Identity Matching Research Articles

First Report of Tawny Blotch Caused by Parastagonospora caricis on Phalaris arundinacea in New York

Leaf spots were observed on reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) growing in a commercial wheat field in Seneca County, NY, during summer 2016. Lesions were elliptical to cigar shaped, brown-red, and ringed by a light tan band with an irregular margin. Mature lesions contained single erumpent points of white tissue in their center. Damage was most severe in the lower canopy, where spots had coalesced to cover entire leaves. Symptomatic leaf tissue was surface sterilized in 1.65% sodium hypochlorite, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with antibiotics. Cultures kept at 22°C under a 12-h photoperiod consistently yielded slow growing, cottony mycelium with a pale pink pigment and abundant pycnidia. Pycniospores produced by monosporic isolates grown on PDA amended with sterilized leaves of reed canarygrass were narrow, roughly cylindrical with equally blunt ends. They contained three to eight septa and measured 27.1 to 49.2 μm (mean, 37.7 μm) × 2.5 to 7.4 μm (mean, 5.4 μm) (n = 55). Morphology, symptomology, and host were characteristic of tawny blotch caused by Stagonospora foliicola (Bres.) Bubak (Sprague 1950). Two isolates were sequenced for species identification using the internal transcribed spacer region of rRNA, RNA polymerase subunit II gene, and β-tubulin gene. Sequences (GenBank KY604740, MF593838, and MF593839, respectively) had a 99 to 100% identity match to the type culture of Parastagonospora caricis deposited in GenBank and did not show homology to the type isolate of S. foliicola from Maryland. Although colony color of the New York isolates did not match that described for P. caricis, pycniospores produced on PDA without plant tissue amendments measured 61.2 × 6.3 µm, consistent with those recorded from the type culture of P. caricis (Quaedvlieg et al. 2013). A specimen was deposited at the Cornell herbarium (CUP-068300), and a representative culture was stored at CBS-KNAW (CBS 144011). Using one New York isolate, Koch’s postulates were completed in a greenhouse with 2-month-old, potted reed canarygrass. A conidial suspension of 1 × 10³ spores/ml in sterile water was washed from 2-week-old cultures grown on PDA amended with reed canarygrass leaves. Three pots were treated with the fungus, and three pots received a sterile water control treatment. Plants were spray inoculated with a fine mist until runoff and incubated under plastic bags for 24 h. After 2 weeks, inoculated plants showed symptoms typical of those seen in the field, and the pathogen was reisolated from multiple lesions. Control plants showed no signs of disease, and no fungi were isolated from their leaves. Tawny blotch is one of the most important diseases of reed canarygrass worldwide (Braverman et. al. 1986), and the damage can be significant under humid or moist conditions (Zeiders 1975). This disease may impact the quality and quantity of forage. P. caricis was first identified on Carex acutiformis in the Netherlands and has not been recorded from other hosts or locations. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of P. caricis infecting reed canarygrass. It is possible that other North American reports of S. foliicola lacking DNA sequence data could be misidentifications of P. caricis, and both organisms should be considered in future studies of tawny blotch on associated grasses.

Simple Workflow Changes Enable Effective Patient Identity Matching in Poison Control.

Background U.S. poison control centers pose a special case for patient identity matching because they collect only minimal patient identifying information. Methods In early 2017, the Utah Poison Control Center (Utah PCC) initiated participation in regional health information exchange by sending Health Level Seven Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture (C-CDA) documents to the Utah Health Information Network and Intermountain Healthcare. To increase the documentation of patient identifiers by the Utah PCC, we (1) adapted documentation practices to enable more complete and consistent documentation, and (2) implemented staff training to improve collection of identifiers. Results Compared with the same time period in 2016, the Utah PCC showed an increase of 27% ( p < 0.001) in collection of birth date for cases referred to a health care facility, while improvements in the collection of other identifiers ranged from 0 to 8%. Automated patient identity matching was successful for 77% (100 of 130) of the C-CDAs. Conclusion Historical processes and procedures for matching patient identities require adaptation or added functionality to adequately support the PCC use case.

Abstract 1359: Somatic involution of pathogenic BRCA1 germline mutations

Abstract There is currently a wealth of data on the tumor genomic contexture from BRCA1/2 carriers, particularly breast and ovarian carcinomas. By contrast, little attention has as yet been paid to the genomic status of cancer-related normal tissues from these individuals. Here, we investigated the status of pathogenic BRCA1 germline mutations (GM) in breast (B) and gynecologic (GYN) tissues. Methods: We examined 121 DNA samples (48 B; 36 GYN; 37 tumors) from an equal number of paraffin blocks obtained upon prophylactic or debulking surgery from 44 BRCA1/2 carriers (mean age 38 yrs, range 24-62; 43 BRCA1 carriers). Six women had never had cancer manifestation (CM). At the time of surgery, 32 were cancer-free but had received neo- or adjuvant chemotherapy, and 6 had concurrent cancer without prior treatment. Following multimethod DNA quality control, mutation validation and sample identity match to exclude false negatives, we interrogated GM presence in tissues in comparison to clinicopathologic data and tumor genotypes (60-gene panel; mean read depth over 800). Results: In 19 samples from 13 BRCA1 carriers, including 13 normal B/GYN and 6 tumors, the germline mutation was present at frequencies lower than 5% (observed with the integrated genome viewer) up to 12%, or it was undetectable with Sanger sequencing and multiplex PCR. This condition, termed GM-loss, was present in 13 GYN, 12 of which in the histologically normal tube, and in only 3 B with fibrocystic disease (p=0.0210). It was also present in one ovarian thecoma but it was absent in usual or atypical hyperplasia in B. GM-loss was observed in 9/55 normal tissues from breast cancer and in 4/6 normal tissues from ovarian cancer patients, while it was absent in the normal tissues from women without CM (p=0.0002). GM-loss mostly affected the BRCA1 BRCT functional domain (p&amp;lt;0.0001) and concerned large deletions (10/17 samples), small indels (5/32; 15.6%) and less so single-nucleotide substitutions (4/66; 6.0%; p&amp;lt;0.0001). Normal tissue GM-loss was rather localized, e.g., in 10 patients with multiple samples it was present in only one B or fallopian tube. It was, however, related to the status of concurrent ovarian tumors in 3/6 cases. In the normal tube of these patients, next to the low-frequency GM a somatic pathogenic BRCA1 mutation was present at 25-41% allelic frequency; the same was observed in one breast tumor after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Three of the replaced GMs were indels, two corresponded to the well-known BRCA1 p.Q1777fs, and all novel mutations were missense. Conclusions: We observed BRCA1 GM-loss in normal tissues, breast and mostly fallopian tube, in about 30% of the carriers in the present cohort, all with previous or concurrent cancer. The phenomenon seems analogous to the GM reversion described in tumors but, as shown, it may also occur in the absence of prior treatment. Its origin and impact on cancer dynamics and therapeutic approaches seem worth further pursuing with functional studies. Citation Format: Vassiliki Kotoula, Efterpi Demiri, Florentia Fostira, Eleni Vrettou, Kyriaki Papadopoulou, Ioannis Tikas, Konstantinos Papazisis, Thomas Zaramboukas, Asimina Asimaki-Vlachopoulou, Spyridon Miliaras, Elena Fountzilas, Ananias Ananiadis, Sofia Chrisafi, Christos Poulios, Ioannis Natsiopoulos, Aris Tsiftsoglou, George Fountzilas. Somatic involution of pathogenic BRCA1 germline mutations [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1359.

New Data on Myxobolus enoblei (Cnidaria: Myxobolidae): A Parasite of Smallmouth Buffalo Ictiobus bubalus (Cypriniformes: Catostomidae)

Myxobolus enoblei has previously been reported from the gills of smallmouth buffalo, Ictiobus bubalus, although to date no supplemental molecular data are available. As such, identification is based solely on morphological characters, which can be ambiguous. Herein we supplement detailed morphological analysis with molecular data (18S ribosomal RNA gene sequence). Myxospores were spherical (measurements in micrometers and presented as mean ± SD followed by range in parentheses), 14.2 ± 0.5 (13.4–15.0) in length, 12.1 ± 0.5 (11.3–13.0) in width, and 7.3 ± 0.4 (6.8–8.0) thick. There were 2 pyriform polar capsules, 7.6 ± 0.3 (7.0–8.0) in length and 4.1 ± 0.2 (3.6–4.6) in width with 6–7 turns in the coiled polar filament. When compared to other Myxobolus spp. from catostomid fish, the morphological characters of the isolate were consistent with Myxobolus enoblei, originally characterized from the gills of smallmouth buffalo from Illinois, U.S.A. A BLASTn search of the 18S rRNA gene resulted in no identical matches to any available sequences in the National Center for Biotechnology Information's GenBank. Phylogenetic assessment placed M. enoblei within a clade containing other myxozoans of catostomid fish in North America, supporting previous research that suggests that host family can be a strong phylogenetic signal for myxozoans. Moving forward, these sequence data will offer confirmatory diagnosis to supplement comparisons to morphologically similar myxozoan species from similar hosts in addition to providing data for use in future studies attempting to identify the actinospore stage and definitive oligochaete host.

Finding an unfamiliar face in a line-up: Viewing multiple images of the target is beneficial on target-present trials but costly on target-absent trials.

When viewing unfamiliar faces, photographs of the same person often are perceived as belonging to different people and photographs of different people as belonging to the same person. Identity matching of unfamiliar faces is especially challenging when the photographs are of a person whose ethnicity differs from that of the observer. In contrast, matching is trivial when viewing familiar faces, regardless of race. Viewing multiple images of an own-race target identity improves accuracy on a line-up task when the target is known to be present (Dowsett etal., 2016, Q J Exp Psychol, 69, 1), suggesting that exposure to within-person variability in appearance is key to face learning. Across three experiments, we show that viewing multiple images of a target identity also improves accuracy for other-race faces on target-present trials. However, viewing multiple images decreases accuracy (i.e., increases false alarms) on target-absent trials for both own- and other-race faces. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of face recognition and for forensic settings.

The distinct roles of insular subareas in recognition memory: a stereo-electroencephalography study.

Previous studies have reported that the insular cortex is involved in recognition memory, but it remains unclear which subarea of the insular cortex serves this function. To address this question, we examined 14 drug-resistant focal epilepsy patients implanted with stereotactic electrodes in the insular cortex. All participants performed a delayed match-to-sample task. Event-related potentials and spectrograms from each insular subarea were analyzed when the participants were exposed to identical (match condition) and different (mismatch condition) stimuli. Each of the insular subareas had a significantly different event-related potential within the investigated interval of recognition memory under both match and mismatch conditions. Moreover, we observed that most of contacts in the left anterior insula had a stronger high-gamma response under the mismatch condition than the match condition, whereas most of contacts in the right insula had a stronger high-gamma response under the match condition than the mismatch condition. Thus, distinct roles for each insular subarea in recognition memory were found in this study. The right insula appears to subserve recognition memory by focusing on processing identical information, whereas the left anterior insula seems to subserve conflict monitoring by focusing on processing different information.

A novel mechanism of NO synthase uncoupling involving isolevuglandin adduction

We have previously shown that hypertension leads to modification of self‐proteins in antigen presenting cells by isolevuglandin (isoLG) lipid oxidation products. These modified proteins seem to be immunogenic. IsoLG‐modified peptides are presented in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class 1 and drive CD8+ T cell proliferation. To understand alterations in the peptidome presented by MHC1 in hypertension, we created transgenic mice expressing a truncated form of MHC1 Kb lacking the transmembrane domain, driven by the CD11c promoter. The lack of a transmembrane domain causes MHC1 to be shed into the media when DCs are cultured. We treated these mice with either 2 weeks sham or angiotensin (ang) II infusion, isolated splenic DCs and placed these in culture for 72 hours. The shed soluble MHC1 Kb was harvested and associated peptides were analyzed by mass spectroscopy. One peptide identified in DCs from hypertensive mice was an identical match for a portion of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) containing an isoLG adduct at lysine 225. Because this lysine is positioned between the heme and arginine binding sites, we hypothesized that its modification would disrupt normal NO production and instead lead to superoxide production, i.e. NOS uncoupling. In subsequent studies, we found that nNOS expression is increased 5‐fold in DCs of ang II‐treated compared to sham‐treated mice (n = 6). Importantly, ang II infusion increased superoxide production of DCs from 37±3 to 111±5 pmol/mg protein (mean ± SE, p = 0.0001), and this was completely blocked by treatment of the cells with the selective nNOS inhibitor L‐vinyl NIO, suggesting that nNOS is a source of superoxide in DCs in hypertension. Next we expressed wild type nNOS and a mutant nNOS in which lysine 225 was mutated to an alanine (nNOS K225A) in human epithelial kidney (HEK) cells. Untransfected HEK cells failed to produce NO, as measured by electron spin resonance and the spin trap Fe[DETC]2. HEK cells transfected with either the WT or K225A nNOS produced 152 ± 5 vs 156 ± 6 arbitrary units of NO/mg protein (p = NS). However, exposure of the transfected HEK cells to tertbutyl hydroperoxide, which promotes isoLG formation, reduced NO production by cells expressing the wild‐type enzyme to 86 ± 6 units/mg protein, while having no effect on cells transfected with the mutant K225A (p = 0.003, n = 5 – 7), further implicating lysine 225 as a site of oxidative modification in nNOS. In summary, hypertension increases nNOS expression in DCs and this enzyme is altered by isoLG adduction at lysine 225. This leads to an increase in superoxide and reduced NO production in these immune cells. We conclude that isoLG adduction represents a novel mechanism of NOS uncoupling and a source of reactive oxygen species in dendritic cells.Support or Funding InformationAmerican Heart Association grants POST290900 and SFRN204200, and National Institutes of Health grants K01HL130497, R01HL125865, R01HL039006 and P01HL129941This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

BALDR: a computational pipeline for paired heavy and light chain immunoglobulin reconstruction in single-cell RNA-seq data

B cells play a critical role in the immune response by producing antibodies, which display remarkable diversity. Here we describe a bioinformatic pipeline, BALDR (BCR Assignment of Lineage using De novo Reconstruction) that accurately reconstructs the paired heavy and light chain immunoglobulin gene sequences from Illumina single-cell RNA-seq data. BALDR was accurate for clonotype identification in human and rhesus macaque influenza vaccine and simian immunodeficiency virus vaccine induced vaccine-induced plasmablasts and naïve and antigen-specific memory B cells. BALDR enables matching of clonotype identity with single-cell transcriptional information in B cell lineages and will have broad application in the fields of vaccines, human immunodeficiency virus broadly neutralizing antibody development, and cancer.BALDR is available at https://github.com/BosingerLab/BALDR.

Wisdom of the social versus non-social crowd in face identification.

Face identification is more accurate when people collaborate in social dyads than when they work alone (Dowsett & Burton, 2015, Br. J. Psychol., 106, 433). Identification accuracy is also increased when the responses of two people are averaged for each item to create a 'non-social' dyad (White, Burton, Kemp, & Jenkins, 2013, Appl. Cogn. Psychol., 27, 769; White etal., 2015, Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci., 282, 20151292). Does social collaboration add to the benefits of response averaging for face identification? We compared individuals, social dyads, and non-social dyads on an unfamiliar face identity-matching test. We also simulated non-social collaborations for larger groups of people. Individuals and social dyads judged whether face image pairs depicted the same- or different identities, responding on a 5-point certainty scale. Non-social dyads were constructed by averaging the responses of paired individuals. Both social and non-social dyads were more accurate than individuals. There was no advantage for social over non-social dyads. For larger non-social groups, performance peaked at near perfection with a crowd size of eight participants. We tested three computational models of social collaboration and found that social dyad performance was predicted by the decision of the more accurate partner. We conclude that social interaction does not bolster accuracy for unfamiliar face identity matching in dyads beyond what can be achieved by averaging judgements.

Age-related differences in emotion matching are limited to low intensity expressions

ABSTRACTMulti-label tasks confound age differences in perceptual and cognitive processes. We examined age differences in emotion perception with a technique that did not require verbal labels. Participants matched the emotion expressed by a target to two comparison stimuli, one neutral and one emotional. Angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, and sad facial expressions of varying intensity were used. Although older adults took longer to respond than younger adults, younger adults only outmatched older adults for the lowest intensity disgust and fear expressions. Some participants also completed an identity matching task in which target stimuli were matched on personal identity instead of emotion. Although irrelevant to the judgment, expressed emotion still created interference. All participants were less accurate when the apparent difference in expressive intensity of the matched stimuli was large, suggesting that salient emotion cues increased difficulty of identity matching. Age differences in emotion perception were limited to very low intensity expressions.

Successful creation of pancreatic cancer organoids by means of EUS-guided fine-needle biopsy sampling for personalized cancer treatment

Pancreatic cancer organoids are tumor models of individualized human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), created from surgical specimens and used for personalized treatment strategies. Unfortunately, most patients with PDA are not operative candidates. Creation of human PDA organoids at the time of initial tumor diagnosis is therefore critical. Our aim was to assess the feasibility of creating human PDA organoids by EUS fine-needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) sampling in patients with PDA. In this prospective clinical trial in patients referred to evaluate a pancreatic mass, EUS-FNA was performed for initial onsite diagnosis. Two additional needle passes were performed with a 22-gauge FNB needle for organoid creation. Primary outcome was successful isolation of organoids within 2 weeks of EUS-FNB sampling (P0, no passages), confirmed by organoid morphology and positive genotyping. Thirty-seven patients with 38 PDA tumors were enrolled. Successful isolation of organoids (P0) was achieved in 33 of 38 tumors (87%). Establishment of PDA organoid lines for≥5 passages of growth (P5, five passages) was reached in 25 of 38 tumors (66%). In the single patient with successful P5 FNB sampling-derived and P5 surgically derived organoids, there was identical matching of specimens. There were no serious adverse events. Two patients developed bleeding at the EUS-FNB puncture site requiring hemostasis clips. Pancreatic cancer organoids can be successfully and rapidly created by means of EUS-FNB sampling using a 22-gauge needle at the time of initial diagnosis. Successful organoid generation is essential for precision medicine in patients with pancreatic cancer in whom most are not surgically resectable. (Clinical trial registration number: NCT03140592.).

Reflexivity without identity matching training: A first demonstration.

Until now, the equivalence property of reflexivity-matching physically identical stimuli to themselves after training on a set of arbitrary matching relations-has not been demonstrated in any animal, human or nonhuman. Previous reports of reflexivity have either implicitly or explicitly involved reinforced training on other identity matching relations. Here we demonstrate reflexivity without prior identity matching training. Pigeons received concurrent successive matching training on three arbitrary matching tasks: AB (hue-form), BC (form-hue), and AC (hue-hue with different hues in the A and C sets). Afterwards, pigeons were tested for BB (form-form) reflexivity. Consistent with the predictions of Urcuioli's () theory, pigeons preferentially responded to B comparison stimuli that matched the preceding B sample stimuli in testing (i.e., BB reflexivity). A separate experiment showed that a slightly different set of arbitrary matching baseline relations yielded a theoretically predicted "anti-reflexivity" (or emergent oddity) effect in two of five pigeons. Finally, training on just two arbitrary successive matching tasks (AB and BC) did not yield any differential BB responding in testing for five of eight pigeons, with two others showing reflexivity and one showing antireflexivity. These data complement previous findings of symmetry and transitivity (the two other properties of equivalence) in pigeons.

The Emergence of Different Functionally Equivalent PAH Degrading Microbial Communities from a Single Soil in Liquid PAH Enrichment Cultures and Soil Microcosms Receiving PAHs with and without Bioaugmentation.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) are common soil contaminants of concern due to their toxicity toward plants, animals and microorganisms. The use of indigenous or added microbes (bioaugmentation) is commonly used for bioremediation of PAHs. In this work, the biodegradation rates and changes in the bacterial community structure were evaluated. The enrichment culture was useful for unambiguously identifying members of the soil bacterial community associated with PAH degradation and yielded a low diversity community. No significant difference in the rate of PAH degradation was observed between the microcosm receiving only PAHs or PAHs and bioaugmentation. Moreover, identical matches to the bioaugmentation inoculum were only observed at the initial stages of PAH degradation on day 8. After 22 days of incubation, the substantial degradation of all PAHs had occurred in both microcosms and the PAH contaminated soil had statistically significant increases in Alphaproteobacteria. There were also increases in Betaproteobacteria. In contrast, the PAH contaminated and bioaugmented soil was not enriched in PAH degrading Proteobacteria genera and, instead, an increase from 1.6% to 8% of the population occurred in the phylum Bacteroidetes class Flavobacteria, with Flavobacterium being the only identified genus. In addition, the newly discovered genus Ohtaekwangia increased from 0% to 3.2% of the total clones. These results indicate that the same soil microbial community can give rise to different PAH degrading consortia that are equally effective in PAH degradation efficiency. Moreover, these results suggest that the lack of efficacy of bioaugmentation in soils can be attributed to a lack of persistence of the introduced microbes, yet nonetheless may alter the microbial community that arises in response to PAH contamination in unexpected ways.

Improving Identity Matching of Newly Encountered Faces: Effects of Multi-image Training

Humans are error-prone at matching identity in photos of unfamiliar faces, especially in ambient images that incorporate natural variability in appearance. Nonetheless, matching faces to photographs is heavily relied upon in applied settings (e.g., when crossing the border). Whereas past training protocols emphasized discriminating highly similar identities, we incorporated within-person variability in appearance during training and in our identity-matching task. On each of five training days, participants learned six images per each of six identities. Accuracy improved on an identity-matching task for new images of trained identities, with no generalization to different identities. Experiment 1b suggests that learning multiple images of each identity was key; we found no significant improvement when training involved learning a single image of 12 identities. Collectively, our results have implications for understanding the process of face learning and improving recognition in applied settings.

Matching federation identities, the eduGAIN and STORK approach

Several identity federations with different authentication mechanisms exist in the area of governments and educational institutions. STORK from the European administration side and eduGAIN from research and educational institutions side are the main exponents in their areas. Both federations are investing on harmonizing and integrating their federations with other Authentications and Authorization Infrastructures (AAI) to improve and gain users and services. This paper analyses each federation and different integration scenarios proposing an interfederation solution that interconnects both federations through ad-hoc interoperability mechanisms, focusing on identity matching. In addition, an international testbed has been deployed to probe the viability and quality of the solution, with the focus on the user experience. The proposed integration allows an explosion of users and services both federations, allowing also the conversion of some face to face procedures to online transactions thanks to the use of strong authentication mechanisms.

VIRTUAL REALITY FOR LOW-COST AUTOMOTIVE DRIVING SIMULATOR IN VEHICLE ENGINEERING RESEARCH

Interactive simulation in automotive driving has enhanced the studies of driver behaviors, traffic control, and vehicle dynamics. The development of virtual reality (VR) technology leads to low cost, yet high fidelity, driving simulator become technically feasible. However, a good implementation of high realism and real-time interactive three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment (VE) in an automotive driving simulation are facing many technical challenges such as accessibility, dissimilarity, scalability, and sufficiency. The objective of this paper is to construct a virtual reality system for an automotive driving simulator. The technology with variations of terrain, roadway, buildings, and greenery was studied and developed in the VE of the simulator. Several important technical solutions in the construction of VE for driving simulation had been identified. Finally, the virtual reality system was interactively used in a driver-in-loop simulation for providing direct road elevation inputs to the analysis of vehicle dynamics model (VDM). The results indicated identical matching between the VDM inputs and the VE outputs. The outcomes of this paper lead to a human-in-the-loop foundation of a low-cost automotive driving simulator in the vehicle engineering research.

Evaluating Potential Risks of Food Allergy and Toxicity of Soy Leghemoglobin Expressed in Pichia pastoris.

ScopeThe Soybean (Glycine max) leghemoglobin c2 (LegHb) gene was introduced into Pichia pastoris yeast for sustainable production of a heme‐carrying protein, for organoleptic use in plant‐based meat. The potential allergenicity and toxicity of LegHb and 17 Pichia host‐proteins each representing ≥1% of total protein in production batches are evaluated by literature review, bioinformatics sequence comparisons to known allergens or toxins, and in vitro pepsin digestion.Methods and resultsLiterature searches found no evidence of allergenicity or toxicity for these proteins. There are no significant sequence matches of LegHb to known allergens or toxins. Eleven Pichia proteins have modest identity matches to minor environmental allergens and 13 Pichia proteins have significant matches to proteins from toxic sources. Yet the matched allergens and toxins have similar matches to proteins from the commonly consumed yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, without evidence of food allergy or toxicity. The demonstrated history of safe use indicates additional tests for allergenicity and toxicity are not needed. The LegHb and Pichia sp. proteins were rapidly digested by pepsin at pH 2.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that foods containing recombinant soy LegHb produced in Pichia sp. are unlikely to present an unacceptable risk of allergenicity or toxicity to consumers.

Sweet potato feathery mottle virus and Sweet potato virus C from East Timorese and Australian Sweetpotato: Biological and Molecular Properties, and Biosecurity Implications.

Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and Sweet potato virus C (SPVC) isolates from sweetpotato were studied to examine genetic connectivity between viruses from Australia and Southeast Asia. East Timorese samples from sweetpotato were sent to Australia on FTA cards. Shoot and tuberous root samples were collected in Australia and planted in the glasshouse, and scions were graft inoculated to Ipomoea setosa plants. Symptoms in infected sweetpotato and I. setosa plants were recorded. RNA extracts from FTA cards and I. setosa leaf samples were subjected to high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Complete genomic sequences (CS) of SPFMV and SPVC (11 each) were obtained by HTS, and coat protein (CP) genes from them were compared with others from GenBank. SPFMV sequences clustered into two major phylogroups (A and B = RC) and two minor phylogroups (EA[I] and O[II]) within A; East Timorese sequences were in EA(I) and O(II), whereas Australian sequences were in O(II) and B(RC). With SPVC, CP trees provided sufficient diversity to distinguish major phylogroups A and B and six minor phylogroups within A (I to VI); East Timorese sequences were in minor phylogroup I, whereas Australian sequences were in minor phylogroups II and VI and in major phylogroup B. With SPFMV, Aus13B grouped with East Timorese sequence TM64B within minor phylogroup O, giving nucleotide sequence identities of 97.4% (CS) and 98.3% (CP). However, the closest match with an Australian sequence was the 97.6% (CS) and 98.7% (CP) nucleotide identity between Aus13B and an Argentinian sequence. With SPVC, closest nucleotide identity matches between Australian and East Timorese sequences were 94.1% with Aus6a and TM68A (CS) and 96.3% with Aus55-4C and TM64A (CP); however neither pair member belonged to the same minor phylogroup. Also, the closest Australian match was 99.1% (CP) nucleotide identity between Aus4C and New Zealand isolate NZ4-4. These first complete genome sequences of SPFMV and SPVC from sweetpotato plantings in the Australian continent and neighboring Southeast Asia suggest at least two (SPFMV) and three (SPVC) separate introductions to Australia since agriculture commenced more than two centuries ago. These findings have major implications for both healthy stock programs and biosecurity management in relation to pathogen entry into Australia and elsewhere.

BK Polyomavirus Hemorrhagic Cystitis following Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant with Haploidentical Related Donor: Case Reports from Two Patients

BK virus is well known to be associated with allograft failure in renal transplant recipients due to polyomavirus associated nephropathy PVAN BK viruses are increasingly recognized as important cause of hemorrhagic cystitis during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation HSCT Here we describe two patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who received a haplo identical match related donor hematopoietic stem cell transplant after myeloablative conditioning and post transplant cyclophosphamide They developed cytology proven BK Virus cystitis Both were treated with Leflunomide Treatment was effective in alleviating the symptoms temporarily but eventually the symptoms progressed and resulted in mortality of both patients nbsp

P078 Conundrums surrounding organ transplant in a bone marrow stem cell transplant recipient

Bone marrow (BM) donors and their recipients need not have a matching blood type. Eventually, the BM recipient will become the blood type of the BM donor. This scenario can become quite a conundrum if the BM recipient becomes a patient in need of an organ transplant. In order for a patient to receive a donor organ, the patient and donor’s blood type and HLA typing must be compatible. Blood type was determined using gel test cards. HLA typing was determined by using sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO), sequence-specific primer (SSP), and sequence based typing (SBT) technologies. Patient #1, originally typed as an A2, had 1 bone marrow donor and 2 cord blood transplants. One of the cord blood transplants successfully engrafted. The engrafted cord blood was from a type O donor. Patient #1 is now typing as type O. Patient #2 was originally typed as A2 and received a bone marrow transplant from a type B donor. Patient #2 is now front-typing as a B and back-typing as an AB. The patient now has an HLA and ABO identical kidney match (his father who is a type B). Previously, the patient and his father were ABO incompatible. The ABO and HLA results on both patient #1 and patient #2 indicate that the BM transplants have engrafted. Results also indicate that the ABO and HLA now match that of the donor and differs from the recipient’s original ABO and HLA type. Due to various reasons, for example, a side effect of the immunosuppression, both patients now need a kidney transplant. Both patients will be entered into the UNet system according to their “new” ABO and HLA types, as UNOS regulations require patients to be listed as per the results of two separate ABO typing tests. The patients’ antibodies will be monitored as per lab policy and communication with the transplant centers and blood banks is crucial.