3,157 research outputs found
Seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya measured using different Western blot criteria
Background: Endemic foci of HTLV-1 carriers have been found in the world, however, the origin of HTLV-1 in
humans is still unclear. Since a distinct type of virus strain was isolated from the Solomon Islands, detailed surveys
on HTLV-1 prevalence in New Guinea are important to shed light on its history of dissemination. Objecti6e: To
clarify the seroprevalence of HTLV-1 in different regions of New Guinea Island. Study design: Sera from 1221
individuals (649 males, 454 females and 118 unknown) in New Guinea Island were studied for the presence of
antibodies to HTLV-1 by a particle agglutination and the Western blot (WB) tests. Two different sets of criteria,
proposed by WHO and Kiyokawa et al., were employed to interpret the WB test. Since the latter seemed to lack
adequate specificity, the WHO criteria was used for the evaluation of the seroprevalence throughout the study.
Results: Seroprevalence of HTLV-1 differed by the WB criteria. By the more stringent criteria, HTLV-1 carriers were
found in Madang, Chimbu and one hinterland province, Enga, in Papua New Guinea. An overall seroprevalence rate
in different regions ranged from 0 to 14.6%. No seropositive individuals were found in Irian Jaya. Conclusions: To
avoid overestimating the seropositivity rates, the WHO criteria would be more appropriate to employ for WB test by
using the samples obtained from tropical and:or malaria endemic areas. This study is the first to show HTLV-1
infected individuals in the hinterland of New Guinea Island
Germline recombination by conditional gene targeting with Parvalbumin-Cre lines
Conditional gene targeting allows us to study gene function in specific tissues or cell types. This is commonly achieved by Cre DNA recombinase and its 34–base pair target sequences called loxP sites. Through the efforts of individual labs and large-scale projects, a sizable collection of Cre mouse lines has been generated to express or delete specific genes in a wide range of cell types throughout the nervous sys-tem (Madisen et al., 2010; Taniguchi et al., 2011). Typically, the specificity of Cre transgene expression is controlled by tissue or cell-type promoters. However, increas-ing evidence has revealed that the desire
Adequacy of Approximations in GW Theory
We use an all-electron implementation of the GW approximation to analyze
several possible sources of error in the theory and its implementation. Among
these are convergence in the polarization and Green's functions, the dependence
of QP levels on choice of basis sets, and differing approximations for dealing
with core levels. In all GW calculations presented here, G and W are generated
from the local-density approximation (LDA), which we denote as the \GLDA\WLDA
approximation. To test its range of validity, the \GLDA\WLDA approximation is
applied to a variety of materials systems. We show that for simple sp
semiconductors, \GLDA\WLDA always underestimates bandgaps; however, better
agreement with experiment is obtained when the self-energy is not renormalized,
and we propose a justification for it. Some calculations for Si are compared to
pseudopotential-based \GLDA\WLDA calculations, and some aspects of the
suitability of pseudopotentials for GW calculations are discussed.Comment: 38 pages,6 figures. Minor Revision
Targeting Oxidative Stress and Aberrant Critical Period Plasticity in the Developmental Trajectory to Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder reflecting a convergence of genetic risk and early life stress. The slow progression to first psychotic episode represents both a window of vulnerability as well as opportunity for therapeutic intervention. Here, we consider recent neurobiological insight into the cellular and molecular components of developmental critical periods and their vulnerability to redox dysregulation. In particular, the consistent loss of parvalbumin-positive interneuron (PVI) function and their surrounding perineuronal nets (PNNs) as well as myelination in patient brains is consistent with a delayed or extended period of circuit instability. This linkage to critical period triggers (PVI) and brakes (PNN, myelin) implicates mistimed trajectories of brain development in mental illness. Strategically introduced antioxidant treatment or later reinforcement of molecular brakes may then offer a novel prophylactic psychiatr
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