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

Revisiting the Bs(∗)B^{(*)}_s-Meson Production at the Hadronic Colliders

The production of heavy-flavored hadron at the hadronic colliders provides a challenging opportunity to test the validity of pQCD predictions. There are two mechanisms for the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction, i.e. the gluon-gluon fusion mechanism via the subprocess $g+g\rightarrow B^{(*)}_s+b+\bar{s}$ and the extrinsic heavy quark mechanism via the subprocesses $g+\bar{b}\to B^{(*)}_s +\bar{s}$ and $g+s\to B^{(*)}_s +b$, both of which shall have sizable contributions in proper kinematic region. Different from the fixed-flavor-number scheme (FFNS) previously adopted in the literature, we study the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction under the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme (GM-VFNS), in which we can consistently deal with the double counting problem from the above two mechanisms. Properties for the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction are discussed. To be useful reference, a comparative study of FFNS and GM-VFNS is presented. Both of which can provide reasonable estimations for the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction. At the Tevatron, the difference between these two schemes is small, however such difference is obvious at the LHC. The forthcoming more precise data on LHC shall provide a good chance to check which scheme is more appropriate to deal with the $B^{(*)}_s$-meson production and to further study the heavy quark components in hadrons.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. To match the published version. To be published in Eur.Phys.J.

Global Rice Atlas: Disaggregated seasonal crop calendar and production

Purpose: Rice is an important staple crop cultivated in more than 163 million ha globally. Although information on the distribution of global rice production is available by country and, at times, at subnational level, information on its distribution within a year is often lacking in different rice growing regions. Knowing when and where rice is planted and harvested and the associated production is crucial to policy and decision making on food security. To examine seasonal and geographic variations in food supply, we developed a detailed rice crop calendar and linked it with disaggregated production data. Approach and methods used: We compiled from various sources detailed data on rice production, and planting and harvesting dates by growing season. To standardize the production data to the same period, we adjusted the production values so that the totals for each country will be the same as those of FAO for 2010-2012. We then linked data on rice production with the corresponding crop calendar information to estimate production at harvest time by month then we calculated totals for each country and region. Key results: The bulk of global annual harvests of rice is from September to November, corresponding with the harvest of the wet season rice in Asia and Africa. Total rough rice production during those peak months exceed 381 million tons, which account for about half of annual global rice output. Production is lowest in January with only 11 million tons in total. Regional production is lowest in Asia in January, Americas in December, Africa in July and rest of the world in May. Synthesis and Applications: A globally complete and spatially detailed rice crop calendar is important to crop growth simulation modelling and assessment of vulnerability of rice areas to biotic and abiotic stresses. Linked to production estimates, it can be used in analyzing spatial and seasonal production trends to better assess and predict price fluctuations , and to mitigate potential significant shortfalls in food production at certain times of the year

The Global Forest Transition as a Human Affair

Forests across the world stand at a crossroads where climate and land-use changes are shaping their future. Despite demonstrations of political will and global efforts, forest loss, fragmentation, and degradation continue unabated. No clear evidence exists to suggest that these initiatives are working. A key reason for this apparent ineffectiveness could lie in the failure to recognize the agency of all stakeholders involved. Landscapes do not happen. We shape them. Forest transitions are social and behavioral before they are ecological. Decision makers need to integrate better representations of people’s agency in their mental models. A possible pathway to overcome this barrier involves eliciting mental models behind policy decisions to allow better representation of human agency, changing perspectives to better understand divergent points of view, and refining strategies through explicit theories of change. Games can help decision makers in all of these tasks

Control of nuclear beta-dystroglycan content is crucial for the maintenance of nuclear envelope integrity and function

β-Dystroglycan (β-DG) is a plasma membrane protein that has ability to target to the nuclear envelope (NE) to maintain nuclear architecture. Nevertheless, mechanisms controlling β-DG nuclear localization and the physiological consequences of a failure of trafficking are largely unknown. We show that β-DG has a nuclear export pathway in myoblasts that depends on the recognition of a nuclear export signal located in its transmembrane domain, by CRM1. Remarkably, NES mutations forced β-DG nuclear accumulation resulting in mislocalization and decreased levels of emerin and lamin B1 and disruption of various nuclear processes in which emerin (centrosome-nucleus linkage and β-catenin transcriptional activity) and lamin B1 (cell cycle progression and nucleoli structure) are critically involved. In addition to nuclear export, the lifespan of nuclear β-DG is restricted by its nuclear proteasomal degradation. Collectively our data show that control of nuclear β-DG content by the combination of CRM1 nuclear export and nuclear proteasome pathways is physiologically relevant to preserve proper NE structure and activity

The First VERITAS Telescope

The first atmospheric Cherenkov telescope of VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) has been in operation since February 2005. We present here a technical description of the instrument and a summary of its performance. The calibration methods are described, along with the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the telescope and comparisons between real and simulated data. The analysis of TeV $\gamma$-ray observations of the Crab Nebula, including the reconstructed energy spectrum, is shown to give results consistent with earlier measurements. The telescope is operating as expected and has met or exceeded all design specifications.Comment: Accepted by Astroparticle Physic

Immune or genetic-mediated disruption of CASPR2 causes pain hypersensitivity due to enhanced primary afferent excitability

Human autoantibodies to contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) are often associated with neuropathic pain, and CASPR2 mutations have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, in which sensory dysfunction is increasingly recognized. Human CASPR2 autoantibodies, when injected into mice, were peripherally restricted and resulted in mechanical pain-related hypersensitivity in the absence of neural injury. We therefore investigated the mechanism by which CASPR2 modulates nociceptive function. Mice lacking CASPR2 (Cntnap2(-/-)) demonstrated enhanced pain-related hypersensitivity to noxious mechanical stimuli, heat, and algogens. Both primary afferent excitability and subsequent nociceptive transmission within the dorsal horn were increased in Cntnap2(-/-) mice. Either immune or genetic-mediated ablation of CASPR2 enhanced the excitability of DRG neurons in a cell-autonomous fashion through regulation of Kv1 channel expression at the soma membrane. This is the first example of passive transfer of an autoimmune peripheral neuropathic pain disorder and demonstrates that CASPR2 has a key role in regulating cell-intrinsic dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neuron excitability

Measurement of the p-pbar -> Wgamma + X cross section at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV and WWgamma anomalous coupling limits

The WWgamma triple gauge boson coupling parameters are studied using p-pbar -> l nu gamma + X (l = e,mu) events at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The data were collected with the DO detector from an integrated luminosity of 162 pb^{-1} delivered by the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The cross section times branching fraction for p-pbar -> W(gamma) + X -> l nu gamma + X with E_T^{gamma} > 8 GeV and Delta R_{l gamma} > 0.7 is 14.8 +/- 1.6 (stat) +/- 1.0 (syst) +/- 1.0 (lum) pb. The one-dimensional 95% confidence level limits on anomalous couplings are -0.88 < Delta kappa_{gamma} < 0.96 and -0.20 < lambda_{gamma} < 0.20.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. D Rapid Communication

Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV using Kinematic Characteristics of Lepton + Jets Events

We present a measurement of the top quark pair ttbar production cross section in ppbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV using 230 pb**{-1} of data collected by the DO detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with one charged lepton (electron or muon), large missing transverse energy, and at least four jets, and extract the ttbar content of the sample based on the kinematic characteristics of the events. For a top quark mass of 175 GeV, we measure sigma(ttbar) = 6.7 {+1.4-1.3} (stat) {+1.6- 1.1} (syst) +/-0.4 (lumi) pb, in good agreement with the standard model prediction.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Let