Cumulative Risk of Bovine Mastitis Treatments in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden

Data from the national dairy cow recording systems during 1997 were used to calculate lactation-specific cumulative risk of mastitis treatments and cumulative risk of removal from the herds in Denmark, Finland Norway and Sweden. Sweden had the lowest risk of recorded mastitis treatments during 305 days of lactation and Norway had the highest risk. The incidence risk of recorded mastitis treatments during 305 days of lactation in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden was 0.177, 0.139, 0.215 and 0.127 for first parity cows and 0.228, 0.215, 0.358 and 0.204 for parities higher than three, respectively. The risk of a first parity cow being treated for mastitis was almost 3 times higher at calving in Norway than in Sweden. The period with the highest risk for mastitis treatments was from 2 days before calving until 14 days after calving and the highest risk for removal was from calving to 10 days after calving in all countries. The study clearly demonstrated differences in bovine mastitis treatment patterns among the Nordic countries. The most important findings were the differences in treatment risks during different lactations within each country, as well as differences in strategies with respect to the time during lactation mastitis was treated

Antipredatory Function of Head Shape for Vipers and Their Mimics

Most research into the adaptive significance of warning signals has focused on the colouration and patterns of prey animals. However, behaviour, odour and body shape can also have signal functions and thereby reduce predators' willingness to attack defended prey. European vipers all have a distinctive triangular head shape; and they are all venomous. Several non-venomous snakes, including the subfamily Natricinae, commonly flatten their heads (also known as head triangulation) when disturbed. The adaptive significance of this potential behavioural mimicry has never been investigated

A Gamma-Herpesvirus Glycoprotein Complex Manipulates Actin to Promote Viral Spread

Viruses lack self-propulsion. To move in multi-cellular hosts they must therefore manipulate infected cells. Herpesviruses provide an archetype for many aspects of host manipulation, but only for alpha-herpesviruses in is there much information about they move. Other herpesviruses are not necessarily the same. Here we show that Murine gamma-herpesvirus-68 (MHV-68) induces the outgrowth of long, branched plasma membrane fronds to create an intercellular network for virion traffic. The fronds were actin-based and RhoA-dependent. Time-lapse imaging showed that the infected cell surface became highly motile and that virions moved on the fronds. This plasma membrane remodelling was driven by the cytoplasmic tail of gp48, a MHV-68 glycoprotein previously implicated in intercellular viral spread. The MHV-68 ORF58 was also required, but its role was simply transporting gp48 to the plasma membrane, since a gp48 mutant exported without ORF58 did not require ORF58 to form membrane fronds either. Together, gp48/ORF58 were sufficient to induce fronds in transfected cells, as were the homologous BDLF2/BMRF2 of Epstein-Barr virus. Gp48/ORF58 therefore represents a conserved module by which gamma-herpesviruses rearrange cellular actin to increase intercellular contacts and thereby promote their spread

On the physical mechanism underlying Asymptotic Safety

We identify a simple physical mechanism which is at the heart of Asymptotic Safety in Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) according to all available effective average action-based investigations. Upon linearization the gravitational field equations give rise to an inverse propagator for metric fluctuations comprising two pieces: a covariant Laplacian and a curvature dependent potential term. By analogy with elementary magnetic systems they lead to, respectively, dia- and paramagnetic-type interactions of the metric fluctuations with the background gravitational field. We show that above 3 spacetime dimensions the gravitational antiscreening occurring in QEG is entirely due to a strong dominance of the ultralocal paramagnetic interactions over the diamagnetic ones that favor screening. (Below 3 dimensions both the dia- and paramagnetic effects support antiscreening.) The spacetimes of QEG are interpreted as a polarizable medium with a "paramagnetic" response to external perturbations, and similarities with the vacuum state of Yang-Mills theory are pointed out. As a by-product, we resolve a longstanding puzzle concerning the beta function of Newton's constant in 2+{\epsilon} dimensional gravity.Comment: 43 pages, 8 figures; clarifying remarks added; to appear in JHE

Constraints on Nucleon Decay via "Invisible" Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or neutron from O16. A limit of tau_inv > 2 x 10^{29} years is obtained at 90% confidence for either neutron or proton decay modes. This is about an order of magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton decay modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.Comment: Update includes missing efficiency factor (limits change by factor of 2) Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Multiple organism algorithm for finding ultraconserved elements

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ultraconserved elements are nucleotide or protein sequences with 100% identity (no mismatches, insertions, or deletions) in the same organism or between two or more organisms. Studies indicate that these conserved regions are associated with micro RNAs, mRNA processing, development and transcription regulation. The identification and characterization of these elements among genomes is necessary for the further understanding of their functionality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe an algorithm and provide freely available software which can find all of the ultraconserved sequences between genomes of multiple organisms. Our algorithm takes a combinatorial approach that finds all sequences without requiring the genomes to be aligned. The algorithm is significantly faster than BLAST and is designed to handle very large genomes efficiently. We ran our algorithm on several large comparative analyses to evaluate its effectiveness; one compared 17 vertebrate genomes where we find 123 ultraconserved elements longer than 40 bps shared by all of the organisms, and another compared the human body louse, <it>Pediculus humanus humanus</it>, against itself and select insects to find thousands of non-coding, potentially functional sequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Whole genome comparative analysis for multiple organisms is both feasible and desirable in our search for biological knowledge. We argue that bioinformatic programs should be forward thinking by assuming analysis on multiple (and possibly large) genomes in the design and implementation of algorithms. Our algorithm shows how a compromise design with a trade-off of disk space versus memory space allows for efficient computation while only requiring modest computer resources, and at the same time providing benefits not available with other software.</p

First Neutrino Observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location, the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 10 figures, Invited paper at Neutrino 2000 Conference, Sudbury, Canada, June 16-21, 2000 to be published in the Proceeding

BMP signals and the transcriptional repressor BLIMP1 during germline segregation in the mammalian embryo

Molecular factors and tissue compartments involved in the foundation of the mammalian germline have been mainly described in the mouse so far. To find mechanisms applicable to mammals in general, we analyzed temporal and spatial expression patterns of the transcriptional repressor BLIMP1 (also known as PRDM1) and the signaling molecules BMP2 and BMP4 in perigastrulation and early neurulation embryos of the rabbit using whole-mount in situ hybridization and high-resolution light microscopy. Both BMP2 and BMP4 are expressed in annular domains at the boundary of the embryonic disc, which—in contrast to the situation in the mouse—partly belong to intraembryonic tissues. While BMP2 expression begins at (pregastrulation) stage 1 in the hypoblast, BMP4 expression commences—distinctly delayed compared to the mouse—diffusely at (pregastrulation) stage 2; from stage 3 onwards, BMP4 is expressed peripherally in hypoblast and epiblast and in the mesoderm at the posterior pole of the embryonic disc. BLIMP1 expression begins throughout the hypoblast at stage 1 and emerges in single primordial germ cell (PGC) precursors in the posterior epiblast at stage 2 and then in single mesoderm cells at positions identical to those identified by PGC-specific antibodies. These expression patterns suggest that function and chronology of factors involved in germline segregation are similar in mouse and rabbit, but higher temporal and spatial resolution offered by the rabbit demonstrates a variable role of bone morphogenetic proteins and makes “blimping” a candidate case for lateral inhibition without the need for an allantoic germ cell niche

The Personal and Health Service Impact of Falls in 85 Year Olds: Cross-Sectional Findings from the Newcastle 85+ Cohort Study

Falls are common in older people and increase in prevalence with advancing old age. There is limited knowledge about their impact in those aged 85 years and older, the fastest growing age group of the population. We investigated the prevalence and impact of falls, and the overlap between falls, dizziness and blackouts, in a population-based sample of 85 year olds.Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from Newcastle 85+ Cohort Study.Primary care, North-East England.816 men and women aged 85 years.Structured interview with research nurse. Cost-consequence analysis of fall-related healthcare costs.Over 38% (313/816) of participants had fallen at least once in the previous 12 months and of these: 10.6% (33/312) sustained a fracture, 30.1% (94/312) attended an emergency department, and 12.8% (40/312) were admitted to hospital. Only 37.2% (115/309) of fallers had specifically discussed their falls problem with their general practitioner and only 12.7% (39/308) had seen a falls specialist. The average annual healthcare cost per faller was estimated at £202 (inter-quartile range £174-£231) or US$329 ($284-$377). 'Worry about falling' was experienced by 42.0% (128/305) of fallers, 'loss of confidence' by 40.0% (122/305), and 'going out less often' by 25.9% (79/305); each was significantly more common in women, odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for women: men of 2.63 (1.45-4.55), 4.00 (2.27-7.14), and 2.86 (1.54-5.56) respectively. Dizziness and blackouts were reported by 40.0% (318/796) and 6.4% (52/808) of participants respectively. There was marked overlap in the report of falls, dizziness and blackouts.Falls in 85 year olds are very common, associated with considerable psychological and physical morbidity, and have high impact on healthcare services. Wider use of fall prevention services is needed. Significant expansion in acute and preventative services is required in view of the rapid growth in this age group

Bcl-2 and β1-integrin predict survival in a tissue microarray of small cell lung cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Survival in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is limited by the development of chemoresistance. Factors associated with chemoresistance in vitro have been difficult to validate in vivo. Both Bcl-2 and β(1)-integrin have been identified as in vitro chemoresistance factors in SCLC but their importance in patients remains uncertain. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) are useful to validate biomarkers but no large TMA exists for SCLC. We designed an SCLC TMA to study potential biomarkers of prognosis and then used it to clarify the role of both Bcl-2 and β(1)-integrin in SCLC. METHODS: A TMA was constructed consisting of 184 cases of SCLC and stained for expression of Bcl-2 and β(1)-integrin. The slides were scored and the role of the proteins in survival was determined using Cox regression analysis. A meta-analysis of the role of Bcl-2 expression in SCLC prognosis was performed based on published results. RESULTS: Both proteins were expressed at high levels in the SCLC cases. For Bcl-2 (n=140), the hazard ratio for death if the staining was weak in intensity was 0.55 (0.33-0.94, P=0.03) and for β(1)-integrin (n=151) was 0.60 (0.39-0.92, P=0.02). The meta-analysis showed an overall hazard ratio for low expression of Bcl-2 of 0.91(0.74-1.09). CONCLUSIONS: Both Bcl-2 and β(1)-integrin are independent prognostic factors in SCLC in this cohort although further validation is required to confirm their importance. A TMA of SCLC cases is feasible but challenging and an important tool for biomarker validation