Prevalence of Anti-Borna Disease Virus Antibody in Horses and Their Caretakers in Bangladesh

To elucidate the spread of Borna disease virus (BDV) in Asian countries, we surveyed 48 normal horses in Bangladesh and their 26 caretakers for the BDV antibody by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Eleven horses (23%) were found positive. None of the 5 horses at the age of < 1 year was positive. Seven of 23 horses (30%) at the age of 1 year were positive, as well as 4 of 16 horses (25%) at the age of 3 years. The geometric average of the ECLIA titer of the antibody positive horses at the age of 1 year, 3041, was significantly lower than that found at the age of 3 years, 6887, by the Mann-Whitney test (P = 0.012). Sexual preference in the prevalence of anti-BDV was not evident. None of the 26 male horse caretakers between the ages of 12 to 54 years was positive, including those who were taking care of the antibody positive horses. Total RNA extracted from the peripheral blood nucleated cells was tested by polymerase chain reaction coupled with reverse transcription capable of detecting 200 molecules of BDV p40 RNA per reaction. None of the 11 seropositive horses and the 5 randomly selected seronegative horses was positive. The results showed that BDV is penetrating the Bangladeshi labor horse population with similar levels reported in Germany, Iran and Japan, although the viral genome in the blood was not detected

Anion-Exchange Properties of Hydrotalcite-Like Compounds

Abstract--Ion-exchange isotherms between hydrotalcite-like compounds (HT) of the NO3-, CI-, and SO4-forms and F, 0 % Br, I, OH-, SO42-, CO3 z-, and Naphthol Yellow S (NYS 2-) ions were determined, and the spacing and the width of the 003 reflection were measured as a function of HT composition. The ion-exchange equilibrium constant for HTs of monovalent anions are in the sequence OH-&gt; F&gt; Cl&gt; Br-&gt; NO3-&gt; I, those for divalent anions are in the sequence CO3 ~-&gt; NYS z-&gt; SO42-. The ion-exchange equilibrium constants tend to increase as the diameters of the anions decrease, and the crystallite size in the 001 direction tends to increase with anions having higher selectivity. The OH-form of HT has the smallest basal spacing and the largest crystallite size in the 001 direction

Three Spliced mRNAs of TT Virus Transcribed from a Plasmid Containing the Entire Genome in COS1 Cells

A permuted whole-genome construct of a TT virus (TTV), named VT416, had 3,852 nucleotides (nt) 98.2% similar to the prototype TA278 genome. To allow the transcription of TTV from the internal promoter, pBK*VT416(1.3G), carrying 1.3 units of VT416, was constructed. The poly(A)(+) RNAs expressed in COS1 cells 48 h posttransfection contained three TTV mRNA species 3.0, 1.2, and 1.0 kb in length, which were recovered in the 13 DNA clones from a λ phage cDNA library. These mRNAs in the antigenomic orientation possessed in common the 3′ terminus downstream of a poly(A) signal (A(3073)ATAAA) and the 5′ terminus downstream of a cap site (C(98)ACTTC). A common splicing to join nt 185 with nt 277 was detected in all mRNAs. The coding region of the largest open reading frame (ORF) was maintained in 3.0-kb mRNA, because this splicing was located upstream of its initiation codon (A(589)TG). The second splicing was detected in 1.2-kb mRNA to join nt 711 with nt 2374 and in 1.0-kb mRNA to bind nt 711 to nt 2567. They linked a proposed ORF2 to another ORF for creating new ORFs over nt 2374 to 2872 in frame 2 and nt 2567 to 3074 in frame 3. The donor and acceptor sites of all three splicings matched the consensus sequence and were conserved in most of the 16 TTVs of distinct genotypes retrieved from the database. The observed transcription profile is unique to TTV among known members in the family Circoviridae

Gene expression alterations in the medial prefrontal cortex and blood cells in a mouse model of depression during menopause

Aims: The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is higher in women than in men, and this may be due to the decline in estrogen levels that occurs during the menopausal transition. We studied the biological alterations in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which is a region that is highly implicated in the neurobiology of MDD, and the blood cells (BCs) of ovariectomized (OVX) mice subjected to chronic mild stress (CMS), which represents a mouse model of depression during menopause. Main methods: The mPFC and the BCs were obtained from the same individuals. Gene expression levels were analyzed by microarray. The data were used for the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis and the Gene Ontology analysis. Key findings: The gene expression alterations (GEAs) induced by OVX were mainly associated with ribosomal and mitochondrial functions in both the mPFC and the BCs. Rapamycin-insensitive companion of mTOR (RICTOR) was identified as a possible upstream regulator of the OVX-induced GEAs in both tissues. The CMS-induced GEAs were associated with retinoic acid receptor signaling, inflammatory cytokines and post-synaptic density in the mPFC, but not in the BCs. Significance: OVX and CMS independently affect biological pathways in the mPFC, which is involved in the development of the depression-like phenotype. Because a subset of the OVX-induced GEAs in the mPFC also occurred in the BCs, the GEAs in the BCs might be a useful probe to predict biological pathways in the corresponding brain tissue under specific conditions such as OVX in females