A cohort study of post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome and PCV2 in 178 pigs from birth to 14 weeks on a single farm in England

Our hypothesis was that pigs that develop post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) are detectable from an early age with signs of weight loss and other clinical and serological abnormalities. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the temporally varying and fixed events linked with the clinical incidence of PMWS by comparing affected and unaffected pigs in a cohort of 178 male piglets. Piglets were enrolled at birth and examined each week. Samples of blood were collected at regular intervals. The exposures measured were porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) antibody titres in all 178 and PCV2 antigen in a subset of 75 piglets. We also observed piglet health and measured their weight, and a post-mortem examination was performed by an external laboratory on all pigs between 6 and 14 weeks of age that died. From the cohort, 14 (8%) pigs died from PMWS and 4% from other causes. A further 37 pigs between 6 and 14 weeks of age died from PMWS (30) and ileitis and other causes (7). PMWS was only apparent in pigs from 1 to 2 weeks before death when they wasted rapidly. There were no other characteristic clinical signs and no obvious gross clinical lesions post-mortem. There was no strong link with PCV2 antibody throughout life but PCV2 antigen level was higher from 4 to 6 weeks of age in pigs that died from PMWS compared with pigs that died from other causes

Higher Derivative Operators from Scherk-Schwarz Supersymmetry Breaking on T^2/Z_2

In orbifold compactifications on T^2/Z_2 with Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, it is shown that (brane-localised) superpotential interactions and (bulk) gauge interactions generate at one-loop higher derivative counterterms to the mass of the brane (or zero-mode of the bulk) scalar field. These brane-localised operators are generated by integrating out the bulk modes of the initial theory which, although supersymmetric, is nevertheless non-renormalisable. It is argued that such operators, of non-perturbative origin and not protected by non-renormalisation theorems, are generic in orbifold compactifications and play a crucial role in the UV behaviour of the two-point Green function of the scalar field self-energy. Their presence in the action with unknown coefficients prevents one from making predictions about physics at (momentum) scales close to/above the compactification scale(s). Our results extend to the case of two dimensional orbifolds, previous findings for S^1/Z_2 and S^1/(Z_2 x Z_2') compactifications where brane-localised higher derivative operators are also dynamically generated at loop level, regardless of the details of the supersymmetry breaking mechanism. We stress the importance of these operators for the hierarchy and the cosmological constant problems in compactified theories.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, one figure, published version in JHE

Primordial black holes in braneworld cosmologies: astrophysical constraints

In two recent papers we explored the modifications to primordial black hole physics when one moves to the simplest braneworld model, Randall--Sundrum type II. Both the evaporation law and the cosmological evolution of the population can be modified, and additionally accretion of energy from the background can be dominant over evaporation at high energies. In this paper we present a detailed study of how this impacts upon various astrophysical constraints, analyzing constraints from the present density, from the present high-energy photon background radiation, from distortion of the microwave background spectrum, and from processes affecting light element abundances both during and after nucleosynthesis. Typically, the constraints on the formation rate of primordial black holes weaken as compared to the standard cosmology if black hole accretion is unimportant at high energies, but can be strengthened in the case of efficient accretion.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX4 file with three figures incorporated; final paper in series astro-ph/0205149 and astro-ph/0208299. Minor changes to match version accepted by Physical Review

Autosis is a Na+,K+-ATPase-regulated form of cell death triggered by autophagy-inducing peptides, starvation, and hypoxia-ischemia.

A long-standing controversy is whether autophagy is a bona fide cause of mammalian cell death. We used a cell-penetrating autophagy-inducing peptide, Tat-Beclin 1, derived from the autophagy protein Beclin 1, to investigate whether high levels of autophagy result in cell death by autophagy. Here we show that Tat-Beclin 1 induces dose-dependent death that is blocked by pharmacological or genetic inhibition of autophagy, but not of apoptosis or necroptosis. This death, termed "autosis," has unique morphological features, including increased autophagosomes/autolysosomes and nuclear convolution at early stages, and focal swelling of the perinuclear space at late stages. We also observed autotic death in cells during stress conditions, including in a subpopulation of nutrient-starved cells in vitro and in hippocampal neurons of neonatal rats subjected to cerebral hypoxia-ischemia in vivo. A chemical screen of ~5,000 known bioactive compounds revealed that cardiac glycosides, antagonists of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase, inhibit autotic cell death in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, genetic knockdown of the Na(+),K(+)-ATPase α1 subunit blocks peptide and starvation-induced autosis in vitro. Thus, we have identified a unique form of autophagy-dependent cell death, a Food and Drug Administration-approved class of compounds that inhibit such death, and a crucial role for Na(+),K(+)-ATPase in its regulation. These findings have implications for understanding how cells die during certain stress conditions and how such cell death might be prevented

Randomized controlled field trial comparing quarter and cow level selective dry cow treatment using the California Mastitis Test

Selective use of antibiotic dry cow treatment can be implemented at the cow or quarter level, with the latter having the potential to further reduce antibiotic use. Our objective was to compare these 2 approaches in 6 herds in the United Kingdom in which environmental mastitis predominated. Eight hundred seven cows were enrolled and categorized as having a high cell count (n = 401) or low cell count (n = 406) in the last 3 mo of lactation and clinical mastitis history. All quarters of all enrolled cows received an internal teat sealant. Within each category, cows were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 groups; in one group antibiotic treatment was allocated at cow level (i.e., all 4 quarters received antibiotic), whereas in the 2 remaining groups antibiotic treatment was allocated at quarter level, based on California Mastitis Test (CMT) findings. Two different thresholds, score 1 and 2, were used to determine likely infection status. Quarter milk samples were collected at dry off and postcalving for bacteriological culture and somatic cell count (SCC). Cows were monitored for clinical mastitis from dry off until 100 d in milk. Cow level SCC and milk yield data were collated from farm records. Within each category, the 2 quarter level treatment groups were compared with cow level treatment at dry off. Leaving quarters untreated with intramammary antibiotic in cows in the high cell count group, with a CM

Fifteen years of clinical liver transplantation

Liver transplantation in humans was first attempted more than 15 yr ago. The 1-yr survival has slowly improved until it has now reached about 50%. In our experience, 46 patients have lived for at least 1 yr, with the longest survival being 9 yr. The high acute mortality in early trials was due in many cases to technical and management errors and to the use of damaged organs. With elimination of such factors, survival increased. Further improvements will depend upon better immunosuppression. Orthotopic liver transplantation (liver replacement) is the preferred operation in most cases, but placement of an extra liver (auxiliary transplantation) may have a role under special circumstances. © 1979

Horizon Problem Remediation via Deformed Phase Space

We investigate the effects of a special kind of dynamical deformation between the momenta of the scalar field of the Brans-Dicke theory and the scale factor of the FRW metric. This special choice of deformation includes linearly a deformation parameter. We trace the deformation footprints in the cosmological equations of motion when the BD coupling parameter goes to infinity. One class of the solutions gives a constant scale factor in the late time that confirms the previous result obtained via another approach in the literature. This effect can be interpreted as a quantum gravity footprint in the coarse grained explanation. The another class of the solutions removes the big bang singularity, and the accelerating expansion region has an infinite temporal range which overcomes the horizon problem. After this epoch, there is a graceful exiting by which the universe enters in the radiation dominated era.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, to appear in GER