Bicorniphontodes (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Laophontodinae Lang, 1944): a new genus with description of a new species from the Napoleon Reef, Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, Egypt.

Findings of a new representative of the Laophontodinae Lang, 1944 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from the Napoleon Reef (Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, Egypt) provided new insights into the systematics of the type genus Laophontodes T. Scott, 1894. Bicorniphontodes clarae gen. et sp. nov., which is described in the present contribution, shares exclusively six derived characters with Laophontodes bicornis A. Scott, 1896, L. horstgeorgei George Gheerardyn, 2015, and partly with L. hamatus (Thomson, 1883), and L. ornatus Krishnaswamy, 1957: (1) cephalothorax medio-laterally with triangular extensions and (2) postero-laterally with paired cuticular processes, (3) free body somites except telson dorsally with hyaline frills ending in rounded lappets, (4) furcal setae I and II displaced subapically, (5) antennar allobasis lacking abexopodal seta on endopodal half, (6) outer spines of the last segment of swimming legs 2 and 3 unipinnate and comb-like, with the pinnae being extremely long and set widely apart. Thus, the named species are excluded from Laophontodes and united together with B. clarae gen. et sp. nov. in Bicorniphontodes gen. nov. as Bicorniphontodes bicornis comb. nov., B. hamatus comb. nov., B. horstgeorgei comb. nov., and B. ornatus comb. nov.. Beside the description of B. clarae gen. et sp. nov., a detailed phylogenetic discussion regarding the systematic relationships of the named species and the justification of the erection of Bicorniphontodes gen. nov. is given, including its distribution in the world's oceans. A key to species is also provided.

Tantulocarida (Crustacea) from the Southern Ocean deep sea, and the description of three new species of Tantulacus Huys, Andersen & Kristensen, 1992.

During the expedition ANT XIX/3 meiofauna samples were collected from the German research vessel Polarstern near the Shackleton Fracture Zone. During sorting of the samples 86 tantulus larvae were found. Extensive examination of the larvae revealed a high diversity of tantulocaridans in the Southern Ocean deep sea (33 species). A remarkable proportion of these were new species of Tantulacus Huys, Andersen & Kristensen, 1992. The present paper reports the discovery of three new Antarctic tantulocarids which are referred to Tantulacus. The affiliation of T. longispinosus n. sp., T. karolae n. sp. and T. dieteri n. sp. to Tantulacus is straightforward: all representatives of the Tantulocarida are characterised by the presence of 1-2 slender setae on the endopod of the second to fifth thoracopods, but in none of the hitherto described genera, other than Tantulacus, are these elements modified. Tantulacus hoegi Huys, Andersen & Kristensen, 1992 and the three new species share the possession of a distal rigid spine on the endopod of the second to fifth thoracopods as a synapomorphy and thus can be readily distinguished from other tantulocaridans. This is the first record of free-living sediment-inhabiting tantulus larvae from this area, although this probably reflects the degree of undersampling.

Human metapneumovirus infections cause similar symptoms and clinical severity as respiratory syncytial virus infections.

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently discovered pathogen in respiratory tract infection. The published literature suggests milder illness severity in hMPV compared with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. In two consecutive seasons, 637 nasopharyngeal aspirates from pediatric patients were tested by hMPV polymerase chain reaction, and risk factors and clinical and laboratory items were analyzed. The hMPV patients were compared with hMPV-negative but RSV-positive patients by matched pair analysis. HMPV was detected in 17.9% of all samples. In total, 88 hMPV-infected patients with complete datasets were considered. More than half of all hMPV patients were older than 12 months, 45.5% had at least one risk factor for a severe course of viral respiratory tract infection, and 27.3% were born prematurely, 15.9% with a birth weight <1,500 g. At least one other virus was also detected in 39 patients (44.3%; RSV in 29.5%). Coinfection did not result in greater severity of illness. On matched pair analysis (hMPV-positive/RSV-negative vs. hMPV-negative/RSV-positive), the epidemiological and clinical features of hMPV infection were similar to those of RSV infection, as in the hMPV group higher proportions of patients with hypoxemia on admission (33% vs. 21%) and of intensive care treatment (20.8% vs. 10.4%) were observed. More hMPV patients showed lobar infiltrates in radiological chest examination. In 60% of all hMPV infections, the attending physicians prescribed antimicrobial chemotherapy. We conclude that in hospitalized children, hMPV infection is as serious as RSV infection and therefore deserves the same attention. Virologic diagnosis from respiratory secretions is mandatory because clinical, laboratory, and radiological signs cannot sufficiently discriminate between viral and bacterial respiratory tract infection in infants and children.

Human metapneumovirus RNA in encephalitis patient.

We describe a fatal case of encephalitis that might be correlated with primary human metapneumovirus (HMPV) encephalitis. Postmortem HMPV RNA was detected in brain and lung tissue samples from the patient. Furthermore, HMPV RNA was found in culture fluids from cells coincubated with lung tissue.

Frequency-dependent transversal flow control in centrifugal microfluidics.

This work presents a novel flow switch for centrifugal microfluidic platforms which is solely controlled by the Coriolis pseudo force. This Coriolis switch consists of an inverse Y-structure with one common upstream channel and two symmetric outlets on a rotating disk. Above a certain threshold frequency, the Coriolis force becomes dominant that the entire flow is diverted into one of the outlets which is selected by the direction of rotation. The threshold frequency has been measured to be 350 rad s(-1)(approximately 55.7 Hz) for a channel width of 360 microm and a depth of 125 microm. The results are supported by extensive CFD simulations.

New variant of the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) associated with an acute and severe exacerbation of asthma bronchiale.

Recently, an increasing number of studies demonstrated that the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) causes mild to severe respiratory infections in children and immunosuppressed adults, and may be a frequent but somewhat undervalued pathogen. Here, we report the detection of a new variant of HMPV that is not closely related to the HMPV strains described until now. The strain was detected in a 6.5-year-old girl with an acute and severe exacerbation of asthma bronchiale triggered by an infection with a newly detected HMPV variant. The presented data provide new information on genetic heterogeneity of HMPV and necessitate an optimization of diagnostic procedures for the detection of HMPV infection.