AHV-1 infected duck embryo fibroblast culture, allantoid fluid and other specimens including liver, brain, Bursa of Fabricius, thymus, spleen, esophagus, duodenum, ileum, kidney, lung, peripheral blood each collected from AHV-1 infected ducks were employed to assess the ability of the established FQ-PCR to detect AHV-1 in a variety of usually used samples. By this assay viral load quantification was obtained. Role of nitric oxide in management of acute respiratory distress syndrome The current mortality rate of patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is between 45% and 92%, with most dying within the first two weeks of the illness. In an effort to combat such an alarmingly high mortality rate, various treatment therapies such as low tidal volume ventilation strategies, corticosteroid therapy, and use of nitric oxide (NO) have been attempted in the management of patients with ARDS. Three cases which were admitted to the ICU and confirmed to have ARDS were unable to be weaned from ventilatory support, and nitric oxide therapy was initiated. It improved patients' oxygenation for short periods of time but did not affect the mortality. The patients could not be weaned from the ventilator and expired.  Avian influenza: The tip of the iceberg For some years now, we have been living with the fear of an impending pandemic of avian influenza (AI). Despite the recognition, in 1996, of the global threat posed by the highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus found in farmed geese in Guangdong Province, China, planning for the anticipated epidemic remains woefully inadequate; this is especially true in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia. These deficiencies became obvious in 1997, with the outbreak of AI in the live animal markets in Hong Kong that led to the transmission of infection to 18 humans with close contact with diseased birds; there were six reported deaths.[1] In 2003, with the reemergence of H5N1 (considered the most likely AI virus) in the Republic of Korea and its subsequent spread to Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. Many countries started aggressively making preparations to meet the threat.[2] The pressure for real action from governments has increased. Most developed countries have requested increased funding for the search for a more effective vaccine, for stockpiling possibly helpful antiviral drugs, and for intensifying domestic and global surveillance.[3] Most countries, however, continue to be inadequately prepared for such an epidemic, especially with regard to animal surveillance in the farm market and surveillance among migratory birds. Even now, most countries do not have the ability to detect disease among humans in the early stages of an outbreak nor do most hospitals comply with effective infection control measures that could curtail the spread of the virus in the early stages of an epidemic. In Saudi Arabia we are rapidly implementing many of these measures.[4]  The Y271 and I274 Amino Acids in Reverse Transcriptase of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Are Critical to Protein Stability Reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 plays a key role in initiating viral replication and is an important target for developing anti-HIV drugs. Our previous study showed that two mutations (Y271A and I274A) in the turn RT (Gln(269)-Arg(277)) abrogated viral replication, but the replication capacity and RT activity was discordant. In this study, we further investigated why alanine substitutions at these two sites would affect viral replication. We found that both RT activity and RT protein were almost undetectable in viral particles of these two mutants, although the Pr160(gag-pol) mutants were properly expressed, transported and incorporated. Using protease inhibition assay, we demonstrated a correlation between the degradation of the RT mutants and the activity of viral protease. Our native gel analysis indicated that the mutations at 271 and 274 amino acids might cause conformational changes, leading to the formation of higher order oligomers instead of dimers, resulting in increased protein instability and susceptibility to viral protease. Thus, residues 271 and 274 are critical to RT stability and resistance to viral protease. The conservation of the two amino acid residues among different strains of HIV-1 lent further support to this conclusion. The knowledge gained here may prove useful in drug design. Reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1, encoded by pol gene, is a multifunctional enzyme that possesses RNA-and DNA-dependent polymerase activities as well as RNase H activity [1] . RT is indispensable for HIV-1 and it converts the single-stranded viral RNA into double-stranded DNA upon viral entry into host cells. Due to its important role in viral life cycle, RT is one attractive target for antiviral drug design [2] .