Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a remarkably stable virus that until recently was thought to exhibit nearuniversal genetic homogeneity among circulating wild-type strains. In recent years, the expanding knowledge of VZV genetics has led to a number of groups proposing sequence-based typing schemes, but no study has yet examined the relationships between VZV genotypes at a full-genome level. A central hypothesis of this study is that VZV has coevolved with humankind. In this study, 11 additional full VZV genomic sequences are presented, bringing the current number of complete genomic sequences publicly available to 18. The fullgenome alignment contained strains representing four distinct clades, but the possibility exists that a fifth clade comprised of African and Asian-like isolates was not represented. A consolidated VZV genotyping scheme employing the origin-associated region between reiteration region R4 and open reading frames (ORFs) 63 and 70 is described, one which accurately categorizes strains into one of four clades related to the geographic origin of the isolates. The full-genome alignment also provided evidence for recombination having occurred between the major circulating VZV clades. One Canadian clinical isolate was primarily Asian-like in origin, with most of the genome showing strong sequence identity to the Japanese-like clade B, with the exceptions being two putative recombination regions, located in ORFs 14 to 17 and ORFs 22 to 26, which showed clear similarity to the European/North American clade A. The very low rate of single-nucleotide polymorphisms scattered across the genome made full-genome sequencing the only definitive method for identifying specific VZV recombination events. Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a member of the genusVaricellovirus in the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily of the Herpesviridae. It is the causative agent of chicken pox (varicella) in children, after which it establishes latency in the sensory ganglia with the potential to reactivate at a later time to cause shingles (zoster). The sequencing of the first complete VZV genome, VZV-Dumas, by Davison and Scott (10) opened the door for genetic analysis of this extremely stable virus. The genome is comprised of ϳ125 kb of linear double-stranded DNA containing approximately 71 open reading frames (ORFs). The viral structure is similar to that of other alphaherpesviruses, consisting of two unique regions, unique long and unique short, each flanked by inverted repeats; short repeats termed terminal repeat long and internal repeat long border the unique long region, while larger repeats termed terminal repeat short (TR S ) and internal repeat short (IR S ) border the unique short region.A number of factors likely contribute to the overall stability of the VZV genome, one of which is the efficient proofreading activity of the DNA polymerase, which exhibits 3Ј to 5Ј exonuclease activity as documented in herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) (2). The synonymous and nonsynonymous mutation rates among the herpesviruses have been es...

Objective-In Canada, opportunistic screening programs have successfully reduced mortality from cervical cancer; however, minority or disadvantaged groups, as well as women in northern and rural areas, are inadequately recruited by this approach. Hence, we set out to examine the structural barriers that prevent First Nations women's participation in cervical cancer screening.Methods-Using a participatory action research approach and semistructured interview guides, we conducted in-depth interviews with 18 experienced health care professionals, 12 of whom were also community members. These individuals included nurses, nurse practitioners, community health representatives, social workers and physicians who provide care to women in our First CIHR Author Manuscript CIHR Author Manuscript CIHR Author ManuscriptNations partner communities. In the current report, we explored perceived barriers to cervical cancer screening through the lens of service providers.Results-Structural barriers to cervical cancer screening for First Nations women included shortage of appropriate health care providers, lack of a recall-based screening system, geographic and transportation barriers; health literacy and socioeconomic inequalities, generational effects, and the colonial legacy.Conclusion-Existing, opportunistic cervical cancer screening programs do not perform well for First Nations women who experience significant screening-related health inequalities that are largely influenced by structural barriers. Sustainable screening interventions in First Nations communities require approaches that resolve these structural barriers, explore new ways of screening, and provide education for both women and health care providers. Many of the structural barriers are rooted in colonial history. Given the negative impact of the consequences of colonization on indigenous women worldwide, many of our findings strongly resonate with marginalized populations in other countries.

No abstract

We compared dideoxy sequencing of cloned chaperonin-60 universal target (cpn60 UT) amplicons to pyrosequencing of amplicons derived from vaginal microbial communities. In samples pooled from a number of individuals, the pyrosequencing method produced a data set that included virtually all of the sequences that were found within the clone library and revealed an additional level of taxonomic richness. However, the relative abundances of the sequences were different in the two datasets. These observations were expanded and confirmed by the analysis of paired clone library and pyrosequencing datasets from vaginal swabs taken from four individuals. Both for individuals with a normal vaginal microbiota and for those with bacterial vaginosis, the pyrosequencing method revealed a large number of low-abundance taxa that were missed by the clone library approach. In addition, we showed that the pyrosequencing method generates a reproducible profile of microbial community structure in replicate amplifications from the same community. We also compared the taxonomic composition of a vaginal microbial community determined by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons to that obtained using cpn60 universal primers. We found that the profiles generated by the two molecular targets were highly similar, with slight differences in the proportional representation of the taxa detected. However, the number of operational taxonomic units was significantly higher in the cpn60 data set, suggesting that the protein-encoding gene provides improved species resolution over the 16S rRNA target. These observations demonstrate that pyrosequencing of cpn60 UT amplicons provides a robust, reliable method for deep sequencing of microbial communities.