El silúrico de Galicia Media (central): su importancia en la paleográfica varisca

[Resumen] La sucesión silúrica es estudiada en el flanco Oeste y Sud-Oeste del anticlinal del (Ollo de Sapo» (Este de Cabo Ortegal y región de Verín). Estas observaciones y los datos exIstentes permiten discutir ciertos problemas estratigráficos y paleogeográficos. Se señala la originalidad de la zona de Galicia Media-"Tras"'os"Montes” en el marco de la paleogeografía del Silúrico de la Península Ibérica[Abstract] The Silurian succession is described in the region located to the Westand the Southwest of the ((0llo de Sapo» anticline (East of Cabo ,Ortegal and Verinarea). Stratigraphical and palaeogeographical problems are discussed on the basis of this study and of previous data. The originality of the ((Middle-Galicia-Tras-os-Montes zone» in the Iherian Silurian palaeogeography is pointed out

A Step Forward in Molecular Diagnostics of Lyssaviruses – Results of a Ring Trial among European Laboratories

Rabies is a lethal and notifiable zoonotic disease for which diagnostics have to meet the highest standards. In recent years, an evolution was especially seen in molecular diagnostics with a wide variety of different detection methods published. Therefore, a first international ring trial specifically designed on the use of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for detection of lyssavirus genomic RNA was organized. The trial focussed on assessment and comparison of the performance of conventional and real-time assays. In total, 16 European laboratories participated. All participants were asked to investigate a panel of defined lyssavirus RNAs, consisting of Rabies virus (RABV) and European bat lyssavirus 1 and 2 (EBLV-1 and -2) RNA samples, with systems available in their laboratory. The ring trial allowed the important conclusion that conventional RT-PCR assays were really robust assays tested with a high concordance between different laboratories and assays. The real-time RT-PCR system by Wakeley et al. (2005) in combination with an intercalating dye, and the combined version by Hoffmann and co-workers (2010) showed good sensitivity for the detection of all RABV samples included in this test panel. Furthermore, all used EBLV-specific assays, real-time RT-PCRs as well as conventional RT-PCR systems, were shown to be suitable for a reliable detection of EBLVs. It has to be mentioned that differences were seen in the performance between both the individual RT-PCR systems and the laboratories. Laboratories which used more than one molecular assay for testing the sample panel always concluded a correct sample result. Due to the markedly high genetic diversity of lyssaviruses, the application of different assays in diagnostics is needed to achieve a maximum of diagnostic accuracy. To improve the knowledge about the diagnostic performance proficiency testing at an international level is recommended before using lyssavirus molecular diagnostics e.g. for confirmatory testing

Revision of the age of magnetization of the Montmartin red beds, Normandy, France

A new roadcut has enabled us to sample the south-dipping limb of the Montmartin syncline for a palaeomagnetic reevaluation of an earlier result published by Jones, Van der Voo & Bonhommet. In combination with the results previously published in 1979 for the north-dipping beds of the syncline, a conclusively negative fold test is obtained. The resulting magnetization (declination/inclination =206°/-3°, Α 95 = 12°, palaeopole at 38°S, 325°E) is interpreted to be of Late Carboniferous age, not Late Devonian as thought earlier. Simultaneously, we have re-evaluated the age of the rocks, previously thought to be Late Devonian on the basis of Acritarchs, Chitinozoans and spores. It has not been possible to reconfirm these fossils, not even in the same samples as studied originally; in contrast, the regional presence of Early Palaeozoic fossils suggests to us an age similar to that of other red beds in the Arrnorican Massif, which have been dated as Early Ordovician. The geodynamic implications of our finding that the Montmartin rocks are completely remagnetized, however, are of no great consequence for the geodynamics of the Hercynian belt. Pre-folding magnetization obtained from Silurian and Devonian rocks in Spain and Germany argue for the same conclusion as reached erroneously in our earlier study, namely that the Armorican Massif and adjacent parts of Hercynian Europe were adjointed to North America, Great Britain, the Baltic Shield and the Russian Platform since at least Late Devonian time. If a Medio-European ocean existed during the Palaeozoic, it was virtually closed before the mid-Devonian and of insignificant width during Culm deposition in Early Carboniferoirs time.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74719/1/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05108.x.pd

Le Silurien du synclinorium de Moncorvo (NE du Portugal): Biostratigraphie et importance paléogéographique

Dans la succession silurienne du synclinorium de Moncorvo (NW de la Zone Centre Ibérique, Portugal), des lentilles calcaires ont livré, dans deux localités distinctes, les premiers conodontes siluriens du Portugal. Dans la première localité, Kockelella cf. uariabilis, K. cf. absidata, Ozarkodina confluens, Oz. excauata et Pseudooneotod us beckmanni indiquent le Ludlow s.l. (ou peut-être le Wenlock supérieur ou terminal). Dans la seconde, Oulod us ele­ gans, O. cf. cristagalli et Ozarkodina ex gr. remscheidensis indiquent le Pridoli, ce que confirme la présence, dans le même gisement, de scyphocrinoïdes du genre Scyphocrinites, et en particulier les lobolithes à cirrhes. Dans les schistes noirs à nodules sous-jacents aux calcaires, des graptolites montrent l'existence de niveaux du Llandovery moyen et supérieur (Aéronien et Télychien) et du Wenlock. La succession silurienne de Moncorvo apparaît ainsi comme une séquence condensée, analogue, en particulier, à celles qui existent dans la Zone d'Ossa Morena, en Sardaigne et dans certaines régions d'Afrique du Nord. Ces successions sont bien différentes de celles qui caracté­ risent les régions centrales et méridionales de la Zone Centre Ibérique où, dans leur partie supérieure, les dépôts siluriens, de faible profondeur, sont beaucoup plus épais et plus riches en matériel terrigène grossier. Ces données permettent d'envisager que, au Silurien, le NW de la Péninsule Ibérique (y compris une partie de la Zone Asturo­ Léonaise) appartenait à un domaine paléogéographique particulier présentant des caractères de plate-forme dista­ le plus profonde

Palaeomagnetism of the Ordovician dolerites of the Crozon Peninsula (France)

In order to obtain a Lower Palaeozoic pole for the Armorican Massif and to test the origin of the Ibero-Armorican arc, the Ordovician dolerites of the Crozon peninsula have been palaeomagnetically studied. The samples show a multicomponent magnetization which has been revealed by AF and thermal demagnetization and thoroughly investigated with rock magnetic experiments, polished section examinations and K/Ar dating. Four groups of directions have been recognized, often superimposed on each other in an individual sample. One component (D) has always the lowest blocking temperatures and coercivities and is considered to be of viscous origin, acquired recently in situ or in the laboratory during storage. Two components (A and B) are interpreted to be of secondary origin and to correspond to the observed K/Ar age distribution between 300 and 190 Myr. These ages represent the time interval between two regional thermo-tectonic events, associated with the Hercynian orogeny and the intrusion of dykes related to the early opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay. A fourth component (C) could be of Ordovician or younger Palaeozoic age; it is not clear whether the age of the magnetization is pre- or post-folding, but a pre-folding age would yield a direction of magnetization similar to Ordovician results from the Iberian peninsula. The latter interpretation suggests a fairly high palaeolatitude, which is in agreement with a glacio-marine postulated for sediments overlying the dolerite sills.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73214/1/j.1365-246X.1983.tb03785.x.pd

Active surveillance of bat rabies in France: A 5-year study (2004–2009)

Active surveillance of bats in France started in 2004 with an analysis of 18 of the 45 bat species reported in Europe. Rabies antibodies were detected in six indigenous species, mainly in Eptesicus serotinus and Myotis myotis, suggesting previous contact with the EBLV-1 rabies virus. Nineteen of the 177 tested bats were shown serologically positive in seven sites, particularly in central and south-western France. Neither infectious viral particles nor viral genomes were detected in 173 and 308 tested oral swabs, respectively. The presence of neutralising antibodies in female bats (18.6%) was significantly higher than in males (5.6%)

In Vitro and In Vivo Isolation and Characterization of Duvenhage Virus

A fatal human case of Duvenhage virus (DUVV) infection in a Dutch traveller who had returned from Kenya was reported in 2007. She exhibited classical symptoms of rabies encephalitis with distinct pathological findings. In the present study we describe the isolation and characterization of DUVV in vitro and its passage in BALB/c mice. The virus proved to be neuroinvasive in both juvenile and adult mice, resulting in about 50% lethality upon peripheral infection. Clinical signs in infected mice were those of classical rabies. However, the distribution of viral antigen expression in the brain differed from that of classical rabies virus infection and neither inclusion bodies nor neuronal necrosis were observed. This is the first study to describe the in vitro and in vivo isolation and characterization of DUVV