A retrospective study of the prevalence of the canine degenerative myelopathy associated superoxide dismutase 1 mutation (SOD1: c. 118G> A) in a referral population of German Shepherd dogs from the UK

BACKGROUND: Canine degenerative myelopathy (CDM) is an adult onset, progressive neurodegenerative disease of the spinal cord. The disease was originally described in the German Shepherd dog (GSD), but it is now known to occur in many other dog breeds. A previous study has identified a mutation in the superoxide dismutase 1 gene (SOD1:c.118G > A) that is associated with susceptibility to CDM. In the present study, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was used to genotype GSD for SOD1:c.118G > A in order to estimate the prevalence of the mutation in a referral population of GSD in the UK. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that the RFLP assay, based on use of PCR and subsequent digestion with the Eco571 enzyme, provided a simple genotyping test for the SOD1:c.118G > A mutation. In a young GSD population (i.e. dogs less than 6 years of age, before clinical signs of the disease usually become apparent), 8 of 50 dogs were found to be homozygous and a further 19 were heterozygous for the mutation. In dogs over 8 years of age, 21 of 50 dogs admitted to a tertiary referral hospital with pelvic limb ataxia as a major clinical sign were homozygous for the mutation, compared to none of 50 dogs of similar age, but where no neurological disease was reported on referral. CONCLUSIONS: This data suggests that genotyping for the SOD1:c.118G > A mutation is clinically applicable and that the mutation has a high degree of penetrance. Genotyping might also be useful for screening the GSD population to avoid mating of two carriers, but since the allele frequency is relatively high in the UK population of GSD, care should be taken to avoid reduction in genetic diversity within the breed

Chord Label Personalization through Deep Learning of Integrated Harmonic Interval-based Representations

The increasing accuracy of automatic chord estimation systems, the availability of vast amounts of heterogeneous reference annotations, and insights from annotator subjectivity research make chord label personalization increasingly important. Nevertheless, automatic chord estimation systems are historically exclusively trained and evaluated on a single reference annotation. We introduce a first approach to automatic chord label personalization by modeling subjectivity through deep learning of a harmonic interval-based chord label representation. After integrating these representations from multiple annotators, we can accurately personalize chord labels for individual annotators from a single model and the annotators' chord label vocabulary. Furthermore, we show that chord personalization using multiple reference annotations outperforms using a single reference annotation.Comment: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Deep Learning and Music, Anchorage, US, May, 2017 (arXiv:1706.08675v1 [cs.NE]

Etched graphene quantum dots on hexagonal boron nitride

We report on the fabrication and characterization of etched graphene quantum dots (QDs) on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and SiO2 with different island diameters. We perform a statistical analysis of Coulomb peak spacings over a wide energy range. For graphene QDs on hBN, the standard deviation of the normalized peak spacing distribution decreases with increasing QD diameter, whereas for QDs on SiO2 no diameter dependency is observed. In addition, QDs on hBN are more stable under the influence of perpendicular magnetic fields up to 9T. Both results indicate a substantially reduced substrate induced disorder potential in graphene QDs on hBN

Gamma-ray probe of cosmic-ray pressure in galaxy clusters and cosmological implications

Cosmic rays produced in cluster accretion and merger shocks provide pressure to the intracluster medium (ICM) and affect the mass estimates of galaxy clusters. Although direct evidence for cosmic-ray ions in the ICM is still lacking, they produce gamma-ray emission through the decay of neutral pions produced in their collisions with ICM nucleons. We investigate the capability of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) and imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes (IACTs) for constraining the cosmic-ray pressure contribution to the ICM. We show that GLAST can be used to place stringent upper limits, a few per cent for individual nearby rich clusters, on the ratio of pressures of the cosmic rays and thermal gas. We further show that it is possible to place tight (<~10%) constraints for distant (z <~ 0.25) clusters in the case of hard spectrum, by stacking signals from samples of known clusters. The GLAST limits could be made more precise with the constraint on the cosmic-ray spectrum potentially provided by IACTs. Future gamma-ray observations of clusters can constrain the evolution of cosmic-ray energy density, which would have important implications for cosmological tests with upcoming X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect cluster surveys.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; extended discussions; accepted by MNRA

Effect of Magnetization Inhomogeneity on Magnetic Microtraps for Atoms

We report on the origin of fragmentation of ultracold atoms observed on a permanent magnetic film atom chip. A novel technique is used to characterize small spatial variations of the magnetic field near the film surface using radio frequency spectroscopy of the trapped atoms. Direct observations indicate the fragmentation is due to a corrugation of the magnetic potential caused by long range inhomogeneity in the film magnetization. A model which takes into account two-dimensional variations of the film magnetization is consistent with the observations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Investigating owner use of dietary supplements in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy

Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological disorder in dogs. Some diets have been shown to have a positive impact upon the seizure activity in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE), while other diets and dietary supplements (DS), although marketed as providing health benefits, lack conclusive scientific evidence on their actual beneficial effects. A web-based owner questionnaire was designed to assess how and why owners of dogs with IE use different dietary regimes and DS. The study cohort, with 297 valid responses, consisted mainly of pure-breed (82.5%) male neutered (52.9%) dogs. Over two-thirds of owners (67.7%) changed their dog's diet after their dog received a diagnosis of IE. Nearly half of the owners (45.8%) reported giving DS, the most common being coconut oil or derived medium-chain triglyceride oil (71.3%). Some owner justifications of DS use included improvement of seizure frequency (88.2%), seizure severity (61.8%) and protection from potential drug side effects (62.5%). Many owners give DS to their dog with IE. The pharmacokinetic properties of anti-epileptic drugs, such as efficacy, absorption and clearance can be influenced by other medications, diets and possibly by DS. We propose that use of DS should be considered and monitored by veterinary surgeons in epilepsy management