1,092 research outputs found
Different forms of the bovine PrP gene have five or six copies of a short, G-C-rich element within the protein-coding exon
Current models of the virus-like agents of scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have to take into account that structural changes in a host-encoded protein (PrP protein) exhibit an effect on the time course of these diseases and the survival time of any man or animal exposed to these pathogens. We report here the sequence of different forms of the bovine PrP gene which contain either five or six copies of a short, G-C-rich element which encodes the octapeptide Pro-His-Gly-Gly-Gly-Trp-Gly-Gln or its longer variants Pro-Gln/His-Gly-Gly-Gly-Gly-Trp-Gly-Gln. Out of 12 cattle, we found eight animals homozygous for genes with six copies of the Gly-rich peptide (6:6), while four were heterozygous (6:5). Two confirmed cases of BSE occurred in (6: 6) homozygous animals. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a transmissible disease (Fraser et al., 1988; Dawson et al., 1990; Barlow & Middleton, 1990) which produces neuropathological lesions in cattle similar to those seen in ovine scrapie (Wells et al., 1987) and the rare human dementias Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Str/iussler syndrome (GSS) (Beck & Daniel, 1987). A cellular membrane protein (PrP) has a key role in the transmission and development of these diseases. This protein accumulates in the brain and other tissues during the protracted time course of these diseases and, in a disease-specific, protease-resistant isoform (SAF-PrP), has been purified by subcellular fractionation of scrapie
Coarsening in surface growth models without slope selection
We study conserved models of crystal growth in one dimension [] which are linearly unstable and develop a mound
structure whose typical size L increases in time (). If the local
slope () increases indefinitely, depends on the exponent
characterizing the large behaviour of the surface current (): for and for
.Comment: 7 pages, 2 EPS figures. To be published in J. Phys. A (Letter to the
Editor
High prevalence of scrapie in a dairy goat herd: tissue distribution of disease-associated PrP and effect of PRNP genotype and age
Following a severe outbreak of clinical scrapie in 2006–2007, a
large dairy goat herd was culled
and 200 animals were selected for post-mortem examinations in order to
ascertain the prevalence of infection,
the effect of age, breed and PRNP genotype on the susceptibility to scrapie,
the tissue distribution of diseaseassociated
PrP (PrP), and the comparative efficiency of different diagnostic methods.
As determined by immunohistochemical (IHC) examinations with Bar224 PrP antibody, the
prevalence of preclinical infection
was very high (72/200; 36.0%), with most infected animals being positive
for PrP in lymphoreticular system
(LRS) tissues (68/72; 94.4%) compared to those that were positive in
brain samples (38/72; 52.8%). The
retropharyngeal lymph node and the palatine tonsil showed the highest
frequency of PrP accumulation (87.3%
and 84.5%, respectively), while the recto-anal mucosa-associated lymphoid
tissue (RAMALT) was positive in
only 30 (41.7%) of the infected goats. However, the efficiency of rectal
and palatine tonsil biopsies taken
shortly before necropsy was similar. The probability of brain and RAMALT
being positive directly
correlated with the spread of PrP within the LRS. The prevalence of
infection was influenced by PRNP
genetics at codon 142 and by the age of the goats: methionine carriers older
than 60 months showed a much
lower prevalence of infection (12/78; 15.4%) than those younger than 60 months (20/42; 47.6%); these last
showed prevalence values similar to isoleucine homozygotes of any age
(40/80; 50.0%). Two of seven goats
with definite signs of scrapie were negative for PrP in brain but positive
in LRS tissues, and one goat showed
biochemical and IHC features of PrP different from all other infected
goats. The results of this study have
implications for surveillance and control policies for scrapie in goats
Hole dynamics in noble metals
We present a detailed analysis of hole dynamics in noble metals (Cu and Au),
by means of first-principles many-body calculations. While holes in a
free-electron gas are known to live shorter than electrons with the same
excitation energy, our results indicate that d-holes in noble metals exhibit
longer inelastic lifetimes than excited sp-electrons, in agreement with
experiment. The density of states available for d-hole decay is larger than
that for the decay of excited electrons; however, the small overlap between d-
and sp-states below the Fermi level increases the d-hole lifetime. The impact
of d-hole dynamics on electron-hole correlation effects, which are of relevance
in the analysis of time-resolved two-photon photoemission experiments, is also
addressed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Rectangular quantum dots in high magnetic fields
We use density-functional methods to study the effects of an external
magnetic field on two-dimensional quantum dots with a rectangular hard-wall
confining potential. The increasing magnetic field leads to spin polarization
and formation of a highly inhomogeneous maximum-density droplet at the
predicted magnetic field strength. At higher fields, we find an oscillating
behavior in the electron density and in the magnetization of the dot. We
identify a rich variety of phenomena behind the periodicity and analyze the
complicated many-electron dynamics, which is shown to be highly dependent on
the shape of the quantum dot.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Epidemiological Characteristics of Classical Scrapie Outbreaks in 30 Sheep Flocks in the United Kingdom
Most previous analyses of scrapie outbreaks have focused on flocks run by research institutes, which may not reflect the field situation. Within this study, we attempt to rectify this deficit by describing the epidemiological characteristics of 30 sheep flocks naturally-infected with classical scrapie, and by exploring possible underlying causes of variation in the characteristics between flocks, including flock-level prion protein (PrP) genotype profile. In total, the study involved PrP genotype data for nearly 8600 animals and over 400 scrapie cases.We found that most scrapie cases were restricted to just two PrP genotypes (ARQ/VRQ and VRQ/VRQ), though two flocks had markedly different affected genotypes, despite having similar underlying genotype profiles to other flocks of the same breed; we identified differences amongst flocks in the age of cases of certain PrP genotypes; we found that the age-at-onset of clinical signs depended on peak incidence and flock type; we found evidence that purchasing infected animals is an important means of introducing scrapie to a flock; we found some evidence that flock-level PrP genotype profile and flock size account for variation in outbreak characteristics; identified seasonality in cases associated with lambing time in certain flocks; and we identified one case that was homozygous for phenylalanine at codon 141, a polymorphism associated with a very high risk of atypical scrapie, and 28 cases that were heterozygous at this codon.This paper presents the largest study to date on commercially-run sheep flocks naturally-infected with classical scrapie, involving 30 study flocks, more than 400 scrapie cases and over 8500 PrP genotypes. We show that some of the observed variation in epidemiological characteristics between farms is related to differences in their PrP genotype profile; although much remains unexplained and may instead be attributed to the stochastic nature of scrapie dynamics
Lifetime of d-holes at Cu surfaces: Theory and experiment
We have investigated the hole dynamics at copper surfaces by high-resolution
angle-resolved photoemission experiments and many-body quasiparticle GW
calculations. Large deviations from a free-electron-like picture are observed
both in the magnitude and the energy dependence of the lifetimes, with a clear
indication that holes exhibit longer lifetimes than electrons with the same
excitation energy. Our calculations show that the small overlap of d- and
sp-states below the Fermi level is responsible for the observed enhancement.
Although there is qualitative good agreement of our theoretical predictions and
the measured lifetimes, there still exist some discrepancies pointing to the
need of a better description of the actual band structure of the solid.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Trigonometry of 'complex Hermitian' type homogeneous symmetric spaces
This paper contains a thorough study of the trigonometry of the homogeneous
symmetric spaces in the Cayley-Klein-Dickson family of spaces of 'complex
Hermitian' type and rank-one. The complex Hermitian elliptic CP^N and
hyperbolic CH^N spaces, their analogues with indefinite Hermitian metric and
some non-compact symmetric spaces associated to SL(N+1,R) are the generic
members in this family. The method encapsulates trigonometry for this whole
family of spaces into a single "basic trigonometric group equation", and has
'universality' and '(self)-duality' as its distinctive traits. All previously
known results on the trigonometry of CP^N and CH^N follow as particular cases
of our general equations. The physical Quantum Space of States of any quantum
system belongs, as the complex Hermitian space member, to this parametrised
family; hence its trigonometry appears as a rather particular case of the
equations we obtain.Comment: 46 pages, LaTe
Polymorphisms of the prion protein gene and their effects on litter size and risk evaluation for scrapie in Chinese Hu sheep
It is well known that scrapie is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease in sheep and goat, which belongs to the group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases. It has been confirmed that the polymorphisms of prion protein gene (PRNP) at codons 136, 154, and 171 have strong relationship with scrapie in sheep. In the present study, nine polymorphisms of PRNP at codons 136, 154, and 171 and other six loci (at codons 101, 112, 127, 137, 138, and 152) were detected in 180 Chinese Hu sheep. All the alleles at codons 136, 154, and 171 have been identified and resulted in three new genotypes. The frequencies of predominant alleles were 85% (A136), 99.40% (R154), and 37.78% (Q171), respectively. The predominant haplotype ARQ has a relatively high frequency of 57.77%. The frequencies of dominant genotypes of ARR/ARQ and ARQ/ARQ were 30 and 26.67%, respectively. Three new found genotypes named ARQ/TRK, ARQ/TRR, and TRR/TRQ had the same lower frequencies (0.56%). The relationship of PRNP genotype with scrapie risk and litter size showed that the predominant genotypes are corresponded to the risk score of R1 (1.67%), R2 (32.22%), and R3 (42.22%). Just at the first parity, the individuals with ARH/ARH genotype had significantly larger litter size than the mean value and those with ARQ/ARQ and ARR/ARQ genotypes. In short, this study provided preliminary information about alleles and genotypes of PRNP in Chinese Hu sheep. It could be concluded that Hu sheep has a low susceptibility to natural scrapie, and the predominant PRNP genotype at least has no significant effect on litter size
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