36 research outputs found
Reply to J.J. Muñoz-Perez et al. Comments on âConfirmation of beach accretion by grain-size trend analysis: Camposoto beach, CĂĄdiz, SWSpainâ by E. Poizot et al. (2013) Geo-Marine Letters 33(4)
In a novel finding for a beach environment, Poizot
et al. (2013) identified an FB+ trend (sediments becoming
finer, better sorted and more positively skewed upshore) on a
well-developed swash bar on the upper foreshore of the
Camposoto beach of CĂĄdiz in SW Spain. In their Discussion
of that paper, Muñoz-Perez et al. (2014) provide some
supporting arguments and also report grain-size, beach profile
and other data from nearby beaches which differ from those of
Poizot and colleagues for Camposoto beach, pointing out that
a trend observed on one beach may not apply to a
neighbouring beach. However, even though the absolute
values differ, the overall trends actually do show the same
general behaviour. In our Reply to their comments, we also
address some difficulties in comparing granulometric datasets
generated by different analytical techniques
Atypical/Nor98 Scrapie Infectivity in Sheep Peripheral Tissues
Atypical/Nor98 scrapie was first identified in 1998 in Norway. It is now considered as a worldwide disease of small ruminants and currently represents a significant part of the detected transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) cases in Europe. Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases were reported in ARR/ARR sheep, which are highly resistant to BSE and other small ruminants TSE agents. The biology and pathogenesis of the Atypical/Nor98 scrapie agent in its natural host is still poorly understood. However, based on the absence of detectable abnormal PrP in peripheral tissues of affected individuals, human and animal exposure risk to this specific TSE agent has been considered low. In this study we demonstrate that infectivity can accumulate, even if no abnormal PrP is detectable, in lymphoid tissues, nerves, and muscles from natural and/or experimental Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases. Evidence is provided that, in comparison to other TSE agents, samples containing Atypical/Nor98 scrapie infectivity could remain PrPSc negative. This feature will impact detection of Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases in the field, and highlights the need to review current evaluations of the disease prevalence and potential transmissibility. Finally, an estimate is made of the infectivity loads accumulating in peripheral tissues in both Atypical/Nor98 and classical scrapie cases that currently enter the food chain. The results obtained indicate that dietary exposure risk to small ruminants TSE agents may be higher than commonly believed