Early onset of neurological features differentiates two outbreaks of Lassa fever in Ebonyi state,Nigeria during 2017–2018

Lassa fever (LF) is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness with various non-specific clinical manifestations. Neurological symptoms are rare at the early stage of the disease, but may be seen in late stages, in severely ill patients.The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological evolution, socio-demographic profiles, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of patients seen during two Lassa fever outbreaks in Ebonyi State, between December 2017 and December 2018.Routinely collected clinical data from all patients admitted to the Virology Centre of the hospital during the period were analysed retrospectively. Out of a total of 83 cases, 70(84.3%) were RT-PCR confirmed while 13 (15.7%) were probable cases. Sixty-nine (83.1%) patients were seen in outbreak 1 of whom 53.6% were urban residents, while 19%, 15%, and 10% were farmers, students and health workers respectively. There were 14 (16.8%) patients, seen in second outbreak with 92.9% rural residents. There were differences in clinical symptoms, signs and laboratory findings between the two outbreaks. The case fatality rates were 29.9% in outbreak 1 and 85.7% for outbreak 2. Neurological features and abnormal laboratory test results were associated with higher mortality rate, seen in outbreak 2. This study revealed significant differences between the two outbreaks. Of particular concern was the higher case fatality during the outbreak 2 which may be from a more virulent strain of the Lassa virus. This has important public health implications and further molecular studies are needed to better define its characteristics.     

Host cell protein analysis in therapeutic protein bioprocessing – methods and applications

The analysis of host cell proteins (HCPs) is one of the most important analytical requirements during bioprocess development of therapeutic moieties. In this review, we focus on the comparison of different methods for the analysis of HCPs and how cell lines, fermentation conditions, and unit operations influence HCP distribution during the process chain. Current guidelines typically require reduction of HCPs to the ppm level, depending on the intended use, the route of administration of the product, and the production system. A range of immunospecific and non-specific methods are available that have been globally accepted by regulatory bodies. Immunospecific methods, such as ELISA, are simple to use in routine analysis and can quantify low levels of HCPs when specific antibodies are available. Non-specific methods are more complex; however, they provide a holistic view of the HCP profile and qualitative information of the composition of HCP in the sample. Different methods for the comparison of bioprocessing strategies during scale-up and purification development are compared herein. The methods include immunospecific methods, such as ELISA, western blot, and threshold, and non-specific methods, such as 2D-DIGE and 2D-HPLC combined with MS.     

Thermostability and esterification activity ofMucor javanicus lipase entrapped in silica aerogel matrix and in organic solvents

The lipase ofMucor javanicus (nowM. circinelloides) entrapped in silica matrix by the sol-gel method esterified primary and secondary alcohols with conversions ranging from 30 to 35% and 10 to 15%, respectively. Loss in activity of the preparations after incubation at 100°C for 1 h with petroleum ether, dodecane, 1-heptanol or oleyl alcohol was about half of that observed for the native lipase.     

Modeling of water sorption isotherms of chitosan blends

The blends obtained on the basis of biodegradable chitosan were investigated taking into consideration possible miscibility of their components due to the presence of hydrogen bonds leading to formation of complexes. However, the components of chitosan blends with hydroxypropyl cellulose, poly(ethylene oxide), poly(vinyl alcohol) and starch show good miscibility only on a domain scale of micron or less size.The Authors proposed the formula which considers the dependence of moisture content on the weight fraction of the blend components and taking into account the observed lack of additivity resulting from the presence of some molecular interactions (the parameter ð) of functional groups in the presence of water.Modelling of water sorption isotherms of polymer blends using the parameter ð leads to good correlations with the experimental results simultaneously indicating that the greatest deviation from the moisture additivity occurs in case of high water activity (water humidity).