2008年4月29日 星期二

16 down with chikungunya

2008/04/27

JOHOR BARU: Sixteen people in Kampung Ulu Choh here have been diagnosed with chikungunya, a non-lethal viral fever with symptoms similar to dengue. .....

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/2224874/Article/index_html

2008年4月28日 星期一

Insects use plant like a telephone


Dutch ecologist Roxina Soler and her colleagues have discovered that subterranean and aboveground herbivorous insects can communicate with each other by using plants as telephones. Subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant. This way, aboveground insects are alerted that the plant is already ‘occupied’........
http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOA_7DLG9H_Eng?Opendocument

Larvicidal activity of tectoquinone isolated from red heartwood-type Cryptomeria japonica (柳杉) against two mosquito species

Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 3617–3622
Sen-Sung Cheng a, Chin-Gi Huang b, Wei-June Chen c, Yueh-Hsiung Kuo d,Shang-Tzen Chang e,*

Abstract
Mosquito larvicidal activities of methanolic extracts from different plant parts of red heartwood-type Cryptomeria japonica D. Don against the fourth-instar larvae of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus were examined. Results of mosquito larvicidal tests demonstrated that the n-hexane fraction of C. japonica sapwood methanolic extract had an excellent inhibitory effect against the larvae of A. aegypti and A. albopictus and its LC50 values were 2.4 and 3.3 μg/ml, respectively, in 24 h. Following the bioactivity-guided fractionation procedure, the active constituent isolated from C. japonica sapwood was characterized as tectoquinone by spectroscopic analyses. The LC50 values of tectoquinone against A. aegypti and A. albopictus in 24 h were 3.3 and 5.4 μg/ml, respectively. In addition, comparisons of mosquito larvicidal activity of anthraquinone congeners demonstrated that anthraquinone skeleton with a methyl group at C-2 position, such as tectoquinone, exhibited the strongest mosquito larvicidal activity. Results of this study show that the methanolic extract of C. japonica sapwood may be considered as a potent source and tectoquinone as a new natural mosquito larvicidal agent.

Keywords: Cryptomeria japonica; Aedes aegypti; Aedes albopictus; Tectoquinone; Mosquito larvicidal activity

2008年4月26日 星期六

Use of a commercial enzyme immunoassay to monitor dengue virus replication

http://www.virologyj.com/content/5/1/51

Abstract (provisional)
Current methods for dengue virus quantitation are either time consuming, technically demanding or costly. As an alternative, the commercial enzyme immunoassay PlateliaTM Dengue NS1 AG (Bio-Rad Laboratories) was used to monitor semiquantitatively dengue virus replication in cultured cells. The presence of NS1 protein was evaluated in supernatants from Vero and C6/36 cells infected with dengue virus. The amount of NS1 detected in the supernatants of infected cells was proportional to the initial MOI used and to the time of post infection harvest. This immunoassay was also able to detect the presence of NS1 in the supernatants of infected human macrophages. Inhibition of dengue virus replication in C6/36 cells treated with lysosomotropic drugs was readily monitored with the use of this assay. These results suggest that the PlateliaTM Dengue NS1 AG kit can be used as a fast and reliable surrogate method for the relative quantitation of dengue virus replication in cultured cells.

2008年4月24日 星期四

時事新聞 屈公熱

屈公熱:
一、 出國返台 全身痛到站不起來(聯合電子報 桃園)
二、 桃縣出現今年屈公熱首例(中華 醫藥C2)
三、 首例屈公熱病例 症狀已改善(民眾 桃園17)
四、 1st confirmed chikungunya fever case reported(China Post Local 20)

PS 上次打完羽球後,隔天全身痛到站不起來,目前症狀已改善

2008年4月22日 星期二

Herpes virus morphogenesis

After leaving the nucleus by a budding-fusion mechanism, nucleocapsids gain their final tegument and envelope in the cytoplasm by budding into trans-Golgi network vesicles. These are then transported to the plasma membrane, where vesicle and plasma membrane fuse and virions are released from the cell.
(繼續閱讀)....

The role of lipid rafts in HIV-1 replication

For reading only~~~
Advances in cell biology revealed that the plasma membrane is not a homogenous sea of lipid, but consists of various types of microdomains with specific sets of protein and lipid components. One such microdomain is the cholesterol-rich lipid raft. Rafts facilitate various cellular functions, such as signal transduction and protein trafficking, often by providing concentration platforms for promoting protein-protein interactions. A top priority of our research is to fully understand the roles that rafts play throughout the replication cycle of HIV-1 and other retroviruses.
HIV-1 Gag, the major building block of virus particles, has been identified as a raft-associated protein. Moreover, raft disruption severely impairs HIV-1 virus particle production and infectivity of released progeny virions. These findings suggest that rafts play important role(s) in both virus assembly and particle infectivity. We are currently identifying the steps in the assembly/release pathway at which rafts are involved. Future studies will be aimed at determining the molecular mechanisms by which rafts promote virus assembly as well as the nature of the raft subsets involved in infectious virus particle production.
Virus transmission at the interface between two cells is a markedly more efficient mechanism of virus spread than cell-free transmission and likely represents the major mode of transmission for HIV-1 in infected individuals. However, the mechanism of cell-to-cell transmission has not been well studied. Interestingly, we observed that, when a producer cell contacts a target cell, lipid rafts and Gag colocalize at the cell-cell contact interface (see Fig. 1). These results suggest that lipid rafts play a key role in cell-to-cell HIV-1 transmission. The laboratory will further characterize raft-rich contact structures and examine their role(s) in virus spread.

~~~~cited from materials of Ono Lab, University of Michigan Medical School
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/ono.lab/lipid_rafts_and_hiv-1_replication

北市近三千外勞有寄生蟲

有那麼嚴重嗎! 人體試驗最佳對象! 買些血,做陽性血清實驗...

一、 北市近三千外勞 有寄生蟲 (蘋果 大台北社區新聞A14)
二、 外勞健康問題 寄生蟲最嚴重 (自由 台北焦點A11)
三、 外勞健檢不合格 寄生蟲惹禍 (中時 北市新聞C2)
四、 北市外勞8.76%體檢不合格 (新生 要聞2)
五、 染肺結核 去年30外勞遣送出境 (民眾 北市新聞14)
六、 北市外勞健檢 8.76%不合格 (中華 醫藥資訊C2)
七、 衛生習慣好 可降低寄生蟲感染 (中華 醫藥資訊C2)
八、 Nine percent of foreign workers fail health check (Taipei Times台灣新聞2)

境外移入屈公病

2008年台灣境外移入屈公病第二例4/20被逮到。CDC病媒病毒及立克次體實驗室自2006年開始篩檢此項疾病,至今總計驗出6個境外移入屈公病病人,一個新加坡,五個印尼。

長庚醫護宿舍 傳疑似登革熱病例

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/apr/22/today-south4.htm

〔記者方志賢/鳥松報導〕高雄長庚醫護人員宿舍傳出疑似登革熱疫情,一名牙醫因發燒、紅疹就醫,經通報疑似登革熱病例,雖第一次採血檢驗呈現陰性,仍須二次採血才能確定,高縣衛生局已緊急派員到宿舍噴藥消毒及清除病媒蚊孳生源。
該名牙醫住在醫院醫護人員宿舍,............

2008年4月20日 星期日

刑事偵查中的重要線民 --法醫昆蟲學

http://203.68.20.65/science/content/1996/00050317/0008.htm

Rift Valley fever, human, bovine - Madagascar

Source: World Health Organisation (WHO), EPR, Outbreak News [edited]<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2008_04_18a/en/index.html>
<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs207/en/>

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis that primarily affects animals but also has the capacity to infect humans. Infection can cause severe disease in both animals and humans, leading to high rates of disease and death. The disease also results in significant economic losses due to death and abortion among RVF-infected livestock."
(Human disease is preceded by animal disease and the cases of human disease described in the preceding report are indicative of the existence of extensive disease in livestock. Rift Valley fever virus has circulated in livestock in Madagascar for several years -- see the ProMED-mail references listed below. - Mod.CP)
"RVF virus is a member of the genus _Phlebovirus_, one of the 5 genera in the family _Bunyaviridae_. The virus was 1st identified in1931 during an investigation into an epidemic among sheep on a farm in the Rift Valley of Kenya. Since then, outbreaks have been reported in sub-Saharan and North Africa. In 1997-98, a major outbreak occurred in Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania and in September 2000, RVF cases were confirmed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, marking the 1st reported occurrence of the disease outside the African continent and raising concerns that it could extend to other parts of Asia and Europe.
"The vast majority of human infections result from direct or indirect contact with the blood or organs of infected animals. The virus can be transmitted to humans through the handling of animal tissue during slaughtering or butchering, assisting with animal births, conducting veterinary procedures, or from the disposal of carcasses or fetuses.
"Certain occupational groups such as herders, farmers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians are therefore at higher risk of infection. The virus infects humans through inoculation; for example, via a wound from an infected knife or through contact with broken skin, or through inhalation of aerosols produced during the slaughter of infected animals. The aerosol mode of transmission has also led to infection in laboratory workers.
"There is some evidence that humans may also become infected with RVF by ingesting the unpasteurized or uncooked milk of infected animals. Human infections have also resulted from the bites of infected mosquitoes, most commonly the _Aedes_ mosquito. Transmission of RVF virus by hematophagous (blood-feeding) flies is also possible.
"To date, no human-to-human transmission of RVF has been documented, and no transmission of RVF to health care workers has been reported when standard infection control precautions have been put in place.

2008年4月19日 星期六

[1] Egypt - WHO confirmation of 50th case [2] Japan - pre-pandemic vaccine trial approved

[1] Egypt - WHO confirmation of 50th case
<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2008_04_17/en/index.html>

[2] Japan - pre-pandemic vaccine trial approvedDate: Fri 18 Apr 2008Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan [edited]
Clinical trial for pre-pandemic influenza vaccination - Japan
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan (MHLW) has announced on Wed 16 Apr 2008 that it would organise a clinical trial for pre-pandemic influenza vaccines against H5N1 on 6400 volunteers to further make sure its safety and effectiveness which had already been tested for a smaller number and been approved by the national regulatory authority. The 6400 volunteers will include quarantine officers, health care workers and emergency response workers.
MHLW will consider expanding pre-pandemic vaccination to wider prioritised targets up to 10 million if the trial proves its safety and effectiveness. It would also consider increasing its stock of pre-pandemic vaccines in addition to the current 20 million stockpiles of Viet Nam, Indonesia and Anhui [China] strains as bulks.
In the meantime, MHLW is always endeavouring to improve the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and their manufacturing process including introducing cell-culture-based vaccines to increase the speed of their production.
--Communicated by:Kenichi TSUJII, M.D., MPATuberculosis and Infectious Diseases Control DivisionHealth Services BureauMinistry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan<tsujii-kenichi@mhlw.go.jp>
[ProMED-mail would like to thank Dr. Kenichi Tsujii for sharing this information with our subscribers. The nature of the vaccine is not disclosed, but it is likely to be a whole virus inactivated egg-grown vaccine without adjuvant. We look forward to hearing results of this vaccine trial as they become available. However, it is not clear how the efficacy of the vaccine is going to be assessed, and what controls are in place. Further information would be welcomed. - Mod.MPP/CP]

2008年4月17日 星期四

CHIKUNGUNYA: INDIA (KARNATAKA) from ProMED

More than 500 suspected chikungunya cases were detected in the district [of Mangalore, Karnataka state].
Statistics available at the District Health and Family Welfare Department (DHFWD) warn of an 'uncontrollable outbreak of the disease in the district', if not checked at the earliest.
As per data available with the DHFWD, around 530 suspected chikungunya cases were reported from Sullia and Puttur taluks. [A taluk is an administrative and fiscal unit that has jurisdiction over villages and municipalities. - Mod.TY] It was found through door-to-door survey and surveillance records that around 1787 people were suffering from high fever in Sullia and Puttur taluks.
The absence of a clinical diagnosis process in the district to confirm chikungunya as early as possible has the administration sitting astride the horns of a dilemma.
DHFWD officer Dr H Jagannath told this website's newspaper that the department could not confirm chikungunya as there was no laboratory facility in the district to diagnose the disease. He said that the government had promised 100 rapid chikungunya test kits before Wednesday [16 Apr 2008].
"INR 4.5 lakh [450 000 rupees equivalent to USD 11 261] had been sanctioned under the vector borne disease control programme for the district," he said, adding that necessary steps would be taken to check the spread of disease.
Dr Jagannath said that 2 nodal officers were appointed for Sullia and Puttur taluks. The department has also deputed 3 doctors to the taluks, he said and 3 mobile medical teams with ambulances were also sent to the taluks.
Jagannath said that a joint survey by the entomology experts and the joint director of the Malaria and Filaria Cell was conducted on 13-15 Apr [2008]; a total of 12 drug distribution centres were functioning in the 2 taluks.
Precautionary measures including fogging, spraying, and awareness programmes were started in the taluks for the effective prevention of the spread of chikungunya, but proper diagnosis is still a necessary 1st step that can no longer be delayed.
[Byline: Vinobha KT]
<http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20080416003334>

photo damaged

Kun-Hsien, would you please post the picture from 小琉球 again?

Another new member

Ching-Gi just joined as a new member of this blog.

Not good for pitching today

Chien-Ming Wang is not good enough today, pitching 4.0 innings with 8 ER.
His ERA has increased from 1.38 up to 3.86.

New member

Kun-Hsien became a new member of this blog last night.

新增"老"照片

請欣賞老照片,需要塗掉眼睛者,請備註!

2008年4月14日 星期一

網站連結( Links)更新

網站連結( Links)更新了, 請多加參考利用!

2008年4月13日 星期日

認識登革熱

認識登革熱。《長庚校訊 》2003年7,第27期,4版。

醫用昆蟲學小史

醫用昆蟲學小史 。《科學月刊》1982年8月,第35~40頁。

2008年4月12日 星期六

Compete-game with straight three wins by Chien-Ming Wang

洋基對紅襪, 王建民完投勝 (4:1)。

The list of presentations

Please find the list of presentations (a draft) for
lab meeting in late April, May, and early June.
In addition, please fill up the appropriate block
for each of you in the table of the file.

2008年4月10日 星期四

BMC journals

More BioMedical Central (BMC) journals for open access

2008年4月9日 星期三

4/9美國MLB

郭泓志4/9對Arizona Diamondbacks (亞利桑那響尾蛇對隊)
中繼3.2局無失分 (5 SO; 1 BB), 外加一安打。九局結束, 10:5 道奇敗。

2008年4月8日 星期二

Niau-chi has response

Thanks for the response by niau-chi in the block of photos

Free Real-Time PCR Papers

Real-Time PCR Papers -FREE access to full text

美國職棒大聯盟4/7訊息

王建民對 TB Rays, 勝投, 2:0 洋基勝。
胡金龍對, SD Padres, 勝利打點, 道奇3:2 道奇勝。

2008年4月4日 星期五

Young Investigator Award

The ASTMH 57th Annual Meeting 將於 December 7-11, 2008
在 New Orleans, Louisiana 舉行. 鼓勵欲出席會議者參與角逐
Young Investigator Award, 若有意願須於 5/28 前完成申請
手續! 細節請參考日前公佈之網頁.

應景詩一首

清明
清明時節雨紛紛,
路上行人欲斷魂。
借問酒家何處有?
牧童遙指杏花村。
~~唐 杜牧

2008年4月1日 星期二

Congress in Jeju

The XVII International Congress for Tropical Medicine and Malaria that will be held in Jeju,
Korea has extended the deadline for abstract submission until May 10, this year.