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Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is an important viral disease causing significant economic losses in commercial livestock production. In mid-2019, an outbreak of LSD has been reported in cattle population from different parts of Bangladesh including Chattogram division. A cross-sectional surveillance study was undertaken from August 2019 to December 2019 to investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors of LSD in cattle in Chattogram district.

A total of 3,327 cattle from 19 commercial farms were examined for the LSD specific skin lesions and associated risk factors. A total of 120 skin biopsies were collected from the suspected animal for the confirmation of the disease using molecular detection and histopathological examination. Partial genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses were performed on selected viral isolates.

The overall clinical prevalence of LSD in the study population was 10% (95% confidence interval [CI] 9.4%-11%) where the highest farm level outbreak frequency was 63.33% (95% CI 45.ealth decision makers in the country as well as it will aid in taking appropriate measures to prevent further relapse or outbreak of this disease in future.

Appropriate preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) is extremely important in patients with operable malignant perihilar biliary strictures. The aim of this study was to clarify the utility of inside stents in PBD.

Eighty-one patients with malignant perihilar biliary stricture who underwent endoscopic nasobiliary drainage (ENBD) as the first PBD method were enrolled. Biliary stenting was performed in 61 patients during the study course (41 patients-inside stent implanted in the bile duct; 20 patients-conventional stent placed across the papilla of Vater). Twenty patients continued ENBD until surgery. Treatment outcomes were compared among the three groups.

The re-intervention rate was significantly lower in the inside stent group than in the conventional stent group and ENBD group (9.8% vs 40% and 35%, P=.013 and .030, respectively), and the time to re-intervention was also significantly longer (log-rank P=.004 and .041, respectively). Of the five patients in the inside stent group who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, only one required re-intervention. There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative complications among the three groups.

The inside stent may be a useful PBD method for patients with malignant perihilar biliary stricture.

The inside stent may be a useful PBD method for patients with malignant perihilar biliary stricture.Since 2010, several duck Tembusu viruses (DTMUVs) have been isolated from infected ducks in China, and these virus strains have undergone extensive variation over the years. Although the infection rate is high, the mortality rate is usually relatively low-~5%-30%; however, since fall 2019, an infectious disease similar to DTMUV infection but with a high mortality rate of ~50% in goslings has been prevalent in Anhui Province, China. The present study identified a new Tembusu virus, designated DTMUV/Goose/China/2019/AQ-19 (AQ-19), that is believed to be responsible for the noticeably high mortality in goslings. To investigate the genetic variation of this strain, its entire genome was sequenced and analysed for specific variations, and goslings and mice were challenged with the isolated virus to investigate its pathogenicity. The AQ-19 genome shared only 94.3%-96.9% and 90.9% nucleotide identity with other Chinese and Malaysian DTMUVs, respectively; however, AQ-19 has high homology with Thailand DTMUVs (97.2%-98.1% nucleotide identity). Phylogenetic analysis of the E gene revealed that AQ-19 and most of Thailand DTMUVs form a branch separate from any of the previously reported DTMUV strains in China. Pemrametostat After the challenge, some goslings and mice showed typical clinical signs of DTMUV, particularly severe neurological dysfunction. AQ-19 has high virulence in goslings and mice, resulting in 60% and 70% mortality through intramuscular and intracerebral routes, respectively. Pathological examination revealed severe histological lesions in the brain and liver of the infected goslings and mice. Taken together, these results demonstrated the emergence of a novel Tembusu virus with high virulence circulating in goslings in China for the first time, and our findings highlight the high genetic diversity of DTMUVs in China. Further study of the pathogenicity and host range of this novel Tembusu virus is particularly important.The ability to directly modify native and established biofilms has enormous potential in understanding microbial ecology and application of biofilm in ‘real-world’ systems. However, efficient genetic transformation of established biofilms at any scale remains challenging. In this study, we applied an ultrasound-mediated DNA delivery (UDD) technique to introduce plasmid to established non-competent biofilms in situ. Two different plasmids containing genes coding for superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) and the flavin synthesis pathway were introduced into established bacterial biofilms in microfluidic flow (transformation efficiency of 3.9 ± 0.3 × 10-7 cells in biofilm) and microbial fuel cells (MFCs), respectively, both employing UDD. Gene expression and functional effects of genetically modified bacterial biofilms were observed, where some cells in UDD-treated Pseudomonas putida UWC1 biofilms expressed sfGFP in flow cells and UDD-treated Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 biofilms generated significantly (P less then 0.05) greater (61%) bioelectricity production (21.9 ± 1.2 µA cm-2 ) in MFC than a wild-type control group (~ 13.6 ± 1.6 µA cm-2 ). The effects of UDD were amplified in subsequent growth under selection pressure due to antibiotic resistance and metabolism enhancement. UDD-induced gene transfer on biofilms grown in both microbial flow cells and MFC systems was successfully demonstrated, with working volumes of 0.16 cm3 and 300 cm3 , respectively, demonstrating a significant scale-up in operating volume. This is the first study to report on a potentially scalable direct genetic engineering method for established non-competent biofilms, which can be exploited in enhancing their capability towards environmental, industrial and medical applications.