This report evaluates the June 2008 onychomadesis outbreak in Valencia, Spain. The study sample consisted of 221 onychomadesis cases and 77 nonaffected individuals who lived close to those affected. We collected data on dietary variables, hygiene products, and individual pathological histories. Feces and blood specimens were collected from 44 cases and 24 controls to evaluate exposure to infect...

The ability to extinguish a viral population of fixed reproductive capacity by causing small changes in the mutation rate is referred to as lethal mutagenesis and is a corollary of population genetics theory. Here we show that coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) exhibits reduced mutational robustness relative to poliovirus, manifesting in enhanced sensitivity of CVB3 to lethal mutagens that is dependent o...

A coxsackievirus B3 (CB3) isolate adapted to growth in RD cells shows an alteration in cell tropism as a result of its capacity to bind a 70-kDa cell surface molecule expressed on these cells. We now show that this molecule is the complement regulatory protein, decay-accelerating factor (DAF) (CD55). Anti-DAF antibodies prevented CB3 attachment to the cell surface. Radiolabeled CB3 adapted to g...

The emergence of new, more pathogenic viruses necessitates elucidation of factors that promote viral evolution. Aging, a potential factor, is associated with increased susceptibility to viral infections. We used the enterovirus coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) to investigate the effects of host age on pathogenicity and viral gene sequence. Old mice infected with a normally amyocarditic strain of CVB3, ...

Chilling effects on respiration during the recovery period were studied in two maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars differing in their tolerance to chilling: Penjalinan, a chilling-sensitive cultivar, and Z7, a chilling-tolerant cultivar. Both cultivars were exposed to 5 degrees C for 5 d, after which measurements were taken at 25 degrees C. Chlorophyll fluorescence analysis in dark-adapted leaves sho...

UNLABELLED In vitro, infection of polarized human intestinal epithelial cells by coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) depends on virus interaction with decay-accelerating factor (DAF), a receptor expressed on the apical cell surface. Although mice are highly susceptible to CVB3 infection when virus is delivered by intraperitoneal injection, infection by the enteral route is very inefficient. Murine DAF, un...

The cis-acting replication element (CRE) in the 2C protein coding region [CRE(2C)] of enteroviruses (EV) facilitates the addition of two uridine residues (uridylylation) onto the virus-encoded protein VPg in order for it to serve as the RNA replication primer. We demonstrated that coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is replication competent in the absence of a native (uridylylating) CRE(2C) and also demon...