Is the freakishly cold weather that hit Europe and the US in the past two years a fluke or a trend, asks Michael Le Page
Don't blame the usual suspect for cancer
What if proliferation is the norm for cells - and a very different theory of cancers' cause is waiting in the wings, ask Carlos Sonnenschein and Ana M. Soto
The Bollywood psych ward
A theatrical production brings the high drama and glitz of Bollywood into a Danish psychiatric hospital.
Bedbugs owe their success to inbreeding
A genetic analysis suggests that some building-wide infestations of bedbugs may have originated from a single pregnant female
Most chimp experiments unnecessary, says US panel
Outright ban in US ruled out, but bar raised for justifying experiments on chimpanzees
Remote robots: Human-free by land, sea and air
Our gallery of super-secret remote-controlled vehicles include a plane that flies for five years non-stop and a captainless boat
Hubble images celestial snow angel in 3D
See a stunning visualisation of a star-forming region home to a violent young star
Why naked mole rats feel no pain from acid
The pink, hairless subterranean mammal is insensible to pain caused by acid. Now we know why, which could lead to treatments for arthritis
Fix acid oceans by dumping alkali in them? Forget it
Suggestions that we can dump alkaline chemicals into the oceans to prevent acidification seems dead in the water - it would cost trillions of dollars
Hard to describe and hard to forget, the film (and Ryan Gosling's Driver) oozed cool. By Kevin P. Sullivan
Ryan Gosling in "Drive" Photo: FilmDistrict
In October, a Michigan woman filed a lawsuit against FilmDistrict for misleading her about the film "Drive." She claimed the movie's trailer promised a more action-packed film and "promoted the film 'Drive' as very similar to the 'Fast and Furious,' or similar, series of movies."
But the suit succeeded in only one respect: It perfectly described why we love "Drive" and why it's #2 on MTV's Best Movies of 2011 list.
Everything about "Drive" subverts expectations. The main character, played by Ryan Gosling, doesn't have a name besides "Driver" and rarely speaks. We root for him despite knowing nothing about him or what's going on behind his stares. All the audience has to go off is his affection for his down-the-hall neighbor Irene, played by Carey Mulligan, and his sudden, violent outbursts, which surprise with horror levels of gore.
This is all the more shocking when you consider that for the first 30 minutes of the movie, the story plays out in a slow and quiet way, more like a romantic comedy than a crime thriller. Driver's relationship with Irene puts the audience so off its guard that when the violence finally erupts, it's instantly unforgettable.
Director Nicolas Winding Refn sets up the film's opening chase sequence in a way that looks and feels like a "Fast and Furious" movie, but as soon as it starts, it stops — literally. Driver parks the getaway car to remain out of sight. It's a subtle move that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
And speaking of tone, what other film captured as much attention for its use of music and atmosphere? The synth-laced soundtrack by Cliff Martinez and a collection of electro-pop songs had everyone talking. Out of context, the choice for the music doesn't make sense, but the second "Nightcall" drops in over the neon-pink title, all the pieces come together.
When describing the movie to others, most people struggle until they stumble upon the word "cool." "Drive" is cool in a way that most action movies with their overly muscular heroes and explosions could only dream of being. Gosling and Refn captured an exact balance of warmth and coldness, emotion and indifference that makes the film's look, sound, story and characters feel like instant classics.
All of these elements would make for a great film, but that would mean ignoring a stellar supporting cast. Albert Brooks oozed menace and dark humor as the villainous pizza parlor owner/low-level mob boss Bernie Rose, and Bryan Cranston continued his as the most likable actor working today as Driver's mentor Shannon.
For all its surprises and unexpected turns, "Drive" is our second favorite movie of the year. It took tired movie clichés and flipped them on their heads to make one of the most original and hard-to-forget moviegoing experiences in recent memory.
SAN DIEGO ? Don Yoon wiped his eyes and struggled to speak on the witness stand as his lawyers showed him a handful of family photos ? the only items firefighters were able to salvage from his home after a U.S. military jet crashed into it, setting it ablaze. His 36-year-old wife, two baby daughters and mother-in-law all perished.
Yoon shared his pain during the second day of a trial to determine how much the U.S. government should award his extended family to compensate for the Dec. 8, 2008, accident that the Marine Corps has acknowledged was caused by multiple mistakes. Closing arguments were scheduled Wednesday.
Yoon burst into tears as soon as he took the witness stand and was asked to state Tuesday's date. It was exactly three years since he buried his wife in the same casket with his baby daughters.
"All we wanted was to grow old and raise babies," said Yoon, a Korean immigrant who came to California at the age of 18 to pursue a better life. "And now everything is gone. I know I'm going to be with them when my time comes. That's the only thing I'm looking forward to."
The case went to court after talks broke down over the undisclosed amount being sought by the family.
The situation is rare because the Marine Corps has said it was responsible. But the Department of Justice is disputing the amount of money that should be awarded. In most wrongful death cases, the government also disputes claims that it was responsible, legal experts say.
"There are very few if any cases like this," said attorney Kevin Boyle, who is representing the families.
Boyle said there was no doubt the military was at fault. Recordings of conversations between the Marine pilot and the military ground crews show the pilot was advised to make a potentially safer landing at a nearby Navy base over open water rather than head toward Miramar Air Station over the populated city.
Government attorneys declined to comment. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller will have the final say on compensation for the family.
California law does not allow victims in such cases to seek money for grief, suffering or punitive damages. Instead, both sides in the case face the difficult task of quantifying not only the future incomes of those who died ? based in part on their life expectancies ? but the worth of the love and compassion the deceased had for surviving family members.
Making it more challenging, lawyers say, is the fact that this case involves a Korean immigrant family stretching across two continents. Family members have had to testify mostly through an interpreter and explain the cultural nuances in describing their relationships.
Yoon described hugging his wife, Youngmi, and telling her he loved her that morning before heading to work at his sister's store. Yoon broke down sobbing, and his attorney Brian Panish withdrew his question asking him to recall how he heard the tragic news that day.
The government has put economic losses at less than $1 million and not given a figure for non-economic losses. The family's lawyers say Youngmi Lee's earnings would have topped $2 million had she lived.
In court filings, Panish pointed out cases in which he has won multi-million dollar awards for families who have lost loved ones in accidents caused by companies or government entities.
He also pointed out a case in which San Diego Gas & Electric Co. awarded $55.6 million to the heirs of four U.S. Marines who died in a 2004 accident when their helicopters crashed into power lines at Camp Pendleton.
During this week's trial, Panish has used testimony of the family and photographs to depict a close-knit family originating from a small Korean farming community, where Youngmi's mother, Seokim Kim Lee, was the pillar, taking care of those in her village and her four children, along with her husband, a cattle farmer.
In video clips taken in Korea, their baby daughter, Grace, is shown playing with Seokim Kim Lee and her husband in a living room filled with their large family.
One by one, the three remaining adult Lee children have testified how their mother's death shattered their lives, leaving them feeling lost.
Jun Hwa Lee, 34, said his mother was No. 1 on his phone's speed dial so he could talk to her quickly about anything. He recalled returning to his village almost every weekend after he moved away for a job and always found his home filled with flowers and food. His father now eats out and is so depressed he spends his days wandering the home in a daze, no longer tending to his cattle, he said.
"My mom was the most important person in my life," he said. "She was the person I loved most, and still is."
Department of Justice attorneys offered their condolences to the family but have raised doubts about how close they were and how much they depended on each other. On Monday, they questioned Yoon's father-in-law, Sanghyun Lee, about why he had not visited his eldest daughter in the four years she was in the United States and why he missed her wedding in Las Vegas.
He said the couple planned to hold a bigger wedding in Korea with the entire family.
The Arab Spring. The killing of Osama bin Laden. The WikiLeaks dump of U.S. embassy cables.
If there ever was a time to try injecting more international news into the tried-and-true, Washington-based Sunday public affairs talk show format, these last 18 months were it. And if there were ever a TV journalist with the resume to pull it off, it was Christiane Amanpour.
Continue Reading
But in the end, the ratings made clear that was not what Sunday show viewers wanted.
?Sunday morning ? it?s ESPN for political junkies,? said Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic and a friend of Amanpour?s. ?If you try to do anything else with it ? boom.?
When ABC News announced on Tuesday that it was ending Amanpour?s experimental run as the anchor of ?This Week,? few were surprised. The move had been rumored for months, and in recent weeks items about her unhappiness had begun leaking into Page Six. The only question was who would succeed her ? her predecessor, George Stephanopoulos, or White House correspondent Jake Tapper, who ran the show to rave reviews after Stephanopoulos decamped to New York and the anchor job on ?Good Morning America.?
In the end, ABC News went with the better known quantity, even though it meant working Stephanopoulos, who will be keeping his morning job, doubletime.
?This Week with Christiane Amanpour? was a bold experiment that failed, sending all parties back to their comfort zones ? ABC back to Stephanopoulos, Amanpour back to foreign reporting and CNN, where she had made a career as the world?s most famous and respected international correspondent. She?ll host a weekday show on CNN International, but continue to appear on ABC as a global affairs anchor.
But how did such an unexpected arrangement come to be in the first place?
Stephanopoulos, the former Democratic operative and Clinton aide, had done well as the Sunday show host, narrowing the gap with the long-dominant ?Meet the Press? while competing fiercely with ?Face the Nation.?
But when he was named the next anchor of GMA in December of 2009, David Westin, the network?s president at the time, struggled to name a successor. It was widely rumored that his boss, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and his wife, Willow Bay ? who both attended Amanpour?s 1998 wedding to Jamie Rubin, then the State Department spokesman ? had nudged Westin to consider Amanpour for the job.
And in March of 2010, jaws dropped around D.C. when ABC announced it had hired CNN?s biggest international star.
The move made sense for ABC News, which prides itself on attracting marquee anchor talent ? see its current roster of Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and Katie Couric as evidence. And it got Amanpour excited that she could, as she told POLITICO in an interview at the time, ?try to make foreign news less foreign.?
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Lindsay Lohan is due in court Wednesday to give a judge her first progress update under strict new probation requirements intended to keep close tabs on the troubled actress.
Lohan has been reporting regularly for work at the Los Angeles County morgue since being repeatedly threatened with a long jail sentence if she failed to complete the terms of her probation, which include community service and counseling sessions.
The hearing is without the usual drama that precedes Lohan's recent court appearances, which have focused on the actress' shortcomings by missing court-ordered therapy sessions and getting booted from a community service assignment at a women's shelter. The "Mean Girls" star spent less than five hours at a jail last month as part of a 30-day sentence imposed by Judge Stephanie Sautner for Lohan's continued misbehavior.
The judge is requiring the starlet to report on her progress monthly and it appears Lohan has been successful in meeting the goals of Wednesday's hearing.
"She's been doing fine," Deputy Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Tuesday, saying the actress has been showing up, working and leaving without incident.
He said he did not know how many hours Lohan had completed.
Her spokesman, Steve Honig, said Lohan has met or exceeded the terms of her probation imposed by Sautner last month.
"She's working very diligently to keep up her days so she can finish up with probation," he said.
Lohan remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case and a misdemeanor grand theft case filed after she took a $2,500 necklace without permission.
She has consistently struggled with the terms of her various sentences, which have included jail terms, rehab, community service and counseling.
Her appearance Wednesday comes days before a Playboy issue featuring Lohan in a mostly-nude pictorial hits newsstands. The magazine was forced to release the issue online early after photos of the Marilyn Monroe-inspired spread leaked out online.
___
Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
Defensive measures: Toward a vaccine for Ebola Public release date: 5-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer Joseph.Caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University
On August 26, 1976, a time bomb exploded in Yambuku, a remote village in Zaire, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). A threadlike virus known as Ebola had emerged, soon earning a grim distinction as one of the most lethal, naturally occurring pathogens on earth, killing up to 90 percent of its victims, and producing a terrifying constellation of symptoms known as hemorrhagic fever.
Now, Charles Arntzen, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, along with colleagues from ASU, the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, MD, have made progress toward a vaccine against the deadly virus.
The group's research results appear in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, along with a companion paper by their collaborators at Mapp Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, CA, led by Larry Zeitlin. Arntzen's group demonstrated that a plant-derived vaccine for Ebola provided strong immunological protection in a mouse model.
If early efforts bear fruit, an Ebola vaccine could be stockpiled for use in the United States, should the country fall victim to a natural outbreak or a bioterrorism event in which a weaponized strain of the virus were unleashed on soldiers or the public.
To date, Ebola outbreaks have been mercifully rare. For researchers like Arntzen however, this presents a challenge: "With other lethal viruses like HIV there is a common pattern of occurrence, allowing for vaccine testing. For example, an AIDS vaccine study is now underway at two locations in Thailand, which were chosen because of a current high incidence of the disease."
By contrast, Ebola events are fleeting, episodic and largely unpredictable. For this reason, Arntzen stresses that an Ebola vaccine would most likely not be used prophylacticallythat is, as a means of protecting large populations, as in the case of common vaccines against diseases like influenza or polio. Instead, the idea is to have a sizeable store of the vaccine on hand in the event of a sudden outbreak, either natural or nefarious.
A killer up close
Ebola belongs to a family of viruses known as filoviridae, which take their name from their serpentine, filamentous structure (see Figure 1). Filoviridae fall into two broad categories known as Ebola-like and Marburg-like viruses. In the original Ebola outbreak in Yambuku, situated along the Ebola River, 280 of the 318 identified cases died. Soon thereafter, an additional 284 cases and 151 deaths occurred in nearby Sudan. In Yambuku, the small local hospital was shut down, after 11 of its 17 staff members died.
The likely reservoir for the disease is bats. Primates including monkeys can become infected from eating bats or from fruit the bats may have dropped. Infected animals can then spread the disease to humans through bites, or when the primates are consumed for fooda practice prevalent in some regions of Africa.
The course of the disease is pitiless, sometimes producing hemorrhagic fever, which causes severe bleeding from mucous membranes, including the gastroinestinal tract, eyes, nose, vagina and gingiva. The very high mortality and gruesome symptoms of the disease have riveted public attention and have been the focus of numerous films and books, notably Richard Preston's The Hot Zone.
Arntzen notes that while no human vaccine against Ebola currently exists, a number of strong candidates have emerged. While some have yielded good results in animal models, in terms of protection against the virus, they have practical shortcomings. "All of these existing vaccine candidates are genetically modified live viruses," he says. Vaccines of this sort require very careful conditions of storage and have a tendency to lose potency over a period of months. "If you've got something that you're going to have to keep at liquid nitrogen temperatures for years at a time, in hopes that there will never be an outbreak, it makes it impractical. "
Fighting pathogens with plants
Of the vaccines available to doctors today, some (like influenza) are produced in eggs, some in cultured animal cells, and others in yeast. Arntzen's team has taken a different approach to vaccine production by converting tobacco plants into living pharmaceutical factories. They created a DNA blueprint for their Ebola vaccine, and used a specialized bacterium to infuse it into the leaves of tobacco. "The blueprint converts each leaf cell into a miniature manufacturing unit," Arntzen says.
In the current study, the vaccine blueprint was designed by fusing a key surface protein (known as GP1) from the Ebola virus with a monoclonal antibody customized to bind to GP1. The resulting molecules' opposite ends attract each other, like a group of rod-shaped magnets. When the vaccine molecules bind to each other, they form an aggregate called an Ebola Immune Complex (EIC). "In immunology, that means you've got something that is much easier for our immune system to recognize," Arntzen says. "Because it has many copies of an identical molecule, it's called a repeating array." (See Figure 2)
Within two weeks after the vaccine "blueprint" is delivered to tobacco leaves, enough of the EIC accumulates to allow its purification from other leaf cell components. The researchers then vaccinated mice with the purified sample, and showed that their immune system gave a strong response.
For the ultimate validation of the vaccine however, it was necessary to show that the vaccinated mice could withstand an Ebola virus infection. Because of the dangers in handling the virus, these experiments were conducted by skilled researchers at a high containment facility operated by the US Army Medical Research Institute in Maryland. It was found that the level of protection of the vaccinated mice was equivalent to that seen in prior experiments with the best, previously available experimental vaccine.
The advantages of using tobacco to manufacture a vaccine are significant. The initial costs for plant growth are much cheaper than design of traditional pharmaceutical facilities. In addition, the material extracted from tobacco leaves can be easily purified, and then might be spray dried or freeze-dried, yielding a highly stable compound, storable at ambient temperatures for extended periods. This will be essential for an Ebola vaccine, since it will primarily be stockpiled to use only if there is a disease outbreak.
Vaccines typically contain adjuvantsimmune modulating factors that improve a vaccine's protective qualities. Most vaccines contain alum (or aluminum hydroxide), which is an FDA approved adjuvant. In the case of the plant-derived Ebola vaccine, alum did not improve the survival rates in mice when it was co-administered with EIC. Instead, the group found that a Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist known as PIC, when delivered in tandem with EIC, dramatically improved survival.
Toll-like receptors are part of the body's innate immune systeminvolved in processes of inflammation, where defensive cells like macrophages and dendritic cells are attracted to the site of infection. Arntzen explains that the TLR agonist PIC acts to mimic a site of inflammation, amplifying the immune response, without causing tissue damage. In experiments using a combination of PIC and EIC, mice achieved an 80 percent survival rate against a lethal challenge of Ebolacommensurate with the best existing vaccine candidates.
The road ahead
In their companion PNAS paper, Arnzen's collaborators at Mapp Biopharmaceuticals outline the process for creating the monoclonal antibodies used for this research. Treatment for an Ebola infection, Arntzen says, would likely involve the injection of fast acting antibodies to attack the virus directlya process known as passive immunization, combined with a vaccine to stimulate the protective immune response (active immunization). This approach is commonly used in the case of other viral infections, particularly rabies. "Our two papers offer a nice back to back picture," Arntzen says. "We can manufacture both of these post-Ebola exposure reagents for a defensive stockpile, using tobacco."
The next steps for a plant-derived filovirus vaccine will involve using the EIC platform to design protection against the full range of these threadlike viruses. The method, with its straightforward purification protocol might also be used in the case of other pathogens including hepatitis C or dengue fever, where the extraction of glycoproteins has thus far been difficult.
Should efforts succeed in producing a post-exposure therapeutic that could be stockpiled by the U.S. military, the vaccine could also be made available to the Center for Disease Control for immediate use in the event of a remote outbreak.
###
A nonreplicating subunit vaccine protects mice against lethal Ebola virus challenge
Waranyoo Phoolcharoen, John M. Dye, Jacquelyn Kilbourne, Khanrat Piensook, William D. Pratt, Charles J. Arntzen, Qiang Chen, Hugh S. Mason, and Melissa M. Herbst-Kralovetz.
Design and testing of an Ebola virus post-exposure immunoprotectant: enhanced potency of a fucose free monoclonal antibody
Larry Zeitlin, James Pettitt, Corinne Scully, Natasha Bohorova, Do Kim, MichaelyPauly, Andrew Hiatt, Long Ngo, Herta Steinkellner, Kevin Whaley, Gene Olinger
Arizona State University Regents Professor Charles Arntzen holds the Florence Ely Nelson Presidential Endowed Chair and has appointments at The Biodesign Institute's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Life Sciences.
Written by: Richard Harth
Science Writer: The Biodesign Institute
richard.harth@asu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Defensive measures: Toward a vaccine for Ebola Public release date: 5-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer Joseph.Caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University
On August 26, 1976, a time bomb exploded in Yambuku, a remote village in Zaire, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). A threadlike virus known as Ebola had emerged, soon earning a grim distinction as one of the most lethal, naturally occurring pathogens on earth, killing up to 90 percent of its victims, and producing a terrifying constellation of symptoms known as hemorrhagic fever.
Now, Charles Arntzen, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, along with colleagues from ASU, the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, MD, have made progress toward a vaccine against the deadly virus.
The group's research results appear in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, along with a companion paper by their collaborators at Mapp Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, CA, led by Larry Zeitlin. Arntzen's group demonstrated that a plant-derived vaccine for Ebola provided strong immunological protection in a mouse model.
If early efforts bear fruit, an Ebola vaccine could be stockpiled for use in the United States, should the country fall victim to a natural outbreak or a bioterrorism event in which a weaponized strain of the virus were unleashed on soldiers or the public.
To date, Ebola outbreaks have been mercifully rare. For researchers like Arntzen however, this presents a challenge: "With other lethal viruses like HIV there is a common pattern of occurrence, allowing for vaccine testing. For example, an AIDS vaccine study is now underway at two locations in Thailand, which were chosen because of a current high incidence of the disease."
By contrast, Ebola events are fleeting, episodic and largely unpredictable. For this reason, Arntzen stresses that an Ebola vaccine would most likely not be used prophylacticallythat is, as a means of protecting large populations, as in the case of common vaccines against diseases like influenza or polio. Instead, the idea is to have a sizeable store of the vaccine on hand in the event of a sudden outbreak, either natural or nefarious.
A killer up close
Ebola belongs to a family of viruses known as filoviridae, which take their name from their serpentine, filamentous structure (see Figure 1). Filoviridae fall into two broad categories known as Ebola-like and Marburg-like viruses. In the original Ebola outbreak in Yambuku, situated along the Ebola River, 280 of the 318 identified cases died. Soon thereafter, an additional 284 cases and 151 deaths occurred in nearby Sudan. In Yambuku, the small local hospital was shut down, after 11 of its 17 staff members died.
The likely reservoir for the disease is bats. Primates including monkeys can become infected from eating bats or from fruit the bats may have dropped. Infected animals can then spread the disease to humans through bites, or when the primates are consumed for fooda practice prevalent in some regions of Africa.
The course of the disease is pitiless, sometimes producing hemorrhagic fever, which causes severe bleeding from mucous membranes, including the gastroinestinal tract, eyes, nose, vagina and gingiva. The very high mortality and gruesome symptoms of the disease have riveted public attention and have been the focus of numerous films and books, notably Richard Preston's The Hot Zone.
Arntzen notes that while no human vaccine against Ebola currently exists, a number of strong candidates have emerged. While some have yielded good results in animal models, in terms of protection against the virus, they have practical shortcomings. "All of these existing vaccine candidates are genetically modified live viruses," he says. Vaccines of this sort require very careful conditions of storage and have a tendency to lose potency over a period of months. "If you've got something that you're going to have to keep at liquid nitrogen temperatures for years at a time, in hopes that there will never be an outbreak, it makes it impractical. "
Fighting pathogens with plants
Of the vaccines available to doctors today, some (like influenza) are produced in eggs, some in cultured animal cells, and others in yeast. Arntzen's team has taken a different approach to vaccine production by converting tobacco plants into living pharmaceutical factories. They created a DNA blueprint for their Ebola vaccine, and used a specialized bacterium to infuse it into the leaves of tobacco. "The blueprint converts each leaf cell into a miniature manufacturing unit," Arntzen says.
In the current study, the vaccine blueprint was designed by fusing a key surface protein (known as GP1) from the Ebola virus with a monoclonal antibody customized to bind to GP1. The resulting molecules' opposite ends attract each other, like a group of rod-shaped magnets. When the vaccine molecules bind to each other, they form an aggregate called an Ebola Immune Complex (EIC). "In immunology, that means you've got something that is much easier for our immune system to recognize," Arntzen says. "Because it has many copies of an identical molecule, it's called a repeating array." (See Figure 2)
Within two weeks after the vaccine "blueprint" is delivered to tobacco leaves, enough of the EIC accumulates to allow its purification from other leaf cell components. The researchers then vaccinated mice with the purified sample, and showed that their immune system gave a strong response.
For the ultimate validation of the vaccine however, it was necessary to show that the vaccinated mice could withstand an Ebola virus infection. Because of the dangers in handling the virus, these experiments were conducted by skilled researchers at a high containment facility operated by the US Army Medical Research Institute in Maryland. It was found that the level of protection of the vaccinated mice was equivalent to that seen in prior experiments with the best, previously available experimental vaccine.
The advantages of using tobacco to manufacture a vaccine are significant. The initial costs for plant growth are much cheaper than design of traditional pharmaceutical facilities. In addition, the material extracted from tobacco leaves can be easily purified, and then might be spray dried or freeze-dried, yielding a highly stable compound, storable at ambient temperatures for extended periods. This will be essential for an Ebola vaccine, since it will primarily be stockpiled to use only if there is a disease outbreak.
Vaccines typically contain adjuvantsimmune modulating factors that improve a vaccine's protective qualities. Most vaccines contain alum (or aluminum hydroxide), which is an FDA approved adjuvant. In the case of the plant-derived Ebola vaccine, alum did not improve the survival rates in mice when it was co-administered with EIC. Instead, the group found that a Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist known as PIC, when delivered in tandem with EIC, dramatically improved survival.
Toll-like receptors are part of the body's innate immune systeminvolved in processes of inflammation, where defensive cells like macrophages and dendritic cells are attracted to the site of infection. Arntzen explains that the TLR agonist PIC acts to mimic a site of inflammation, amplifying the immune response, without causing tissue damage. In experiments using a combination of PIC and EIC, mice achieved an 80 percent survival rate against a lethal challenge of Ebolacommensurate with the best existing vaccine candidates.
The road ahead
In their companion PNAS paper, Arnzen's collaborators at Mapp Biopharmaceuticals outline the process for creating the monoclonal antibodies used for this research. Treatment for an Ebola infection, Arntzen says, would likely involve the injection of fast acting antibodies to attack the virus directlya process known as passive immunization, combined with a vaccine to stimulate the protective immune response (active immunization). This approach is commonly used in the case of other viral infections, particularly rabies. "Our two papers offer a nice back to back picture," Arntzen says. "We can manufacture both of these post-Ebola exposure reagents for a defensive stockpile, using tobacco."
The next steps for a plant-derived filovirus vaccine will involve using the EIC platform to design protection against the full range of these threadlike viruses. The method, with its straightforward purification protocol might also be used in the case of other pathogens including hepatitis C or dengue fever, where the extraction of glycoproteins has thus far been difficult.
Should efforts succeed in producing a post-exposure therapeutic that could be stockpiled by the U.S. military, the vaccine could also be made available to the Center for Disease Control for immediate use in the event of a remote outbreak.
###
A nonreplicating subunit vaccine protects mice against lethal Ebola virus challenge
Waranyoo Phoolcharoen, John M. Dye, Jacquelyn Kilbourne, Khanrat Piensook, William D. Pratt, Charles J. Arntzen, Qiang Chen, Hugh S. Mason, and Melissa M. Herbst-Kralovetz.
Design and testing of an Ebola virus post-exposure immunoprotectant: enhanced potency of a fucose free monoclonal antibody
Larry Zeitlin, James Pettitt, Corinne Scully, Natasha Bohorova, Do Kim, MichaelyPauly, Andrew Hiatt, Long Ngo, Herta Steinkellner, Kevin Whaley, Gene Olinger
Arizona State University Regents Professor Charles Arntzen holds the Florence Ely Nelson Presidential Endowed Chair and has appointments at The Biodesign Institute's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Life Sciences.
Written by: Richard Harth
Science Writer: The Biodesign Institute
richard.harth@asu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A divergent collective memory could help explain why the political crisis lasted so long in BelgiumPublic release date: 6-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Researchers from various Belgian (UCL-Louvain, ULB-Brussels, HUB-Brussels, KULeuven, U. Antwerp) and American universities (New School, Harvard) have conducted research and reflections that give insights into the political crisis in Belgium, which has now been resolved, nearly 18 months after the general elections in June 2010. Their focus was on the way memories of past events affect current political and inter-group relations. According to the researchers, the political crisis could be partly explained by divergent and sometimes opposite memories which the two linguistic groups hold about the past.
These divergent memories come from multiple domains: linguistic, historical and economic.
Many Dutch-speaking Flemish do not accept that many French speakers do not speak Dutch. This reactivates vivid memories of contempt and humiliation felt when Flanders was dominated by French-speaking elites. This also strengthens their conviction that the Dutch language and Flemish culture are threatened and that the Flemish identity must be protected.
French speakers have difficulties in accepting the current economic growth in Flanders. This triggers memories of previous prosperity in their region. At the same time, Dutch speakers feel as if they were still oppressed and victims of the Belgian state, despite the fact that the economic power is now in their region.
The debate over amnesty for WWII collaborators also reflects deep discrepant collective memories. This debate has already occurred in many other European countries but not in Belgium, as many French speakers refuse to engage in the debate. This refusal leads to acute feelings of injustice among the Flemish, together with anger, spite and resentment.
The great success of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA in the general elections in 2010 could have been partly guided by resentment related to the past among many Flemish citizens. A recent study (Swyngedouw et Abts, 2011) has shown that many left-wing Flemish voted for the N-VA despite the party's right-wing program with regards to socio-economic issues. These data suggest that linguistic and memory issues are currently highly important in Flanders' political choices over more traditional ideological aspects opposing liberals and conservatives.
These examples demonstrate how discrepant collective memories on the part of Flanders and Wallonia help shape mutual feelings. The inability of the diverging representations of the past to coexist prevents Belgian citizens from developing a strong national identity and a clear sense of common belonging.
Unable to integrate the different facets of their national past, the Belgian authorities helped feelings of vexation and resentment flourish among citizens. In order to counteract this absence of a common identity, the Belgian state should, according to the researchers, play a federative role (which it never has so far) and to acknowledge the various memories shared by the Belgian linguisitic communities.
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The work has been coordinated by Olivier Luminet, professor at the Research Institute for Psychological Sciences at the Universit Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. The contributors come from various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities: psychology (clinical, social and cognitive), history, political sciences and literature.
Contributors include:
Valrie Rosoux, Laurence van Ypersele and Susann Heenen-Wolff (UCL); Olivier Klein, Laurent Licata, Ariane Bazan, Nicolas Van der Linden and Aurlie Mercy (ULB); Marnix Beyen (UA); Elke Brems (KULeuven et HUB); Anne Verougstraete, William Hirst (New School University), Ioana Apetroaia Fineberg (Harvard University)
Contact : Olivier Luminet, professor at the Psychological Sciences Research Institute - UCL : 32-10-47-87-01 or 32-497-12-10-24 or Olivier.Luminet@uclouvain.be
The study is published as a special issue of the SAGE journal, Memory Studies, and is free to access for a limited period at: http://mss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/22/1750698011424034.full.pdf+html
The work will be translated and published into French and Dutch by the following publishers: Mardaga and Snoeck.
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com
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A divergent collective memory could help explain why the political crisis lasted so long in BelgiumPublic release date: 6-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Researchers from various Belgian (UCL-Louvain, ULB-Brussels, HUB-Brussels, KULeuven, U. Antwerp) and American universities (New School, Harvard) have conducted research and reflections that give insights into the political crisis in Belgium, which has now been resolved, nearly 18 months after the general elections in June 2010. Their focus was on the way memories of past events affect current political and inter-group relations. According to the researchers, the political crisis could be partly explained by divergent and sometimes opposite memories which the two linguistic groups hold about the past.
These divergent memories come from multiple domains: linguistic, historical and economic.
Many Dutch-speaking Flemish do not accept that many French speakers do not speak Dutch. This reactivates vivid memories of contempt and humiliation felt when Flanders was dominated by French-speaking elites. This also strengthens their conviction that the Dutch language and Flemish culture are threatened and that the Flemish identity must be protected.
French speakers have difficulties in accepting the current economic growth in Flanders. This triggers memories of previous prosperity in their region. At the same time, Dutch speakers feel as if they were still oppressed and victims of the Belgian state, despite the fact that the economic power is now in their region.
The debate over amnesty for WWII collaborators also reflects deep discrepant collective memories. This debate has already occurred in many other European countries but not in Belgium, as many French speakers refuse to engage in the debate. This refusal leads to acute feelings of injustice among the Flemish, together with anger, spite and resentment.
The great success of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA in the general elections in 2010 could have been partly guided by resentment related to the past among many Flemish citizens. A recent study (Swyngedouw et Abts, 2011) has shown that many left-wing Flemish voted for the N-VA despite the party's right-wing program with regards to socio-economic issues. These data suggest that linguistic and memory issues are currently highly important in Flanders' political choices over more traditional ideological aspects opposing liberals and conservatives.
These examples demonstrate how discrepant collective memories on the part of Flanders and Wallonia help shape mutual feelings. The inability of the diverging representations of the past to coexist prevents Belgian citizens from developing a strong national identity and a clear sense of common belonging.
Unable to integrate the different facets of their national past, the Belgian authorities helped feelings of vexation and resentment flourish among citizens. In order to counteract this absence of a common identity, the Belgian state should, according to the researchers, play a federative role (which it never has so far) and to acknowledge the various memories shared by the Belgian linguisitic communities.
###
The work has been coordinated by Olivier Luminet, professor at the Research Institute for Psychological Sciences at the Universit Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. The contributors come from various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities: psychology (clinical, social and cognitive), history, political sciences and literature.
Contributors include:
Valrie Rosoux, Laurence van Ypersele and Susann Heenen-Wolff (UCL); Olivier Klein, Laurent Licata, Ariane Bazan, Nicolas Van der Linden and Aurlie Mercy (ULB); Marnix Beyen (UA); Elke Brems (KULeuven et HUB); Anne Verougstraete, William Hirst (New School University), Ioana Apetroaia Fineberg (Harvard University)
Contact : Olivier Luminet, professor at the Psychological Sciences Research Institute - UCL : 32-10-47-87-01 or 32-497-12-10-24 or Olivier.Luminet@uclouvain.be
The study is published as a special issue of the SAGE journal, Memory Studies, and is free to access for a limited period at: http://mss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/22/1750698011424034.full.pdf+html
The work will be translated and published into French and Dutch by the following publishers: Mardaga and Snoeck.
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com
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Public release date: 5-Dec-2011
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