Proteomics computational analyses suggest that the bornavirus glycoprotein is a class III viral fusion protein (γ penetrene)

Abstract Background Borna disease virus (BDV) is the type member of the Bornaviridae, a family of viruses that induce often fatal neurological diseases in horses, sheep and other animals, and have been proposed to have roles in certain psychiatric diseases of humans. The BDV glycoprotein (G) is an extensively glycosylated protein that migrates with an apparent molecular mass of 84,000 to 94,000 kilodaltons (kDa). BDV G is post-translationally cleaved by the cellular subtilisin-like protease furin into two subunits, a 41 kDa amino terminal protein GP1 and a 43 kDa carboxyl terminal protein GP2. Results Class III viral fusion proteins (VFP) encoded by members of the Rhabdoviridae, Herpesviridae and Baculoviridae have an internal fusion domain comprised of beta sheets, other beta sheet domains, an extended alpha helical domain, a membrane proximal stem domain and a carboxyl terminal anchor. Proteomics computational analyses suggest that the structural/functional motifs that characterize class III VFP are located collinearly in BDV G. Structural models were established for BDV G based on the post-fusion structure of a prototypic class III VFP, vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV G). Conclusion These results suggest that G encoded by members of the Bornavirdae are class III VFPs (gamma-penetrenes).</p

Sheep CRC Renewal Proposal: Economic Evaluation of the Proposed Scientific Themes

The Australian sheep industry and its associated research and development agencies have developed a proposal for the CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation. “Top-down” and “bottomup” procedures were used to assess the expected economic benefits from this proposal. Formal “with-CRC” and “without-CRC” scenarios were defined for each product and each research theme. Relevant costs were similarly defined. The requested investment by the Commonwealth and the Australian sheep industry in the CRC is assessed relative to a scenario where an alternative, lower cost research program into this industry is implemented. These extra resources have a discounted value of about $34 million over the 25-year period of this evaluation. These resources are sufficient to allow some new research components to be added to the portfolio, some existing components to produce better outcomes, and a more targeted approach to development and extension that speeds up and increases the adoption of the new technologies that are generated by the research program. The benefit from this extra investment and consequent research effort is estimated to be worth about$518 million in present value terms, which is far in excess of the marginal investment. Thus every $1 of these extra resources brought into the Australian sheep industry through funding the proposed CRC is expected to return around$15.30 to the industry in present value terms.wool, sheep meat, research and development, economic, evaluation, Australia, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q160,

Economic benefits of public investment in weed management: the case of vulpia in south-eastern Australia’s temperate pasture areas

The present paper reports an economic evaluation of the long-term benefits to Australia of research by the Cooperative Research Centre for Weed Management Systems (CRC) into the improved management of vulpia , the major annual grass weed of temperate pastures in New South Wales and Victoria. Vulpia reduces livestock production by competition with more desirable pasture species, by the production of low quality feed at critical times of the grazing cycle, and by injury to animals. A 20-year stochastic benefit-cost analysis indicated that reducing the impacts of vulpia in these pastures produced a mean net present value of # A58.3 million and a mean benefit-cost ratio of 33:1. Temperate pasture zone wool producers would capture the largest shares of these benefits, Australian consumers would gain, but wool producers in the rest of Australia would suffer welfare losses from vulpia reductions in the temperate pasture zones.Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

Perlindungan Hukum Terhadap Konsumen Akibat Beredarnya Minuman Kadaluarsa Menurut Undang-undang RI Nomor 8 Tahun 1999

Tujuan dilakukannya penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimanakah kebijakan hukum terkait pengaturan perlindungan hukum terhadap konsumen berkaitan dengan peredaran minuman kadaluwarsa dan bagaimanakah bentuk tanggung jawab dari produsen terhadap konsumen yang mengkonsumsi produk minuman kadaluarsa, yang dengan menggunakan metode penelitian hukum normative disimpulkan bahwa 1. Kebijakan hukum yang sudah dibentuk oleh pemerintah untuk memberikan perlindungan maksimal terhadap konsumen, maka telah dibentuk sejumlah regulasi yang mengatur mengenai hal terkait, diantaranya: a) Undang-undang Nomor 23 Tahun 1992 tentang Kesehatan b) Undang-undang Nomor 7 Tahun 1996 tentang Pangan c) Undang-undang Nomor 8 Tahun 1999 tentang Perlindungan Konsumen d) Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 69 Tahun 1999 tentang Label dan Iklan Pangan e) Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 28 Tahun 2004 tentang Keamanan, Mutu dan Gizi Pangan, tanggal 5 Oktober 2004. F) Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan Republik Indonesia Nomor : 180/ Men.Kes/ Per/IV/1985 tentang Makanan Daluwarsa, tanggal 10 April 1985 g) Keputusan Kepala Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan Nomor HK.00.05.23.0131 tentang Pencantuman Asal Bahan Tertentu, kandungan alkohol, dan Batas Kadaluwarsa Pada Penandaan/Label Obat, Obat tradisional, Suplemen Makanan, dan Pangan, tanggal 13 Januari 2003. 2. Bentuk tanggung jawab dari produsen terhadap konsumen yang mengkonsumsi produk minuman kadaluarsa didasarkan pada beberapa bentuk beban tanggungjawab, dan mengenai hal ini ditetapkan dalam peraturan Perundang-undangan terkait, dimana apabila muncul sengketa mengenai dikonsumsinya produk minuman akdaluarsa oleh konsumen dapat ditempuh lewat jalur non-litigasi maupun jalut litigasi yang dapat menjerat produsen berupa sanksi perdata berupa ganti rugi, sanksi pidana, maupun sanksi administrasi

Tidal Destruction of The First Dark Microhalos

We point out that the usual self-similarity in cold dark matter models is broken by encounters with individual normal galactic stars on sub-pc scale. Tidal heating and stripping must have redefined the density and velocity structures of the population of the Earth-mass dark matter halos, which are likely to have been the first bound structures to form in the Universe. The disruption rate depends strongly on {\it galaxy types} and the orbital distribution of the microhalos; in the Milky Way, stochastic radial orbits are destroyed first by stars in the triaxial bulge, microhalos on non-planar retrograde orbits with large pericenters and/or apocenters survive the longest. The final microhalo distribution in the {\it solar neighborhood} is better described as a superposition of filamentry microstreams rather than as a set of discrete spherical clumps in an otherwise homogeneous medium. We discuss its important consequences to our detections of microhalos by direct recoil signal and indirect annihilation signal.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, Astrophysical Journal, accepte

Dynamic general equilibrium analysis of improved weed management in Australia's winter cropping systems

A recent analysis indicated that the direct financial cost of weeds to Australia’s winter grain sectorwas approximately $A1.2bn in 1998–1999. Costs of thismagnitude represent a large recurring productivity loss in an agricultural sector that is sufficient to impact significantly on regional economies.Using amulti-regional dynamic computable general equilibrium model, we simulate the general equilibrium effects of a hypothetical successful campaign to reduce the economic costs of weeds. We assume that an additional$50m of R&D spread over five years is targeted at reducing the additional costs and reduced yields arising from weeds in various broadacre crops. Following this R&D effort, one-tenth of the losses arising from weeds is temporarily eliminated, with a diminishing benefit in succeeding years. At the national level, there is a welfare increase of $700m in discounted net present value terms. The regions with relatively high concentrations of winter crops experience small temporary macroeconomic gains.CGE modelling, dynamics, weed management, Crop Production/Industries,

Probability distributions for economic surplus changes: the case of technical change in the Australian wool industry

Mullen, Alston and Wohlgenant (1989) (MAW) examined the distribution of the benefits of technical change in the Australian wool industry. Their conclusions are revisited by examining the probability distributions of changes in the welfare measures, given uncertainty about their model parameters. Subjective probability distributions are specified for the parameters and correlations among some of the parameters are imposed. Hierarchical distributions are also used to model diverse views about the specification of the subjective distributions. A sensitivity elasticity is defined through the estimation of a response surface to measure the sensitivity of the estimated research benefits to individual parameters. MAW’s conclusions are found to be robust under the stochastic approach to sensitivity analysis demonstrated in this article.Livestock Production/Industries,

Industrial Benefits of Controlling Saltwater Intrusion in the Neches River

Environmental Economics and Policy,

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR THE MINNESOTA RAIL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM METHODOLOGY AND A CASE STUDY

The objective of this study is to develop a methodology for evaluating the economic feasibility of participating in the Minnesota Rail Service Improvement Program by eligible individuals or groups.Public Economics,