TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a paragraph from the research paper and your task is to generate a suitable title for the research paper based on the given paper. Under 100 words is a good title length.
PROBLEM: Background: Human adenoviruses are common causes of community-acquired respiratory tract and enteric infections. Severe disseminated infections with high mortality rates may be seen in immunocompromised individuals. An accurate and cost-effective quantitative assay is essential not only for laboratory diagnosis of adenoviral infections, but also for monitoring of response to antiviral treatment. The diagnostic performance of an in-house quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay was compared to a commercial system. Methods: The analytical sensitivity, specificity, linearity, precision and accuracy of an in-house adenovirus quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay were evaluated against the RealStar®️ Adenovirus PCR Kit (Altona Diagnostics GmbH, Hamburg, Germany), using 122 clinical specimens and 18 proficiency testing samples. Results: Linear regression analysis of the quantitative results by the in-house assay showed the dynamic range from 2.60 to 9 log 10 (plasma) and 2.94 to 9 log 10 (viral transport medium) copies/mL, with the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.996 and 0.998, respectively. A dilution series demonstrated the limits of detection and lower limits of quantification for plasma were 2.06 log 10 and 2.60 log 10 copies/mL and those for viral transport medium were 2.31 log 10 and 2.94 log 10 copies/mL respectively. The precision of the in-house assay was highly reproducible among runs with coefficients of variance ranging from 0.07 to 3.21% for plasma and 0.17% to 2.11% for viral transport medium. A comparison of 52 matched samples showed an excellent correlation between the quantitative viral loads measured by the in-house assay and the RealStar®️ Adenovirus PCR Kit (R 2 = 0.984), with an average bias of 0.16 log 10 copies/mL. Conclusions: The in-house adenovirus assay is a sensitive and reliable assay with lower cost for the detection and quantification of adenoviral DNA when compared to the RealStar®️ Adenovirus PCR Kit.

SOLUTION: Comparative evaluation of a laboratory- developed real-time PCR assay and RealStar®️ Adenovirus PCR Kit for quantitative detection of human adenovirus

PROBLEM: We determined the interferon- (IFN-) cDNA sequence from three porcine breeds, Duroc, Landrance/Duroc hybrid, and Landrance breeds. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of porcine IFN- (PoIFN-) were identified, respectively, at positions 269 (A/G), 376 (C/T), 426 (T/C), and 465 (T/C) of the coding sequence in Landrance/Duroc hybrid, and at position 251 (A/G) in Landrance breed. Among them, A269G and A251G polymorphisms resulted in Q67R and K61R replacements in the mature protein. PoIFN- cDNAs of Duroc breed (PoIFN--W) and Landrance/Duroc hybrid (PoIFN--M), which, respectively, encoded Q67 and R67, were introduced into a prokaryotic expression vector pET32 to express recombinant PoIFN--W (rPoIFN--W) and rPoIFN--M protein variants in Escherichia coli. The identity of both protein variants was further confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). We then compared bioactivities of these two recombinant proteins. Although both recombinant protein variants exhibited comparable activities in antiproliferation of PK-15 cells and in nitric oxide (NO) induction of porcine peripheral monocytes, antiviral activity of rPoIFN--W protein was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than that of rPoIFN--M protein in a plaque inhibition assay using pseudorabies virus (PRV). IC50 values of rPoIFN--W and rPoIFN--M protein in anti-PRV assay were determined as 5.3 1.3 and 9.3 4.3 nM, respectively. In conclusion, we have identified five novel SNPs in PoIFN- cDNA, including two missense polymorphisms that result in Q67R and K61R replacements. Our results further demonstrate that Q67R can markedly reduce antiviral activity of the PoIFN- protein. This is the first report that shows the functional SNP in the coding region of IFN-. In the future, it is imperative to determine whether Q67R replacement in IFN- may have disease association.

SOLUTION: A missense polymorphism in porcine interferon- cDNA affects antiviral activity of the protein variant

PROBLEM: Candida auris has emerged in the past decade as a multi-drug resistant public health threat causing health care outbreaks. Here we report epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological investigations of a C. auris outbreak in a regional Omani hospital between April 2018 and April 2019. The outbreak started in the intensive care areas (intensive care unit (ICU), coronary care unit (CCU), and high dependency unit) but cases were subsequently diagnosed in other medical and surgical units. In addition to the patients' clinical and screening samples, environmental swabs from high touch areas and from the hands of 35 staff were collected. All the positive samples from patients and environmental screening were confirmed using MALDI-TOF, and additional ITS-rDNA sequencing was done for ten clinical and two environmental isolates. There were 32 patients positive for C. auris of which 14 (43.8%) had urinary tract infection, 11 (34.4%) had candidemia, and 7 (21.8%) had asymptomatic skin colonization. The median age was 64 years (14-88) with 17 (53.1%) male and 15 (46.9%) female patients. Prior to diagnosis, 21 (65.6%) had been admitted to the intensive care unit, and 11 (34.4%) had been nursed in medical or surgical wards. The crude mortality rate in our patient's cohort was 53.1. Two swabs collected from a ventilator in two different beds in the ICU were positive for C. auris. None of the health care worker samples were positive. Molecular typing showed that clinical and environmental isolates were genetically similar and all belonged to the South Asian C. auris clade I. Most isolates had non-susceptible fluconazole (100%) and amphotericin B (33%)

SOLUTION:
Ongoing Challenges with Healthcare-Associated Candida auris Outbreaks in Oman