TORONTO GLOBE & MAIL: Bordetella pertussis in California

9000 infected with Bordetella pertussis  this year due to anti-immunisation activity. MDs will now have the opportunity to see the clinical effects. Old text books e.g. Nobel Chamberlain point out ulcer on fraenum as a useful sign.

1919 Nobel Prize Physiology of Medicine: Prof Jules BORDET (1870-1961)

UK PRIVATE EYE #1378 UK NHS pays GPs GBP 55 for every DEMENTIA DIAGNOSIS

Medical staff: Dee Mentia and Al Z. Heimer

Doctor: Ah, Mrs.Jones,when did you last see a doctor?
Mrs.Jones: I can't remember.
Doctor: Excellent. Now I can claim my GBP 55. Next patient please.

UK DAILY MAIL reporting USA Nat Acad.Science on VIRUS ATCV-1

Chlorovirus ATCV-1 is part of the human oropharyngeal virome and is associated with changes in cognitive functions in humans and mice

1. Robert H. Yolken^a,¹,
2. Lorraine Jones-Brando^a,
3. David D. Dunigan^b,
4. Geetha Kannan^c,
5. Faith Dickerson^d,
6. Emily Severance^a,
7. Sarven Sabunciyan^a,
8. C. Conover Talbot, Jr.^e,
9. Emese Prandovszky^a,
10. James R. Gurnon^b,
11. Irina V. Agarkova^b,
12. Flora Leister^a,
13. Kristin L. Gressitt^a,
14. Ou Chen^a,
15. Bryan Deuber^a,
16. Fangrui Ma^b,
17. Mikhail V. Pletnikov^c, and
18. James L. Van Etten^b,¹

Author Affiliations

1. Contributed by James L. Van Etten, October 3, 2014 (sent for review August 9, 2014; reviewed by Joram Feldon and Allan V. Kalueff)

Significance

Human mucosal surfaces contain a wide range of microorganisms. The biological effects of these organisms are largely unknown. Large-scale metagenomic sequencing is emerging as a method to identify novel microbes. Unexpectedly, we identified DNA sequences homologous to virus ATCV-1, an algal virus not previously known to infect humans, in oropharyngeal samples obtained from healthy adults. The presence of ATCV-1 was associated with a modest but measurable decrease in cognitive functioning. A relationship between ATCV-1 and cognitive functioning was confirmed in a mouse model, which also indicated that exposure to ATCV-1 resulted in changes in gene expression within the brain. Our study indicates that viruses in the environment not thought to infect humans can have biological effects.

Abstract

Chloroviruses (family Phycodnaviridae) are large DNA viruses known to infect certain eukaryotic green algae and have not been previously shown to infect humans or to be part of the human virome. We unexpectedly found sequences homologous to the chlorovirus Acanthocystis turfacea chlorella virus 1 (ATCV-1) in a metagenomic analysis of DNA extracted from human oropharyngeal samples. These samples were obtained by throat swabs of adults without a psychiatric disorder or serious physical illness who were participating in a study that included measures of cognitive functioning. The presence of ATCV-1 DNA was confirmed by quantitative PCR with ATCV-1 DNA being documented in oropharyngeal samples obtained from 40 (43.5%) of 92 individuals. The presence of ATCV-1 DNA was not associated with demographic variables but was associated with a modest but statistically significant decrease in the performance on cognitive assessments of visual processing and visual motor speed. We further explored the effects of ATCV-1 in a mouse model. The inoculation of ATCV-1 into the intestinal tract of 9–11-wk-old mice resulted in a subsequent decrease in performance in several cognitive domains, including ones involving recognition memory and sensory-motor gating. ATCV-1 exposure in mice also resulted in the altered expression of genes within the hippocampus. These genes comprised pathways related to synaptic plasticity, learning, memory formation, and the immune response to viral exposure.

Robert H. Yolken, M.D.

Professor
Pediatric Infectious Disease

Director
Developmental Neurovirology

Specialty:

Infectious Diseases

Location(s):

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology
Blalock 1105
600 N. Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21287-4933

Education:

Medical School:
Harvard Medical School

Residency:      
Yale New Haven Hospital

Special Interests:

Neurovirology
Schizophrenia,
Schizophrenia risks,
Biopolar Disorder
Role of Perinatal Infections in Subsequent Brain Development

Biography:

Former chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Robert H. Yolken, the Theodore and Vada Stanley Distinguished Professor of Neurovirology in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, chairs the Division of Pediatric Neurovirology the nation’s first pediatric research center designed to investigate links between severe mental illness (including schizophrenia and manic depressive disorders) and early childhood viral infections. He and his research colleagues speculate that a virus invades the brain and then lies dormant for years before triggering the onset of schizophrenia or manic depressive illness in adolescence and young adulthood. They are investigating as possible viral triggers herpes, influenza A and B, and the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which is carried by cats and farm animals. They believe that in the future antiviral medications might be developed to treat or prevent schizophrenia in some individuals.
The overall goal of the research laboratory is to develop a training and research program devoted to the elucidation of the role of infection and immunity in the etiology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. A Interests also include elucidating the role of perinatal infections in subsequent brain development.

A professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease at Hopkins Children’s, Yolken trained at Harvard, Yale and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) before joining the Hopkins faculty in 1979.
Phone: 410-614-0004
Fax: 410-955-3723
Email: yolken@mail.jhmi.edu

Dalla Lana FREE 3-day meeting at MaRS.building, 101 College St. Toronto.

8 Nov 2014

Dalla Lana FREE 3-day meeting at MaRS.building, 101 College St. Toronto.

SANOFI PASTEUR ($100,000) et al SPONSORED 3-day MaRS building meeting of Dalla` Lana School of Public Health on "Creating a Pandemic of Health-Contagious Ideas for a Healthy Future".

.At 85y Past (1972-77) Fed.Min.Health Hon.Marc LALONDE LLM (Mont.) MA(Oxon.) DESD(Ottawa) is an elegant example of good health and first-class rhetoric.He stayed for three days.

T & G Angelopoulos Prof. & Dean of Harvard Public Health (2009)  Julio FRENK MORA MD(Nat.U.Mexico) MPH & PhD(Michigan). Mexican Min. of Health 2000-2006.

Nuffield Dept.Population Health U.Oxford Prof.(Epid.) Zhengming CHEN MBBS(Shanghai 1983) PhD(Oxon. 1993) Director of CHINA KADOORIE BIOBANK: 512,000 adults.(Blood and physical measurements).

About the Study

During recent decades, China has experienced a rapid transition in the main disease patterns of its population, with a substantial decrease in maternal and child mortality, as well as infectious and parasitic diseases. On the other hand, as a consequence of large changes in lifestyle and increased use of tobacco, mortality from many chronic non-communicable diseases has been increasing steadily. As a result, most of the premature mortality now involves the chronic diseases of middle age, such as stroke, ischaemic heart disease (IHD), diabetes, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is estimated that chronic diseases now account for over 80% of deaths and 70% of disability-adjusted life years lost in China (Wang et al. Lancet 2005).
Chronic diseases which are normally associated with affluence (e.g. IHD, diabetes) are more prevalent in urban and coastal regions, whereas chronic diseases associated with poverty (e.g. COPD, oesophageal and stomach cancer) are more common in inland and rural areas. However, for each major disease there is also large unexplained variation in age-specific death rates between different parts of China (Chen et al. JECH 2007). These large unexplained differences in disease rates among areas suggest that avoidable causes of these diseases still await discovery. Moreover, even within one area substantial differences between individual genetic composition, physical characteristics, blood biochemistry, or lifestyle could eventually affect the likelihood of an individual developing a certain disease.
Large prospective cohort studies are an important way of investigating many slow-acting causes of the common chronic diseases in the population. Although there have already been several prospective studies of major chronic diseases in China, each had its limitations, including small numbers of participants, lack of blood samples, involving just one city or occupational cohort, and limited data collection on risk exposures and outcome measures. Consequently, the aetiology of many common chronic diseases in China is still poorly understood, and there is still substantial uncertainty about the present and future relevance to population mortality of many common risk factors, such as smoking. In 2004, we launched a large blood-based prospective study, the China Kadoorie Biobank study, with the goal of recruiting and assessing 0.5 million people and then following their health for a few decades.

What are the main objectives of the CKB?

The CKB is an open-ended study with very broad research aims. The main objectives of the study are: 1) To assess reliably the effects of both established and emerging risk factors for many diseases, not only overall but also under various circumstances (e.g. at different ages and at different levels of other risk factors); 2) To determine the complex interplay between genes and environmental factors and between different genes on the risks of common chronic diseases.

Funding Agencies

Kadoorie Charitable Foundation	www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com
Wellcome Trust	www.wellcome.ac.uk
Medical Research Council	www.mrc.ac.uk
British Heart Foundation	www.bhf.org.uk
Cancer Research UK	www.cancerresearchuk.org
National Natural Science Foundation, China	www.nsfc.gov.cn
Ministry of Science and Technology, China	www.most.gov.cn/eng/

Northwest International (Australia,Brazil,Canada,Germany)Healthcare Properties Paul DALLA LANA DONATED ANOTHER $25-million to U.TORONTO DALLA LANA SCHOOL of PUBLIC HEALTH

Paul Dalla Lana

Chairman & CEO

Mr. Dalla Lana is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the REIT. Mr. Dalla Lana has over 20 years of experience in real estate acquisition, development, and finance and is the Founder and President of NorthWest Value Partners Inc., the Founder and Chairman of NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT and a Director of Vital Healthcare Property Trust. He is an advisory board member of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and is on the President's Advisory Council at The University of Toronto. Mr. Dalla Lana received his B.A. and his M.B.A. from the University of British Columbia.

- See more at: http://www.nwireit.com/About-Us/Board-of-Trustees.aspx#sthash.GnqjVtI3.dpuf