Frequency estimation of disease-causing mutations in the Belgian population of some dog breeds, part 2 : retrievers and other breed types

A Belgian population of ten breeds with a low to moderately low genetic diversity or which are relatively popular in Belgium, i.e. Bichon frise, Bloodhound, Bouvier des Flandres, Boxer, Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Irish setter, Papillon, Rottweiler, Golden retriever and Labrador retriever, was genotyped for all potentially relevant disease-causing variants known at the start of the study. In this way, the frequency was estimated for 26 variants in order to improve breeding advice. Disorders with a frequency high enough to recommend routine genotyping in breeding programs are (1) degenerative myelopathy for the Bloodhound, (2) arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and degenerative myelopathy for Boxers, (3) episodic falling syndrome and macrothrombocytopenia for the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, (4) progressive retinal atrophy rod cone dysplasia 4 for the Irish setter (5) Golden retriever progressive retinal atrophy 1 for the Golden retriever and (6) exercise induced collapse and progressive rod-cone degeneration for the Labrador retriever. To the authors' knowledge, in this study, the presence of a causal mutation for a short tail in the Bouvier des Flandres is described for the first time

Frequency estimation of disease-causing mutations in the Belgian population of some dog breeds, part 1 : shepherds

In light of improving breeding advice, the frequency was estimated for all the disease-causing mutations that were known at the start of the study and that are potentially relevant for a group of dog breeds, which are relatively popular or in which the genetic diversity in Belgium is low to moderately low. In this study, the results for the German shepherd dog, Malinois, Lakenois, Groenendael, Tervuren, Australian shepherd and Border collie are presented. Disorders with a frequency high enough to warrant routine genotyping for breeding programs are (1) multidrug resistance 1 and hereditary cataract for the Australian shepherd, (2) degenerative myelopathy for the German shepherd dog, Malinois and Groenendael and (3) collie eye anomaly for the Border collie. In addition, the hyperuricosuria mutation described in the German shepherd dog was not found in its Belgian population, but was, to the authors' knowledge discovered for the first time in the Malinois

Local Molecular Dynamics with Coulombic Interaction

We propose a local, O(N) molecular dynamics algorithm for the simulation of charged systems. The long ranged Coulomb potential is generated by a propagating electric field that obeys modified Maxwell equations. On coupling the electrodynamic equations to an external thermostat we show that the algorithm produces an effective Coulomb potential between particles. On annealing the electrodynamic degrees of freedom the field configuration converges to a solution of the Poisson equation much like the electronic degrees of freedom approach the ground state in ab-initio molecular dynamics.Comment: 4 pages with 3 figure

Numerical Simulations of Shock Wave-Driven Jets

We present the results of numerical simulations of shock wave-driven jets in the solar atmosphere. The dependence of observable quantities like maximum velocity and deceleration on parameters such as the period and amplitude of initial disturbances and the inclination of the magnetic field is investigated. Our simulations show excellent agreement with observations, and shed new light on the correlation between velocity and deceleration and on the regional differences found in observations.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Ap

Graphitization in chromium cast iron

peer reviewedSome trials with graphite Hi-Cr iron rolls have been done mainly in Japan, for the rolling of stainless steel. This material could lead to good compromise between oxidation, wear and thermal behaviour. By using thermal analysis and resistometry, the conditions for secondary graphite formation have been studied. The amount and volume of free graphite may be strongly increased by a suitable heat treatment, allowing a good thermal conductivity as well as high wear and mechanical properties

Laser Guide Stars for Extremely Large Telescopes: Efficient Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensor Design using Weighted center-of-gravity algorithm

Over the last few years increasing consideration has been given to the study of Laser Guide Stars (LGS) for the measurement of the disturbance introduced by the atmosphere in optical and near-infrared astronomical observations from the ground. A possible method for the generation of a LGS is the excitation of the Sodium layer in the upper atmosphere at approximately 90 km of altitude. Since the Sodium layer is approximately 10 km thick, the artificial reference source looks elongated, especially when observed from the edge of a large aperture. The spot elongation strongly limits the performance of the most common wavefront sensors. The centroiding accuracy in a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, for instance, decreases proportionally to the elongation (in a photon noise dominated regime). To compensate for this effect a straightforward solution is to increase the laser power, i.e. to increase the number of detected photons per subaperture. The scope of the work presented in this paper is twofold: an analysis of the performance of the Weighted Center of Gravity algorithm for centroiding with elongated spots and the determination of the required number of photons to achieve a certain average wavefront error over the telescope aperture.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure

Corrosion studies of different ferrous alloys for rolling cylinders

peer reviewedThe aim of this work is to study the corrosion behaviour in chloride media of a high chromium iron alloy. The influence of the surface finishing as well as the heat treatment was analysed. The technique employed for measuring the corrosion behaviour was the Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, an electrochemical technique that allows the observation not only of the corrosion rates but also the changes on the corrosion mechanism of the alloy. The results showed that it is worth performing a double tempering and a having smoother surface finishing only for long exposure periods. A comparison between different oxidising conditions was also performed simulating the life in service of the hot rolling cylinders and revealed an increase in the protective properties as the oxidising time increased due to the chromium present on the alloy (18%). (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A Bird’s Eye View of Human Language Evolution

Comparative studies of linguistic faculties in animals pose an evolutionary paradox: language involves certain perceptual and motor abilities, but it is not clear that this serves as more than an input–output channel for the externalization of language proper. Strikingly, the capability for auditory–vocal learning is not shared with our closest relatives, the apes, but is present in such remotely related groups as songbirds and marine mammals. There is increasing evidence for behavioral, neural, and genetic similarities between speech acquisition and birdsong learning. At the same time, researchers have applied formal linguistic analysis to the vocalizations of both primates and songbirds. What have all these studies taught us about the evolution of language? Is the comparative study of an apparently species-specific trait like language feasible? We argue that comparative analysis remains an important method for the evolutionary reconstruction and causal analysis of the mechanisms underlying language. On the one hand, common descent has been important in the evolution of the brain, such that avian and mammalian brains may be largely homologous, particularly in the case of brain regions involved in auditory perception, vocalization, and auditory memory. On the other hand, there has been convergent evolution of the capacity for auditory–vocal learning, and possibly for structuring of external vocalizations, such that apes lack the abilities that are shared between songbirds and humans. However, significant limitations to this comparative analysis remain. While all birdsong may be classified in terms of a particularly simple kind of concatenation system, the regular languages, there is no compelling evidence to date that birdsong matches the characteristic syntactic complexity of human language, arising from the composition of smaller forms like words and phrases into larger ones