Identificación de parvovirus canino tipo 2C en cachorros de Nicaragua

Objetivo. Identificar los genotipos de parvovirus canino-circulantes en cachorros en dos municipios de Nicaragua. Materiales y métodos. Se recolectaron muestras por hisopado rectal de 45 cachorros con y sin antecedentes de vacunación, con menos 6 meses de edad, con y sin sintomatología compatible con parvovirosis. Las muestras y dos de las vacunas que se comercializan en Nicaragua (vacuna nº1 y vacuna nº2) fueron analizadas por Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa (PCR) convencional para un producto de ˜ 630 pb del gen VP2. Además, se secuenciaron en sentido inverso cuatro muestras de campo elegidas al azar y ambas cepas de vacunas. Resultados. El 28.9% (13/45) de las muestras analizadas fueron positivas en PCR. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en la detección por PCR del fragmento de VP2, respecto al estado de vacunación de los animales (p=0.05). Las cuatro muestras de campo secuenciadas fueron identificadas como genotipo CPV-2C y las dos cepas vacunales se identificaron como genotipo CPV-2A. Conclusiones. La inferencia evolutiva de las secuencias alineadas de cepas vacunales mostró alta divergencia evolutiva respecto a las cepas de campo. Este hallazgo lleva a replantear el tema sobre la eficacia de las vacunas analizadas en este trabajo y que son aplicadas en Nicaragua. Objective. To identify genotypes of canine parvovirus circulating in puppies in two municipalities of Nicaragua. Materials and methods. Rectal swab samples from 45 puppies less under 6 months of age were collected and processed for presence of parvovirus bur conventional PCR technique. Puppies might or not have been vaccinated and with or without parvovirus infection symptoms. Two commercially available parvovirus vaccines in Nicaragua (vaccine no1 and vaccine no2) were also analyzed by conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) resulting in a product of approximate to 630 bp of the VP2 gene. In addition, Sanger sequences of four randomly chosen field samples and both vaccine strains were obtained. Results. 28.9% (13/45) of the analyzed samples were positive by PCR, for CPV VP2 gene. No statistically significant differences (p >= 0.05) were obtained in PCR detection between dogs with or without vaccination history. The four sequenced field samples were identified as CPV-2C genotype while both vaccine strains were identified as CPV-2A genotype. Conclusions. The aligned sequences showed high evolutionary divergence of filed strains with respect to vaccines strains, leading us to reconsider the efficacy of the analyzed vaccines commercially available in Nicaragua nowadays

Magnetically Frustrated Behavior In Multiferroics R Mn2 O 5 (r=bi, Eu, And Dy): A Raman Scattering Study

A temperature dependent Raman scattering study in multiferroic single crystals R Mn2 O5 (R=Bi, Eu, and Dy) was performed. The Raman spectra were measured in the range from 150 to 450 cm-1 involving mostly Mn-O-Mn bending vibrations, complementing our previous work in a higher frequency range involving Mn-O stretching modes. A number of studied phonons present anomalous frequency behavior below a characteristic temperature, T* ∼60-65 K, such as that found for the stretching modes. The sign and magnitude of such anomalous behavior appear to be correlated with the ionic radius of R, being softening for R=Bi and hardening for R=Eu and Dy in the range between TC TN and T*. The anomalous phonon behaviors in both bending and stretching modes are consistent with an interpretation in terms of the spin-phonon coupling in a scenario of strong magnetic correlations. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.1019Wang, J., (2003) Science, 299, p. 1719Hur, N., Park, S., Sharma, P.A., Ahn, J.S., Guha, S., Cheong, S.-W., (2004) Nature (London), 429, p. 392Alonso, J.A., Casais, M.T., Martínez-Lope, M.J., Martínez, J.L., Fernández-Díaz, M.T., (1997) J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 9, p. 8515Kagomiya, I., Kohn, K., Uchiyama, T., (2002) Ferroelectrics, 280, p. 297Hur, N., Park, S., Sharma, P.A., Guha, S., Cheong, S.-W., (2004) Phys. Rev. Lett., 93, p. 107207Muoz, A., Alonso, J.A., Casais, M.T., Martínez-Lope, M.J., Martínez, J.L., Fernández-Díaz, M.T., (2002) Phys. Rev. B, 65, p. 144423Golovenchits, E.I., Sanina, V.A., Babinskii, A.V., (1997) JETP, 85, p. 156Chapon, L.C., Blake, G.R., Gutmann, M.J., Park, S., Hur, N., Radaelli, P.G., Cheong, S.-W., (2004) Phys. Rev. Lett., 93, p. 177402Blake, G.P., Chapon, L.C., Radaelli, P.G., Park, S., Hur, N., Cheong, S.-W., Rodríguez-Carvajal, J., (2005) Phys. Rev. B, 71, p. 214402Polyakov, V., Plakhty, V., Bonnet, M., Burlet, P., Regnault, L.-P., Gavrilov, S., Zobkalo, I., Smirnov, O., (2001) Physica B, 297, p. 208Higashiyama, D., Miyasaka, S., Kida, N., Arima, T., Tokura, Y., (2004) Phys. Rev. B, 70, p. 174405Ramirez, A.P., (2001) Handbook of Magnetic Materials, 13, pp. 423-520. , Elsevier, New YorkGarcía-Flores, A.F., (2006) Phys. Rev. B, 73, p. 104411Baltensperger, W., Helman, J.S., (1968) Helv. Phys. Acta, 41, p. 668Granado, E., (2001) Phys. Rev. Lett., 86, p. 5385Sushkov, A.B., Tchernyshyov, O., Ratcliff, I.I.W., Cheong, S.-W., Drew, H.D., (2004) Phys. Rev. Lett., 94, p. 13720

Can the polarization of the strange quarks in the proton be positive ?

Recently, the HERMES Collaboration at DESY, using a leading order QCD analysis of their data on semi-inclusive deep inelastic production of charged hadrons, reported a marginally positive polarization for the strange quarks in the proton. We argue that a non-negative polarization is almost impossible.Comment: 6 pages, latex, minor changes in the discussion after Eq. (9

Infinitesimal and local convexity of a hypersurface in a semi-Riemannian manifold

Given a Riemannian manifold M and a hypersurface H in M, it is well known that infinitesimal convexity on a neighborhood of a point in H implies local convexity. We show in this note that the same result holds in a semi-Riemannian manifold. We make some remarks for the case when only timelike, null or spacelike geodesics are involved. The notion of geometric convexity is also reviewed and some applications to geodesic connectedness of an open subset of a Lorentzian manifold are given.Comment: 14 pages, AMSLaTex, 2 figures. v2: typos fixed, added one reference and several comments, statement of last proposition correcte

Absence of KpsM (Slr0977) impairs the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and impacts carbon fluxes in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Many cyanobacteria produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), composed mainly of heteropolysaccharides, that play a variety of physiological roles, being crucial for cell protection, motility, and biofilm formation. However, due to their complexity, the EPS biosynthetic pathways as well as their assembly and export mechanisms are still far from being fully understood. Here, we show that the absence of a putative EPS-related protein, KpsM (Slr0977), has a pleiotropic effect on Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 physiology, with a strong impact on the export of EPS and carbon fluxes. The kpsM mutant exhibits a significant reduction of released polysaccharides and a smaller decrease of capsular polysaccharides, but it accumulates more polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) than the wild type. In addition, this strain shows a light/cell density-dependent clumping phenotype and exhibits an altered protein secretion capacity. Furthermore, the most important structural component of pili, the protein PilA, was found to have a modified glycosylation pattern in the mutant compared to the wild type. Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed significant changes in the mechanisms of energy production and conversion, namely, photosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and carbon metabolism, in response to the inactivation of slr0977. Overall, this work shows for the first time that cells with impaired EPS secretion undergo transcriptomic and proteomic adjustments, highlighting the importance of EPS as a major carbon sink in cyanobacteria. The accumulation of PHB in cells of the mutant, without affecting significantly its fitness/growth rate, points to its possible use as a chassis for the production of compounds of interest

Schottky barrier heights at polar metal/semiconductor interfaces

Using a first-principle pseudopotential approach, we have investigated the Schottky barrier heights of abrupt Al/Ge, Al/GaAs, Al/AlAs, and Al/ZnSe (100) junctions, and their dependence on the semiconductor chemical composition and surface termination. A model based on linear-response theory is developed, which provides a simple, yet accurate description of the barrier-height variations with the chemical composition of the semiconductor. The larger barrier values found for the anion- than for the cation-terminated surfaces are explained in terms of the screened charge of the polar semiconductor surface and its image charge at the metal surface. Atomic scale computations show how the classical image charge concept, valid for charges placed at large distances from the metal, extends to distances shorter than the decay length of the metal-induced-gap states.Comment: REVTeX 4, 11 pages, 6 EPS figure

Anomalous Phonon Shifts In The Paramagnetic Phase Of Multiferroic R Mn2 O5 (r=bi, Eu, Dy): Possible Manifestations Of Unconventional Magnetic Correlations

A Raman spectroscopic study of the high-frequency optical phonons in single crystals of the multiferroic system R Mn2 O5 (R=Bi, Eu, Dy) was performed. All studied materials show anomalous phonon shifts, below a new characteristic temperature for these materials, T* ∼60-65 K. The sign and magnitude of such shifts appear to be correlated with the ionic radius of R, envolving from softenings for R=Bi to hardenings for R=Dy and showing an intermediary behavior for R=Eu. Additional phonon anomalies were identified below ∼ TN ∼40-43 K, reflecting the onset of long-range ferroelectric and/or magnetic order of the Mn sublattice. Complementary dc-magnetic susceptibility [χ (T)] measurements for Bi Mn2 O5 up to 800 K yield a Curie-Weiss temperature θCW =-253 (3) K, revealing a fairly large frustration ratio (θCW TN =6.3). 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The alternative sigma factor SigF is a key player in the control of secretion mechanisms in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Cyanobacterial alternative sigma factors are crucial players in environmental adaptation processes, which may involve bacterial responses related to maintenance of cell envelope and control of secretion pathways. Here, we show that the Group 3 alternative sigma factor F (SigF) plays a pleiotropic role in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 physiology, with a major impact on growth and secretion mechanisms, such as the production of extracellular polysaccharides, vesiculation and protein secretion. Although ΔsigF growth was significantly impaired, the production of released polysaccharides (RPS) increased 3 to 4-fold compared to the wild-type. ΔsigF exhibits also impairment in formation of outer-membrane vesicles (OMVs) and pili, as well as several other cell envelope alterations. Similarly, the exoproteome composition of ΔsigF differs from the wild-type both in amount and type of proteins identified. Quantitative proteomics (iTRAQ) and an in silico analysis of SigF binding motifs revealed possible targets/pathways under SigF control. Besides changes in protein levels involved in secretion mechanisms, our results indicated that photosynthesis, central carbon metabolism, and protein folding/degradation mechanisms are altered in ΔsigF. Overall, this work provided new evidences about the role of SigF on Synechocystis physiology and associates this regulatory element with classical and non-classical secretion pathways