Bacterial protein 'mops up' viruses found in contaminated water supplies

Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
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Contact: Dr. Hilary Glover
hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
44-203-192-2370
BioMed Central

Access to clean water is a necessity often taken for granted. However UNICEF estimates that 900 million people across the world do not have access to safe drinking water. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Biotechnology shows that an enteric virus-binding protein (EVBP), isolated from bacteria found in activated sludge, is able to capture viruses often present in contaminated water.

One of the difficulties in measuring viral contamination in water is that viruses may be present at a very low concentration yet still make people ill. Even a single enteric virus can infect a human and cause gastroenteritis, and these viruses can survive for a long time in water.

Researchers from Tohoku University and Hokkaido University used activated sludge, produced during sewage treatment by aerating the sewage and allowing bacteria to breakdown organic material, as starting material in their search for a protein able to bind to enteric viruses. Using PCR the researchers isolated the gene coding for one of the subunits of GroEL from sludge DNA. GroEL is a 14 subunit 'chaperone' protein which ensures that proteins are folded correctly during their manufacture.

Using biochemical and enzymatic assays the subunit was found to be able to capture enteric viruses. GroEL is able to bind to hydrophobic amino acids on the surface of proteins and it is thought that the newly isolated EVBP similarly binds to hydrophobic areas on the surfaces of viruses and viral fragments.

Dr Daisuke Sano from Hokkaido University explained, "Unlike virus-specific and expensive antibodies, EVBP bound all the enteric viruses we tested (norovirus, rotavirus and poliovirus). Once developed this easy-to-use method could be used to detect low concentrations of viruses in the clinic or environment."

###

Notes to Editors

1. Adsorption characteristics of an enteric virus-binding protein to norovirus, rotavirus and poliovirus
Takahiro Imai, Daisuke Sano, Takayuki Miura, Satoshi Okabe, Keishi Wada, Yoshifumi Masago and Tatsuo Omura
BMC Biotechnology (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.

2. BMC Biotechnology is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in the manipulation of biological macromolecules or organisms for use in experimental procedures, cellular and tissue engineering or in the pharmaceutical, agricultural biotechnology and allied industries.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

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Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Hilary Glover
hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
44-203-192-2370
BioMed Central

Access to clean water is a necessity often taken for granted. However UNICEF estimates that 900 million people across the world do not have access to safe drinking water. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Biotechnology shows that an enteric virus-binding protein (EVBP), isolated from bacteria found in activated sludge, is able to capture viruses often present in contaminated water.

One of the difficulties in measuring viral contamination in water is that viruses may be present at a very low concentration yet still make people ill. Even a single enteric virus can infect a human and cause gastroenteritis, and these viruses can survive for a long time in water.

Researchers from Tohoku University and Hokkaido University used activated sludge, produced during sewage treatment by aerating the sewage and allowing bacteria to breakdown organic material, as starting material in their search for a protein able to bind to enteric viruses. Using PCR the researchers isolated the gene coding for one of the subunits of GroEL from sludge DNA. GroEL is a 14 subunit 'chaperone' protein which ensures that proteins are folded correctly during their manufacture.

Using biochemical and enzymatic assays the subunit was found to be able to capture enteric viruses. GroEL is able to bind to hydrophobic amino acids on the surface of proteins and it is thought that the newly isolated EVBP similarly binds to hydrophobic areas on the surfaces of viruses and viral fragments.

Dr Daisuke Sano from Hokkaido University explained, "Unlike virus-specific and expensive antibodies, EVBP bound all the enteric viruses we tested (norovirus, rotavirus and poliovirus). Once developed this easy-to-use method could be used to detect low concentrations of viruses in the clinic or environment."

###

Notes to Editors

1. Adsorption characteristics of an enteric virus-binding protein to norovirus, rotavirus and poliovirus
Takahiro Imai, Daisuke Sano, Takayuki Miura, Satoshi Okabe, Keishi Wada, Yoshifumi Masago and Tatsuo Omura
BMC Biotechnology (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.

2. BMC Biotechnology is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in the manipulation of biological macromolecules or organisms for use in experimental procedures, cellular and tissue engineering or in the pharmaceutical, agricultural biotechnology and allied industries.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

---

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/bc-bp121411.php

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Leaders block quick Senate vote on payroll tax (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Congressional negotiations over a bill extending a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits can begin as soon the Senate rejects a version the House approved despite a White House veto threat, the Senate's top Democrat said Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants his chamber to vote quickly on the House payroll tax bill, which includes Democratic-opposed spending cuts and language speeding work on an oil pipeline, to demonstrate how little support it has in the Senate. That could strengthen his hand in talks with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, over a compromise.

"The sooner we put this useless partisan charade behind us, the sooner we can negotiate a true bipartisan solution that protects middle-class workers" from a payroll tax increase, said Reid, D-Nev.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, his opposite number, refused Wednesday to let the chamber vote quickly on the House measure. The Kentucky Republican said the Senate should first vote on legislation financing the federal government, because a temporary bill keeping agencies open expires on Saturday, threatening a government shutdown.

"We ought to finish our most immediate concern first," McConnell said, adding that Reid should start negotiating with Boehner on the payroll tax bill immediately.

Reid would not allow a vote on the spending bill. Democrats worry that if Congress passes that measure first, it would ease pressure on Republicans to reach compromise on the payroll tax legislation.

The House payroll tax measure would keep 160 million workers from seeing their payroll tax jump on Jan. 1 from this year's 4.2 percent back to its normal level of 6.2 percent ? a $1,000 difference for a family making $50,000.

It would also renew expiring extra benefits for long-term jobless people and head off a cut in doctors' Medicare reimbursements, a reduction that could prompt some to stop seeing elderly patients who use that program.

But it has drawn nearly universal Democratic opposition because it would also force work to begin on the 1,700-mile-long Keystone XL oil pipeline, which President Barack Obama would rather postpone. It would also trim federal spending without forcing the wealthy to contribute as much as Democrats want.

Boehner taunted Senate Democrats Tuesday after the House passed its legislation.

"The Senate can take up our bill, they can pass it, they can amend it, they can move their own bill," he told reporters, standing beside a video clock counting down the seconds until the payroll tax boost that would otherwise occur Jan. 1. "But it is time for the Senate to act. Democrats who run the United States Senate can't continue to hide and sit on the sidelines."

Boehner also said that when the Senate acts, "we'll begin to then take a look at where we can find common ground."

The payroll measure isn't the only one lawmakers plan to tackle before beginning their year-end vacation, presumably before Christmas.

Bipartisan lawmakers have reached agreement on a $1 trillion measure financing scores of government agencies through next September, a bill that would avert a federal shutdown this weekend when temporary funding expires.

Democrats, though, are refusing to let the legislation move through Congress until the two parties broker a deal on the payroll tax measure. Democrats hope that will build pressure on Republicans to quickly reach agreement on the payroll tax bill, a tactic Boehner called "outrageous."

The House planned to debate a $662 billion defense bill on Wednesday that charts policy for military personnel, weapons systems and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus national security programs in the Energy Department. House and Senate negotiators wrapped up the bill Monday night after including revisions that address administration concerns over handling of terrorism suspects.

The bill would require that the military take custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates who is involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States, with an exemption for U.S. citizens. The legislation also would deny some suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention.

Also Wednesday, the Senate debated two doomed proposals to amend the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.

The Senate seems sure to fall short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the Constitution, a margin the House failed to muster several weeks ago as Republicans there failed to push a similar amendment to passage. The Senate will vote on dueling Republican and Democratic proposals.

Republicans say work on the Keystone oil pipeline, proposed to run from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to Texas oil refineries, would create 20,000 or more jobs. Opponents say the real figure is more like 3,500.

Obama cited a need for studies of how the pipeline could avoid harming fragile lands in Nebraska when he announced last month that work would be delayed until after next year's elections. The GOP bill would give the president 60 days to act or the needed work permit would be automatically granted.

Another provision that Republicans say would create jobs would derail a proposed federal environmental rule aimed at curbing some industrial pollution.

To cover the payroll tax bill's overall cost, which exceeds $180 billion, the measure ignores Democratic proposals to slap a surtax on people earning more than $1 million annually.

Instead, Republicans would raise the money by continuing a pay freeze on civilian federal workers and requiring them to contribute more to their pensions; making higher-earning seniors pay steeper premiums for Medicare; cutting funds from Obama's 2010 health care overhaul; raising some federal fees; and selling portions of the broadcast spectrum.

The Senate version of the payroll tax legislation may also renew some tax provisions that would otherwise expire Jan. 1, including one providing tax breaks to mass transit commuters.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, David Espo, Donna Cassata and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_rdp

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China manufacturing activity shrinking

China's manufacturing activity continued to contract in December, banking giant HSBC says, as exports are hurt by the ongoing crises in the crucial US and European markets.

The preliminary HSBC purchasing managers' index (PMI) reached 49 in December, slightly better than the 47.7 in November, as consumers from New York to Paris cut back on holiday spending due to the dire outlook.

A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding while a reading below 50 suggests a contraction. The final figure will be released on December 30.

The data adds to mounting evidence that export-driven China is slowing and will ratchet up pressure on Beijing to further loosen policies to prevent a painful hard landing in the world's second largest economy.

"With inflation quickly shifting to disinflation, the Chinese government can and should make more aggressive easing on both fiscal and monetary fronts to stabilise growth and jobs," HSBC chief economist Qu Hongbin said.

Qu also warned that "growth momentum remains weak with additional downside risks from exports and the property market not yet fully filtering through".

But Chinese leaders on Wednesday vowed to maintain a "prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy" in 2012, suggesting they will move cautiously to open credit valves.

Beijing is anxious to prevent a sharp slowdown in the economy but at the same time it wants to avoid reigniting inflation, which hit a more than three year high of 6.5 per cent in July and has the potential to trigger unrest.

Late last month China cut the amount of money banks must hold in reserve for the first time in three years to spur lending and counter turmoil in Europe and the United States that threatens to derail the economy.

Manufacturing activity contracted in November for the first time in 33 months, while consumer prices rose at their weakest pace in more than a year and industrial output growth hit its lowest level in more than two years.

Keep reading - next article

Source: http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8390415/china-manufacturing-activity-shrinking

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Stocks ease after run; Friday's jobs key to rally (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Wall Street eased on Thursday after the Dow posted its best run in nearly three years, but hopes Friday's key jobs report would underscore signs of strength in U.S. economy kept investors engaged.

U.S. companies probably stepped up hiring in November, which could add to expectations of stronger economic growth in the fourth quarter. Non-farm payrolls are forecast to have increased 122,000 after October's 80,000 gain.

But a stronger than expected private ADP employment report earlier in the week caused some analysts to up their payrolls forecasts and has raised expectations heading into Friday.

"At this point in time we are definitely building for a better payrolls number," said David Lutz, a trader at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore, who cited Wednesday's ADP report and also signs of strength in retail sales.

The financial sector, the strongest gainer in Wednesday's 4 percent rally, gave back some of its gains and dragged on the market. The S&P's financial index (.GSPF) fell 1.5 percent. Bank of America (BAC.N) fell 1.6 percent to $5.35.

In the latest piece of better-than-expected data, the pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector picked up in November to its strongest level since June, and new orders rose, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management.

However, new claims for unemployment insurance rose last week in a reminder that any healing in the country's battered labor market will be slow.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 48.59 points, or 0.40 percent, to 11,997.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) dropped 4.51 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,242.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 1.87 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,622.21.

The pullback was expected after Wednesday's rally, which came on news of a coordinated plan by the world's major central banks to boost liquidity, a move that alleviated financial stress from the euro zone's debt crisis.

All three major indexes climbed more than 4 percent in Wednesday's broad rally on heavy volume, with the S&P posting its biggest daily gain since August. The Dow had its best run since March 2009.

"Today's action is just a reaction to yesterday, which was such an impressive move that I'd feel pretty good if we just held close to even," said Mark Foster, who helps manage $500 million at Kirr Marbach & Co in Columbus, Indiana.

"The ISM number was very strong and follows a lot of positive data that we've seen lately. That shows things are getting better, but it isn't enough to keep us going today."

Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N) plummeted 15 percent to $14.83 on heavy volume after it reported a quarterly loss. The bookseller was hurt by the cost for keeping its Nook e-reader competitive with other products such as Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) Kindle.

Lululemon Athletica Inc (LLL.TO) (LULU.O) dropped 9.1 percent to $45.10 in U.S. trading after the yoga wear retailer's quarterly sales missed expectations.

On the upside, Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) gained 3.2 percent to $16.20 after Reuters reported Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) and Bain Capital along with Asian partners were preparing a bid for the Internet company.

China's factory sector shrank in November in the face of weakening demand both at home and abroad. The data may feed worries the global economy was sputtering.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Jobs report: Glimmer of good news for Obama

WASHINGTON?? Finally, a flicker of economic hope for President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats, even if it's a faint one.

November's sharp drop in the unemployment rate shows that jobs are finally moving in the right direction and suggests the economy is on firmer footing as the country heads into a presidential election year.

The Labor Department reported the jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent in November from 9 percent the month before, a 2? year low.

Related story: Jobless rate at lowest since March 2009

That's still high unemployment by historical standards. And lots of problems still lurk ? from Europe's debt crisis to congressional gridlock to the tens of millions of Americans still out of work or otherwise feeling economic distress. Furthermore, part of the improvement came because 300,000 people stopped their job searches and were no longer counted as unemployed.

But Friday's report, combined with other recent economic data showing advances in manufacturing and consumer spending, could give Obama momentum for the re-election campaign.

Related story: Job growth picks up, but they aren't quality jobs

The White House and congressional Democrats were quiet in showing any enthusiasm they might have felt, instead using the new figures to step up criticism of anti-tax Republicans for blocking measures they said could help create even more jobs. Those include an extension of an expiring Social Security payroll tax cut that largely benefits the middle class.

"The unemployment rate went down," Obama said. "And despite some strong headwinds this year, the American economy has now created in the private sector jobs for the past 21 months in a row. That's nearly 3 million new jobs in all, and more than half a million over the last four months."

Said House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut: "Today's unemployment numbers, while encouraging, simply underscore the urgency for Congress to address the top issue facing American families? jobs."

Republicans were publicly unimpressed with the jobs report, insisting Obama hadn't done enough and emphasizing that the jobless rate was still higher than when he took office in January 2009, when it stood at 7.7 percent.

"Any job creation is welcome news, but the jobless rate in this country is still unacceptable. Today marks the 34th consecutive month of unemployment above 8 percent," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

That view was echoed on the campaign trail.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in a Fox News interview, acknowledged that the report was good news but said it wouldn't help Obama politically. "This is the slowest recovery we've seen since (President Herbert) Hoover," Romney said. "He's going to have a hard time putting perfume on this pig." Hoover held office from 1929 to early 1933, at the outset of the Great Depression.

Despite stimulus measures by the Obama administration, Congress and the Federal Reserve, unemployment has remained high, peaking at 10.1 percent in October 2009 and staying around 9 percent for most of 2011.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another Republican seeking Obama's job, noted that a major part of the sharp drop in the unemployment rate was "not because entrepreneurs were creating new jobs" but because some 300,000 Americans "have simply given up looking for work."

"The Obama model of class warfare, government takeovers in the economy and creating fear and uncertainty for job-creators have failed," Gingrich asserted.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., made a similar point about discouraged jobless workers and said, "My heart breaks as we approach the holidays for American families who have been abandoned by this president so that he can implement his radical agenda."

The president didn't try to take credit for the lower figures.

Asked about Obama's measured response, White House press secretary Jay Carney said: "We don't make much out of one month's numbers. We look for trends, and we know we have an enormous amount of work to do. 8.6 percent unemployment is way too high."

Still, "there's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel" for gloomy Democrats, said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University. "It's good news, but it's the kind of thing you have to rejoice about quietly. You don't want to hear the champagne corks popping. There's still so many people unemployed."

But Baker said that if Obama can demonstrate a "reasonable decline over time" in the jobless rate, people might give him the benefit of the doubt. "It doesn't have to get to historical lows to convince people that you're on the right track."

No president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has been re-elected with a jobless rate higher than 8 percent. Roosevelt won re-election in 1936 with a rate of 16.6 percent, and again in 1940 with a rate of 14.6 percent ? but joblessness was on the way down from a peak of around 25 percent.

The jobless rate peaked at 10.6 percent during the brutal 16-month 1981-82 recession while Ronald Reagan was president. But on Election Day 1984 it had fallen to 7.2 percent.

Obama used a joint appearance with former President Bill Clinton on Friday to renew his call to a fractured Congress to extend and expand the cut in the payroll tax cut that finances Social Security and Medicare. The tax cut, due to expire at the end of the year, affects more than 160 million Americans.

Republicans favor extending the tax cut, but have blocked Democratic attempts to do so by paying for it with a new tax on households with more than $1 million in annual taxable income.

With polls showing most Americans favor higher taxes on the wealthy to help bring down soaring budget deficits, Obama and congressional Democrats are portraying Republicans as defenders of the wealthy at the expense of the middle class ? a political theme they're sure to carry into the election year.

The jobs report comes during a week that saw solid stock market gains, including a near-500-point Dow Jones industrials rise on Wednesday, all potential good news for Obama.

"Let's say the stock market goes up another 500 or 600 points, and unemployment goes down below 8 percent by Election Day. That could allow for a big Obama surge," said Thomas Cronin, a presidential historian at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo.

But that "if" is a big one.

The prospects of significantly bringing down the jobless rate to pre-recession levels anytime soon "remain slim," suggests University of Maryland business economist Peter Morici. "The economy must add 13.1 million jobs over the next three years -- 364,000 each month -- to bring unemployment down to 6 percent."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45529556/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

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Video: CNBC Business News Headlines

CNBC's Seema Mody reports the nation is facing a railway strike, with CNBC's Eamon Javers. Also, JetBlue bid $72 million on two choice airport slots; a grand jury is investigating former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; and the Massachusetts AG is suin...

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45517373/

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Singer Mindy McCready refuses to return son

FILE - In this undated file photo, country singer Mindy McCready performs in Nashville, Tenn. A missing persons report has been filed for McCready and her 5-year-old son Zander. The Department of Children and Families says the report was filed with Cape Coral Police Tuesday night after McCready took Zander from McCready's father's home. McCready doesn't have custody of her son ? her mother does ? and was allowed to visit the boy at her father's home. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)

FILE - In this undated file photo, country singer Mindy McCready performs in Nashville, Tenn. A missing persons report has been filed for McCready and her 5-year-old son Zander. The Department of Children and Families says the report was filed with Cape Coral Police Tuesday night after McCready took Zander from McCready's father's home. McCready doesn't have custody of her son ? her mother does ? and was allowed to visit the boy at her father's home. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) ? Country singer Mindy McCready said Thursday she would not bring her 5-year-old son back from Tennessee to Florida, despite violating a custody arrangement and a judge's order.

McCready took the boy during a recent visit at her father's Florida home, and a judge signed an order Thursday ordering authorities to take the boy into custody and return him. It's not yet clear whether the singer could face criminal charges.

"I'm doing all this to protect Zander, not stay out of trouble," McCready wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday. "I don't think I should be in trouble for protecting my son in the first place."

McCready says she is in Tennessee and cannot travel because she's nearly seven months pregnant with twins.

The judge's order means law enforcement anywhere can pick up the boy and bring him back to Florida.

McCready and her mother have had a long custody battle over the boy. Until recently, the boy was living with McCready's mother. Her mother was awarded guardianship in 2007. McCready says her son has suffered abuse at her mother's house; her mother, Gayle Inge, denies the abuse allegations.

"Once the child is located, we will pick him up and bring him back to Florida," said Terri Durdaller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Children and Families. "Although these circumstances are unfortunate for a young child, his safety and well-being are our number one priority."

McCready provided a series of emails to the AP with Lee County Judge James Seals' ruling to return the boy.

"Mom has violated the court's custody order and we are simply restoring the child back into our custody," the judge wrote. "Nothing more. Nothing less. The court makes no judgment about whether Mom will or will not competently care for the child while in her custody. It only wants the child back where the court placed him."

McCready found fame in the mid-1990s and has lived a complicated life in recent years.

In August, she filed a libel suit against her mother and the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., over a story published in the tabloid newspaper that quoted Inge.

And in 2008, McCready was admitted to a hospital after police said she cut her wrists and took several pills in a suicide attempt.

During the TV show "Celebrity Rehab 3" in 2010, McCready came off as a sympathetic figure, and host Dr. Drew Pinsky called her an angel in the season finale.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-01-People-McCready/id-ec71225a42e3469b8e790118ddffe61f

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