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HIV and hepatitis C are blood-borne viruses that cause chronic diseases and affect (in parts of the developed world) predominantly groups that are marginalized and discriminated against: gay men and injecting drug users, respectively. This paper compares the representation of people with HIV and hepatitis C in editorials of medical journals between 1989 and 2001. Analysis is informed by critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics. Hepatitis C editorials draw almost exclusively on the discourse of biomedicine, and patients are either absent or objects in medical procedures. In HIV editorials, a variety of other discourses are integrated into the discourse of biomedicine, thereby creating multidimensional representations of people with HIV as patients and agents in medical procedures, involved in decision making, affected by economic factors, social and cultural issues. The paper discusses the role of the gay community in discursive change and argues that discursive diversity in the representation of people infected with HIV and hepatitis C in medical journals is necessary for health policy, the professional development of healthcare providers, and media reporting to the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the discursive construction of sexual practices and ‘risk’ in gay men's accounts of exposure to HIV. The data are in-depth interviews from two Sydney-based studies. While the events reported in both studies were very similar there are considerable differences in the language choices. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics, this paper shows how language choices in individual narratives resonate intertextually with the public health discourse of safe sex, which emphasizes knowledge of safe sex, control over sexual practices and condom use. While in accounts of exposure to H/V in the context of preven- ti()n sexual practice is construed consistently as `doing' with the speakers as Actor in accounts of exposure to H/V in the context of transmission it is construed predominantly as `thinking' and `being'. There are also differences in the negotiation of alter- natives. All narratives resonate with the discourse of safe sex, however it is not passively reflected in speech hut is actively engaged with and shaped to fit the knowledge and understanding of individuals. The narratives also resonate with the private world of inti- mate relationships and everyday life. This suggests a notion of `risk' as a hybrid of multiple, potentially conflicting discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNPase) is an abundant constituent of central nervous system non-compact myelin, frequently used as a marker antigen for myelinating cells. The catalytic activity of CNPase, the 3'-hydrolysis of 2',3'-cyclic nucleotides, is well characterised in vitro , but the in vivo function of CNPase remains unclear. CNPase interacts with the actin cytoskeleton to counteract the developmental closure of cytoplasmic channels that travel through compact myelin; its enzymatic activity may be involved in adenosine metabolism and RNA degradation. We developed a set of high-affinity nanobodies recognizing the phosphodiesterase domain of CNPase, and the crystal structures of each complex show that the five nanobodies have distinct epitopes. One of the nanobodies bound deep into the CNPase active site and acted as an inhibitor. Moreover, the nanobodies were characterised in imaging applications and as intrabodies, expressed in mammalian cells, such as primary oligodendrocytes. Fluorescently labelled nanobodies functioned in imaging of teased nerve fibers and whole brain tissue sections, as well as super-resolution microscopy. These anti-CNPase nanobodies provide new tools for structural and functional biology of myelination, including high-resolution imaging of nerve tissue., Competing Interests: Competing interests F.O. is a shareholder of NanoTag Biotechnologies GmbH. All other authors declare no competing interests.