A herpesvirus was isolated from Thomson's gazelle (Gazella thomsoni) kept at a zoological garden in Japan during an outbreak of epizootic acute encephalitis. The virus, gazelle herpesvirus 1 (GHV-1), was serologically related to equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1). However, DNA fingerprints of GHV-1 were different from those of EHV-1 and other equine herpesviruses. Southern hybridization with probes of cloned BamHI fragments derived from UL and US segments of EHV-1 revealed differences in the DNA restriction profiles throughout the entire genome. Nucleotide sequences were determined for a conserved region of an essential envelope glycoprotein B (gB) gene and a type-specific glycoprotein G (gG) homologue gene. The predicted amino acid sequence of GHV-1 gB showed 97, 92, 61, and 57% identity to EHV-1, EHV-4, feline herpesvirus, and pseudorabies virus, respectively, indicating that GHV-1 was closer to EHV-1 than any other herpesvirus. The GHV-1 gG gene showed 93.2, 92.3, and 53% identity to EHV-1, EHV-8, and EHV-4 gGs, respectively. GHV-1 was virulent to suckling mice of the ICR strain by intracerebral inoculation and was virulent to 4-week-old BALB/c mice by intranasal inoculation, causing neurological symptoms and death. We conclude that GHV-1 is a new type of equine herpesvirus with strong neurotropism.

We study I-V characteristics of periodic square Nb wire networks as a function of temperature in a transverse magnetic eld, with a focus on three llings 2/5, 1/2, and 0.618 that represent very di erent levels of incommensurability. For all three llings, a scaling behavior of I-V characteristics is found, suggesting a nite temperature continuous superconducting phase transition. The lowtemperature I-V characteristics are found to have an exponential form, indicative of the domain-wall excitations.PACS numbers: 74.60.Ge, 64.60.CnThe presence of a quenched symmetry-breaking eld is known to have important consequences on the ordering of low temperature phases in many physical systems. A striking example is the pinning of a two-dimensional (2D) vortex lattice by a periodic potential in a superconducting wire network. Without pinning, a 2D elastic vortex lattice in homogeneous superconducting thin lms would not have long-range translational order at anynite temperature 1] and cannot have long-range superconducting phase coherence even at T = 0. A periodic pinning potential, however, when it is commensurate to the vortex lattice, can induce a gap in the low-energy excitation spectrum 2] and create a new thermodynamic phase 3] of a pinned 2D solid with true long-range translational order, and with superconducting phase coherence 4]. In the presence of a high-order commensurate (or incommensurate) potential, the competition between the vortex-vortex interactions and the vortex-network interactions leads to a whole new class of problems 5{7]. For example, the vortex lattice may: (a) become a 2D \ oating" solid and again lose its translational order and superconducting phase coherence at any temperature 5]; (b) form a metastable \glassy" phase 6]; (c) be pinned in a commensurate phase 7] and thus superconducting at low temperatures. The issue is far from being settled.Closely related to the low-temperature thermodynamic phase, the nature of the superconducting transition of a superconducting network in a magnetic eld is also not well understood. At lling f = 1=2, where f is the fraction of a ux quantum 0 = hc=2e per plaquette, for example, the vortex con guration of the ground state of the system has a checker-board pattern 4]. Thus, the ground state of the system has the discrete symmetry of the two-fold degeneracy as well as the continuous symmetry of an arbitrary global phase change. Two types of excitations are possible: vortex-antivortex pairs of the continuous phase variable and domain walls of the two ground states. If the two types of excitations do not interact, they should lead to two independent transitions 9]: a Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition 8] in the underlying network and an Ising melting transition in the vortex lattice. The superconducting transition will be determined by the one with the lower transition-temperature. Interesting physics arises when the two types of excitations do couple 10]. Due to the screening of the vortex interactions by the domain walls, when the domain wall energy goes to zero ...

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an emerging pathogen that maintains high biodefense priority based on its threat to livestock, its ability to cause human hemorrhagic fever, and its potential for aerosol spread. To define the range of human transmission during inter-epidemic and epidemic periods in Kenya, we tested archived sera from defined populations (N = 1,263) for anti-RVFV IgG by ELISA and plaque reduction neutralization testing. RVFV seroprevalence was 10.8% overall and varied significantly by location, sex, and age. In NW Kenya, high seroprevalence among those born before 1980 indicates that an undetected epidemic may have occurred then. Seroconversion documented in highland areas suggests previously unsuspected inter-epidemic transmission. RVFV seroprevalence is strikingly high in certain Kenyan areas, suggesting endemic transmission patterns that may preclude accurate estimation of regional acute outbreak incidence. The extent of both epidemic and inter-epidemic RVFV transmission in Kenya is greater than previously documented.

To describe clinical and neurodevelopmental phenotypes of Costello syndrome, we performed a retrospective review of the clinical records and findings in 10 children with Costello syndrome. All patients showed significant postnatal growth retardation and severe feeding difficulties leading to failure to thrive from early infancy. All required tube feeding and some needed high‐calorie formulas for variable periods. Developmental quotients/IQs in seven children were 50 or less, and three were in the mildly retarded range. Five had seizures. Remarkable manifestations not previously reported were the characteristic behavior in infancy. Although happy and sociable personality was always emphasized in the genetic literature, all children showed significant irritability, including hypersensitivity to sound and tactile stimuli, sleep disturbance, and excess shyness with strangers in infancy. Those symptoms usually disappeared around age 2–4 years. Other clinical signs included cardiac abnormalities (8), musculoskeletal abnormalities (10), ophthalmological manifestations (5), increased urinary vanillymandelic acid (VMA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) (3), rhabdomyosarcoma (1), laryngomalacia (1), and cryptorchidism (1). Only three girls had papillomata. Family histories were negative for Costello syndrome. In conclusion, we confirm the wide spectrum of mental function in patients with Costello syndrome, which ranges from severe to mild. During infancy Costello syndrome showed remarkable irritability with severe feeding problems, which attributes significant difficulties to the parents of affected children. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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These results support a significant association between hippocampal atrophy and executive dysfunction as a non-memory cognitive impairment in patients with early AD and A-MCI.

Visual hallucinations (VHs) are common psychiatric symptoms in patients with long-standing Parkinson's disease (PD). Treatment with neuroleptics or withdrawal of anti-PD drugs may improve VHs but will worsen motor dysfunctions. The authors report on 3 patients with long-standing PD who were treated with the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil for the treatment of VHs. Each received a daily dose of 5 mg of donepezil, after reducing or discontinuing anti-PD medications had failed to relieve the VHs. In 2 patients (patient 1, 2), donepezil decreased VHs without worsening motor dysfunctions. In addition, the cognitive status of patient 2 improved. In patient 3, donepezil also resolved VHs, but delusions developed during treatment. After discontinuing donepezil, delusions disappeared and VHs reappeared. Donepezil may ameliorate visual hallucinations in PD patients, but controlled, double-blind trials are necessary to further clarify the effect of this drug on VHs in PD.

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in retailed meats, comprising beef, chicken, and pork, in the Tokyo metropolitan area. A total of 379 samples of retailed meat were collected from 1998 to 2003, most of which were obtained by simultaneously purchasing the three classes of meat from a shop and then making another simultaneous purchase of meat from the same shop a few weeks later. The prevalence of L. monocytogenes was 28.0%, and the serotypes isolated were mainly 1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, and 4b. Comparison of the prevalence of each serotype among the classes of meat showed a predominant distribution of serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b, and 4b in chicken, while serotype 1/2c was dominant in pork. A total of nine cases considered to be due to persistence and/or cross-contamination were found. Most of the strains involved in persistence and/or cross-contamination were of serotypes 1/2c or 4b. These results suggest that contamination in retailed meat in Japan is at almost the same level as in other countries and that chicken has the highest potential as a source of contamination and infection. In addition, we suggest that the ecological niche of serotype 1/2c is distinct from those of 1/2a, 1/2b, and 4b, which may explain why human hosts have less opportunity to be exposed to serotype 1/2c and why there is a lower rate of isolation of this serotype from cases of human listeriosis.