Laboratory investigation and infection control of cholera in Kingston,Ont.

Vibrio cholerae, biotype El Tor, was isolated in a hospital laboratory in Kingston, Ont. in 1974. Confirmation and complete identification by the Ontario regional and provincial public health laboratories was obtained within 3 days. Institution of well established infection-control and public health measures prevented spread of the infection within the hospital and the community.     

Population structure of Erysiphe necator on domesticated and wild vines in the Middle East raises questions on the origin of the grapevine powdery mildew pathogen

Plant pathogens usually originate and diversify in geographical regions where hosts and pathogens co-evolve. Erysiphe necator, the causal agent of grape powdery mildew, is a destructive pathogen of grapevines worldwide. Although Eastern US is considered the centre of origin and diversity of E. necator, previous reports on resistant native wild and domesticated Asian grapevines suggest Asia as another possible origin of the pathogen. By using multi-locus sequencing, microsatellites and a novel application of amplicon sequencing (AmpSeq), we show that the population of E. necator in Israel is composed of three genetic groups: Groups A and B that are common worldwide, and a new group IL, which is genetically differentiated from any known group in Europe and Eastern US. Group IL showed distinguished ecological characteristics: it was dominant on wild and traditional vines (95%); its abundance increased along the season; and was more aggressive than A and B isolates on both wild and domesticated vines. The low genetic diversity within group IL suggests that it has invaded Israel from another origin. Therefore, we suggest that the Israeli E. necator population was founded by at least two invasions, of which one could be from a non-East American source, possibly from Asian origin.     

Why and how do Hebrew verbs change their form? A morpho-thematic account

This paper examines the criteria that are responsible for morphological variation in the verbal system of Modern Hebrew. The Hebrew verbal system consists of configurations called binyanim (and binyan in sg.): CaCaC, niCCaC, hiCCiC, CiCeC and hitCaCeC. The relation between Hebrew binyanim is manifested via valence changing operations (e.g. ni?ek ‘kiss’ and hitna?ek ‘kiss each other’). Some verbs demonstrate morphological variation with regard to their binyan. I define morphological variation as cases where two verbs occur in (at least) two different binyanim, but share the same (i) stem consonants (ii) thematic grid and (iii) denotation. For example, the verbs nirtav and hitratev are formed in niCCaC and hitCaCeC respectively; they are both intransitive verbs that denote ‘get wet’ and they share the stem consonants r-t-v. Morphological variation results from a change that takes place in the verbal system, where a verb takes another form. I analyze the factors that bring about the development of a new morphological form alongside the existing form, and are responsible for the choice of a specific binyan during that process. The main claim is that the addition of another binyan results from both morpho-phonological and thematic-syntactic factors. With respect to the former, the morphological mechanism changes the binyan of verbs in cases where their inflectional paradigm consists of prosodic or segmental alternation. With respect to the latter, verbs that are stored in the lexicon as thematically derived entries have a greater chance of undergoing binyan change than do basic entries. Verbs that are the output of syntactic operations do not undergo morphological change. In addition, verbs which are morphologically neutral with respect to transitivity change into a binyan that is marked as transitive or intransitive.     

Tumor-Associated Antigen Peptides as Anti-Metastatic Vaccines

Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) kill abnormal cells. CTLs recognize major histocompatibility complex class I molecules in complex with peptides derived from relevant antigens. The identification of tumor associated antigen peptides enabled the design of anti-tumor and anti-metastatic vaccines in a murine lung carcinoma.