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Avian influenza viruses can pose serious risks to agricultural production, human health, and wildlife. An understanding of viruses in wild reservoir species across time and space is important to informing surveillance programs, risk models, and potential population impacts for vulnerable species. Although it is recognized that influenza A virus prevalence peaks in reservoir waterfowl in late summer through autumn, temporal and spatial variation across species has not been fully characterized. We combined two large influenza databases for North America and applied spatiotemporal models to explore patterns in prevalence throughout the annual cycle and across the continental United States for 30 waterfowl species. Peaks in prevalence in late summer through autumn were pronounced for dabbling ducks in the genera Anas and Spatula, but not Mareca. Spatially, areas of high prevalence appeared to be related to regional duck density, with highest predicted prevalence found across the upper Midwest during early fall, though further study is needed. We documented elevated prevalence in late winter and early spring, particularly in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Our results suggest that spatiotemporal variation in prevalence outside autumn staging areas may also represent a dynamic parameter to be considered in IAV ecology and associated risks.

The NASA Goddard STEAM Innovation Laboratory is a Makerspace approach to bringing NASA's universe of knowledge into educational spaces around the country and to increase scientific literacy and interest in STEAM careers. Through a series of stations specializing in virtual reality, electronics, mobile sensors and 3-D fabrication, we have succeeded in impacting over 82,000 educators and students, along with 1.6 million social media participants. Our impact analysis reveals that participants gain a lasting knowledge of our STEAM content from this hands-on experience.

We used surveillance data collected in California before, concurrent with, and subsequent to an outbreak of highly pathogenic (HP) clade 2.3.4.4 influenza A viruses (IAVs) in 2014-2015 to (i) evaluate IAV prevalence in waterfowl, (ii) assess the evidence for spill-over infections in marine mammals and (iii) genetically characterize low-pathogenic (LP) and HP IAVs to refine inference on the spatiotemporal extent of HP genome constellations and to evaluate possible evolutionary pathways. We screened samples from 1496 waterfowl and 1142 marine mammals collected from April 2014 to August 2015 and detected IAV RNA in 159 samples collected from birds (n=157) and pinnipeds (n=2). HP IAV RNA was identified in three samples originating from American wigeon (Anas americana). Genetic sequence data were generated for a clade 2.3.4.4 HP IAV-positive diagnostic sample and 57 LP IAV isolates. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the HP IAV was a reassortant H5N8 virus with gene segments closely related to LP IAVs detected in mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) sampled in California and other IAVs detected in wild birds sampled within the Pacific Americas Flyway. In addition, our analysis provided support for common ancestry between LP IAVs recovered from waterfowl sampled in California and gene segments of reassortant HP H5N1 IAVs detected in British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA. Our investigation provides evidence that waterfowl are likely to have played a role in the evolution of reassortant HP IAVs in the Pacific Americas Flyway during 2014-2015, whereas we did not find support for spill-over infections in potential pinniped hosts.

This study was designed to examine activity of AMP-activated protein kinase kinase (AMPKK) in muscles from nontrained and endurance-trained rats. Rats were trained 5 days/wk, 2 h/day for 8 wk at a final intensity of 32 m/min up a 15% grade with 30-s sprints at 53 m/min every 10 rain. Gastrocnemius muscles were stimulated in situ in trained and nontrained rats for 5 min at frequencies of 0.4/s and 1/s. Gastrocnemius LKB1 protein, a putative component of the AMPKK complex (LKB1, STRAD, and MO25), increased approximately twofold in response to training. Phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) determined by Western blot and AMPK activity of immunoprecipitates (both isoforms) was increased at both stimulation rates in both trained and nontrained muscles. AMPKK activity was 73% lower in resuspended polyethylene glycol precipitates of muscle extracts from the trained compared with nontrained rats. AMPKK activity did not increase in either trained or nontrained muscle in response to electrical stimulation, even though phospho-AMPK did increase. These results suggest that AMPKK is activated during electrical stimulation of both trained and nontrained muscle by mechanisms other than covalent modification. AMP-activated protein kinase; adenosine 5'-triphosphate; metabolism; skeletal muscle; serine/threonine kinase 11

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The NASA STEAM Innovation Lab is a makerspace approach to bringing NASA's universe of knowledge into educational spaces around the country and to increase scientific literacy and interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) careers. Through a series of stations specializing in virtual reality, electronics, mobile sensors and 3-D fabrication, the NASA team has succeeded in impacting over 82,000 educators and students, along with 1.6 million social media participants. An impact analysis reveals that participants gain a lasting knowledge of STEAM content from these hands-on experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the known ability of type I IFNs to inhibit virus replication, we and others noted that mice lacking the IFN-αβ Receptor (IFNAR−/−) did not show increased sensitivity to either influenza A virus (IAV) or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. An explanation for this seemingly contradictory result was offered by the discovery of type III or IFN-λ, a unique family of cytokines that bind a distinct receptor but can also promote interferon stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) formation and the transcriptional upregulation of IFN-stimulated genes. The presence of robust IFN-λ induction in IAV-infected IFNAR−/− mice can explain their resistance to infection, but a distinct protective mechanism is at work in RSV-infected IFNAR−/− animals. In the absence of the IFNAR, no type III IFN RNA or protein can be detected in RSV-infected animals, nor is there any evidence of ISGF3 formation or upregulation of the ISGF3 dependent gene, Mx1. Nonetheless, we observe enhanced virus susceptibility to RSV in mice lacking either STAT1 or STAT2. We therefore conclude from our studies that (1) triggering of IFN-λ synthesis is pathogen dependent: induction of IFN-λ by RSV, but not by IAV, is dependent on functional type I IFN signaling, and (2) resistance to RSV is mediated by a novel STAT1/STAT2 containing complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: Little is known about intrinsic epithelial cell responses against astrovirus infection. Here we show that human astrovirus type 1 (HAstV-1) infection induces type I interferon (beta interferon [IFN-β]) production in differentiated Caco2 cells, which not only inhibits viral replication by blocking positive-strand viral RNA and capsid protein synthesis but also protects against HAstV-1-increased barrier permeability. Excitingly, we found similar results in vivo using a murine astrovirus (MuAstV) model, providing new evidence that virus-induced type I IFNs may protect against astrovirus replication and pathogenesis in vivo., Importance: Human astroviruses are a major cause of pediatric diarrhea, yet little is known about the immune response. Here we show that type I interferon limits astrovirus infection and preserves barrier permeability both in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, we characterized a new mouse model for studying astrovirus replication and pathogenesis., (Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)