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“The presence of competent vectors in some countries currently free of Rift Valley fever (RVF) and global changes in climate, travel

and trade have increased the risk of RVF spreading to new regions and have emphasised the this website need for accurate and reliable diagnostic tools for early diagnosis during RVF outbreaks. Highly sensitive viral detection systems like PCR have a limited use during outbreaks because of the short duration of viraemia, whereas antibodies like specific IgM which are serological indicators of acute infection, can be detected for up to 50 days after infection. Using the highly conserved and immunogenic recombinant nucleoprotein of RVF virus in an IgM capture ELISA, the risk of laboratory infection associated with traditional serological selleck compound methods is avoided. The use of pre-coated/pre-blocked ELISA plates and the conjugation of

the recombinant nucleoprotein with horseradish peroxidase simplified and shortened the assay procedure. Results showed the assay to be highly reproducible with a lower detection limit equal to that of a commercial competition ELISA. By receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis the area under curve (AUC) index was determined as 1.0 and the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity at a PP cut-off value of 4.1 as 100% and 99.78% respectively. The results of this study demonstrated that the IgM capture ELISA is a safe, reliable and highly accurate diagnostic tool which can be used on its own or in parallel with other methods for the early diagnosis of RVF virus infection and

also for monitoring of immune responses in vaccinated domestic ruminants. (C) 2011 Elsevier selleck chemical B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Cannabis use confers a two-fold increase in risk for psychosis, with adolescent use conferring an even greater risk. A high-low activity polymorphism in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), a gene encoding the COMT enzyme involved in dopamine clearance in the brain, may interact with adolescent cannabis exposure to increase risk for schizophrenia. The impact of such an interaction on central neurotransmitter pathways implicated in schizophrenia is unknown. Male mice with knockout of the COMT gene were treated chronically with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) during adolescence (postnatal day 32-52). We measured the size and density of GABAergic cells and the protein expression of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HPC) in knockout mice relative to heterozygous mutants and wild-type controls. Size and density of dopaminergic neurons was also assessed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) across the genotypes. COMT genotype x THC treatment interactions were observed for: (1) dopaminergic cell size in the VTA, (2) CB1R protein expression in the HPC, and (3) parvalbumin (PV) cell size in the PFC.