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ABSTRACTNovel H1N2 and H3N2 swine influenza A viruses (IAVs) have recently been identified in Chile. The objective of this study was to evaluate their zoonotic potential. We perform phylogenetic analyses to determine the genetic origin and evolution of these viruses, and a serological analysis to determine the level of cross-protective antibodies in the human population. Eight genotypes were identified, all with pandemic H1N1 2009-like internal genes. H1N1 and H1N2 were the subtypes more commonly detected. Swine H1N2 and H3N2 IAVs had hemagglutinin and neuraminidase lineages genetically divergent from IAVs reported worldwide, including human vaccine strains. These genes originated from human seasonal viruses were introduced into the swine population since the mid-1980s. Serological data indicate that the general population is susceptible to the H3N2 virus and that elderly and young children also lack protective antibodies against the H1N2 strains, suggesting that these viruses could be potential zoonotic threats. Continuous IAV surveillance and monitoring of the swine and human populations is strongly recommended.IMPORTANCEIn the global context, where swine serve as crucial intermediate hosts for influenza A viruses (IAVs), this study addresses the pressing concern of the zoonotic potential of novel reassortant strains. Conducted on a large scale in Chile, it presents a comprehensive account of swine influenza A virus diversity, covering 93.8% of the country’s industrialized swine farms. The findings reveal eight distinct swine IAV genotypes, all carrying a complete internal gene cassette of pandemic H1N1 2009 origin, emphasizing potential increased replication and transmission fitness. Genetic divergence of H1N2 and H3N2 IAVs from globally reported strains raises alarms, with evidence suggesting introductions from human seasonal viruses since the mid-1980s. A detailed serological analysis underscores the zoonotic threat, indicating susceptibility in the general population to swine H3N2 and a lack of protective antibodies in vulnerable demographics. These data highlight the importance of continuous surveillance, providing crucial insights for global health organizations.

We construct topological soliton solutions describing baryonic tubes and layers with modulation in the SU(2) non-linear sigma model coupled with ω-mesons in 3+1 dimensions. Using appropriate Ansäntze for the pionic matter field and the ω-mesons vector potential, the complete set of seven coupled partial differential equations can be solved analytically. These solutions represent modulated tubes and layers at finite volume with arbitrary baryon number, where the modulation of the solitons in one direction is determined by one of the three degrees of freedom of the pionic field, satisfying the equation of a two-dimensional free massless chiral scalar field. As expected, the inclusion of the ω-mesons to the non-linear sigma model allows to reduce the repulsion energy between baryons, which leads to a flattening of the tubes and layers in one direction, forming a kind of “nuclear linguine phase”. Also, we show that this construction can be carried out even when higher order terms in the large Nc expansion are included -in particular the Skyrme term- without spoiling the integrability of the field equations.

Abstract Understanding the diversity and circulation dynamics of seasonal influenza viruses is key to public health decision-making. The limited genetic information of pre-pandemic seasonal IAVs in Chile has made it difficult to accurately reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of these viruses within the country. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of pre-pandemic human seasonal IAVs in Chile. We sequenced the complete genome of 42 historic IAV obtained between 1996 and 2007. The phylogeny was determined using HA sequences and complemented using other segments. Time-scale phylogenetic analyses revealed that the diversity of pre-pandemic human seasonal IAVs in Chile was influenced by continuous introductions of new A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 lineages and constant viral exchange between Chile and other countries every year. These results provide important knowledge about genetic diversity and evolutionary patterns of pre-pandemic human seasonal IAVs in Chile, which can help design optimal surveillance systems and prevention strategies. However, future studies with current sequences should be conducted.

In this work we analize how the inclusion of extra mesonic degrees of freedom affect the finite density solitons crystals of the Skyrme model. In particular, the first analytic examples of hadronic crystals at finite baryon density in both the Skyrme ω-mesons model as well as for the Skyrme ρ-mesons theory are constructed. These configurations have arbitrary topological charge and describe crystals of baryonic tubes surrounded by a cloud of vector-mesons. In the ω-mesons case, it is possible to reduce consistently the complete set of seven coupled non-linear field equations to just two integrable differential equations; one ODE for the Skyrmion profile and one PDE for the ω-mesons field. This analytical construction allows to show explicitly how the inclusion of ω-mesons in the Skyrme model reduces the repulsive interaction energy between baryons. In the Skyrme ρ-mesons case, it is possible to construct analytical solutions using a meron-type ansatz and fixing one of the couplings of the ρ-mesons action in terms of the others. We show that, quite remarkably, the values obtained for the coupling constants by requiring the consistency of our ansatz are very close to the values used in the literature to reduce nuclei binding energies of the Skyrme model without vector-mesons. Moreover, our analytical results are in qualitative agreement with the available results on the nuclear spaghetti phase.

We identified 3 novel and distinct avulaviruses from Gentoo penguins sampled in Antarctica. We isolated these viruses and sequenced their complete genomes; serologic assays demonstrated that the viruses do not have cross-reactivity between them. Our findings suggest that these 3 new viruses represent members of 3 novel avulavirus species.