A virus essential for insect host-parasite interactions encodes cystatins.

Cotesia congregata is a parasitoid wasp that injects its eggs in the host caterpillar Manduca sexta. In this host-parasite interaction, successful parasitism is ensured by a third partner: a bracovirus. The relationship between parasitic wasps and bracoviruses constitutes one of the few known mutualisms between viruses and eukaryotes. The C. congregata bracovirus (CcBV) is injected at the same time as the wasp eggs in the host hemolymph. Expression of viral genes alters the caterpillar's immune defense responses and developmental program, resulting in the creation of a favorable environment for the survival and emergence of adult parasitoid wasps. Here, we describe the characterization of a CcBV multigene family which is highly expressed during parasitism and which encodes three proteins with homology to members of the cystatin superfamily. Cystatins are tightly binding, reversible inhibitors of cysteine proteases. Other cysteine protease inhibitors have been described for lepidopteran viruses; however, this is the first description of the presence of cystatins in a viral genome. The expression and purification of a recombinant form of one of the CcBV cystatins, cystatin 1, revealed that this viral cystatin is functional having potent inhibitory activity towards the cysteine proteases papain, human cathepsins L and B and Sarcophaga cathepsin B in assays in vitro. CcBV cystatins are, therefore, likely to play a role in host caterpillar physiological deregulation by inhibiting host target proteases in the course of the host-parasite interaction.

Polydnavirus genome: integrated vs. free virus.

Polydnaviruses are unique because of their obligatory association with thousands of parasitoid wasp species from the braconid and ichneumonid families of hymenopterans. PDVs are injected into the parasitized hosts and are essential for parasitism success. However, polydnaviruses are also unique because of their genome composed of multiple dsDNA segments. Cytological evidence has recently confirmed the results of genetic and molecular analyses indicating that PDV segments were integrated in the wasp genome. Moreover a phylogenetic study performed using the age of available fossils to calibrate the molecular clock indicated that the polydnaviruses harboured by braconid wasps have resided within the wasp genome for approximately 70 million years. In the absence of horizontal transmission, the evolution of the PDV genomes has been driven exclusively by the reproductive success they have offered the wasps. The consequences of this particular selection pressure can be observed in the gene content of certain PDV genomes from which increasing sequence data are available. Molecular mechanisms already identified could be involved in the acquisition and loss of genes by the PDV genomes and lead us to speculate on the definition of the virus genome.

Concurrent validity of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II Motor Scale and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales in two-year-old children.

Concurrent validity of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (BSID II) Motor Scale and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS) was examined by administering both tests to 38 two-year-old Native American children. A correlation analysis of age equivalent scores indicated very good to high correlation for the BSID II Motor Scale with the PDMS Fine Motor Scale (PDFMS) (r = .87) and the PDMS Gross Motor Scale (PDGMS) (r = .83). A correlation analysis of standard scores showed poor to unacceptable correlation between the BSID II Motor Scale with the PDFMS (r = .64) and the PDGMS (r = .49); further, there was poor agreement between the classifications of significantly delayed, mildly delayed, and within normal limits performance on each test. The PDFMS tended to classify children lower than the BSID II Motor Scale. The scores of the relatively younger children within each of the PDMS 6-month age categories agreed less between the tests than did the scores of the relatively older children. In conclusion, this study provides evidence for the concurrent validity of the BSID II Motor Scale and the PDMS for age equivalent scores, but not for standard scores of 2-year-old children. Professionals must be aware of the strengths and limitations of the BSID II and the PDMS, and choose appropriately to avoid denial of or over-referral for services for young children.

Motor development of Native American children on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales.

OBJECTIVE: Native American children have not been widely represented in the normative samples of standardized tests assessing motor development. This study investigated the cultural relevance of the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS) in 2-year-old Native American children who are typically developing. METHOD: The PDMS was administered to a sample of 44 Pueblo children who were 24 months through 35 months of age and typically developing. Each child's family also completed a parent questionnaire addressing the child's development and family demographics. Participant scores were compared with those of the normative sample. RESULTS: The sample scored significantly lower than the normative sample (p < or = .001) on the Fine Motor Scale, and, when gender was taken into consideration, all but the older girls (30 months-35 months of age) had significantly lower scores. All but the younger girls (24 months-29 months of age) scored within the normal range on the Gross Motor Scale. CONCLUSION: Our results with this small sample suggest that caution be used when comparing motor performance (especially fine motor abilities) of 2-year-old Native American children against the PDMS normative data.

Implantable volume monitor and miniaturized stimulator dedicated to bladder control.

This paper describes a new miniaturized implantable bladder controller that is composed of 4 main parts: a volume monitoring device based on the tomography approach, a fully programmable miniaturized central processor and stimulator, a bidirectional data and power link, and an external controller. The proposed system is intended to restore both normal bladder functions (retention and voiding) to spinal cord injured patients. The system contains a mixed-signal (analog/digital) feedback loop to command the bladder functions through neuromuscular stimulation techniques. The implantable circuitry is powered by a single encoded radiofrequency carried and may have up to 8 independently controlled monopolar (4 bipolar) channels. The microstimulator is able to generate a wide range of stimulation patterns, including selective stimulation waveforms. In addition, an optical link transmits the state of the implant and volume monitoring results to the external controller.

Proposed new bladder volume monitoring device based on impedance measurement.

A new implantable bladder volume-monitoring device based on the impedance measurement of the detrusor muscle is described. The system is completely autonomous and forms a mixed-signal (analogue/digital) feedback loop with a neuro-stimulator to rectify bladder dysfunctions (incontinence and retention) through neuromuscular stimulation techniques. A programmable instrumentation amplifier and a signal processing block, to eliminate the artefacts caused by the patient's movements, have been designed and tested. The layout for the signal processing block has been realised in 0.8 micron BiCMOS technology.

Stability of Bayley Motor Scale scores in the first year of life.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Bayley Motor Scale scores were stable in infants during the first year of life, that is, whether each individual infant's score was essentially the same at each of the five test ages. Subjects were 15 low-risk and 8 high-risk infants with Bayley Scales of Infant Development Motor Scale scores at 2, 3, 4, 8, and 12 months. All high-risk and most low-risk infants also had outcome scores at either 24 or 36 months. For the group as a whole, and for all infants with "normal" outcomes, subjects did not change ranks over the six test ages (ie, high-scoring infants' ranks remained high and low-scoring infants' ranks remained low), but scores varied significantly from test to test. Scores of infants with "non-normal" outcomes did not vary significantly from test to test. The highest and lowest scores of 75% of the infants with normal outcomes and 57% of the infants with non-normal outcomes differed significantly. Four patterns of variations of Bayley Motor Scale scores over the five test ages of the first year after birth were identified. The first pattern included three infants with the most stable scores. The three remaining patterns were different from each other, but a consistent feature of each was a peak at 4 months. Finally, scores at 3 and 8 months were best able to correctly identify outcome. A single Bayley Motor Scale score may not reflect an infant's true abilities; some factor may be inflating scores at age 4 months.