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The article describes the treatment of Ugandan doctor infected with Ebola at Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany. Topics covered include the safety regulations implemented during the treatment, the deterioration of the patient's condition within the days of admittance to the hospital and the closure of intensive care unit beds to meet the demands of the patient's care. Also mentioned is the estimated cost of the treatment and management of the patient.

Tuber yield, starch content, starch yield and chip color are complex traits that are important for industrial uses and food processing of potato. Chip color depends on the quantity of reducing sugars glucose and fructose in the tubers, which are generated by starch degradation. Reducing sugars accumulate when tubers are stored at low temperatures. Early and efficient selection of cultivars with superior yield, starch yield and chip color is hampered by the fact that reliable phenotypic selection requires multiple year and location trials. Application of DNA-based markers early in the breeding cycle, which are diagnostic for superior alleles of genes that control natural variation of tuber quality, will reduce the number of clones to be evaluated in field trials. Association mapping using genes functional in carbohydrate metabolism as markers has discovered alleles of invertases and starch phosphorylases that are associated with tuber quality traits. Here, we report on new DNA variants at loci encoding ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase and the invertase Pain- 1, which are associated with positive or negative effect with chip color, tuber starch content and starch yield. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) and marker validation were performed in tetraploid breeding populations, using various combinations of 11 allele-specific markers associated with tuber quality traits. To facilitate MAS, user-friendly PCR assays were developed for specific candidate gene alleles. In a multi-parental population of advanced breeding clones, genotypes were selected for having different combinations of five positive and the corresponding negative marker alleles. Genotypes combining five positive marker alleles performed on average better than genotypes with four negative alleles and one positive allele. When tested individually, seven of eight markers showed an effect on at least one quality trait. The direction of effect was as expected. Combinations of two to three marker alleles were identified that significantly improved average chip quality after cold storage and tuber starch content. In F1 progeny of a single-cross combination, MAS with six markers did not give the expected result. Reasons and implications for MAS in potato are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oomycete Phytophthora infestans causes late blight of potato, which can completely destroy the crop. Therefore, for the past 160 years, late blight has been the most important potato disease worldwide. The identification of cultivars with high and durable field resistance to P. infestans is an objective of most potato breeding programs. This type of resistance is polygenic and therefore quantitative. Its evaluation requires multi-year and location trials. Furthermore, quantitative resistance to late blight correlates with late plant maturity, a negative agricultural trait. Knowledge of the molecular genetic basis of quantitative resistance to late blight not compromised by late maturity is very limited. It is however essential for developing diagnostic DNA markers that facilitate the efficient combination of superior resistance alleles in improved cultivars. We used association genetics in a population of 184 tetraploid potato cultivars in order to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with maturity corrected resistance (MCR) to late blight. The population was genotyped for almost 9000 SNPs from three different sources. The first source was candidate genes specifically selected for their function in the jasmonate pathway. The second source was novel candidate genes selected based on comparative transcript profiling (RNA-Seq) of groups of genotypes with contrasting levels of quantitative resistance to P. infestans. The third source was the first generation 8.3k SolCAP SNP genotyping array available in potato for genome wide association studies (GWAS). Twenty seven SNPs from all three sources showed robust association with MCR. Some of those were located in genes that are strong candidates for directly controlling quantitative resistance, based on functional annotation. Most important were: a lipoxygenase (jasmonate pathway), a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (mevalonate pathway), a P450 protein (terpene biosynthesis), a transcription factor and a homolog of a major gene for resistance to P. infestans from the wild potato species Solanum venturii. The candidate gene approach and GWAS complemented each other as they identified different genes. The results of this study provide new insight in the molecular genetic basis of quantitative resistance in potato and a toolbox of diagnostic SNP markers for breeding applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In the current epidemic of Ebola virus disease in western Africa, many aid workers have become infected. Some of these aid workers have been transferred to specialised hospitals in Europe and the USA for intensified treatment, providing the potential for unique insight into the clinical course of Ebola virus disease under optimised supportive measures in isolation units. Methods A 38-year-old male doctor who had contracted an Ebola virus infection in Sierra Leone was airlifted to University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany, on day 5 after disease onset. Within 72 h of admission to the hospital's high-level isolation unit, the patient developed signs of severe multiorgan failure, including lungs, kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract. In addition to clinical parameters, the diagnostic work-up included radiography, ultrasound, pulse contour cardiac output technology, and microbiological and clinical chemistry analyses. Respiratory failure with pulmonary oedema and biophysical evidence of vascular leak syndrome needed mechanical ventilation. The patient received a 3 day treatment course with FX06 (MChE-F4Pharma, Vienna, Austria), a fibrin-derived peptide under clinical development for vascular leak syndrome. After FX06 administration and concurrent detection of Ebola-virus-specific antibodies and a fall in viral load, vascular leak syndrome and respiratory parameters substantially improved. We gave broad-spectrum empiric antimicrobial therapy and the patient needed intermittent renal replacement therapy. The patient fully recovered. Findings This case report shows the feasibility of delivery of successful intensive care therapy to patients with Ebola virus disease under biosafety level 4 conditions. Interpretation The effective treatment of vascular leakage and multiorgan failure by combination of ventilatory support, antibiotic treatment, and renal replacement therapy can sustain a patient with severe Ebola virus disease until virological remission. FX06 could potentially be a valuable agent in contribution to supportive therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]