The foundation was involved in the recruitment of more than 100 scientists in the US-Venezuela Huntingtons Disease Collaborative Project, which over a 10-year period from 1979, worked to locate the genetic cause. This was achieved in 1983 when a causal gene was approximately located, and in 1993, the gene was precisely located at chromosome 4 (4p16.3). The study had focused on the populations of two isolated Venezuelan villages, Barranquitas and Lagunetas, where there was an unusually high prevalence of HD, and involved over 18,000 people, mostly from a single extended family, and resulted in making HD the first autosomal disease locus found using genetic linkage analysis. Among other innovations, the project developed DNA-marking methods which were an important step in making the Human Genome Project possible.In the same time, key discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the disorder were being made, including the findings by Anita Hardings research group on the effects of the genes length.Modelling the disease in various types of animals, such as the transgenic mouse developed in 1996, enabled larger-scale experiments. As these animals have faster metabolisms and much shorter lifespans than humans results from experiments are received sooner, speeding research. The 1997 discovery that mHtt fragments misfold led to the discovery of the nuclear inclusions they cause.
Infestation is the state of being invaded or overrun by pests or parasites. It can also refer to the actual organisms living on or within a host. Terminology
In general, the term "infestation" refers to parasitic diseases caused by animals such as arthropods (i.e. mites, ticks, and lice) and worms, but excluding (except) conditions caused by protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which are called infections. External and internal
Infestations can be classified as either external or internal with regards to the parasites location in relation to the host. External or ectoparasitic infestation is a condition in which organisms live primarily on the surface of the host (though porocephaliasis can penetrate viscerally) and includes those involving mites, ticks, head lice and bed bugs.An internal (or endoparasitic) infestation is a condition in which organisms live within the host and includes those involving worms (though swimmers itch stays near the surface). Medically, the term "infestation" is often reserved only for external ectoparasitic infestations while the term infection refers to internal endoparasitic conditions. References
External links
Introduction to Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation as a Fumigant Alternative
New technique predicts risk of plant disease and infestation