Discreteness of Conductance Change in Black Lipid Films

The mechanisms by which inorganic ions cross biological membranes are still effectively unknown. However, it has become very clear during the past few years that the proteins or other macromolecules in the membrane are much more likely to be involved in this process than are the lipids. Thus, experiments with artificial lipid membranes have revealed no indicatfon of the necessary ion transfer or ion selectivity properties among the naturally occurring lipids, whereas many small macromolecules, including some polypeptides, are known to be entirely adequate in these respects

Discreteness of Conductance Change in Black Lipid Films

The mechanisms by which inorganic ions cross biological membranes are still effectively unknown. However, it has become very clear during the past few years that the proteins or other macromolecules in the membrane are much more likely to be involved in this process than are the lipids. Thus, experiments with artificial lipid membranes have revealed no indicatfon of the necessary ion transfer or ion selectivity properties among the naturally occurring lipids, whereas many small macromolecules, including some polypeptides, are known to be entirely adequate in these respects

A hereditarily indecomposable L_\infty-space that solves the scalar-plus-compact problem

We construct a hereditarily indecomposable Banach space with dual isomorphic to $\ell_1$. Every bounded linear operator on this space has the form $\lambda I+K$ with $\lambda$ a scalar and $K$ compact

Transmission dynamics and prospects for the elimination of canine rabies

Rabies has been eliminated from domestic dog populations in Western Europe and North America, but continues to kill many thousands of people throughout Africa and Asia every year. A quantitative understanding of transmission dynamics in domestic dog populations provides critical information to assess whether global elimination of canine rabies is possible. We report extensive observations of individual rabid animals in Tanzania and generate a uniquely detailed analysis of transmission biology, which explains important epidemiological features, including the level of variation in epidemic trajectories. We found that the basic reproductive number for rabies, R<sub>0</sub>, is very low in our study area in rural Africa (∼1.2) and throughout its historic global range (<2). This finding provides strong support for the feasibility of controlling endemic canine rabies by vaccination, even near wildlife areas with large wild carnivore populations. However, we show that rapid turnover of domestic dog populations has been a major obstacle to successful control in developing countries, thus regular pulse vaccinations will be required to maintain population-level immunity between campaigns. Nonetheless our analyses suggest that with sustained, international commitment, global elimination of rabies from domestic dog populations, the most dangerous vector to humans, is a realistic goal

Investigating intra-host and intra-herd sequence diversity of foot-and-mouth disease virus

Due to the poor-fidelity of the enzymes involved in RNA genome replication, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus samples comprise of unique polymorphic populations. In this study, deep sequencing was utilised to characterise the diversity of FMD virus (FMDV) populations in 6 infected cattle present on a single farm during the series of outbreaks in the UK in 2007. A novel RT–PCR method was developed to amplify a 7.6 kb nucleotide fragment encompassing the polyprotein coding region of the FMDV genome. Illumina sequencing of each sample identified the fine polymorphic structures at each nucleotide position, from consensus level changes to variants present at a 0.24% frequency. These data were used to investigate population dynamics of FMDV at both herd and host levels, evaluate the impact of host on the viral swarm structure and to identify transmission links with viruses recovered from other farms in the same series of outbreaks. In 7 samples, from 6 different animals, a total of 5 consensus level variants were identified, in addition to 104 sub-consensus variants of which 22 were shared between 2 or more animals. Further analysis revealed differences in swarm structures from samples derived from the same animal suggesting the presence of distinct viral populations evolving independently at different lesion sites within the same infected animal