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Iran J Microbiol 2019 Feb;11(1):19-24

National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran.

Background And Objectives: has a wide distribution in northern hemisphere of the world. Up to now, there was little information about the spp. situation in the environmental samples in Iran. Read More

Faraday Discuss 2019 Apr 17. Epub 2019 Apr 17.

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. and Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA and Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Solar-driven conversion of carbon dioxide to value-added carbon products is an ambitious objective of ongoing research efforts. However, high overpotential, low selectivity and poor CO2 mass transfer plague purely inorganic electrocatalysts. In this instance, we can consider a class of biological organisms that have evolved to achieve CO2 fixation. Read More

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2019 Apr 17. Epub 2019 Apr 17.

1 U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin.

Plague is a lethal zoonotic disease associated with rodents worldwide. In the western United States, plague outbreaks can decimate prairie dog ( spp.) colonies. Read More

Clin Exp Immunol 2019 May;196(2):155-156

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.

In this two-part series of reviews, we have invited experts in their fields to contribute articles on the status of vaccine research and development for emerging pathogens. This topic has been brought into sharp focus in recent years following significant outbreaks of viral diseases such as those causing severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome, as well as devastating outbreaks of diseases caused by the Ebola, Marburg, Zika and Lassa fever viruses, to name only a few examples. Additionally, bacterial infections leading to bubonic and pneumonic plague, most notably in Madagascar in 2018, as well as malaria in many tropical countries, melioidosis in south east Asia and tularaemia in northern Europe and North America, have incurred significant morbidity and mortality. Read More

Proc Biol Sci 2019 Apr;286(1901):20182429

1 Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway.

Plague has a long history on the European continent, with evidence of the disease dating back to the Stone Age. Plague epidemics in Europe during the First and Second Pandemics, including the Black Death, are infamous for their widespread mortality and lasting social and economic impact. Yet, Europe still experienced plague outbreaks during the Third Pandemic, which began in China and spread globally at the end of the nineteenth century. Read More

Dev Comp Immunol 2019 Apr 12. Epub 2019 Apr 12.

College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Sino-German Cooperative Research Centre for Zoonosis of Animal Origin of Shandong Province, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Agricultural University, 61 Daizong Street, Tai'an City, Shandong Province, 271018, China; Collaborative Innovation Centre for the Origin and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases of Taishan Medical College, Tai'an City, 271000, Shandong Province, China. Electronic address:

Galectin-1, as a typical animal galactose-binding protein, it is found on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. Cloning the full-length coding sequence of galectin-1 from the spleens of Cherry Valley ducks revealed that the coding sequence of duck galectin-1 (duGal-1) comprises 405 bp, encoding 134 amino acids. Homologic analysis revealed its amino acid sequence is most identical to that of Anas platyrhynchos (98. Read More

Clin Exp Immunol 2019 Apr 15. Epub 2019 Apr 15.

Gut Microbes and Health Research Programme, Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK.

Plague caused by the Gram-negative bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is still endemic in parts of the world today. Protection against pneumonic plague is essential to prevent the development and spread of epidemics. Despite this, there are currently no licensed plague vaccines in the western world. Read More

Front Vet Sci 2019 28;6:75. Epub 2019 Mar 28.

United States Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, CO, United States.

Plague (caused by the bacterium ) is a deadly flea-borne disease that remains a threat to public health nearly worldwide and is particularly disruptive ecologically where it has been introduced. We review hypotheses regarding maintenance and transmission of , emphasizing recent data from North America supporting maintenance by persistent transmission that results in sustained non-epizootic (but variable) rates of mortality in hosts. This maintenance mechanism may facilitate periodic epizootic eruptions "in place" because the need for repeated reinvasion from disjunct sources is eliminated. Read More

Nephrol Ther 2019 Apr;15 Suppl 1:S33-S35

Barts Health NHS Trust, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, E1 1BB London, UK. Electronic address:

Sadly, despite the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus over a century ago by Robert Koch, tuberculosis remains a major killer and modern day plague. Progress in the eradication of tuberculosis has been very slow and will require determined efforts on multiple fronts to make substantial inroads to lower the currently stagnant incidence of around 2% globally. Read More

Microb Pathog 2019 Apr 10;131:212-217. Epub 2019 Apr 10.

Department of Transfusion, General Hospital of Central Theater Command, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, China. Electronic address:

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is transmitted primarily by infected fleas in nature. Y. pestis can produce biofilms that block flea's proventriculus and promote flea-borne transmission. Read More

Appl Environ Microbiol 2019 Apr 12. Epub 2019 Apr 12.

State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China

Many genes in the bacterial pathogen , the causative agent of three plague pandemics, remain uncharacterized, greatly hampering the development of measures for plague prevention and control. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats interference (CRISPRi) has been shown to be an effective tool for gene knockdown in model bacteria. In this system, a catalytically-dead Cas9 (dCas9) and a small guide RNA (sgRNA) form a complex, binding to the specific DNA target through base pairing, thereby impeding RNA polymerase binding and causing target gene repression. Read More

Fertil Steril 2019 Apr 8. Epub 2019 Apr 8.

Fundación Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad, Instituto Universitario IVI, and IIS LaFe Biomedical Research Institute, Valencia, Spain.

Parasitology 2019 Apr 12:1-8. Epub 2019 Apr 12.

Biosciences, University of Exeter,Stocker Road, EX4 4QD, Exeter,UK.

Aphanomyces astaci causes crayfish plague, which is a devastating disease of European freshwater crayfish. The likely first introduction of A. astaci into Europe was in the mid-19th century in Italy, presumably with the introduction of North American crayfish. Read More

Vaccines (Basel) 2019 Apr 10;7(2). Epub 2019 Apr 10.

Department of Pathology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.

Omptins represent a family of proteases commonly found in various Gram-negative pathogens. These proteins play an important role in host-pathogen interaction and have been recognized as key virulence factors, highlighting the possibility of developing an omptin-based broad-spectrum vaccine. The prototypical omptin, His-tagged recombinant Pla, was used as a model target antigen. Read More

Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 2019 Apr 19;63:87-93. Epub 2019 Jan 19.

Department of Molecular Biology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Pasteur Ave., Tehran, 13164, Iran. Electronic address:

Background: Brucellosis is the most common zoonotic diseases worldwide. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the diagnostic performance of an indirect-ELISA (I-ELISA) method based on whole cell Brucella abortus S99 lysates for detection of IgM anti-Brucella antibodies in a human serum.

Materials And Methods: The study was conducted in two species-rich endemic areas of Iran (Tehran and Lorestan provinces). Read More

Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 2019 Apr 2;63:127-130. Epub 2019 Feb 2.

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatics, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; National Reference Laboratory of Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar-Ahang, Hamadan, Iran.

Coxiella burnetii is causative agent of Q fever, which is a public health problem in most countries. The aim of this study was to study the prevalence rate of C. burnetii in raw milk of dairy animals in Iran with previous history of abortion. Read More

J Pest Sci (2004) 2019 24;92(2):417-428. Epub 2018 Jul 24.

1College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.

Rice planthoppers and associated virus diseases have become the most important pests threatening food security in China and other Asian countries, incurring costs of hundreds of millions of US dollars annually in rice losses, and in expensive, environmentally harmful, and often futile control efforts. The most economically damaging species, the brown planthopper, (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), cannot overwinter in temperate East Asia, and infestations there are initiated by several waves of windborne spring or summer migrants originating from tropical areas in Indochina. The interaction of these waves of migrants and synoptic weather patterns, driven by the semi-permanent western Pacific subtropical high-pressure (WPSH) system, is of critical importance in forecasting the timing and intensity of immigration events and determining the seriousness of subsequent planthopper build-up in the rice crop. Read More

Bull Hist Med 2019 ;93(1):55-81

Pestis minor is a pathological category that at the height of the third plague pandemic (1894-1959) fueled extensive debate and research among medical scientists. Referring to an attenuated or benign form of plague, evidence of pestis minor or pestis ambulans was produced in medical reports across the world so as to raise the question of whether the disease could survive measures against it by means of temporary transformation. Afflicting its victims only by the slightest lymphatic swellings, this theory went, the disease could thus lurk in the human body until conditions allowed it to break out again in its true, malignant form. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019 Apr 4;116(16):7620-7621. Epub 2019 Apr 4.

Aix-Marseille Univ, IRD, MEPHI, IHU Méditerranée Infection, 13005 Marseille, France;

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019 Apr 4;116(16):7622-7623. Epub 2019 Apr 4.

Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, N-0316 Oslo, Norway;

Genes Immun 2019 Apr 3. Epub 2019 Apr 3.

Yersinia Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, F-75724, Paris, France.

Plague is a vector-borne disease caused by Yersinia pestis. Transmitted by fleas from rodent reservoirs, Y. pestis emerged <6000 years ago from an enteric bacterial ancestor through events of gene gain and genome reduction. Read More

Psychol Psychother 2019 Jun 1;92(2):164-189. Epub 2019 Apr 1.

Centre Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, UK.

Fragmentation of processes and interventions plague the psychotherapies (Gilbert & Kirby, ). Part of the problem is that we have not agreed on a framework that could be the basis for integrating knowledge and the scientific enquiry of processes and interventions. This paper outlines an approach that brings together a variety of different disciplines in the service of consilience (Wilson, , Consilience: The unity of knowledge, Vintage, New York, NY; Siegel, ). Read More

Lancet Infect Dis 2019 Mar 28. Epub 2019 Mar 28.

Plague Unit, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Background: Madagascar accounts for 75% of global plague cases reported to WHO, with an annual incidence of 200-700 suspected cases (mainly bubonic plague). In 2017, a pneumonic plague epidemic of unusual size occurred. The extent of this epidemic provides a unique opportunity to better understand the epidemiology of pneumonic plagues, particularly in urban settings. Read More

Lancet Infect Dis 2019 Mar 28. Epub 2019 Mar 28.

Bacterial Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, National Centers for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA. Electronic address:

Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2019 Mar;39(8):572-578

Department of Neurology, Friendship Hospital to Urumqi, 830049, China.

Background: The aim of the present study is to determine the association of serum lipid level in the above 55-year-old age elderly with ischemic stroke (IS) in Xinjiang regions, China.

Methods: 408 patients with IS and 347 healthy individuals as control in the ≥55-year-old elderly were selected for the present study in Xinjiang province of China from July 2010 to July 2012. Patients were divided into different groups according to the IS subtypes (large-artery atherosclerosis, LAA; cardio-aortic embolism CE; small-artery occlusion, SAO), plague stability, hypertension and diabetes. Read More

BMC Microbiol 2019 Mar 29;19(1):68. Epub 2019 Mar 29.

Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Background: Thermal regulation of gene expression occurs in many microorganisms, and is mediated via several typical mechanisms. Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of the plague and spreads by zoonotic transfer from fleas to mammalian blood with a concomitant rapid temperature change, from ambient to 37 °C, which induces the expression of capsular antigen (Caf1) that inhibits phagocytosis. Caf1 is formed into long polymeric fimbriae by a periplasmic chaperone (Caf1M) and outer membrane usher (Caf1A). Read More

Am J Trop Med Hyg 2019 Mar 25. Epub 2019 Mar 25.

Plague Unit, WHO Collaborating Center, Institut Pasteur, Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonotic bacterial disease caused by pathogenic spp. Only limited studies have been conducted on the presence of spp. in rats in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar. Read More

Front Immunol 2019 12;10:96. Epub 2019 Mar 12.

Department of Clinical Immunology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

, a Gram-negative bacterium and the etiologic agent of plague, has evolved from , a cause of a mild enteric disease. However, the molecular and biological mechanisms of how evolved to such a remarkably virulent pathogen, , are not clear. The ability to initiate a rapid bacterial dissemination is a characteristic hallmark of infection. Read More

Chemistry 2019 Mar 26. Epub 2019 Mar 26.

Texas A&M University, Department of Chemistry, 580 Ross Street, 3255 TAMU, 77483, College Station, UNITED STATES.

As chiral molecules, naturally occurring D-oligonucleotides have enantiomers, L-DNA and L-RNA, which are comprised of L-(deoxy)ribose sugars. These mirror-image oligonucleotides have the same physical and chemical properties as their native D-counterparts, yet are highly orthogonal to the stereospecific environment of biology. Consequently, L-oligonucleotides are resistant to nuclease degradation and many of the off-target interactions that plague traditional D-oligonucleotide-based technologies, making them ideal for biomedical applications. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019 Mar 25. Epub 2019 Mar 25.

Dangoor Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Radiocarbon Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel.

The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens of natural and geological climate proxies of the northern hemisphere. Although this climatic downturn was proposed as a major cause for pandemic and extensive societal upheavals in the sixth-seventh centuries CE, archaeological evidence for the magnitude of societal response to this event is sparse. This study uses ancient trash mounds as a type of proxy for identifying societal crisis in the urban domain, and employs multidisciplinary investigations to establish the terminal date of organized trash collection and high-level municipal functioning on a city-wide scale. Read More

Mol Biol (Mosk) 2019 Jan-Feb;53(1):142-153

Volgograd Anti-Plague Institute, Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, Volgograd, 400131 Russia.

Evolution of microsatellites (or simple sequence repeats, SSRs) is a complex process that converts perfect repeats to novel structural elements with functions poorly understood, such as imperfect and compound microsatellites. An in silico analysis often Burkholderia pseudomallei genomes revealed 215683 micro-satellites, and more than 98% of them proved imperfect. The density of microsatellites in the genome ranged from 2922. Read More

J Crohns Colitis 2019 Mar 20. Epub 2019 Mar 20.

Research Centre on Inflammation, UMR1149 INSERM ; Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Paris, France.

Background And Aims: Nucleotide Oligomerisation Domain 2 (NOD2) is a key gene of innate immunity which participates to the host defence toward pathogens. Several loss-of-function NOD2 mutations are associated with Crohn Disease (CD). Their high frequencies in populations of European ancestry suggest a model of balancing selection. Read More

AMA J Ethics 2019 Mar 1;21(3):E300-302. Epub 2019 Mar 1.

In this image, 3 figures-Hippocrates, a plague doctor, and a modern physician-represent continuity of ethical standards in ancient, medieval, and contemporary medical communities. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 Mar 19;9(1):4851. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

Institute of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu City, Sichuan, 611130, People's Republic of China.

Thus far, there have been no reports on the molecular characterization and antiapoptotic function of the DPV Us5 gene. To perform molecular characterization of DPV Us5, RT-PCR and pharmacological inhibition tests were used to ascertain the kinetic class of the Us5 gene. Western blotting and an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) were used to analyze the expression level and subcellular localization of Us5 in infected cells at different time points. Read More

Bioorg Chem 2019 Mar 15;87:169-180. Epub 2019 Mar 15.

Nursing and Pharmacy School, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil. Electronic address:

This work aimed to evaluate the inhibition of Candida rugosa lipase by five guanylhydrazone derivatives through biological, biophysical and theoretical studies simulating physiologic conditions. The compound LQM11 (IC = 14.70 μM) presented the highest inhibition against the enzyme. Read More

J Patient Saf 2019 Mar 13. Epub 2019 Mar 13.

University of California San Francisco, Richard H. Fine People's Clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California.

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze diverse patients' experiences throughout the medication use process to inform the development of overarching interventions that support safe medication use in community settings.

Methods: Using a qualitative observational approach, we conducted approximately 18 hours of direct observation of the medication use process across multiple settings for a sample of vulnerable, high-risk patients. Observers recorded detailed field notes during the observations. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2019 Apr;25(4):800-803

In December 2017, a dog that had pneumonic plague was brought to a veterinary teaching hospital in northern Colorado, USA. Several factors, including signalment, season, imaging, and laboratory findings, contributed to delayed diagnosis and resulted in potential exposure of >116 persons and 46 concurrently hospitalized animals to Yersinia pestis. Read More

Epidemiol Infect 2019 Jan;147:e106

Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine,University of Oxford,Oxford,UK.

Louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) is an epidemic disease with a fascinating history from Hippocrates' times, through the 6th century 'Yellow Plague', to epidemics in Ireland, Scotland and England in the 19th century and two large Afro-Middle Eastern pandemics in the 20th century. An endemic focus persists in Ethiopia and adjacent territories in the Horn of Africa. Since 2015, awareness of LBRF in Europe, as a re-emerging disease, has been increased dramatically by the discovery of this infection in dozens of refugees arriving from Africa. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019 22;9:23. Epub 2019 Feb 22.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, United States.

, the causative agent of plague, possesses a number of virulence mechanisms that allows it to survive and proliferate during its interaction with the host. To discover additional infection-specific factors, a transposon site hybridization (TraSH)-based genome-wide screen was employed to identify genomic regions required for its survival during cellular infection. In addition to several well-characterized infection-specific genes, this screen identified three chromosomal genes (, and ), located in an apparent operon, that promoted successful infection. Read More

Anticancer Res 2019 Mar;39(3):1403-1409

University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Background/aim: The analysis of prognostic factors is important to identify determinants of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: We examined baseline characteristics associated with DFS and OS among 757 patients with resected, histologically proven, MAGE-A3-positive Stage IB-IIIA NSCLC assigned to placebo in the MAGRIT study (NCT00480025). We explored characteristics of NSCLC that could predict DFS and OS using Cox regression models. Read More

Metabolomics 2018 Dec 29;15(1). Epub 2018 Dec 29.

US Army Center for Environmental Health Research, 568 Doughten Drive, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702, USA.

Introduction: Pneumonic plague is caused by the aerosolized form of Yersinia pestis and is a highly virulent infection with complex clinical consequences, and without treatment, the fatality rate approaches 100%. The exact mechanisms of disease progression are unclear, with limited work done using metabolite profiling to study disease progression.

Objective: The aim of this pilot study was to profile the plasma metabolomics in an animal model of Y. Read More

J Behav Med 2019 Feb 1;42(1):84-94. Epub 2019 Mar 1.

, Newton, MA, USA.

Behavioral medicine has made significant contributions to our understanding of how to prevent disease and improve health. However, social and environmental factors continue to have a major influence on health in ways that will be difficult to combat on a population level without concerted efforts to scale interventions and translate the evidence into public health policies. Now is also the right time to increase our efforts to produce policy relevant research and partnerships that will maximize the chances that our evidence is taken to scale in ways that can influence population health broadly, and perhaps contribute to the reduction of the recalcitrant health disparities that plague virtually every area of behavioral medicine focus. Read More

Nutrients 2019 Feb 25;11(2). Epub 2019 Feb 25.

School of Public Health and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Private Bag 360, Blantyre 3, Malawi.

Linear growth faltering, caused by insufficient diet, recurrent infections and environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), continues to plague young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Diets in LMICs are primarily plant based, and thus have poor-quality protein and low levels of essential micronutrients. The aim of this study was to assess the association of the type and protein quality of food consumed with stunting, EED and acute malnutrition in children aged 6⁻36 months in Limera and Masenjere, two rural Southern Malawian communities. Read More

J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2019 Feb 28;16(1):11. Epub 2019 Feb 28.

Sport Medicine Centre, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.

Background: Exercise induced gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms can plague athletes, especially runners. Sport nutrition recommendations are nutrient rather than foods focused and do not adequately address strategies to reduce GI symptoms. The objective was to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire to evaluate pre-training and pre-racing voluntary food restrictions/choices, reasons for avoiding foods, and gastrointestinal symptoms in endurance runners. Read More

Viruses 2019 Feb 24;11(2). Epub 2019 Feb 24.

Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu City 611130, Sichuan, China.

Background: Duck plague virus (DPV) can induce apoptosis in duck embryo fibroblasts (DEFs) and in infected ducks, but the molecular mechanism of DPV-induced apoptosis remains unknown.

Methods: We first used qRT-PCR and a Caspase-Glo assay to determine whether the caspase protein family plays an important role in DPV-induced apoptosis. Then, we used an intracellular ROS detection kit and the mitochondrial probe JC-1 to respectively detect ROS levels and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Read More

Med Anthropol Q 2019 03 27;33(1):42-59. Epub 2019 Feb 27.

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Rutgers University, Newark.

Zoonosis calls for a multispecies approach to medical semiotics, a method involving the decipherment of outward symptoms and the construction of narrative. In Madagascar, early detection of bubonic plague outbreaks relies on sightings of sick and dead rats. However, people most vulnerable to plague often do not perceive warning signs, and plague symptoms do not always present in rat and human bodies. Read More

Nurs Educ Perspect 2019 Feb 22. Epub 2019 Feb 22.

About the Authors Amber Young-Brice, PhD, RN, is an assistant professor, Marquette University College of Nursing, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kristina Thomas Dreifuerst, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, is an associate professor, Marquette University College of Nursing. For more information, contact Dr. Young-Brice at

Unequal representation of black nurses in the workforce continues to plague the nursing profession. Preconceptions and understandings of the discipline are underpinned by the dominant white racial makeup, which may challenge ethnically diverse nursing students' perceptions of their ability for success. The need for a diverse nursing workforce includes the challenge of enticing minority students into and successfully through prelicensure programs. Read More

Infect Immun 2019 Feb 25. Epub 2019 Feb 25.

Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, New York, USA

Plague is a rapidly lethal human disease caused by the bacterium (Yp). This study demonstrates that the Yp plasminogen activator Pla, a protease that promotes fibrin degradation, thwarts T cell-mediated defense against fully-virulent Yp. Introducing a single point mutation into the active site of Pla suffices to render fully-virulent Yp susceptible to primed T cells. Read More

mSystems 2019 Jan-Feb;4(1). Epub 2019 Feb 19.

Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA.

Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague, emerged as a fleaborne pathogen only within the last 6,000 years. Just five simple genetic changes in the Yersinia pseudotuberculosis progenitor, which served to eliminate toxicity to fleas and to enhance survival and biofilm formation in the flea digestive tract, were key to the transition to the arthropodborne transmission route. To gain a deeper understanding of the genetic basis for the development of a transmissible biofilm infection in the flea foregut, we evaluated additional gene differences and performed transcriptional profiling of Y. Read More

R Soc Open Sci 2019 Jan 2;6(1):181695. Epub 2019 Jan 2.

Department of Biosciences, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway.

On 3 August 1900, bubonic plague () broke out in Glasgow for the first time during the Third Pandemic. The local sanitary authorities rigorously tracked the spread of the disease and they found that nearly all of the 35 cases could be linked by contact with a previous case. Despite trapping hundreds of rats in the area, there was no evidence of a rat epizootic and the investigators speculated that the outbreak could be due to human-to-human transmission of bubonic plague. Read More