A two-step lyssavirus real-time polymerase chain reaction using degenerate primers with superior sensitivity to the fluorescent antigen test

A generic two-step lyssavirus real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), based on a nested PCR strategy, was validated for the detection of different lyssavirus species. Primers with 17 to 30% of degenerate bases were used in both consecutive steps. The assay could accurately detect RABV, LBV, MOKV, DUVV, EBLV-1, EBLV-2, and ABLV. In silico sequence alignment showed a functional match with the remaining lyssavirus species. The diagnostic specificity was 100% and the sensitivity proved to be superior to that of the fluorescent antigen test. The limit of detection was <= 1 50% tissue culture infectious dose. The related vesicular stomatitis virus was not recognized, confirming the selectivity for lyssaviruses. The assay was applied to follow the evolution of rabies virus infection in the brain of mice from 0 to 10 days after intranasal inoculation. The obtained RNA curve corresponded well with the curves obtained by a one-step monospecific RABV-qRT-PCR, the fluorescent antigen test, and virus titration. Despite the presence of degenerate bases, the assay proved to be highly sensitive, specific, and reproducible

Perceptual learning of pitch direction in congenital amusia: evidence from Chinese speakers

Congenital amusia is a lifelong disorder of musical processing for which no effective treatments have been found. The present study aimed to treat amusics’ impairments in pitch direction identification through auditory training. Prior to training, twenty Chinese-speaking amusics and 20 matched controls were tested on the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) and two psychophysical pitch threshold tasks for identification of pitch direction in speech and music. Subsequently, ten of the twenty amusics undertook 10 sessions of adaptive-tracking pitch direction training, while the remaining 10 received no training. Post training, all amusics were re-tested on the pitch threshold tasks and on the three pitch-based MBEA subtests. Compared with those untrained, trained amusics demonstrated significantly improved thresholds for pitch direction identification in both speech and music, to the level of non-amusic control participants, although no significant difference was observed between trained and untrained amusics in the MBEA subtests. This provides the first clear positive evidence for improvement in pitch direction processing through auditory training in amusia. Further training studies are required to target different deficit areas in congenital amusia, so as to reveal which aspects of improvement will be most beneficial to the normal functioning of musical processing

Impact of caspase-1/11, -3, -7, or IL-1β/IL-18 deficiency on rabies virus-induced macrophage cell death and onset of disease

Rabies virus is a highly neurovirulent RNA virus, which causes about 59000 deaths in humans each year. Previously, we described macrophage cytotoxicity upon infection with rabies virus. Here we examined the type of cell death and the role of specific caspases in cell death and disease development upon infection with two laboratory strains of rabies virus: Challenge Virus Standard strain-11 (CVS-11) is highly neurotropic and lethal for mice, while the attenuated Evelyn-Rotnycki-Abelseth (ERA) strain has a broader cell tropism, is non-lethal and has been used as an oral vaccine for animals. Infection of Mf4/4 macrophages with both strains led to caspase-1 activation and IL-1β and IL-18 production, as well as activation of caspases-3, -7, -8, and -9. Moreover, absence of caspase-3, but not of caspase-1 and -11 or -7, partially inhibited virus-induced cell death of bone marrow-derived macrophages. Intranasal inoculation with CVS-11 of mice deficient for either caspase-1 and -11 or -7 or both IL-1β and IL-18 led to general brain infection and lethal disease similar to wild-type mice. Deficiency of caspase-3, on the other hand, significantly delayed the onset of disease, but did not prevent final lethal outcome. Interestingly, deficiency of caspase-1/11, the key executioner of pyroptosis, aggravated disease severity caused by ERA virus, whereas wild-type mice or mice deficient for either caspase-3, -7, or both IL-1β and IL-18 presented the typical mild symptoms associated with ERA virus. In conclusion, rabies virus infection of macrophages induces caspase-1- and caspase-3-dependent cell death. In vivo caspase-1/11 and caspase-3 differently affect disease development in response to infection with the attenuated ERA strain or the virulent CVS-11 strain, respectively. Inflammatory caspases seem to control attenuated rabies virus infection, while caspase-3 aggravates virulent rabies virus infection

Mastering Violence

The employment of appropriate force can protect against violence, control it, contain it, even dominate it. The issue is how much force to apply. But no true operating modality has yet been worked out

Evaluation of Discriminating Fire Sensors in Two Underground Coal Mines

Fire detection in underground coal mines using carbon monoxide (CO) based monitoring systems has been very effective in many mines. Many systems have been able to detect fires in early stages of development at very low CO levels. However in mines which use extensive diesel haulage and support vehicles, the systems have been less sensitive to early detection due to diesel exhaust contaminants elevating baseline CO levels. A new technology has been tested in two underground coal mines which is designed to discriminate between the CO produced by diesel engines and CO from a fire by correcting the CO concentration based on the nitric oxide (NO) concentration. This paper discusses the results of studies completed by MSHA at two of these underground coal mines. The technology employs a complex mathematical computation which is continually accomplished to improve fire detection capabilities for dieselized underground coal mines. Findings have shown the technology to be effective in significantly reducing levels for alarms while avoiding a Chicken Little complacency for nuisance alarms. This technology could be used for fire detection in any underground mines which utilize diesel equipment and carbon monoxide based fire detection systems

The influences and outcomes of phonological awareness: a study of MA, PA and auditory processing in pre-readers with a family risk of dyslexia

The direct influence of phonological awareness (PA) on reading outcomes has been widely demonstrated, yet PA may also exert indirect influence on reading outcomes through other cognitive variables such as morphological awareness (MA). However, PA's own development is dependent and influenced by many extraneous variables such as auditory processing, which could ultimately impact reading outcomes. In a group of pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia and low-risk controls, this study sets out to answer questions surrounding PA's relationship at various grain sizes (syllable, onset/rime and phoneme) with measures of auditory processing (frequency modulation (FM) and an amplitude rise-time task (RT)) and MA, independent of reading experience. Group analysis revealed significant differences between high- and low-risk children on measures of MA, and PA at all grain sizes, while a trend for lower RT thresholds of high-risk children was found compared with controls. Correlational analysis demonstrated that MA is related to the composite PA score and syllable awareness. Group differences on MA and PA were re-examined including PA and MA, respectively, as control variables. Results exposed PA as a relevant component of MA, independent of reading experience

Setting Farmers Free: Righting the Unintended Anomaly of UCC Section 9-312(2)

status: publishe

Stimulus-Informed Generalized Canonical Correlation Analysis of Stimulus-Following Brain Responses

In brain-computer interface or neuroscience applications, generalized canonical correlation analysis (GCCA) is often used to extract correlated signal components in the neural activity of different subjects attending to the same stimulus. This allows quantifying the so-called inter-subject correlation or boosting the signal-to-noise ratio of the stimulus-following brain responses with respect to other (non-)neural activity. GCCA is, however, stimulus-unaware: it does not take the stimulus information into account and does therefore not cope well with lower amounts of data or smaller groups of subjects. We propose a novel stimulus-informed GCCA algorithm based on the MAXVAR-GCCA framework. We show the superiority of the proposed stimulus-informed GCCA method based on the inter-subject correlation between electroencephalography responses of a group of subjects listening to the same speech stimulus, especially for lower amounts of data or smaller groups of subjects

Potential Pitfalls in High-Tech Copyright Litigation, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 513 (2008)

Alleging software and data-base infringement is probably the most common offensive strategy currently seen in high-tech copyright litigation. In the context of a hypothetical factual setting, this article explores three potential pitfalls attendant to such a strategy, and suggests ways to minimize those risks