2005年生命科学十大新闻评选结果揭晓

1 禽流感全球蔓延2005年美国病理学家杰弗瑞陶本伯杰揭开了1918大瘟疫的谜底,造成这次全球5000人死亡的元凶竟然是禽流感。同时,这一研究结果立刻让人联系到了同年爆发的 H5N1型禽流感。这一场禽流感首先在越南被发现,随后在东南亚、     

高致病性禽流感防控难点的分析

禽流感(avian influenza,AI)是由禽流感病毒引起的一种严重危害畜牧业的急性传染病,特别是高致病性禽流感引起禽类的呼吸系统感染以及全身性败血症,死亡率极高。多年来,许多国家和地区都爆发过此病,造成巨大经济损失,而2004年亚洲爆发的H5N1亚型禽流感造成经济损失的同时还出现了众多的禽流感病毒直接感染人类、造成人员死亡病例,再一次把人类的目光转移向此病。AI抗原类型众多,变异频繁,不同的类型抗原之间无交叉反应,同时,病毒具有复杂的感染和复制机制以及复杂的传播网络等多种因素单独和,协同作用,导致高致病性禽流感防控困难。     

动态

研发动态我国研制出可应对禽流感疫情的新疫苗哈尔滨兽医研究所国家禽流感实验室研制出一种新型疫苗,在防范鸭瘟病毒的同时,能够阻断H5N1禽流感在鸭子之间的传播。世界粮农组织(FAO)、世界卫生组织(WHO)及世界动物卫生组织(OIE)均认为,该成果能够有效预防和应对H5N1疫情的爆发。     

禽流感开始攻击人类，世卫组织警告其威胁可能超过非典

2004年1月14日，世界卫生组织和越南卫生部宣布：越南发生的禽流感与当地居民所患病毒相同，均为H5N1病毒，而目前已经有12人因感染禽流感死亡。对于禽流感开始感染人类这个事实，世界卫生组织官员同日表示，此次爆发的禽流感可能会导致一场全球危     

自主创新铸就斩魔利剑——我国禽流感疫苗研制的自主创新之路

2004年春节前后，继危害东南亚一些国家后，H5亚型高致病性禽流感开始在我国部分省区爆发。有的群众抱怨：怎么刚刚战胜了“非典”，又来了禽流感．难道新世纪的中国真的就如此多灾多难吗？     

欧洲批准新型禽流感疫苗上市

欧洲委员会近日批准了一种新型的应对H5N1型禽流感病毒的疫苗——Prepanddx。这也是首个用来抵御将来可能的禽流感爆发的疫苗。不过欧洲各国政府将怎样使用这种疫苗目前并不清楚。     

禽流感病毒最新研究进展

本文针对2004年爆发的禽流感疫病,回顾了2004年至2005年期间禽流感病毒的研究进展。逆转录聚合酶链式反应技术为禽流感病毒的分型提供了一种快速、可靠、准确的方法。对H5N1禽流感病毒致病机制的研究发现,其强致病性在于它可以躲避人类抗病毒细胞因子的作用,NS1基因编码蛋白的92位谷氨酸在其中发挥了关键作用。由于禽流感疾病多引起结膜炎,并与病毒细胞受体的研究结果相结合,有科学家认为眼部特异性是禽流感病毒的一个总体特征。社会普遍关注禽流感疫苗的研制,人类和禽类流感A型病毒M2蛋白胞外区域的序列比对工作为疫苗研制提供了一条新的思路,依据神经氨酸酶抑制剂抑制病毒的出芽繁殖原理的疫苗正在研制过程中,而利用siRNA预防和治疗禽流感也是很有潜力的一种方法。禽流感病毒研究的另一个热点是病毒基因节段的重配问题。     

禽流感灭活疫苗的产业化

禽流感（Al）是由A型流感病毒引起的严重危害养禽业的一类传染病．是国际动物卫生组织（OIE）规定的A类传染病之一。鸡的流感首次报道于1878年（意大利）．自发生以来的100多年中．世界各地都有过特定病毒株引起的禽流感的爆发流行,造成巨大的经济损失。目前,我国把禽流感列为强制免疫的疫病之一。     

禽流感与野鸟

禽流感(avian influenza,AI)1878年首先出现于意大利,接着在其它欧洲国家、埃及、南美、东南亚、美国和前苏联出现,现在已经基本上传播到世界上的每一个地区。1983～1984年,在美国宾夕法尼亚州、弗吉尼亚州、新泽西州、马里兰州爆发的H5N2型高致病性禽流感(highly pathogenic avian influenza,HPAI),造成1700万只家禽死亡和约3．49亿美元的间接经济损失。     

科研快讯

禽流感在人类之间传染力方面的研究取得进展physorg.com网站2007年7月25日报道:最近数年间爆发的传染病例如SARS和H5N1禽流感等显示,动物性病原体能获得在人类之间传播的能力。因此,监控这些动物性病原体在人类之间的传染力对于疾病的早期诊断和控制就变得非常重要。在发表于刊物《PLoS Computational Biology》上的文章中,来自荷兰和英国的作者利用来自一个小型研究的数据评估了H5N1禽流感在人类日常接触中的传播能力,这一小型研究     

Recent advances in the study of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus replication and pathogenesis

It has now been over twenty years since a novel herpesviral genome was identified in Kaposi's sarcoma biopsies. Since then, the cumulative research effort by molecular biologists, virologists, clinicians, and epidemiologists alike has led to the extensive characterization of this tumor virus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus(KSHV; also known as human herpesvirus 8(HHV-8)), and its associated diseases. Here we review the current knowledge of KSHV biology and pathogenesis, with a particular emphasis on new and exciting advances in the field of epigenetics. We also discuss the development and practicality of various cell culture and animal model systems to study KSHV replication and pathogenesis.     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

The structure, reproduction and taxonomy of Vidalia and Osmundaria (Rhodophyta, Rhodomelaceae)

Comprises species occurring mostly in subtidal habitats in tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate areas of the world. An analysis of the type species, V. spiralis (Sonder) Lamouroux ex J. Agardh, a species from Australia, establishes basic characters for distinguishing species in the genus. These characters are (1) branching patterns of thalli, (2) flat blades that may be spiralled on their axis, (3) width of the blade, (4) primary or secondary derivation of sterile and fertile branchlets and (5) position of sterile and fertile branchlets on the thalli. Application of the latter two characters provides an important basic method for separation of species into three major groups. Osmundaria , a genus known only in southern Australia, was studied in relation to Vidalia , and its separation from the Vidalia assemblage is not accepted. Species of Vidalia therefore are transferred to the older genus name, Osmundaria. Two new species, Osmundaria papenfussii and Osmundaria oliveae are described from Natal. Confusion in the usage of the epithet, Vidalia fimbriala Brown ex Turner has been clarified, and Vidalia gregaria Falkenberg, described as an epiphyte on Osmundaria pro/ifera Lamouroux, is revealed to be young branches of the host, Osmundaria prolifera.     

New or rare chromosome counts in Artemisia L. (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) and related genera from Kazakhstan

Fifteen chromosome counts of six Artemisia taxa and one species of each of the genera Brachanthemum, Hippolytia, Kaschgaria, Lepidolopsis and Turaniphytum are reported from Kazakhstan. Three of them are new reports, two are not consistent with previous counts and the remainder are confirmations of very scarce (one to four) earlier records. All the populations studied have the same basic chromosome number, x = 9, with ploidy levels ranging from 2x to 6x. Some correlations between ploidy level, morphological characters and distribution are noted.