Molecular detection of vector-borne pathogens in Greek cats

Infectious diseases have been increasingly recognized in cats worldwide. The objective of this study was the molecular investigation of the prevalence of selected pathogens in healthy and sick cats from Greece, a country highly endemic for several canine vector-borne pathogens. Blood and/or bone marrow samples from 50 clinically healthy and 50 sick adult (>1 year-old) cats were retrospectively examined for the amplification of Bartonella spp., haemoplasmas, Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., Babesia spp., and Cytauxzoon spp. DNA. Overall, 14.9% of the cats were found to be infected or co-infected by haemoplasmas, including Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum and M. haemofelis. In addition, 8.5% of the cats were infected by Bartonella henselae, Bartonella clarridgeiae or Bartonella koehlerae. In contrast, DNA of Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., Babesia spp. and Cytauxzoon spp. was not amplified from the blood or bone marrow of any cat. There was no significant difference in either haemoplasma or Bartonella infection rates when comparing healthy and sick cats. This study represents the first description of Bartonella koehlerae in Greek cats. © 2017 Elsevier Gmb

Electronic structure and screening dynamics of ethene on single domain Si(001) from resonant inelastic X-ray scattering.

We present a resonant inelastic x-ray scattering ~RIXS! study of a strongly bound adsorbate on a semiconductor surface, C2H4 /Si(001). The valence electronic structure as well as the photon energy dependence in RIXS can be studied without the dominating effect of dynamic metallic screening. We demonstrate that for this strongly coupled system the RIXS spectrum resulting from a selective excitation into the unoccupied s CSi * resonance can be interpreted with the help of density-functional calculations. In addition, we show how excitation into different resonances leads to a significant photon energy dependence of the RIXS spectral features, not seen in strongly coupled adsorbate systems on metals