Mobilization of endogenous retroviruses in mice after infection with an exogenous retrovirus.

Mammalian genomes harbor a large number of retroviral elements acquired as germ line insertions during evolution. Although many of the endogenous retroviruses are defective, several contain one or more intact viral genes that are expressed under certain physiological or pathological conditions. This is true of the endogenous polytropic retroviruses that generate recombinant polytropic murine leukemia viruses (MuLVs). In these recombinants the env gene sequences of exogenous ecotropic MuLVs are replaced with env gene sequences from an endogenous polytropic retrovirus. Although replication-competent endogenous polytropic retroviruses have not been observed, the recombinant polytropic viruses are capable of replicating in numerous species. Recombination occurs during reverse transcription of a virion RNA heterodimer comprised of an RNA transcript from an endogenous polytropic virus and an RNA transcript from an exogenous ecotropic MuLV RNA. It is possible that homodimers corresponding to two full-length endogenous RNA genomes are also packaged. Thus, infection by an exogenous virus may result not only in recombination with endogenous sequences, but also in the mobilization of complete endogenous retrovirus genomes via pseudotyping within exogenous retroviral virions. We report that the infection of mice with an ecotropic virus results in pseudotyping of intact endogenous viruses that have not undergone recombination. The endogenous retroviruses infect and are integrated into target cell genomes and subsequently replicate and spread as pseudotyped viruses. The mobilization of endogenous retroviruses upon infection with an exogenous retrovirus may represent a major interaction of exogenous retroviruses with endogenous retroviruses and may have profound effects on the pathogenicity of retroviral infections.

Tobacco-use psychosocial risk profiles of girls and boys in urban India: implications for gender-specific tobacco intervention development.

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the distribution of psychosocial risk factors and prevalence of tobacco use among youth in urban India by gender. METHODS: Data were obtained from a cross-sectional baseline survey of a group-randomized tobacco intervention trial involving 6th and 8th graders from 32 schools in Delhi and Chennai (N = 11,642). Mixed-effects regression models were used to examine differences in the prevalence of tobacco use by gender, to determine how the relationship between current tobacco use and related psychosocial risk factors varied by gender, to compare the distribution of risk factors by gender, and to determine if any of these relationships varied by grade level or school type. RESULTS: 14.7% of girls and 21.1% of boys reported ever-use of tobacco. The psychosocial risk profile for tobacco use was remarkably similar for boys and girls, though some differences were apparent. For example, exposure to advertising and beliefs about social effects of use were significant risk factors for girls but not for boys. Across the board, girls showed lower risk for all psychosocial risk factors, except for perceived prevalence of chewing and smoking, for which girls had higher risk compared with boys. DISCUSSION: While the psychosocial risk profile for boys suggests a more vulnerable population for tobacco use, the closing gap in tobacco use between boys and girls indicates a need to examine possible differences in psychosocial risk factors. This study reports that there are subtle, but important, differences in risk factors between genders, having implications for gender-specific intervention development.

Genome sequence analysis of the emerging human pathogenic acetic acid bacterium Granulibacter bethesdensis.

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited immune deficiency characterized by increased susceptibility to infection with Staphylococcus, certain gram-negative bacteria, and fungi. Granulibacter bethesdensis, a newly described genus and species within the family Acetobacteraceae, was recently isolated from four CGD patients residing in geographically distinct locales who presented with fever and lymphadenitis. We sequenced the genome of the reference strain of Granulibacter bethesdensis, which was isolated from lymph nodes of the original patient. The genome contains 2,708,355 base pairs in a single circular chromosome, in which 2,437 putative open reading frames (ORFs) were identified, 1,470 of which share sequence similarity with ORFs in the nonpathogenic but related Gluconobacter oxydans genome. Included in the 967 ORFs that are unique to G. bethesdensis are ORFs potentially important for virulence, adherence, DNA uptake, and methanol utilization. GC% values and best BLAST analysis suggested that some of these unique ORFs were recently acquired. Comparison of G. bethesdensis to other known CGD pathogens demonstrated conservation of some putative virulence factors, suggesting possible common mechanisms involved in pathogenesis in CGD. Genotyping of the four patient isolates by use of a custom microarray demonstrated genome-wide variations in regions encoding DNA uptake systems and transcriptional regulators and in hypothetical ORFs. G. bethesdensis is a genetically diverse emerging human pathogen that may have recently acquired virulence factors new to this family of organisms.

"It depends": viewpoints of patients, physicians, and nurses on patient-practitioner prayer in the setting of advanced cancer.

CONTEXT: Although prayer potentially serves as an important practice in offering religious/spiritual support, its role in the clinical setting remains disputed. Few data exist to guide the role of patient-practitioner prayer in the setting of advanced illness. OBJECTIVES: To inform the role of prayer in the setting of life-threatening illness, this study used mixed quantitative-qualitative methods to describe the viewpoints expressed by patients with advanced cancer, oncology nurses, and oncology physicians concerning the appropriateness of clinician prayer. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, multisite, mixed-methods study of advanced cancer patients (n=70), oncology physicians (n=206), and oncology nurses (n=115). Semistructured interviews were used to assess respondents' attitudes toward the appropriate role of prayer in the context of advanced cancer. Theme extraction was performed based on interdisciplinary input using grounded theory. RESULTS: Most advanced cancer patients (71%), nurses (83%), and physicians (65%) reported that patient-initiated patient-practitioner prayer was at least occasionally appropriate. Furthermore, clinician prayer was viewed as at least occasionally appropriate by the majority of patients (64%), nurses (76%), and physicians (59%). Of those patients who could envision themselves asking their physician or nurse for prayer (61%), 86% would find this form of prayer spiritually supportive. Most patients (80%) viewed practitioner-initiated prayer as spiritually supportive. Open-ended responses regarding the appropriateness of patient-practitioner prayer in the advanced cancer setting revealed six themes shaping respondents' viewpoints: necessary conditions for prayer, potential benefits of prayer, critical attitudes toward prayer, positive attitudes toward prayer, potential negative consequences of prayer, and prayer alternatives. CONCLUSION: Most patients and practitioners view patient-practitioner prayer as at least occasionally appropriate in the advanced cancer setting, and most patients view prayer as spiritually supportive. However, the appropriateness of patient-practitioner prayer is case specific, requiring consideration of multiple factors.