A regulatory SNP causes a human genetic disease by creating a new transcriptional promoter     

De Gobbi M  Viprakasit V  Hughes JR  Fisher C  Buckle VJ  Ayyub H  Gibbons RJ  Vernimmen D  Yoshinaga Y  de Jong P  Cheng JF  Rubin EM  Wood WG  Bowden D  Higgs DR 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2006,312(5777):1215-1217

We describe a pathogenetic mechanism underlying a variant form of the inherited blood disorder alpha thalassemia. Association studies of affected individuals from Melanesia localized the disease trait to the telomeric region of human chromosome 16, which includes the alpha-globin gene cluster, but no molecular defects were detected by conventional approaches. After resequencing and using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and expression analysis on a tiled oligonucleotide array, we identified a gain-of-function regulatory single-nucleotide polymorphism (rSNP) in a nongenic region between the alpha-globin genes and their upstream regulatory elements. The rSNP creates a new promoterlike element that interferes with normal activation of all downstream alpha-like globin genes. Thus, our work illustrates a strategy for distinguishing between neutral and functionally important rSNPs, and it also identifies a pathogenetic mechanism that could potentially underlie other genetic diseases.  相似文献   

Competition in laboratory land     

Haringsma P 《Tijdschrift voor diergeneeskunde》2006,131(4):135

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A dual indicator set to help farms achieve more sustainable crop protection     

Wustenberghs H  Delcour I  D'Haene K  Lauwers L  Marchand F  Steurbaut W  Spanoghe P 《Pest management science》2012,68(8):1130-1140

BACKGROUND: Farmers are being called to use plant protection products (PPPs) more consciously and adopt more sustainable crop protection strategies. Indicators will help farmers to monitor their progress towards sustainability and will support their learning process. Talking the indicators through in farmers' discussion groups and the resulting peer encouragement will foster knowledge acquirement and can lead to changes in attitudes, norms, perception and behaviour. RESULTS: Using a participatory approach, a conceptual framework for on‐farm sustainable crop protection practices was created. The same participatory approach was used to design a dual indicator set, which pairs a pesticide impact assessment system (PIAS) with a farm inquiry. The PIAS measures the risk for human health and the environment exerted by chemical crop protection. The inquiry reveals the farmers' response to this risk, both in terms of the actions they take and their knowledge, awareness and attitude. CONCLUSIONS: The dual indicator set allows for implementation in four tiers, each representing increased potential for monitoring and social learning. The indicator set can be adjusted on the basis of new findings, and the participatory approach can be extrapolated to other situations. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry  相似文献   

Automatic detection of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) infrasonic vocalisations from recordings     

Pieter J. Venter  Johan J. Hanekom 《Biosystems Engineering》2010,106(3):286-294

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Effect of the spray application technique on the deposition of entomopathogenic nematodes in vegetables     

Brusselman E  Beck B  Pollet S  Temmerman F  Spanoghe P  Moens M  Nuyttens D 《Pest management science》2012,68(3):444-453

BACKGROUND: The present study compared entomopathogenic nematode delivery at the base of savoy cabbage and cauliflower, at the lower side of savoy cabbage and cauliflower leaves and in leek stems and the ground deposition using a five‐nozzle spray boom equipped with an ISO 08 flat fan, an air induction flat fan and Twinjet spray nozzles. Additionally, an air support system and a row application system were evaluated. RESULTS: Approximately 40% of the applied nematodes did not reach the foot of the cabbage plants. The use of an air support system or a row application system improved nematode deposition at the savoy cabbage base. Relative nematode deposition on the lower side of savoy cabbage leaves was 27.20%, while only 2.64% of the applied nematodes reached the lower side of cauliflower leaves. After spraying leek with a standard boom, a low relative nematode deposition (26.64%) was measured in the leek stem. Nozzle type affected the distribution of nematodes in droplet spots. CONCLUSION: Nozzle type has a minor effect on the number of entomopathogenic nematodes delivered on difficult‐to‐reach targets. The use of modified spray application techniques directing the spray to the target site are necessary to increase the chances of contact of entomopathogenic nematodes with their target. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry  相似文献   

Production of viral vaccines for veterinary use     

van Gelder P  Makoschey B 《Berliner und Münchener tier?rztliche Wochenschrift》2012,125(3-4):103-109

This review provides inside information on the production of vaccines for veterinary use. The vaccines against rinderpest as well as foot and mouth disease are considered milestones in the history of veterinary vaccine production. Modern vaccines are based on the scientific progress in virology, cell biology and immunology. While naturally occurring attenuated viruses or viruses obtained after passage in different animal species or cell culture were used as vaccine strains in the early vaccines, nowadays targeted mutagenesis can be applied to generate vaccine virus strains. In principle, the antigen production process is the same for live and inactivated vaccines. The vaccine virus is usually grown in cell culture, either in roller bottles or bioreactors. Most live vaccines are freeze-dried in order to enable storage in the refridgerator for a longer period. To this end, a so-called stabilizer is added to the culture medium. The inactivation of the vaccine virus for the production of killed vaccines is done by physical or chemical treatments that lead to denaturation of the proteins or damage of the nucleic acids. The inactivated antigen may be further purified and mixed with an adjuvant. The quality standards for vaccines are layed down in international regulations and laws. Numerous tests are performed during the different production steps and on the final product in order to warrant the quality of each batch.  相似文献   

Retrospective study of the survival of cats with acquired chronic renal insufficiency offered different commercial diets     

Plantinga EA  Everts H  Kastelein AM  Beynen AC 《The Veterinary record》2005,157(7):185-187

A retrospective study was carried out on the efficacy of seven commercial diets designed to be fed to cats with chronic renal failure. The median survival time of 175 cats that received conventional diets was seven months, whereas the median survival time of 146 cats given one of the seven diets was 16 months. The cats on the most effective of the diets had a median survival time of 23 months and those on the least effective diet had a median survival time of 12 months. The composition of the seven diets was comparable, except that the most effective diet had a particularly high content of eicosapentaenoic acid.  相似文献   

New approach for quantitative assessment of articular cartilage degeneration in horses with osteoarthritis   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Brommer H  van Weeren PR  Brama PA 《American journal of veterinary research》2003,64(1):83-87

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a modified digital imaging technique for quantitative assessment of the grade of osteoarthritis across the proximal articular surface of the first phalanx in horses. SAMPLE POPULATION: 6 metacarpophalangeal (fet-lock) joint specimens from 6 horses with various stages of osteoarthritis. PROCEDURE: First phalanx specimens, together with 4 gray scale reference calibration targets, were positioned in a bath with the proximal articular cartilage surface submerged in saline (0.9% NaCl) solution. Digital images were obtained from the articular surface before and after staining with Indian ink. Computer-controlled gray level analysis of the nonstained and Indian ink-stained cartilage surfaces and gray scale reference calibration targets was performed by use of the mean pixel value (based on 255-gray scale). An increase in the mean pixel value after staining was used to calculate the cartilage degeneration index (CDI). RESULTS: The CDI of the proximal articular cartilage surface of the first phalanx specimens ranged from 9.2 +/- 5.7 (early stage osteoarthritis) to 41.5 +/- 3.6% (late stage osteoarthritis). The effect of repeating the measurement 6 times in nonstained (including repositioning) and stained specimens (including repositioning and restaining) was not significant. Up to 10 measurements of nonstained specimens could be made without refreshing the bath solution. In stained specimens, mean gray level increased significantly after the sixth measurement. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The modified digital imaging technique allowed quantitative assessment of cartilage degeneration across the articular cartilage surface. The CDI is the first quantitative measure for osteoarthritis-induced cartilage degeneration over an entire joint surface in horses.  相似文献   

Major Changes in Fusarium spp. in Wheat in the Netherlands     

Cees Waalwijk  Pieter Kastelein  Ineke de Vries  Zoltan Kerényi  Theo van der Lee  Thamara Hesselink  Jürgen Köhl  Gert Kema 《European journal of plant pathology / European Foundation for Plant Pathology》2003,109(7):743-754

The re-emergence of fusarium head blight throughout the world and especially in Western Europe prompted a survey of the situation in the Netherlands. To allow for a high throughput screening of large numbers of samples, a diagnostic PCR method was developed to detect the most common species of Fusarium occurring on wheat. Seven primer pairs were tested for their ability to identify isolates of Fusarium avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. graminearum, F. poae, F. proliferatum and Microdochium nivale var. majus and M. nivale var. nivale. Each primer pair only generated a PCR product with the corresponding Fusarium species and all PCR fragments had different molecular sizes. This allowed the generation of these amplicons using a mixture of all seven primer pairs. The robustness of this multiplex PCR encouraged us to screen a large series of isolates collected in 2000 and 2001. In both years 40 fields were sampled leading to a collection of 209 isolates from 2000 and 145 isolates from 2001. The results of the multiplex PCR demonstrated that F. graminearum was the most abundant species in the Fusarium complex on wheat in both years. This is in sharp contrast to reports from the 1980s and early 1990s, which found F. culmorum as the predominant species. Primers derived from the tri7 and tri13 genes, which are implicated in the acetylation and oxygenation of the C-4 atom of the backbone of the trichothecene molecule, were used to discriminate between deoxynivalenol and nivalenol (NIV) producers. The populations of F. culmorum and F. graminearum both showed a slight increase in NIV-producers in 2001.  相似文献   

Quantification of pesticide residues in the topsoil of Belgian fruit orchards: terrestrial environmental risk assessment     

Gregor Claus  Pieter Spanoghe 《Pest management science》2020,76(10):3495-3510

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