ABSTRACT

No abstract

While neurotropic bovine astroviruses (BoAstVs) have been identified in North America and Europe, their presence has never been reported in Asia. In this study, we detected BoAstV in the brain of a steer showing neurological signs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the identified virus belongs to the Virginia/Human-Mink-Ovine clade, which contains most of the neurotropic astroviruses including the neurotropic BoAstVs. Similarity plot analysis showed that the virus was closely related to the American BoAstV NeuroS1 strain with respect to the ORF regions and to the European BoAstV CH13 strain in the 3' untranslated region, suggesting the occurrence of intra-genotypic recombination events.

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A metallic mesh, i.e., a metallic thin film with regularly spaced openings, works as a band-pass filter in the terahertz region. The filter's transmittance is far higher than the open-area ratio and its transmission spectrum is affected by the index of refraction in and above the openings. Therefore, metallic-mesh films can be used as high-sensitivity sensing or imaging conduits if samples adhere to the metal surface. Here, we report on our success in detecting 1-µm-thickness differences in poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films and recording two-dimensional (2D) images using metallic-mesh sensing and imaging applications.