1.   For one week, the hamsters excreted the urinary prion, then stopped.

2.   Gabizon said this suggested that as the infection built up in the body and brain, the amount of urinary prion increased.

3.   Gabizon called that enzyme-resistant protein a urinary prion and said it was new.

4.   If other laboratories confirm the usefulness of urinary prions, the testing process could be automated for screening purposes, Gabizon said.

5.   Sixty days later, the urinary prion reappeared in increasing amounts.

6.   Tests show that the urinary prion is not overtly infectious, although it may have some low level of infectivity, Gabizon said.

7.   The urinary prion seems to be an excellent marker for the progression of prion diseases, Gabizon said.

8.   The urinary prion may shed light on an unsolved mystery regarding how prion diseases spread among deer, elk and other wild animals.