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Emerging viruses

Section Editor: Tom Geisbert, University of Texas Medical Branch, USA 
Deputy Section Editor: Chad Mire, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, USA 

The Emerging viruses section of Virology Journal includes studies covering all aspects of new and reemerging viruses that cause severe and/or lethal diseases in humans and animals. Examples of these viruses include filoviruses (Ebola, Marburg), henipaviruses (Nipah, Hendra), Lassa virus, Lujo virus, South American hemorrhagic fever viruses (Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, Chapare, Sabia), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Rift Valley fever virus, hantaviruses, SARS coronavirus, MERS coronavirus, tick-borne encephalitis viruses, and Zika virus. Topics of interest include but are not limited to virus discovery, mechanisms of virus entry, assembly, protein translation, transcription and replication, pathogenesis, immunology, ecology, and epidemiology. Basic and translational research on the development of preventive vaccines and antiviral drugs and therapeutic interventions is particularly welcome.

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  1. The emergence and rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) have been linked to new waves of COVID-19 epidemics occurring in different regions of the world. The VOC have acquired adaptive mutations ...

    Authors: Samoel Ashimosi Khamadi, Silvanos Opanda, Samwel Lifumo Symekher, Samson Konongoi Limbaso, Solomon Langat, Josyline Kaburi Cirindi, Milkah Mwangi, Nicholas Mwikwabe, Seth Okeyo, Edith Koskei, James Mutisya, Samwel Owaka, Albert Nyunja, Hellen Koka, Meshack Wadegu, Esther Chitechi…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:178
  2. Immunocompromised (IC) patients are at higher risk of more severe COVID-19 infections than the general population. Special considerations should be dedicated to such patients. We aimed to investigate the effic...

    Authors: Mohammad-Mehdi Mehrabi Nejad, Parnian Shobeiri, Hojat Dehghanbanadaki, Mohammadreza Tabary, Armin Aryannejad, Abdolkarim Haji Ghadery, Mahya Shabani, Fatemeh Moosaie, SeyedAhmad SeyedAlinaghi and Nima Rezaei
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:132
  3. Mosquito-borne viruses pose a serious threat to humans worldwide. There has been an upsurge in the number of mosquito-borne viruses in Europe, mostly belonging to the families Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus (Sindb...

    Authors: Ruchika Shakya, Morten Tryland, Rose Vikse, Javier Sánchez Romano, Kjetil Åsbakk, Ingebjørg H. Nymo, Reidar Mehl, Magnus Evander, Clas Ahlm, Olli Vapalahti, Olivia Wesula Lwande, Niina Putkuri, Wenche Johansen, Arnulf Soleng, Kristin S. Edgar and Åshild K. Andreassen
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:99
  4. Phylogenetic studies indicate bats as original hosts of SARS-CoV-2. However, it remains unclear whether other animals, including pets, are crucial in the spread and maintenance of COVID-19 worldwide.

    Authors: Rodrigo Lima Carneiro, Jéssica Pires Farias, Josilene Ramos Pinheiro, Jackson Farias, André Carloto Vielmo, Alexander Birbrair, Aline Belmok, Fernando Lucas Melo, Bergmann Morais Ribeiro, Gepoliano Chaves, Paloma Oliveira Vidal, Wilson Barros Luiz and Jaime Henrique Amorim
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:93
  5. RT-PCR testing on nasopharyngeal swabs is a key component in the COVID-19 fighting, provided to use sensitive and specific SARS-CoV2 genome targets. In this study, we aimed to evaluate and to compare 4 widely ...

    Authors: Mariem Gdoura, Imen Abouda, Mehdi Mrad, Imen Ben Dhifallah, Zeineb Belaiba, Wasfi Fares, Anissa Chouikha, Maroua Khedhiri, Kaouther Layouni, Henda Touzi, Amel Sadraoui, Walid Hammemi, Zina Meddeb, Nahed Hogga, Sihem Ben Fadhel, Sondes Haddad-Boubaker…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:54
  6. The newly identified Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a global health emergency (COVID-19) because of its rapid spread and high mortality. Since the virus epidemic, ...

    Authors: Wenjing Gu, Hui Gan, Yu Ma, Lina Xu, Zhangkai J. Cheng, Bizhou Li, Xinxing Zhang, Wujun Jiang, Jinlv Sun, Baoqing Sun and Chuangli Hao
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:49
  7. COVID-19 and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) are linked by angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a key enzyme in RAS that has been validated as a SARS-CoV-2 receptor. Functional ACE1/ACE2 gene polymorphis...

    Authors: Nahid Alimoradi, Moein Sharqi, Dena Firouzabadi, Mohammad Moein Sadeghi, Mohammad Iman Moezzi and Negar Firouzabadi
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:48
  8. Since December 14, 2020, New York City (NYC) has started the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines. However, the shortage of vaccines is currently an inevitable problem. Therefore, optimizing the age-specific COVID...

    Authors: Miaolei Li, Jian Zu, Yue Zhang, Le Ma, Mingwang Shen, Zongfang Li and Fanpu Ji
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:43
  9. The worldwide epidemics of diseases as dengue and Zika have triggered an intense effort to repurpose drugs and search for novel antivirals to treat patients as no approved drugs for these diseases are currentl...

    Authors: Emerson de Castro Barbosa, Tânia Maria Almeida Alves, Markus Kohlhoff, Soraya Torres Gaze Jangola, Douglas Eduardo Valente Pires, Anna Carolina Cançado Figueiredo, Érica Alessandra Rocha Alves, Carlos Eduardo Calzavara-Silva, Marcos Sobral, Erna Geessien Kroon, Luiz Henrique Rosa, Carlos Leomar Zani and Jaquelline Germano de Oliveira
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:31
  10. In this work, six SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody assays were evaluated, namely, two pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) assays [Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 (named "Elecsys" in this study) and the PerkinElmer SuperFlex...

    Authors: Masaki Yamamoto, Kazuyuki Okazaki, Yoko Kitai, Koh Shinohara, Satomi Yukawa, Taro Noguchi, Michio Tanaka, Yasufumi Matsumura, Yukiko Nishiyama and Miki Nagao
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:24
  11. There are several groups of viruses including Insect Specific Viruses (ISV) such as the taxon Negevirus, a group of viruses phylogenetically related to plant viruses. Negeviruses replicate in mosquito cells, but ...

    Authors: Ana Cláudia da Silva Ribeiro, Lívia Caricio Martins, Sandro Patroca da Silva, Daniele Barbosa de Almeida Medeiros, Keissy Karoline Pinheiro Miranda, Joaquim Pinto Nunes Neto, Hamilton Antônio de Oliveira Monteiro, Bruna Lais Sena do Nascimento, Jose Wilson Rosa Junior, Ana Cecilia Ribeiro Cruz, Pedro Fernando da Costa Vasconcelos, Valéria Lima Carvalho and Sueli Guerreiro Rodrigues
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:17
  12. In 1977, a sample of diseased adult honeybees (Apis mellifera) from Egypt was found to contain large amounts of a previously unknown virus, Egypt bee virus, which was subsequently shown to be serologically relate...

    Authors: Joachim R. de Miranda, Laura E. Brettell, Nor Chejanovsky, Anna K. Childers, Anne Dalmon, Ward Deboutte, Dirk C. de Graaf, Vincent Doublet, Haftom Gebremedhn, Elke Genersch, Sebastian Gisder, Fredrik Granberg, Nizar J. Haddad, Rene Kaden, Robyn Manley, Jelle Matthijnssens…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:12
  13. The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by constantly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants still poses a threat to public health worldwide. Effective next-generation vaccines and optimized booster vaccination strategies ...

    Authors: Shuo Song, Bing Zhou, Lin Cheng, Weilong Liu, Qing Fan, Xiangyang Ge, Hua Peng, Yang-Xin Fu, Bin Ju and Zheng Zhang
    Citation: Virology Journal 2022 19:2
  14. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein determines virus entry and the palmitoylation of S protein affects virus infection. An acyltransferase complex ZDHHC5/GOGAL7 that ...

    Authors: Xiao-Tao Zeng, Xiao-Xi Yu and Wei Cheng
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:257

    The Correction to this article has been published in Virology Journal 2022 19:25

  15. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to millions of deaths worldwide. Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are a f...

    Authors: Ali Monfared, Leila Akhondzadeh, Mahsa Mousazadeh, Atefeh Jafari, Masoud Khosravi, Mohammadkazem Lebadi, Pegah Aghajanzadeh, Yalda Haghdar-Saheli, Ali Movassaghi, Elham Ramezanzadeh, Farzaneh Shobeirian, Ehsan Kazemnezhad and Samaneh Esmaeili
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:243
  16. Dabieshan tick virus (DTV) was first identified in Haemaphysalis longicornis from Hubei Province, China in 2015. However, its pathogenic potential to animals and human remains to be further explored. In this stud...

    Authors: Lijun Shao, Ruiheng Chang, Lin Liu, Yongjin Wang, Yun Gao, Shaoqing Wang, Hengyi Sun and Guoyu Niu
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:233
  17. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, pulmonary involvement was one of the most significant concerns in assessing patients. In the current study, we evaluated patient’s signs, symptoms, and laboratory data on the first...

    Authors: Niloofar Ayoobi Yazdi, Abdolkarim Haji Ghadery, SeyedAhmad SeyedAlinaghi, Fatemeh Jafari, Sirous Jafari, Malihe Hasannezad, Hamid Emadi Koochak, Mohammadreza Salehi, Seyed Ali Dehghan Manshadi, Mohsen Meidani, Mahboubeh Hajiabdolbaghi, Zahra Ahmadinejad, Hossein Khalili, Mohammad-Mehdi Mehrabi Nejad and Ladan Abbasian
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:225

    The Correction to this article has been published in Virology Journal 2021 18:241

  18. We report a genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 lineages circulating in Paraná, southern Brazil, from March 2020 to April 2021. Our analysis, based on 333 genomes, revealed that the first variants detected in t...

    Authors: Mauro M. Oliveira, Michelle O. Schemberger, Andreia A. Suzukawa, Irina N. Riediger, Maria do Carmo Debur, Guilherme Becker, Paola Cristina Resende, Tiago Gräf, Eduardo Balsanelli, Valter Antônio de Baura, Emanuel M. de Souza, Fábio O. Pedrosa, Lysangela R. Alves, Lucas Blanes, Sheila Cristina Nardelli, Alessandra M. Aguiar…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:222
  19. The recent pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has elevated several clinical and scientific questions. These include how host genetic factors influence the pathogene...

    Authors: Pooneh Rahimi, Rahil Tarharoudi, Alireza Rahimpour, Jalal Mosayebi Amroabadi, Iraj Ahmadi, Enayat Anvari, Seyed Davar Siadat, Mohammadreza Aghasadeghi and Abolfazl Fateh
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:221
  20. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the causing agent of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) characterized by a huge pro-inflammatory response and coagulation disorders that may lead to for its severe forms, in organ ...

    Authors: Hind Hamzeh-Cognasse, Alexandre Mansour, Florian Reizine, Patrick Mismetti, Isabelle Gouin-Thibault and Fabrice Cognasse
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:211
  21. Hendra virus (HeV) has caused lethal disease outbreaks in humans and horses in Australia. Flying foxes are the wildlife reservoir from which the virus was first isolated in 1996. Following a heat stress mortal...

    Authors: Jianning Wang, Danielle E. Anderson, Kim Halpin, Xiao Hong, Honglei Chen, Som Walker, Stacey Valdeter, Brenda van der Heide, Matthew J. Neave, John Bingham, Dwane O’Brien, Debbie Eagles, Lin-Fa Wang and David T. Williams
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:197
  22. Zoonotic orthopoxvirus infections continue to represent a threat to human health. The disease caused by distinct orthopoxviruses differs in terms of symptoms and severity, which may be explained by the unique ...

    Authors: Daniel Bourquain, Livia Schrick, Bernd Karsten Tischer, Klaus Osterrieder, Lars Schaade and Andreas Nitsche
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:173
  23. Transmission of all known pathogenic orthohantaviruses (family Hantaviridae) usually occurs via inhalation of aerosols contaminated with viral particles derived from infected rodents and organ manifestation of in...

    Authors: Stefan Hägele, Christian Nusshag, Alexander Müller, Alexandra Baumann, Martin Zeier and Ellen Krautkrämer
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:169
  24. A growing number of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants is being identified worldwide, potentially impacting the effectiveness of current vaccines. We report the data obtained in several Italian regions involved in t...

    Authors: Alessia Lai, Annalisa Bergna, Stefano Menzo, Gianguglielmo Zehender, Sara Caucci, Valeria Ghisetti, Francesca Rizzo, Fabrizio Maggi, Francesco Cerutti, Giorgio Giurato, Alessandro Weisz, Chiara Turchi, Bianca Bruzzone, Francesca Ceccherini Silberstein, Nicola Clementi, Annapaola Callegaro…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:168
  25. Ticks (class Arachnida, subclass Acari) are vectors of transmitting a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms, protozoa, and viruses affecting humans and animals. Liaoning Province is rich in forests where diffe...

    Authors: Zijun Yang, Ju Zhang, Shixing Yang, Xiaochun Wang, Quan Shen, Guangming Sun, Hao Wang and Wen Zhang
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:163
  26. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is the etiological agent of COVID-19. This virus has become one of the most dangerous in recent times with a very high rate of transmission. At present, several publications sh...

    Authors: Brian Mondeja, Odalys Valdes, Sonia Resik, Ananayla Vizcaino, Emilio Acosta, Adelmo Montalván, Amira Paez, Mayra Mune, Roberto Rodríguez, Juan Valdés, Guelsys Gonzalez, Daisy Sanchez, Viviana Falcón, Yorexis González, Vivian Kourí, Angelina Díaz…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:149
  27. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread to many countries around the world. In addition to lung disease, severe cases also displayed varying degrees of liver injury. This articl...

    Authors: Dongdong Yu, Qingru Du, Shengguang Yan, Xu-Guang Guo, Yehao He, Guodong Zhu, Kewei Zhao and Shi Ouyang
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:121
  28. The reliable detection of SARS-CoV-2 has become one of the most important contributions to COVID-19 crisis management. With the publication of the first sequences of SARS-CoV-2, several diagnostic PCR assays h...

    Authors: Janine Michel, Markus Neumann, Eva Krause, Thomas Rinner, Therese Muzeniek, Marica Grossegesse, Georg Hille, Franziska Schwarz, Andreas Puyskens, Sophie Förster, Barbara Biere, Daniel Bourquain, Cristina Domingo, Annika Brinkmann, Lars Schaade, Livia Schrick…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:110
  29. The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide and disease prevention is more important than ever. In the absence of a vaccine, knowledge of the transmission routes and risk areas of infection re...

    Authors: Janina Krambrich, Dario Akaberi, Jiaxin Ling, Tove Hoffman, Lennart Svensson, Marie Hagbom and Åke Lundkvist
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:109
  30. SARS-CoV-2 infection can present with a broad clinical differential that includes many other respiratory viruses; therefore, accurate tests are crucial to distinguish true COVID-19 cases from pathogens that do...

    Authors: Natalie C. Marshall, Ruwandi M. Kariyawasam, Nathan Zelyas, Jamil N. Kanji and Mathew A. Diggle
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:93
  31. The emergence and rapid spread of the B.1.1.7 lineage (VOC-202012/01) SARS-CoV-2 variant has aroused global concern. The N501Y substitution is the only mutation in the interface between the RBD of B.1.1.7 and ...

    Authors: Lin Cheng, Shuo Song, Bing Zhou, Xiangyang Ge, Jiazhen Yu, Mingxia Zhang, Bin Ju and Zheng Zhang
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:87
  32. At the beginning of the pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), little was known about its actual rate of infectivity and any COVID-19 patient positive in laboratory te...

    Authors: Sissy Therese Sonnleitner, Julian Dorighi, Bianca Jansen, Carmen Schönegger, Sarah Gietl, Stephan Koblmüller, Christian Sturmbauer, Wilfried Posch and Gernot Walder
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:71

    The Correction to this article has been published in Virology Journal 2021 18:82

  33. Efficient monitoring and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) require access to diagnostic tests, and serological diagnostic testing is desirable. In the current study, antibodies were investigated i...

    Authors: Jira Chansaenroj, Ritthideach Yorsaeng, Nawarat Posuwan, Jiratchaya Puenpa, Natthinee Sudhinaraset, Chintana Chirathaworn and Yong Poovorawan
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:52
  34. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV-2 and broke out as a global pandemic in late 2019. The acidic pH environment of endosomes is believed to be essential for SARS-CoV-2 to be able to ente...

    Authors: Chao Shang, Xinyu Zhuang, He Zhang, Yiquan Li, Yilong Zhu, Jing Lu, Chenchen Ge, Jianan Cong, Tingyu Li, Mingyao Tian, Ningyi Jin and Xiao Li
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:46
  35. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus that emerged in 2019 and is now classified in the genus Coronavirus with closely related SARS-CoV. SARS-CoV-2 is highly pathogenic in humans and is classified as a biosafety l...

    Authors: Hideki Tani, Miyuki Kimura, Long Tan, Yoshihiro Yoshida, Tatsuhiko Ozawa, Hiroyuki Kishi, Shuetsu Fukushi, Masayuki Saijo, Kaori Sano, Tadaki Suzuki, Hitoshi Kawasuji, Akitoshi Ueno, Yuki Miyajima, Yasutaka Fukui, Ippei Sakamaki, Yoshihiro Yamamoto…
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:16
  36. Virus neutralization by antibodies is an important prognostic factor in many viral diseases. To easily and rapidly measure titers of neutralizing antibodies in serum or plasma, we developed pseudovirion partic...

    Authors: Yue Zheng, Erin T. Larragoite, Elizabeth S. C. P. Williams, Juan Lama, Isabel Cisneros, Julio C. Delgado, Patricia Slev, Jenna Rychert, Emily A. Innis, Mayte Coiras, Matthew T. Rondina, Adam M. Spivak and Vicente Planelles
    Citation: Virology Journal 2021 18:1
  37. Rodent borne hantaviruses are emerging viruses infecting humans through inhalation. They cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and hemorrhagic cardiopulmonary syndrome. Recently, hantaviruses have been d...

    Authors: Olivia Wesula Lwande, Nahla Mohamed, Göran Bucht, Clas Ahlm, Gert Olsson and Magnus Evander
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:198
  38. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is posing a serious threat to global public health. Reverse transcriptase real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is widely used as...

    Authors: Yang Zhang, Chunyang Dai, Huiyan Wang, Yong Gao, Tuantuan Li, Yan Fang, Zuojun Shen, Lichang Chen, Zhaowu Chen, Xuejun Ma and Ming Li
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:197
  39. Lassa fever and Ebola are characterized by non-specific initial presentations that can progress to severe multisystem illnesses with high fatality rates. Samples from additional subjects are examined to extend...

    Authors: Trevor V. Gale, John S. Schieffelin, Luis M. Branco, Robert F. Garry and Donald S. Grant
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:188
  40. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a catastrophic burden to global healthcare systems. The fast spread of the etiologic agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), h...

    Authors: Wai Sing Chan, Chun Hang Au, Ho Yin Lam, Candy Ling Na Wang, Dona Ngar-Yin Ho, Yuk Man Lam, Daniel Ka Wing Chu, Leo Lit Man Poon, Tsun Leung Chan, Jonpaul Sze-Tsing Zee, Edmond Shiu Kwan Ma and Bone Siu Fai Tang
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:183
  41. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread across the world. Hence, there is an urgent need for rapid, simple, and accurate tests to diagnose severe acute respiratory syndrome coronav...

    Authors: Chutikarn Chaimayo, Bualan Kaewnaphan, Nattaya Tanlieng, Niracha Athipanyasilp, Rujipas Sirijatuphat, Methee Chayakulkeeree, Nasikarn Angkasekwinai, Ruengpung Sutthent, Nattawut Puangpunngam, Theerawoot Tharmviboonsri, Orawan Pongraweewan, Suebwong Chuthapisith, Yongyut Sirivatanauksorn, Wannee Kantakamalakul and Navin Horthongkham
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:177
  42. We aimed to describe the features of 220 nonemergency (mild or common type) COVID-19 patients from a shelter hospital, as well as evaluate the efficiency of antiviral drug, Arbidol in their disease progressions.

    Authors: Wei Gao, Si Chen, Kun Wang, Rongzhang Chen, Qian Guo, Jingjing Lu, Xiaodong Wu, Yanan He, Qiaoyun Yan, Shengyun Wang, Feilong Wang, Li Jin, Jing Hua and Qiang Li
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:162
  43. Aimed to summarize the characteristics of chest CT imaging in Chinese hospitalized patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) to provide reliable evidence for further guiding clinical routine.

    Authors: Haitao Yang, Yuzhu Lan, Xiujuan Yao, Sheng Lin and Baosong Xie
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:159
  44. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, previously named 2019-nCov), a novel coronavirus that emerged in China in December 2019 and was dec...

    Authors: Sumanth Khadke, Nayla Ahmed, Nausheen Ahmed, Ryan Ratts, Shine Raju, Molly Gallogly, Marcos de Lima and Muhammad Rizwan Sohail
    Citation: Virology Journal 2020 17:154