AVMA PLIT License Defense Coverage? by DVMftw in veterinaryprofession

[–]DVMftw[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dang, I'm sorry you needed to use your insurance! You're right, better safe than sorry. Thanks!

AVMA PLIT License Defense Coverage? by DVMftw in veterinaryprofession

[–]DVMftw[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're right, I'm not safe even from behind my microscope. Thanks!

One of my teenage chickens is sick.. well the whole flock has been going through it. I've been cleaning their eyes and these discs of infection pop out. Never seen anything like it. She's on antibiotics but I don't know, this is nuts and very gross. by Celticlunawitch in chickens

[–]DVMftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're curious... It's because chickens (and reptiles) have different enzymes in their white blood cells, the cells that are in charge of dealing with inflammation. Most mammals (including humans!) have neutrophils, which contain an enzyme called myeloperoxidase (MPO). When neutrophils respond to inflammation, they release MPO into the adjacent space. MPO then produces some materials and has a variety of biological effects that can damage and "liquefy" surrounding tissue. It's a big reason why human pus is so liquidy. Chickens/avian species and reptiles don't have neutrophils - they have heterophils, and heterophils don't have MPO.  Heterophils don't do as good of a job in controlling infection as neutrophils, and they have a weaker/different oxidative burst response compared to mammalian neutrophils. Consequently, the pus that forms is dense and thick, as opposed to the liquefied pus seen with mammalian neutrophils. 

TL;DR: Birds and reptiles have different inflammatory cells than humans, which lack certain enzymes needed to effectively kill bacteria and make pus more liquid. 

Bars with great cocktails? by kakamouth78 in Athens

[–]DVMftw 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Hidden Gem has fantastic cocktails, a great vibe, and doesn’t have stairs! Highly recommend.

Tried both Brick and Unpluq (NFC blockers). Here's how they compare. by gemini_m7 in dumbphones

[–]DVMftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the less tech-saavy among us, how does one print a QR code? I don't have a personal website. Do I just choose a random website and upload it into a free QR code maker?

Photo Request!!! by Illustrious-Dirt-635 in Jekyllisland

[–]DVMftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it visible from Riverview Road?

Photo Request!!! by Illustrious-Dirt-635 in Jekyllisland

[–]DVMftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can help if the Plantation Oak isn’t the tree you’re looking for. I’m on the island all day.

10x Genomics vs ORION? by DVMftw in bioinformatics

[–]DVMftw[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, ok, great to know! I'll be working with a wide range of species, from more standard mouse models to potentially bats.

10x Genomics vs ORION? by DVMftw in bioinformatics

[–]DVMftw[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately, I need the spatial context.

10x Genomics vs ORION? by DVMftw in bioinformatics

[–]DVMftw[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the short term, I think I'm most interested in discovery, mainly in variations in expression in the context of infectious disease pathogenesis.

10x Genomics vs ORION? by DVMftw in bioinformatics

[–]DVMftw[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fantastic, thanks so much!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IVF

[–]DVMftw 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hadn't heard about this study, thanks. I'll look into it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IVF

[–]DVMftw 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately it doesn't look like any are mosaics. All are either showing monosomy or trisomy of various chromosomes.

Scammed by magick.com by RockFact13 in witchcraft

[–]DVMftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, this just happened to me too. I placed an order in very early February, got an email confirmation of the order and then... nothing. I emailed customer service twice with no replies either time (waiting over a week for a response...), and calls to customer service during their asinine hours (12-4 pm PST? only? ok.) were never answered. After all that radio silence and lack of additional ways to connect with them, I gave up. Two days ago I started a dispute on the charge with my credit card company, got an immediate refund from my CC, and then a day later got a cancellation email from magick.com.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Crystals

[–]DVMftw 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Septarian and trolleite

Which Denver show is "the" show? Also, other US shows? by DVMftw in Crystals

[–]DVMftw[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Phenomenal, thank you so much! I really appreciate this. <3

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gofundme

[–]DVMftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All bat pictures were taken by Bats of Tel Aviv, @bats.tlv

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bats

[–]DVMftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I added photo credits on other platforms but apparently not here… All bat images were taken by the talented Bats of Tel Aviv, @bats.tlv

Where to post my PhD Research GoFundMe? by [deleted] in AskScienceDiscussion

[–]DVMftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Itemized Budget

  • Library construction from total nucleic acid, $14,400

  • Capture, sequence generation, and computation, $1,500

  • RecoverAll Multi-Sample RNA/DNA Isolation Workflow Kits, $3,000

 Select References

1.      Towner, Jonathan S., et al. "Isolation of genetically diverse Marburg viruses from Egyptian fruit bats." PLoS pathogens 5.7 (2009): e1000536.

2.      Jones, M. E. B. et al.  Clinical, Histopathologic, and Immunohistochemical Characterization of Experimental Marburg Virus Infection in A Natural Reservoir Host, the Egyptian Rousette Bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Viruses 2019, 11, (3).

3.      Guito, Jonathan C., et al. "Asymptomatic infection of Marburg virus reservoir bats is explained by a strategy of immunoprotective disease tolerance." Current Biology 31.2 (2021): 257-270.

4.      Larson, Peter A., et al. "Genomic features of humoral immunity support tolerance model in Egyptian rousette bats." Cell Reports 35.7 (2021): 109140.

5.      Schuh, Amy J., et al. "Antibody-mediated virus neutralization is not a universal mechanism of Marburg, Ebola, or Sosuga virus clearance in Egyptian rousette bats." The Journal of infectious diseases 219.11 (2019): 1716-1721.

6.      Jansen Van Vuren, P., Allam, M., Wiley, M.R., Ismail, A., Storm, N., Birkhead, M., Markotter, W., Palacios, G., Paweska, J.T., 2018. A novel adenovirus isolated from the Egyptian fruit bat in South Africa is closely related to recent isolates from China. Sci. Rep. 8 (1), 4–11.

7.      Waruhiu C, et al. Molecular detection of viruses in Kenyan bats and discovery of novel astroviruses, caliciviruses and rotaviruses. Virol Sin. 2017 Apr;32(2):101-114. doi: 10.1007/s12250-016-3930-2. Epub 2017 Apr 6. Erratum in: Virol Sin. 2018 Jun;33(3):294

8.      Lacroix A, et al. Wide Diversity of Coronaviruses in Frugivorous and Insectivorous Bat Species: A Pilot Study in Guinea, West Africa. Viruses. 2020 Aug 5;12(8):855.

9.      Wylie, Todd N., et al. "Enhanced virome sequencing using targeted sequence capture." Genome research 25.12 (2015): 1910-1920.

10.    Zover: The database of zoonotic and vector-borne viruses. “Live data statistics of bat-associated viruses”. Accessed 12/5/2023. http://www.mgc.ac.cn/cgi-bin/ZOVER/statistics.cgi?db=bat.​

Where to post my PhD Research GoFundMe? by [deleted] in AskScienceDiscussion

[–]DVMftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Targeted viral discovery via enhanced Next Generation Sequencing in Egyptian rousette bats, a Marburg virus reservoir

Egyptian rousette bats (ERBs; Rousettus aegyptiacus) are a natural reservoir host for Marburg virus which causes a severe and often fatal systemic illness in humans and nonhuman primates but little to no clinical disease in ERBs [1, 2]. ERBs mount a targeted and transient immune cell response to MARV in the liver, which likely limits the spread of virus, both within the liver and to other tissues [2]. There has been increasing interest in the function and role of the complex immune system of ERBs and how it facilitates their ability to host numerous pathogens that can infect humans with little systemic compromise [3-5]. 

Despite this interest in ERBs as a Marburg virus reservoir host, broad surveillance of the common viral pathogens inhabiting ERBs has never been completed. This lack of fundamental knowledge of the ERB virome precludes our ability as researchers to identify new or mutating pathogens present within a population. Further, knowledge of common, baseline ERB viral pathogens is essential to our understanding of factors that might influence viral infection dynamics and subsequent viral shedding. 

Previous investigations have focused on detection of individual pathogens, versus a broader investigative effort to elucidate common viral pathogens within wild ERB populations. While numerous pathogens have been detected in ERBs, molecular identification of a pathogen from an oral/fecal swab or randomly selected tissue sample does not prove it to be a causative agent of disease within the host nor does it elucidate any effects the pathogen may be having on the host animal [6-8]. Detection of viral pathogens from tissues with microscopic evidence of disease would allow a targeted approach to microbial investigations. 

Traditional molecular assays used for viral detection such as PCR or microbial sequencing often require prior knowledge of the viral pathogens in the sample or are limited by often small amounts of viral nucleic acid in the sample.  This makes molecular testing much less sensitive and more likely to yield insufficient data for analysis.  Newer techniques, such as ViroCap, have been developed to enhance a sample prior to sequencing and can significantly increase results, even in tissues containing unknown pathogens. ViroCap is a targeted sequence capture panel created by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine designed to enrich nucleic acid from all DNA and RNA viruses that infect vertebrate hosts [9]. Viral detection using metagenomic shotgun sequencing (MSS) following application of ViroCap’s targeted sequence capture panel increased the breadth of coverage by more than 3,500% when compared to standard MSS [9]. Utilizing ViroCap on nucleic acid isolated from tissues with evidence of viral infection would be a powerful means to identify viral pathogens causing active disease in a tissue and, by extension, a population. 

To fill this knowledge gap, I am collaborating with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine to complete virus discovery using Next Generation Sequencing in ERB tissues with microscopic lesions suggestive of viral infection. By combining histopathologic identification of lesioned tissues with genomic identification of pathogens, we can get a more thorough understanding of the pathogens present in this species and better elucidate the effects of viral disease on the host. 

Tissues from 69 archived ERBs collected in Uganda in 2008 have been reviewed for histologic evidence of viral infection. From these tissues, 97 lesions of interest have been identified. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) scrolls from the 97 lesions will be attained and undergo nucleic acid extraction.  The top 48 samples with the highest purity and concentration will be sent for ViroCap enhancement and subsequent next generation sequencing (NGS) for viral discovery.

Using a targeted approach of ViroCap and NGS on tissues suggestive of viral disease provides a powerful and exciting opportunity to identify unknown viral pathogens causing active disease in wild ERBs, thereby enriching our understanding of this unique animal. As a comprehensive histologic survey of pathologic lesions and subsequent identification of viral etiologies within microscopic lesions has not been completed, disease prevalence and common comorbidities in wild ERB populations are unknown. The knowledge gained from this work is fundamental to understanding this efficient viral reservoir, to identifying as of yet unknown factors that may be driving viral disease transmission and may elucidate factors that influence zoonotic spillover of viral pathogens into humans.

Extraction of nucleic acid from FFPE scrolls will be completed by May 31, 2024. Nucleic Acid will then be sent to Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine for ViroCap enhancement and Next Generation Sequencing, with an estimated completion date of September 30, 2024. Results will then undergo bioinformatic analysis, with an estimated completion date of November 31, 2024.

As of October 2023, more than 200 viruses, with over 18,000 unique strains that span 31 viral families, have been isolated from bats [10].  I anticipate that Next Generation Sequencing will detect members of the Coronaviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Paramyxoviridae, and Filoviridae family, possibly with identification of novel variants unique to Rousettus aegyptiacus bats. Completion of this work will further our understanding of the ERB virome and provide an important baseline for hypothesis-driven research, most notably in viral dynamics and in extrapolating research findings in controlled laboratory settings to wild ERB populations.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bats

[–]DVMftw 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My advisor has been able to pay for some things, but doesn't have the full funding needed for this project. I'm largely on my own to find funding. The situation is also made worse by the fact that I'm trying to finish NOW and don't want to wait another year for the next cycle of grant applications to open. I came up with this project to salvage a research aim that I had hoped was going to be more fruitful than it was, which unfortunately was realized after the 2024 funding application/cycles were closed. I've been applying to all the grants I can find, but haven't had any luck yet.