Partitioning the Heritability of Tourette Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Reveals Differences in Genetic Architecture

The direct estimation of heritability from genome-wide common variant data as implemented in the program Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA) has provided a means to quantify heritability attributable to all interrogated variants. We have quantified the variance in liability to disease explained

National survey for Salmonella in pigs, cattle and sheep at slaughter in Great Britain (1999-2000).

AIMS: The objective of these surveys was to estimate the prevalence of faecal carriage of Salmonella in healthy pigs, cattle and sheep at slaughter, and of pig carcase contamination with Salmonella. These data can be used as a baseline against which future change in Salmonella prevalence in these species at slaughter can be monitored. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this first randomized National Survey for faecal carriage of Salmonella in slaughter pigs, cattle and sheep in Great Britain, 2509 pigs, 891 cattle and 973 sheep were sampled in 34 pig abattoirs and 117 red meat abattoirs in England, Scotland and Wales. Carriage of Salmonella in 25 g caecal contents was identified in 578 (23.0% pigs) but in only 134 (5.3%) of carcase swabs. The predominant Salmonella serovars found in both types of sample were S. Typhimurium (11.1% caeca, 2.1% carcases) and S. Derby (6.3% caeca, 1.6% carcases). The main definitive phage types (DT) of S. Typhimurium found were DT104 (21.9% of caecal S. Typhimurium isolates), DT193 (18.7%), untypable strains (17.6%), DT208 (13.3%) and U302 (13.3%). Three isolates of S. Enteritidis (PTs 13A and 4) and one enrofloxacin-resistant S. Choleraesuis were also isolated. A positive 'meat-juice ELISA' was obtained from 15.2% of pigs at 40% optical density (O.D.) cut-off level and 35.7% at 10% cut-off. There was poor correlation between positive ELISA results or carcase contamination and the caecal carriage of Salmonella. The ratio of carcase contamination to caecal carriage rates was highest in abattoirs from the midland region of England and in smaller abattoirs. In cattle and sheep 1 g samples of rectal faeces were tested. Two isolates (i.e. 0.2%) were recovered from cattle, one each of S. Typhimurium, DT193 and DT12. One sheep sample (0.1%) contained a Salmonella, S. Typhimurium DT41. In a small subsidiary validation exercise using 25 g of rectal faeces from 174 cattle samples, three (1.7%) isolates of Salmonella (S. Typhimurium DT104, S. Agama, S. Derby) were found. CONCLUSIONS: The carriage rate of Salmonella in prime slaughter cattle and sheep in Great Britain was very low compared with pigs. This suggests that future control measures should be focused on reduction of Salmonella infection on pig farms and minimizing contamination of carcases at slaughter. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This work has set baseline figures for Salmonella carriage in these species slaughtered for human consumption in Great Britain. These figures were collected in a representative way, which enables them to be used for monitoring trends and setting control targets

The colour and stereo surface imaging system (CaSSIS) for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) is the main imaging system onboard the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) which was launched on 14 March 2016. CaSSIS is intended to acquire moderately high resolution (4.6 m/pixel) targeted images of Mars at a rate of 10–20 images per day from a roughly circular orbit 400 km above the surface. Each image can be acquired in up to four colours and stereo capability is foreseen by the use of a novel rotation mechanism. A typical product from one image acquisition will be a 9.5 km×∼45 km swath in full colour and stereo in one over-flight of the target thereby reducing atmospheric influences inherent in stereo and colour products from previous high resolution imagers. This paper describes the instrument including several novel technical solutions required to achieve the scientific requirements