Incubation period as part of the case definition of severe respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus

Non-specific symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections make it difficult for many countries without ongoing transmission of a novel coronavirus to rule out other possibilities including influenza before isolating imported febrile individuals with a possible exposure history. The incubation period helps differential diagnosis, and up to two days is suggestive of influenza. It is worth including the incubation period in the case definition of novel coronavirus infection.

Incubation period as part of the case definition of severe respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus

Non-specific symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections make it difficult for many countries without ongoing transmission of a novel coronavirus to rule out other possibilities including influenza before isolating imported febrile individuals with a possible exposure history. The incubation period helps differential diagnosis, and up to two days is suggestive of influenza. It is worth including the incubation period in the case definition of novel coronavirus infection.

Effects of interferon-α-transduced tumor cell vaccines and blockade of programmed cell death-1 on the growth of established tumors

Interferon-alpha (IFN-α) has strong antitumor effects, and IFN-α gene therapy has been used clinically against some cancers. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the combination of IFN-α-transduced tumor cell vaccines and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) blockade, and investigated the mechanisms of the antitumor effects of the combined therapy. A poorly immunogenic murine colorectal cancer cell line, MC38, was transduced to overexpress IFN-α. In a therapeutic model, parental tumor-bearing mice were inoculated with MC38-IFNα cells and an anti-PD-1 antagonistic antibody. Analyses of immunohistochemistry and tumor-specific lysis were performed. The outgrowth of the established tumors was significantly reduced in mice treated with the combination of IFN-α and anti-PD-1. Immunohistochemical analyses of the therapeutic model showed marked infiltration of CD4(+) cells and CD8(+) cells in the established MC38 tumors of mice treated with both IFN-α and anti-PD-1. Significant tumor-specific cytolysis was detected when splenocytes of mice that were treated with both IFN-α and anti-PD-1 were used as effector cells. These results suggest that blockade of the PD-1 PD-ligand enhanced the Th1-type antitumor immune responses induced by IFN-α. The combination of IFN-α gene-transduced tumor cell vaccines and PD-1 blockade may be a possible candidate for a cancer vaccine for clinical trials.

An epidemiological analysis of the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Miyazaki, Japan, 2010

An epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease occurred in Miyazaki, Japan, beginning in late March 2010. Here, we document the descriptive epidemiological features and investigate the between-farm transmission dynamics. As of 10 July 2010, a total of 292 infected premises have been confirmed with a cumulative incidence for cattle and pig herds of 8.5% and 36.4%, respectively, for the whole of Miyazaki prefecture. Pig herds were more likely to be infected than cattle herds (odds ratio = 4.3 [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.2, 5.7]). Modelling analysis suggested that the relative susceptibility of a cattle herd is 4.2 times greater than a typical pig herd (95% CI: 3.9, 4.5), while the relative infectiousness of a pig herd is estimated to be 8.0 times higher than a cattle herd (95% CI: 5.0, 13.6). The epidemic peak occurred around mid-May, after which the incidence started to decline and the effective reproduction numbers from late May were mostly less than unity, although a vaccination programme in late May could have masked symptoms in infected animals. The infected premises were geographically confined to limited areas in Miyazaki, but sporadic long-distance transmissions were seen within the prefecture. Given that multiple outbreaks in Far East Asian countries have occurred since early 2010, continued monitoring and surveillance is deemed essential.

Radiation necrosis and brain edema association with CyberKnife treatment

The CyberKnife (CK) is a frameless and image guided robotic controlled instrument for stereotactic irradiation. The authors studied CK treatment of glioma and glioblastoma, and analyzed frequency and risk factors of radiation necrosis. Of 61 patients with glioma and glioblastoma treated with CyberKnife, four patients showed symptomatic radiation necrosis. All of these patients were treated with stereotactic radiotherapy, varying from 3 to 6 fractions without previous radiation therapy. Two patients required necrotomy through craniotomy. Two patients were treated conservatively. Our four patients with radiation necrosis were not specific in terms of tumor volume and dose delivery. Glioma cells invade the normal brain tissue and over-radiation to this intermingling area is one of the risk factors for injury to normal endothelial cells. The homogeneity of the maximum dose area is an important factor to reduce over radiation to the normal brain parenchyma. The dose volume effect has been discussed in terms of risk factor; however, the number of fractions and dose per fraction should be considered to avoid radiation necrosis. We consider that conformal treatment with inverse algorism, fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy and precise anatomic targeting reduce the risk of radiation necrosis.

High-Q concentrated directional emission from egg-shaped asymmetric resonant cavities

We propose the use of egg-shaped asymmetric resonant cavities (ARCs), each of which consists of a half-circular part and a half-deformed part, as promising candidates in obtaining desirable whispering-gallery-mode resonances. According to numerical analysis based on a ray-optics model, more than an order-of-magnitude higher Q and more-concentrated emission from the tip of the egg region were obtained for egg-shaped ARCs than for the previously studied quadrupolar ARCs.

Observation of a single-beam gradient-force optical trap for dielectric particles in air

A single-beam gradient-force optical trap for dielectric particles, which relies solely on the radiation pressure force of a TEM(00)-mode laser light, is demonstrated in air for what is believed to be the first time. It was observed that micrometer-sized glass spheres with a refractive index of n=1.45 remained trapped in the focus region for more than 30 min, and we could transfer them three dimensionally by moving the beam focus and the microscope stage. A laser power of ~40 mW was sufficient to trap a 5- microm -diameter glass sphere. The present method has several distinct advantages over the conventional optical levitation method.