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Acknowledgements
We thank F. Mu Èller for the modelling software ERNA-3D; K. Nagai and C. Kambach for
the Sm protein ring model; and M. Golas and B. Sander for assistance in electron
microscopy. This work was supported by the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Program and a
grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H.S.
(e-mail: Holger.Stark@mpibpc.mpg.de).
letters to nature
542 NATURE | VOL 409 | 25 JANUARY 2001 | www.nature.com
.................................................................
addendum
A one-hit model of cell death in
inherited neuronal degenerations
G. Clarke, R. A. Collins, B. R. Leavitt, D. F. Andrews, M. R. Hayden,
C. J. Lumsden & R. R. McInnes
Nature 406, 195±199 (2000).
..................................................................................................................................
It has been questioned whether our neurodegeneration model was
anticipated by Calne and co-workers
1±4
. Both groups related expo-
nential neuronal loss to pathogenesis, but the models are radically
different. We recognized that in neurodegeneration, exponential
death kinetics mean that the risk of cell death remains constant with
age. To accommodate constant risk, we proposed a one-hit model:
the hit is a consequence of a neuron being in a high-risk (for example,
mutant) state; a hit is a biochemical reaction within each single
neuron, committing it to death at a random time. We noted that
constant risk excludes cumulative intracellular damage as a disease
mechanism.
Calne et al. proposed that in idiopathic Parkinsonism ``An event
[for example, infection] acts on the neuronal population over a brief
period ¼[to initiate disease]''
2
. They excluded ongoing processes as
causing idiopathic Parkinsonism
2,4
, but the role of cumulative
intracellular damage was not addressed. Their focus on whole
neuron populations and on events that act on them is notable,
and complementary to but different from our model. M
1. Lee, C. S. et al. Clinical observations on the rate of progression of idiopathic parkinsonism. Brain 117,
501±507 (1994).
2. Schulzer, M., Lee, C. S., Mak, E. K., Vingerhoets, F. J. G. & Calne, D. B. A mathematical model of
pathogenesis in idiopathic parkinsonism. Brain 117, 509±516 (1994).
3. Calne, D. B. Is idiopathic parkinsonism the consequence of an event or a process? Neurology 44, 5±10
(1994).
4. Lee, C. S. et al. Patterns of asymmetry do not change over the course of idiopathic parkinsonism:
implications for pathogenesis. Neurology 45, 435±439 (1995).
.................................................................
corrections
Kainate receptors are involved
in synaptic plasticity
Zuner A. Bortolotto, Vernon R. J. Clarke, Caroline M. Delany,
Michael C. Parry, Ilse Smolders, Michel Vignes, Ken H. Ho, Peter Miu,
Bradford T. Brinton, Robert Fantaske, Ann Ogden, Mary Gates,
Paul L. Ornstein, David Lodge, David Bleakman & Graham L. Collingridge
Nature 402, 297±301 (1999).
..................................................................................................................................
In this paper, the authors omitted the reference to the published
synthetic pathway
1
by which the selective GluR5 kainate receptor
antagonist LY382884 may be made. M
1. Bleisch, T. J. et al. Structure activity studies of aryl-spaced decahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid
AMPA receptor antagonists. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 7, 1161±1166 (1997).
.................................................................
correction
Error and attack tolerance of complex
networks
Re  ka Albert, Hawoong Jeong & Albert-La  szlo  Barabasi
Nature 406, 378±382 (2000).
..................................................................................................................................
In this paper, the error tolerance curves for the exponential network
were affected by a software error. This did not impact the attack
curves nor the measurements and conclusions regarding the error/
atack tolerance of scale-free networks, the World-Wide Web and the
Internet. The corrected Figs 2a and 3a are shown below. M
SF E
Attack
Failure
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
0
20
40
60
d
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
f
0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
S and <s>
<s> S
Failure
Attack
2a
3a
© 2001 Macmillan Magazines Ltd