A watch, wait, and rescan approach for incidental benign-appearing notochordal lesions of the skull base.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the natural history of incidental benign-appearing notochordal lesions of the skull base with specific attention to features that can make differentiation from low-grade chordoma more difficult, namely contrast uptake and bone erosion. METHODS: In this retrospective case series, the authors describe the clinical outcomes of 58 patients with incidental benign-appearing notochordal lesions of the clivus, including those with minor radiological features of bone erosion or contrast uptake. RESULTS: All lesions remained stable during a median follow-up of almost 3 years. Thirty-seven (64%) patients underwent contrast-enhanced MRI; lesions in 14 (38%) of these patients exhibited minimal contrast enhancement. Twenty-seven (47%) patients underwent CT; lesions in 6 (22%) of these patients exhibited minimal bone erosion. CONCLUSIONS: These data make the case for monitoring selected cases of benign-appearing notochordal lesions of the clivus in the first instance even when there is minor contrast uptake or minimal bone erosion.

Comparative sequence and structural analysis of the ORF095 gene, a vaccinia virus A4L homolog of capripoxvirus in sheep and goats.

Sheeppox and goatpox are important transboundary animal viral diseases of sheep and goats caused by sheeppox virus (SPPV) and goatpox virus (GTPV), respectively, of the genus Capripoxvirus, family Poxviridae. Among the proteins encoded by the capripoxvirus (CaPV) genome, ORF095 (vaccinia virus A4L homolog) is an immunodominant virion core protein that plays a pivotal role in virus assembly and morphogenesis. In the present study, sequence analysis of the ORF095 genes of 27 SPPV and GTPV isolates or field samples from different geographical regions of India was performed, and structure was prediction was done by homology modeling. A multiple sequence alignment of different CaPV isolates revealed that CaPV-A4L is highly conserved, with several species-specific signature residues, namely A93, A216, A315, G136 and G146 in GTPV, G47, A63, A168 and A276 in SPPV, and G48 and C98 in lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). Phylogenetically, the CaPV isolates were separated into three major clusters, GTPV, SPPV and LSDV, based on the complete coding sequence of the CaPV-A4L gene. Genus-specific clustering of poxviruses was observed in phylogenetic analysis based on A4L protein homologs of chordopoxviruses. A secondary structure prediction showed the presence of six α-helices and one ß-sheet as well as some coils. The signature residues identified here are potentially useful for genotyping, and the predicted characteristics of the CaPV-A4L protein make it an ideal candidate for use as an immunogenic or diagnostic antigen for the development of immunoassays in  the sero-evaluation of CaPV in target hosts.

Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of 3A truncated negative marker foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A vaccine.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious, economically significant disease of cloven-hoofed animals caused by FMD virus (FMDV) of the Picornaviridae family. Vaccination of susceptible animals with inactivated virus vaccine is the standard practice for disease control. The prophylactic use of the inactivated vaccines has reduced the disease burden in many countries endemic to FMD. In the process of implementation of the mass vaccination program and disease eradication, it is essential to differentiate infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) where a large proportion of the animal population is vaccinated, and disease-free zones are being established, to help in sero-surveillance of the disease. In such a scenario, the use of a negative marker vaccine is beneficial to rule out false-positive results in a disease-free zone. Here we report the construction and rescue of an infectious cDNA clone for FMDV serotype A Indian vaccine strain lacking 58 amino acid residues (87-144 amino acid position) in the carboxy-terminal region of the viral 3A protein. The recombinant deletion mutant virus showed similarity in the antigenic relationship with the parental strain. Immunization of guinea pigs with the inactivated vaccine formulated using the deletion mutant virus induced potent immune response with 100% protective efficacy upon challenge with homologous virus. Further, we show that sera from the guinea pigs infected with the deletion mutant virus did not show reactivity in an indirect ELISA test targeting the deleted portion of 3A protein. We conclude that the recombinant deletion mutant virus vaccine along with the newly developed companion indirect ELISA targeting portion of FMDV 3A protein could be useful in the implementation of a precise DIVA policy in our country when we reach FMD free status with vaccination.

Expression and evaluation of recombinant P32 protein based ELISA for sero-diagnostic potential of capripox in sheep and goats.

The study is aimed to develop and evaluate a recombinant P32 protein based ELISA for sero-monitoring and sero-surveillance using known and random/suspected serum samples for capripox infections from sheep and goats. Truncated P32 gene of goatpox virus (with an ORF of 750 bp) was expressed in E. coli BL-21 CodonPlus (DE3)-RIPL cells using pET32a vector and characterized by SDS-PAGE analysis and confirmed by western blotting as 48 kDa polyhistidine-tagged fusion protein. The protein was purified under denaturing conditions using 8M urea and characterized by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. The purified protein was used for optimizing ELISA in a chequerboard titration method using anti-GTPV serum as known positive. The optimized conditions were found to be 300 ng of protein/well, 1:10 dilution of antibody, 1:10000 dilution of rabbit anti-goat/sheep conjugate with 3% skim milk powder and 2% gelatin in phosphate buffer saline containing tween-20 as blocking buffer. The expressed protein was specific only for goatpox virus and sheeppox virus but did not react with related viruses of sheep and goats namely orf virus, peste de petits ruminants virus, bluetongue virus and foot and mouth disease virus. The optimized ELISA was evaluated using pre-vaccinated, post-vaccinated and also post-challenge sera. The assay was found to have a diagnostic specificity of 100/98.7% and sensitivity of 97.1/98.1% when compared to whole virus antigen based ELISA/SNT by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The optimized ELISA is able to determine the progression of antibody response against GTPV and SPPV following vaccination and challenge in sheep and goats. The rP32 protein based ELISA was evaluated using random field serum samples (n = 1008) suspected for sheeppox and goatpox and it has shown positivity rate as 24.4%. The rP32 protein based ELISA was found to be specific and sensitive for sero-evaluation of sheeppox virus and goatpox virus following vaccination and infection in sheep and goats.

Simple endovascular coiling: An effective long-term solution for wide-necked ruptured middle cerebral artery aneurysms? A 10-years retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular coiling is usually the first line treatment modality for most ruptured intracranial aneurysms. However, there is still some debate as to whether microsurgical clipping or coiling is the treatment of choice for complex wide-necked ruptured middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms. Our aim was to assess the efficacy, safety and longevity of simple endovascular coiling for ruptured MCA aneurysms. METHODS: This was a single-centre 10 years retrospective study (2008-2019) of all endovascularly treated patients with ruptured MCA aneurysms (n = 148). Patients were treated with simple coiling (n = 111), balloon-assisted coiling (n = 13), dual micro-catheter coiling (n = 19), balloon-assisted and dual micro-catheter coiling (n = 4) and woven endobridge (WEB) device (n = 1). The standard follow-up protocol consisted of Magnetic Resonance angiography at 6, 12 and 24 months. Our primary endpoints were mortality at 2, 12 and 24 months and dependency at discharge. Secondary endpoints included aneurysm occlusion, complications, re-canalisation, rebleeding and retreatment rates. RESULTS: All-cause mortality at 2, 12 and 24 months was 4.7% (n = 7), 8.1% (n = 12) and 10.8% (n = 16), respectively. 81.3% of patients remained independent in activities of daily livings (ADLs) at the point of discharge. Over a mean follow-up period of 19.7 months, we demonstrated re-bleeding and re-treatment rates of 2.7% (n = 4) and 4.1% (n = 6) respectively. Complete occlusion was achieved in 54% (n = 79) of aneurysms, with recanalisation observed in 18.2% (n = 27) of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that simple endovascular coiling techniques offer a safe and effective solution in the management of ruptured MCA aneurysms without the requirement for re-treatment either surgically or endovascularly using endoluminal stents or other devices.