ABSTRACT
There is growing interest in emerging viruses that can cause serious or lethal disease in humans and animals. The proliferation of cloacal virome studies, mainly focused on poultry and other domestic birds, reveals a wide variety of viruses, although their pathogenic significance is currently uncertain. Analysis of viruses detected in wild birds is complex and often biased towards waterfowl because of the obvious interest in avian influenza or other zoonotic viruses. Less is known about the viruses present in the order Passeriformes, which comprises approximately 60% of extant bird species. This review aims to compile the most significant contributions on the DNA/RNA viruses affecting passerines, from traditional and metagenomic studies. It highlights that most passerine species have never been sampled. Especially the RNA viruses from Flaviviridae, Orthomyxoviridae and Togaviridae are considered emerging because of increased incidence or avian mortality/morbidity, spread to new geographical areas or hosts and their zoonotic risk. Arguably poxvirus, and perhaps other virus groups, could also be considered "emerging viruses". However, many of these viruses have only recently been described in passerines using metagenomics and their role in the ecosystem is unknown. Finally, it is noteworthy that only one third of the viruses affecting passerines have been officially recognized.
ABSTRACT
Avian leukosis viruses (ALVs) have been virtually eradicated from commercial poultry. However, some niches remain as pockets from which this group of viruses may reemerge and induce economic losses. Such is the case of fancy, hobby, backyard chickens and indigenous or native breeds, which are not as strictly inspected as commercial poultry and which have been found to harbor ALVs. In addition, the genome of both poultry and of several gamebird species contain endogenous retroviral sequences. Circumstances that support keeping up surveillance include the detection of several ALV natural recombinants between exogenous and endogenous ALV-related sequences which, combined with the well-known ability of retroviruses to mutate, facilitate the emergence of escape mutants. The subgroup most prevalent nowadays, ALV-J, has emerged as a multi-recombinant which uses a different receptor from the previously known subgroups, greatly increasing its cell tropism and pathogenicity and making it more transmissible. In this review we describe the ALVs, their different subgroups and which receptor they use to infect the cell, their routes of transmission and their presence in different bird collectivities, and the immune response against them. We analyze the different systems to control them, from vaccination to the progress made editing the bird genome to generate mutated ALV receptors or selecting certain haplotypes.
ABSTRACT
The Genus Alpharetrovirus contains viruses pathogenic mainly for chickens, forming the Avian Sarcoma and Leukosis Virus group (ASLV). Cells of most Galliform species, besides chickens, contain genetic elements (endogenous retroviruses, ERVs) that could recombine with other alpharetroviruses or express proteins, complementing defective ASLV, which may successfully replicate and cause disease. However, they are quite unknown, and only ALV-F, from ring-necked pheasants, has been partially published. Upon scrutiny of 53 genomes of different avian species, we found Alpharetrovirus-like sequences only in 12 different Galliformes, including six full-length (7.4-7.6 Kbp) and 27 partial sequences. Phylogenetic studies of the regions studied (LTR, gag, pol, and env) consistently resulted in five almost identical clades containing the same ERVs: Clade I (presently known ASLVs); Clade II (Callipepla spp. ERVs); Clade IIIa (Phasianus colchicus ERVs); Clade IIIb (Alectoris spp. ERVs); and Clade IV (Centrocercus spp. ERVs). The low pol identity scores suggested that each of these Clades may be considered a different species. ORF analysis revealed that putatively encoded proteins would be very similar in length and domains to those of other alpharetroviruses and thus potentially functional. This will undoubtedly contribute to better understanding the biology of defective viruses, especially in wild Galliformes, their evolution, and the danger they may represent for other wild species and the poultry industry.
ABSTRACT
The efficiency in the management of patients with suspected malignant lesions represents the main objective of the oncology of head and neck. Flexible nasopahyngolaryngoscopy with working channel allows to quickly and safely assess and obtain histological samples of this type of lesion. Our objective is to describe the usefulness of this technique in lesions suggestive of malignancy in terms of efficiency, sensitivity and specificity. A retrospective study was carried out over a period of time from December 2014 to December 2019, including patients biopsied with flexible fibroscopy of lesions of debut suspected of malignancy. Here we assess the location of the lesion, the histological results, the diagnostic time and the epidemiological variables. 104 patients were included in the study. More than half of the lesions, 55.2% (57), were located in the larynx; 57.7% (60) resulted positive for malignancy in the flexible fiberscope biopsy; 19.2% (20) were taken to the operating room to get biopsied under general anesthesia resulting in 7.4% (14) positive for malignancy, which shows a sensitivity of the test of 81%. In our sample, a diagnostic time of 15 days was obtained. Considering our results, the few complications and the revised literature, flexible fiberscope biopsy with working channel is an efficient procedure for the management of oncological patients of head and neck.
ABSTRACT
En el ámbito de la evaluación acústica del sistema fonador, las diferentes herramientas conocidas no están exentas de la necesidad de interpretar sus resultados y de un conocimiento amplio de las características de la señal de voz en los diferentes dominios de representación. En este trabajo se presenta una simple y robusta herramienta de software que tiene como objetivo documentar la calidad de voz a partir de una grabación de una vocal sostenida, cuantificando objetivamente y de forma automática 4 fenómenos físicos que permiten realizar una medición de la calidad de la voz. Estos 4 fenómenos físicos se han denominado: estabilidad de la voz, riqueza espectral, presencia de ruido e irregularidades en las masas. Se ha desarrollado un software que de manera automática identifica las variaciones de la normalidad de los 4 fenómenos físicos y, por tanto, permite diferenciar de forma objetiva las voces normales de las patológicas. Para el análisis de las prestaciones del sistema que se presenta se han evaluado 86 locutores de control y 155 locutores con patologías laríngeas variadas con diferentes grados de disfonía. En el estudio realizado se ha obtenido una sensibilidad del 89% y una especificidad de 89,5% en la discriminación entre voces normales y patológicas. Con el estudio clínico realizado hemos demostrado que la herramienta es clínicamente relevante en la evaluación y documentación de pacientes con trastornos de la voz (AU)
In the field of acoustic evaluation of the phonatory system, the distinct available tools are not exempt from the need to interpret their results and for extensive knowledge of the characteristics of the speech signal in the different domains of representation. This article presents a simple and robust software tool that aims to document voice quality from a recording of a sustained vowel. This tool measures four physical phenomena that define voice quality objectively and automatically. These four physical phenomena are referred to as: voice stability, spectral richness, the presence of noise, and mass irregularities. We have developed a software tool that automatically identifies variations in the four physical phenomena with respect to their normal ranges, and therefore allows normal voice to be differentiated from pathological voices. To analyze the performance of this system, we evaluated 86 speakers in a control group and 155 speakers with various laryngeal disorders and distinct degrees of dysphonia. A sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 89.5% were obtained in discriminating between normal and pathological voices. This clinical study shows that the tool is clinically relevant in the assessment and documentation of patients with voice disorders (AU)
