Organ donation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a rapidly changing circumstance with dramatic policy changes and universal efforts to deal with the initial crisis and minimize its consequences. To identify changes to organ donation and transplantation during this time, an anonymous web-based survey was distributed to 19 select organ procurement organizations (OPOs) throughout the United States comparing 90-day activity during March-May 2020 and March-May 2019. Seventeen OPOs responded to the survey (response rate of 89.5%). Organ authorization decreased by 11% during the current pandemic (n = 1379 vs n = 1552, P = .0001). Organ recovery for transplantation fell by 17% (P = .0001) with a further 18% decrease in the number of organs transplanted (P = .0001). Donor cause of death demonstrated a 4.5% decline in trauma but a 35% increase in substance abuse cases during the COVID-19 period. All OPOs reported significant modifications in response to the pandemic, limiting the onsite presence of staff and transitioning to telephonic approaches for donor family correspondence. Organ donation during the current climate has seen significant changes and the long-term implications of such shifts remain unclear. These trends during the COVID-19 era warrant further investigation to address unmet needs, plan for a proportionate response to the virus and mitigate the collateral impact.

Prevalence of Salmonella on retail broiler chicken meat carcasses in Colombia.

A cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella on retail market chicken carcasses in Colombia. A total of 1,003 broiler chicken carcasses from 23 departments (one city per department) were collected via a stratified sampling method. Carcass rinses were tested for the presence of Salmonella by conventional culture methods. Salmonella strains were isolated from 27 % of the carcasses sampled. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine potential risk factors for Salmonella contamination associated with the chicken production system (conventional versus free-range), storage condition (chilled versus frozen), retail store type (supermarket, independent, and wet market), poultry company (integrated company versus nonintegrated company), and socioeconomic stratum. Chickens from a nonintegrated poultry company were associated with a significantly (P < 0.05) greater risk of Salmonella contamination (odds ratio, 2.0) than were chickens from an integrated company. Chilled chickens had a significantly (P < 0.05) higher risk of Salmonella contamination (odds ratio, 4.3) than did frozen chicken carcasses.

Differentiation of autonomic reflex control begins with cellular mechanisms at the first synapse within the nucleus tractus solitarius.

Visceral afferents send information via cranial nerves to the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS). The NTS is the initial step of information processing that culminates in homeostatic reflex responses. Recent evidence suggests that strong afferent synaptic responses in the NTS are most often modulated by depression and this forms a basic principle of central integration of these autonomic pathways. The visceral afferent synapse is uncommonly powerful at the NTS with large unitary response amplitudes and depression rather than facilitation at moderate to high frequencies of activation. Substantial signal depression occurs through multiple mechanisms at this very first brainstem synapse onto second order NTS neurons. This review highlights new approaches to the study of these basic processes featuring patch clamp recordings in NTS brain slices and optical techniques with fluorescent tracers. The vanilloid receptor agonist, capsaicin, distinguishes two classes of second order neurons (capsaicin sensitive or capsaicin resistant) that appear to reflect unmyelinated and myelinated afferent pathways. The differences in cellular properties of these two classes of NTS neurons indicate clear functional differentiation at both the pre- and postsynaptic portions of these first synapses. By virtue of their position at the earliest stage of these pathways, such mechanistic differences probably impart important differentiation in the performance over the entire reflex pathways.

Differentiation of autonomic reflex control begins with cellular mechanisms at the first synapse within the nucleus tractus solitarius

Visceral afferents send information via cranial nerves to the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS). The NTS is the initial step of information processing that culminates in homeostatic reflex responses. Recent evidence suggests that strong afferent synaptic responses in the NTS are most often modulated by depression and this forms a basic principle of central integration of these autonomic pathways. The visceral afferent synapse is uncommonly powerful at the NTS with large unitary response amplitudes and depression rather than facilitation at moderate to high frequencies of activation. Substantial signal depression occurs through multiple mechanisms at this very first brainstem synapse onto second order NTS neurons. This review highlights new approaches to the study of these basic processes featuring patch clamp recordings in NTS brain slices and optical techniques with fluorescent tracers. The vanilloid receptor agonist, capsaicin, distinguishes two classes of second order neurons (capsaicin sensitive or capsaicin resistant) that appear to reflect unmyelinated and myelinated afferent pathways. The differences in cellular properties of these two classes of NTS neurons indicate clear functional differentiation at both the pre- and postsynaptic portions of these first synapses. By virtue of their position at the earliest stage of these pathways, such mechanistic differences probably impart important differentiation in the performance over the entire reflex pathways.

First Report and Characterization of Rhynchosia golden mosaic virus in Honduras.

Rhynchosia minima was suspected to be a weed host of Bean golden yellow mosaic virus (BGYMV, previously designated Bean golden mosaic virus type II). Leaf tissue that exhibited yellow mosaic foliar symptoms characteristic of a geminivirus infection was collected in the Comayagua Valley in Honduras in July 1999. Extraction of viral DNA from the symptomatic leaves was accomplished with the DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen Inc., Valencia, CA). Subsequent viral DNA amplification was accomplished with degenerative primers for the cp gene (AV494/AC1048) (4). The 570-bp fragment was cloned into the pGEM T-Easy vector (Promega Corp., Madison, WI) producing the recombinant plasmid pRhyb5. The viral insert was sequenced, and from this sequence, specific primers (RHc549 and RHv29) were designed to amplify the remaining part of DNA-A. The 2.1-kb-amplified polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragment was cloned into the pGEM T-Easy vector producing the recombinant plasmid (pRhya-sp), and the viral insert was sequenced. Nucleotide sequence comparison (GAP program, Wisconsin Package Version 10.0, Genetics Computer Group, Madison, WI) of the complete 2,624-bp DNA-A (GenBank accession no. AF239671) to geminiviruses representing the major phylogenetic clusters (1) showed nucleotide identities ranging from 63 to 82%. Sequence comparisons for the common region and rep, trap, ren, and cp genes with the most closely related geminivirus, Pepper hausteco virus (PHV, X70418), gave 76, 82, 79, 81, and 82% nucleotide identities, respectively. There is a direct repeat (TATCGGT) of 7 nt 5' (viral sense polarity) of the conserved TATA box, and this repeat is most analogous to that in PHV (1). Specific primers were designed in the complementary sense (RGBc2414, BGBc2553) from the common region DNA-A sequence and used with a degenerative viral sense primer for the DNA-B (PBC1v2039) (3) to amplify a 647-bp fragment. Sequence comparison for the common region (134 nt from the rep gene start codon toward the 3' end) from the DNA-B sequence had 88% nt identity to the DNA-A sequence, thus indicating that this geminivirus is bipartite. These sequence analyses indicated that this geminivirus isolated from R. minima is distinct from previously described geminiviruses, and we propose the name Rhynchosia golden mosaic virus (RGMV). From rep gene sequence alignments, RGMV has an apparent genome recombination between Old and New World geminiviruses (Tomato yellow leaf curl virus and Bean dwarf mosaic virus) as previously noted for PHV (2). Our results indicate that RGMV is a distinct geminivirus from BGYMV, and, thus, additional studies are needed to establish the importance of R. minima as a reservoir for vegetable-infecting geminiviruses. This study is the first report of another virus in the PHV phylogenetic cluster and is thus of importance in the understanding of recombinant viruses and their phylogenetic relationship to other characterized geminiviruses. References: (1) J. C. Faria et al. Phytopathology 84:321, 1994. (2) M. Padidam et al. Virology 265:218, 1999. (3) M. R. Rojas et al. Plant Dis. 77:340, 1993. (4) S. Wyatt and J. K. Brown. Phytopathology 86:1288, 1996.