790 research outputs found
Cryptosporidium — What is it?
Cryptosporidium is a ubiquitous enteric protozoan pathogen of vertebrates, and although recognised as a cause of disease in humans and domestic animals for over 50 years, fundamental questions concerning its biology and ecology have only recently been resolved. Overwhelming data now confirm that, like its close relatives, Cryptosporidium is a facultatively epicellular apicomplexan that is able to multiply in a host cell-free environment. These data must be considered in the context of the phylogenetic reclassification of Cryptosporidium from a coccidian to a gregarine. Together, they dictate an urgent need to reconsider the biology and behaviour of Cryptosporidium, and perhaps help to explain the parasite's incredible genetic diversity, distribution and host range. Improved imaging technologies have complemented phylogenetic studies in demonstrating the parasite's affinities with gregarine protozoa and have further supported its extracellular developmental capability and potential role as an environmental pathogen. These advances in our understanding of Cryptosporidium as a protozoan pathogen are examined with emphasis on how they may influence control strategies in the future
Towards a better understanding of the life cycle of Trypanosoma copemani
Trypanosoma copemani has been found infecting several threatened/endangered marsupial species within Australia and is thought to be a key player in the rapid decline of the woylie (Bettongia penicillata). To better understand the biology and life cycle of this parasite, the growth requirements, and kinetics of infection of two newly described genotypes, T. copemani G1 and G2, were investigated and compared with the T. cruzi strain-10R26 in vitro. Both G1 and G2 were able to infect all four cell lines tested. The number of infected cells where at least one intracellular amastigote of T. copemani G1 and G2 was seen was below 7% and 15% respectively in most cell lines. However, in VERO cells the rate of infection for T. copemani G2 was 70%-approximately seven and two times higher than for G1 and T. cruzi respectively. Despite the higher infection rate, the number of intracellular forms of T. copemani G2 was lower compared with T. cruzi, and intracellular replicating forms were not observed. The capability of T. copemani G2 to infect cells may have important consequences for pathogenicity and suggests it might employ similar strategies to complete its life cycle in the vertebrate host to those seen in T. cruzi
Source population synthesis and the Galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission
Population synthesis is used to study the contribution from undetected
sources to the Galactic ridge emission measured by EGRET. Synthesized source
counts are compared with the 3rd EGRET catalogue at low and high latitudes. For
pulsar-like populations, 5-10% of the emission >100 MeV comes from sources
below the EGRET threshold. A steeper luminosity function can increase this to
20% without violating EGRET source statistics. Less luminous populations can
produce much higher values without being detected. Since the unresolved source
spectrum is different from the interstellar spectrum, it could provide an
explanation of the observed MeV and GeV excesses above the predictions, and we
give an explicit example of how this could work.Comment: Astrophysics and Space Science, in press. (Proceedings of Conference
'The multi-messenger approach to high-energy gamma-ray sources', Barcelona,
2006). Minor changes for accepted version, updated reference
‘A flying start’: Wildlife trypanosomes in tissues of Australian tabanids (Diptera: Tabanidae)
Tabanids (syn. horse flies) are biting-flies of medical and veterinary significance because of their ability to transmit a range of pathogens including trypanosomes – some species of which carry a combined health and biosecurity risk. Invertebrate vectors responsible for transmitting species of Trypanosoma between Australian wildlife remains unknown, thus establishing the role of potential vector candidates such as tabanids is of utmost importance. The current study aimed to investigate the presence of indigenous trypanosomes in tabanids from an endemic area of south-west Australia. A total of 148 tabanids were collected, with morphological analysis revealing two subgenera: Scaptia (Pseudoscione) and S. (Scaptia) among collected flies. A parasitological survey using an HRM-qPCR and sequencing approach revealed a high (105/148; 71%) prevalence of trypanosomatid DNA within collected tabanids. Individual tissues - proboscis (labrum, labium and mandibles, hypopharynx), salivary glands, proventriculus, midgut, and hindgut and rectum - were also tested from a subset of 20 tabanids (n = 140 tissues), confirming the presence of Trypanosoma noyesi in 31% of screened tissues, accompanied by T. copemani (3%) and T. vegrandis/T.gilletti (5%). An unconfirmed trypanosomatid sp. was also detected (9%) within tissues. The difference between tissues infected with T. noyesi compared with tissues infected with other trypanosome species was statistically significant (p < 0.05), revealing T. noyesi as the more frequent species detected in the tabanids examined. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed intact parasites within salivary glands and the proboscis respectively, suggesting that both biological and mechanical modes of transmission could occur. This study reveals the presence of Australian Trypanosoma across tabanid tissues and confirms intact parasites within tabanid salivary glands and the proboscis for the first time. Further investigations are required to determine whether tabanids have the vectorial competence to transmit Australian trypanosomes between wildlife
Next generation sequencing reveals widespread trypanosome diversity and polyparasitism in marsupials from Western Australia
In Western Australia a number of indigenous Trypanosoma spp. infect susceptible native marsupials, such as the woylie (Bettongia penicillata), brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), and chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroii). Two genotypes of Trypanosoma copemani (identified as G1 and G2) have been found in the woylie, and G2 has been implicated in the decline of this host species, making its presence of particular interest. Here we used targeted amplicon next generation sequencing (NGS) of the Trypanosoma 18S rDNA loci on 70 Trypanosoma-positive marsupial blood samples, to identify T. copemani genotypes and multiple Trypanosoma infections (polyparasitism) in woylies and cohabiting species in Western Australia. Polyparasitism with Trypanosoma spp. was found in 50% of the wildlife sampled, and within species diversity was high, with 85 zero-radius operational taxonomic units (ZOTUs) identified in nine putative parasite species. Trypanosoma copemani was assigned 17 ZOTUs and was identified in 80% of samples. The most abundant ZOTU isolated (63%) differed slightly from the published genotype of G1, and G2 was the second most abundant ZOTU (14%). Trypanosome diversity was significantly greater in woylies than in brushtail possums, and parasite community composition also differed significantly between these host species. One novel Trypanosoma spp. genotype (Trypanosoma sp. ANU2) was found in 20% of samples. A species of Crithidia was detected in a woylie, and two avian trypanosomes (Trypanosoma avium and Trypanosoma sp. AAT) were identified in woylies for the first time
Influence of nonlocal electrodynamics on the anisotropic vortex pinning in
We have studied the pinning force density Fp of YNi_2B_2C superconductors for
various field orientations. We observe anisotropies both between the c-axis and
the basal plane and within the plane, that cannot be explained by usual mass
anisotropy. For magnetic field , the reorientation structural
transition in the vortex lattice due to nonlocality, which occurs at a field
, manifests itself as a kink in Fp(H). When , Fp is
much larger and has a quite different H dependence, indicating that other
pinning mechanisms are present. In this case the signature of nonlocal effects
is the presence of a fourfold periodicity of Fp within the basal plane.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Higher moments of nucleon spin structure functions in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory and in a resonance model
The third moment of the twist-3 part of the nucleon spin structure
function is generalized to arbitrary momentum transfer and is
evaluated in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory (HBChPT) up to order
and in a unitary isobar model (MAID). We show how to link
as well as higher moments of the nucleon spin structure functions
and to nucleon spin polarizabilities. We compare our results with the
most recent experimental data, and find a good description of these available
data within the unitary isobar model. We proceed to extract the twist-4 matrix
element which appears in the suppressed term in the twist
expansion of the spin structure function for proton and neutron.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure
Instabilities in the Flux Line Lattice of Anisotropic Superconductors
The stability of the flux line lattice has been investigated within
anisotropic London theory. This is the first full-scale investigation of
instabilities in the `chain' state. It has been found that the lattice is
stable at large fields, but that instabilities occur as the field is reduced.
The field at which these instabilities first arise, ,
depends on the anisotropy and the angle at which the
lattice is tilted away from the -axis. These instabilities initially occur
at wavevector , and the component of along the
average direction of the flux lines, , is always finite. As the
instability occurs at finite the dependence of the cutoff on is
important, and we have used a cutoff suggested by Sudb\ospace and Brandt. The
instabilities only occur for values of the anisotropy appropriate to
a material like BSCCO, and not for anisotropies more appropriate to YBCO. The
lower critical field is calculated as a function of the angle
at which the applied field is tilted away from the crystal axis. The
presence of kinks in is seen to be related to instabilities in
the equilibrium flux line structure.Comment: Extensively revised paper, with modified analysis of elastic
instabilities. Calculation of the lower critical field is included, and the
presence of kinks in is seen to be related to the elastic
instabilities. 29 pages including 16 figures, LaTeX with epsf styl
The Jlab Upgrade - Studies of the Nucleon with CLAS12
An overview is presented on the program to study the nucleon structure at the
12 GeV JLab upgrade using the CLAS12 detector. The focus is on deeply virtual
exclusive processes to access the generalized parton distributions,
semni-inclusive processes to study transverse momentum dependent distribution
functions, and inclusive spin structure functions and resonance transition form
factors at high Q^2 and with high precision.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figures, NSTAR 2007 conference, Bonn, September 5-8, 200
Doppler cooling of Ca+ ions in a Penning trap
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