Control of bovine mastitis: old and recent therapeutic approaches

Mastitis is defined as the inflammatory response resulting of the infection of the udder tissue and it is reported in numerous species, namely in domestic dairy animals. This pathology is the most frequent disease of dairy cattle and can be potentially fatal. Mastitis is an economically important pathology associated with reduced milk production, changes in milk composition and quality, being considered one of the most costly to dairy industry. Therefore, the majority of research in the field has focused on control of bovine mastitis and many efforts are being made for the development of new and effective anti-mastitis drugs. Antibiotic treatment is an established component of mastitis control programs; however, the continuous search for new therapeutic alternatives, effective in the control and treatment of bovine mastitis, is urgent. This review will provide an overview of some conventional and emerging approaches in the management of bovine mastitis infections.F. Gomes acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through the Grant SFRH/BPD/84488/2012 and for financial support to the CEB research center

Why Self-Induced Pain Feels Less Painful than Externally Generated Pain: Distinct Brain Activation Patterns in Self- and Externally Generated Pain

Voluntary movement generally inhibits sensory systems. However, it is not clear how such movement influences pain. In the present study, subjects actively or passively experienced mechanical pain or pressure during functional MRI scanning. Pain and pressure were induced using two modified grip strengthener rings, each twined with four crystal bead strings, with polyhedral beads to induce pain, or spherical beads to induce pressure. Subjects held one ring in the left hand and were either asked to squeeze their left hand with their right hand (i.e., active pain or pressure), or to have their left hand squeezed by the experimenter (i.e., passive pain or pressure). Subjects rated the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain sensation lower in the active procedure than in the passive one. Correspondingly, pain-related brain areas were inhibited in the case of self-generated pain, including the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the thalamus. These results suggest that active movement behaviorally inhibits concomitant mechanical pain, accompanied by an inhibition of pain response in pain-related brain areas such as the SI cortex. This might be part of the mechanisms underlying the kinesitherapy for pain treatment

Control of the induction of type I interferon by Peste des petits ruminants virus.

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is a morbillivirus that produces clinical disease in goats and sheep. We have studied the induction of interferon-β (IFN-β) following infection of cultured cells with wild-type and vaccine strains of PPRV, and the effects of such infection with PPRV on the induction of IFN-β through both MDA-5 and RIG-I mediated pathways. Using both reporter assays and direct measurement of IFN-β mRNA, we have found that PPRV infection induces IFN-β only weakly and transiently, and the virus can actively block the induction of IFN-β. We have also generated mutant PPRV that lack expression of either of the viral accessory proteins (V&C) to characterize the role of these proteins in IFN-β induction during virus infection. Both PPRV_ΔV and PPRV_ΔC were defective in growth in cell culture, although in different ways. While the PPRV V protein bound to MDA-5 and, to a lesser extent, RIG-I, and over-expression of the V protein inhibited both IFN-β induction pathways, PPRV lacking V protein expression can still block IFN-β induction. In contrast, PPRV C bound to neither MDA-5 nor RIG-I, but PPRV lacking C protein expression lost the ability to block both MDA-5 and RIG-I mediated activation of IFN-β. These results shed new light on the inhibition of the induction of IFN-β by PPRV

The role of fluorescence diagnosis in clinical practice

Aleksander Sieroń,1 Karolina Sieroń-Stołtny,1 Aleksandra Kawczyk-Krupka,1 Wojciech Latos,1 Sebastian Kwiatek,1 Dariusz Straszak,1 Andrzej M Bugaj1,2 1Clinical Department of Internal Diseases, Angiology and Physical Medicine, Center for Laser Diagnostics and Therapy, Silesian Medical University, Bytom, 2College of Health, Beauty Care and Education, Poznan, Poland Abstract: Fluorescence diagnosis is a fast, easy, noninvasive, selective, and sensitive diagnostic tool for estimation of treatment results in oncology. In clinical practice the use of photodynamic diagnosis is focused on five targets: detection for prevention of malignant transformation precancerous changes, detection of neoplasmatic tissue in the early stages for fast removal, prevention of expansion and detection of recurrence of the cancer, monitoring therapy, and the possibility of excluding neoplasmatic disease. In this article, selected applications of fluorescence diagnosis at the Center for Laser Diagnostics and Therapy in Bytom, Poland, for each of these targets are presented. Keywords: autofluorescence, cancer, fluorescence, imaging, photodynamic diagnosis, photodynamic therapy&nbsp