In recent years, it has been noted that the rate of detection of high-grade uterine cervical abnormalities by screening in the Newham and Tower Hamlets districts have been much lower than the national average. Whilst the national average for the detection rate of moderate and severe dyskaryosis has been around 1.6%, the detection rate in Newham and Tower Hamlets has consistently been substantially lower, at 0.6-1.0%. This discrepancy may be explained on demographic grounds. The ethnic make up of the two districts differs from the national average. Newham has a mixed ethnic structure: Moslem (11%). Asian non-Moslem (12%) and other groups (77%). The population of Tower Hamlets is made up of Moslem (23%), Asian non-Moslem ( 11%) and other groups (66%). In both districts, the rate of detection of moderate and severe dyskaryosis in these population subgroups between 1997 and 1999 was 0.57% for Moslem women, 0.52% for Asian non-Moslem women and 1.18% for other women. This study attempts to confirm the effects of social factors in the differences in rates of detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in Newham and Tower Hamlets.

SUMMARY Sequences of more than 100 residues adjacent to the 3′-terminal poly(A) tract were determined for each of the two genome RNA species of tomato black ring nepovirus (TBRV) strains A and C; in addition a shorter portion of sequence was determined for RNA-2 of strain G. Comparison of these results and the sequence previously determined for RNA-2 of strain S showed that in this region the sequences of RNA-1 and RNA-2 are almost identical and that considerable sequence homology exists between strains. In contrast, a segment of sequence near the 3′ end of RNA-2 of tobacco ringspot virus, another nepovirus, showed no similarity with the corresponding region of TBRV RNA.

Summary Red clover necrotic mosaic virus (RCNMV) has two RNA species of mol. wt. about 1.5 × 106 (RNA 1) and 0.5 × 106 (RNA 2). An English strain (H) and a Czechoslovakian strain (TpM-34) of RCNMV could be distinguished serologically, by solid-phase RNA hybridization analysis (Northern blotting) and by the symptoms they induced in cowpea. Studies of pseudorecombinants, formed following inoculation of plants with heterologous combinations of the RNA species of each strain, showed that RNA 2 determines the morphology of lesions induced by the isolates in cowpea and their ability to invade the plants systemically.

SummaryNucleotide sequences of the genome RNA species of four strains of tomato black ring virus (TBRV), two each from the Scottish and German serotypes, were compared by hybridization with complementary DNA copies. Within each serotype 90% or more homology was observed between the corresponding RNA species of each pair of strains. Between serotypes greater differences were found, with 30 to 40% of RNA-1 sequences and only about 10% of RNA-2 sequences being common to all four strains. Hybridization reactions between RNA species and complementary DNA preparations representing different serotypes proceeded more slowly, and the hybrids melted at lower temperatures than those between homologous combinations, indicating that the apparently conserved sequences are similar, but not identical, in the two serotypes. Satellite RNA species from two TBRV strains in different serotypes had only about a quarter of their sequences in common. Limited nucleotide sequence homology was found between the genome RNA species of TBRV and those of the serologically distantly related grapevine chrome mosaic, cacao necrosis and artichoke Italian latent viruses, but not between TBRV RNA species and those of seven serologically unrelated nepoviruses.