Differences in Opportunities for the Disabled in England and Scotland: A Survey of Paraplegics in Scotland

The facilities available to disabled people living in Scotland were studied by visiting and interviewing a group of 50 paraplegics living in Glasgow and the surrounding counties. The degree of unemployment in the group (74%) was far greater than has been reported in other surveys, and no quadriplegic was in remunerative employment. Though the general unemployment level in the area is high services to help the disabled gain employment were only partially utilized.Liaison between social workers was not always successful. Some paraplegics were visited at home by both a medical social worker and a local authority social worker, while others were not supported by either. There was no apparent attempt by local authorities to identify the disabled, as is required in England under Section 1 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1970. Several paraplegics lacked facilities which are covered by Section 2 of the Act. The exclusion of Scotland from Sections 1 and 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act may widen the differences between the two countries as the Scottish legislation is less specific.     

Electron-microscopic localisation of thiol and disulphide groups by direct monomaleimido-nanogold labelling in the spermatozoa of a marsupial,the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii)

This study utilised a commercially available monomaleimido-nanogold reagent to directly label cellular thiol groups (SH) of marsupial (tammar wallaby) spermatozoa before and after reduction of disulphides (S-S) with mercaptoethylamine hydrochloride (MEA). The sperm surface, mitochondrial membranes, axoneme and tail fibres were all labelled with gold particles before MEA treatment and the label intensity was increased after S-S reduction. The acrosomal membranes and matrix of spermatozoa contained no detectable SH prior to MEA treatment. However, after moderate MEA treatment (1 mg/ml) gold label was associated with the acrosomal membrane and invaginated acrosomal membrane within the acrosomal matrix. After exposure to 5 and 10 mg/ml MEA, gold particles heavily labelled the acrosomal matrix. Thus, the acrosomal membranes and matrix of tammar wallaby spermatozoa both contain S-S cross-linked structures, and this may contribute to the unusual stability of the marsupial acrosome. Under all treatment conditions the nucleus remained unlabelled. This is consistent with early studies which indicated that cysteine was absent from the nuclear protamines. The study also demonstrated that monomaleimido-nanogold can be used to resolve SH- and S-S-rich cellular structures directly, in addition to its use to label antibodies and Fab fragments for immunochemical localisation.This study was supported by a grant to J.C.R. from the Australian Research Council. Y.S. was the recipient of an Australian International Development Program Fellowship.     

Rab6 Dependent Post‐Golgi Trafficking of HSV1 Envelope Proteins to Sites of Virus Envelopment

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) is an enveloped virus that uses undefined transport carriers for trafficking of its glycoproteins to envelopment sites. Screening of an siRNA library against 60 Rab GTPases revealed Rab6 as the principal Rab involved in HSV1 infection, with its depletion preventing Golgi‐to‐plasma membrane transport of HSV1 glycoproteins in a pathway used by several integral membrane proteins but not the luminal secreted protein Gaussia luciferase. Knockdown of Rab6 reduced virus yield to 1% and inhibited capsid envelopment, revealing glycoprotein exocytosis as a prerequisite for morphogenesis. Rab6‐dependent virus production did not require the effectors myosin‐II, bicaudal‐D, dynactin‐1 or rabkinesin‐6, but was facilitated by ERC1, a factor involved in linking microtubules to the cell cortex. Tubulation and exocytosis of Rab6‐positive, glycoprotein‐containing membranes from the Golgi was substantially augmented by infection, resulting in enhanced and targeted delivery to cell tips. This reveals HSV1 morphogenesis as one of the first biological processes shown to be dependent on the exocytic activity of Rab6.      

Functional genomics of hsp-90 in parasitic and free-living nematodes

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp-90) is a highly conserved essential protein in eukaryotes. Here we describe the molecular characterisation of hsp-90 from three nematodes, the free-living Caenorhabditis elegans (Ce) and the parasitic worms Brugia pahangi (Bp) and Haemonchus contortus (Hc). These molecules were functionally characterised by rescue of a Ce-daf-21 (hsp-90) null mutant. Our results show a gradient of rescue: the C. elegans endogenous gene provided full rescue of the daf-21 mutant, while Hc-hsp-90 provided partial rescue. In contrast, no rescue could be obtained using a variety of Bp-hsp-90 constructs, despite the fact that Bp-hsp-90 was transcribed and translated in the mutant worms. daf-21 RNA interference (RNAi) experiments were carried out to determine whether knock-down of the endogenous daf-21 mRNA in N2 worms could be complemented by expression of either parasite gene. However neither parasite gene could rescue the daf-21 (RNAi) phenotypes. These results indicate that factors other than the level of sequence identity are important for determining whether parasite genes can functionally complement in C. elegans.