possibility of larger scale enzyme-mediated production of recombinant or synthetic cyclotides alike.

Non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms in the watermelon eIF4E gene are closely associated with resistance to zucchini yellow mosaic virus.

Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) is one of the most economically important potyviruses infecting cucurbit crops worldwide. Using a candidate gene approach, we cloned and sequenced eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E gene segments in watermelon. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences between the ZYMV-resistant watermelon plant introduction PI 595203 (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) and the ZYMV-susceptible watermelon cultivar 'New Hampshire Midget' ('NHM') showed the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Initial analysis of the identified SNPs in association studies indicated that SNPs in the eIF4E, but not eIF(iso)4E, were closely associated to the phenotype of ZYMV-resistance in 70 F(2) and 114 BC(1R) progenies. Subsequently, we focused our efforts in obtaining the entire genomic sequence of watermelon eIF4E. Three SNPs were identified between PI 595203 and NHM. One of the SNPs (A241C) was in exon 1 and the other two SNPs (C309A and T554G) were in the first intron of the gene. SNP241 which resulted in an amino acid substitution (proline to threonine) was shown to be located in the critical cap recognition and binding area, similar to that of several plant species resistance to potyviruses. Analysis of a cleaved amplified polymorphism sequence (CAPS) marker derived from this SNP in F(2) and BC(1R) populations demonstrated a cosegregation between the CAPS-2 marker and their ZYMV resistance or susceptibility phenotype. When we investigated whether such SNP mutation in the eIF4E was also conserved in several other PIs of C. lanatus var. citroides, we identified a different SNP (A171G) resulting in another amino acid substitution (D71G) from four ZYMV-resistant C. lanatus var. citroides (PI 244018, PI 482261, PI 482299, and PI 482322). Additional CAPS markers were also identified. Availability of all these CAPS markers will enable marker-aided breeding of watermelon for ZYMV resistance.

Herpes Simplex Virus Keratitis.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a highly prevalent infection in the United States. One complication of HSV is HSV keratitis, an ocular HSV infection thought to be the leading cause of corneal blindness in the United States. Home care clinicians with knowledge of the signs and symptoms of HSV and HSV keratitis can aid in early detection and treatment of this potentially serious infection. This article discusses signs and symptoms of HSV keratitis, preventive measures, and treatment.