Showcasing Environmental Health and Safety Activities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Introduction: Emergency preparedness is not a novel topic. What has been novel is the fast pace at which organizations, including academic institutions, have had to adapt to infectious disease outbreaks since 2000. Objective: The goal of this article is to highlight the various environmental health and safety (EHS) team activities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to ensure that on-site personnel was safe, the research could be conducted, and critical business operations such as academics, laboratory animal care, environmental compliance, and routine healthcare functions could continue during the pandemic. Methods: The response framework is presented by discussing first the lessons learned in preparedness and emergency response during outbreaks that occurred since 2000, namely Influenza virus, Zika virus, and Ebola virus. Then, how the response to the COVID-19 pandemic was activated, and the effects of ramping down research and business activities. Results: Next, the contributions of each EHS unit are presented, namely, environmental, industrial hygiene and occupational safety, research safety and biosafety, radiation safety, supporting healthcare activities, disinfection, and communications and training. Discussion: Lastly, a few lessons learned are shared with the reader for moving toward normalcy.

A Section on Service Animals in the Microbiology Teaching Laboratory Has Been Included in the 2019 Update to the Guidelines for Biosafety in Teaching Laboratories.

The accommodation of service animals in microbiology teaching labs has been included in the 2019 update to the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Guidelines for Safety in Microbiology Laboratories. This commentary includes a legal framework related to service animals, the elements included in the 2019 ASM update, and additional risk-assessment considerations for the biosafety professional.

Serosurvey on healthcare personnel caring for patients with Ebola virus disease and Lassa virus in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: Healthcare personnel (HCP) were recruited to provide serum samples, which were tested for antibodies against Ebola or Lassa virus to evaluate for asymptomatic seroconversion. SETTING: From 2014 to 2016, 4 patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 1 patient with Lassa fever (LF) were treated in the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU) at Emory University Hospital. Strict infection control and clinical biosafety practices were implemented to prevent nosocomial transmission of EVD or LF to HCP. PARTICIPANTS: All personnel who entered the SCDU who were required to measure their temperatures and complete a symptom questionnaire twice daily were eligible. RESULTS: No employee developed symptomatic EVD or LF. EVD and LF antibody studies were performed on sera samples from 42 HCP. The 6 participants who had received investigational vaccination with a chimpanzee adenovirus type 3 vectored Ebola glycoprotein vaccine had high antibody titers to Ebola glycoprotein, but none had a response to Ebola nucleoprotein or VP40, or a response to LF antigens. CONCLUSIONS: Patients infected with filoviruses and arenaviruses can be managed successfully without causing occupation-related symptomatic or asymptomatic infections. Meticulous attention to infection control and clinical biosafety practices by highly motivated, trained staff is critical to the safe care of patients with an infection from a special pathogen.

NIH Guidelines April 2019.

Following the required review period initiated in August 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH), published the final changes to the Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines) in April 2019. This amendment focused on the review, registration, and reporting requirements for human gene transfer studies. In addition, the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) was renamed the Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee (NeXTRAC) to serve as an advisory body on emerging technologies.

Quantifying DNA concentrations using fluorometry: a comparison of fluorophores.

Detection of low concentrations of DNA is important in vision research because many animal models only provide scant samples of ocular tissue. Quantitative analysis of low concentrations of double stranded DNA is now feasible using fluorometry with newer fluorophores. This technique offers a rapid way to evaluate the DNA content of samples based on the measurement of fluorescence enhancement emitted by fluorophore-bound DNA and is more sensitive than absorption spectrometry. The purpose of this study was to compare the sensitivity of several different fluorophores for measuring DNA concentrations by fluorometry. Based on our studies, we conclude that SYBR Green I and PicoGreen are substantially more sensitive for quantifying DNA concentrations than ethidium bromide and Hoechst 33258.

Diffusion coefficients of retinoids.

PURPOSE: Diffusion coefficients of various retinoids have not been measured previously. It is important to know the diffusion coefficients of the retinoids because this property might be rate-limiting in dark adaptation. Also, retinoid diffusion is important to explore given that rhodopsin regeneration is not impaired in IRBP knockout mice. METHODS: Measurements of lateral diffusion coefficients (D) of 9-cis-retinal, all-trans-retinal, and all-trans-retinol were made by Fourier transform pulsed-gradient spin-echo NMR measurements (FT-PGSE NMR) in several solvents. Also,(3)H-all-trans-retinoic acid was used to measure diffusion from an aqueous agarose matrix and absorption into a toluene based scintillation fluid in a biphase assay. RESULTS: In a 1:1 mixture of CD(3)OD:D(2)O the D's of the retinoids were, 2.4 to 3.0 x 10(-6)cm( 2)/s. In the biphase assay,(3)H-all trans-retinoic acid exhibited a diffusion coefficient of 2.3 x 10(-6)cm(2)/s. CONCLUSIONS: The lower than expected D for retinoids and our calculations suggest that mechanisms in addition to pure aqueous diffusion may be needed to account for normal rhodopsin regeneration rates in the mammalian retina.