Treating clinical mastitis in dairy cows with essential oils

Clinical mastitis is the main concern in dairy farming today, but there are very few drugs that are compatible with organic specifications. Our study was conducted in order to evaluate the therapeutic efficiency of the intramammary infusion of three essential oils, Thymus vulgaris, Rosmarinus verbenone and Laurus nobilis. Fifty-five cases of mastitis were treated with 10 ml of a mixture of the three oils (1.5% each in sunflower oil). Forty-five others were treated with 10 ml of a mixture of Thymus vulgaris and Rosmarinus verbenone (6% of each in sunflower oil or in water). The recovery rate was only 40%, which is deemed unsatisfactory

Clinical Outcomes with Rapid Detection of Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Routine Blood Cultures

Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of bacteremia, with a substantial impact on morbidity and mortality. Because of increasing rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin has become the standard empirical therapy. However, beta-lactam antibiotics remain the best treatment choice for methicillin-susceptible strains. Placing patients quickly on the optimal therapy is one goal of antimicrobial stewardship. This retrospective, observational, single-center study compared 33 control patients utilizing only traditional full-susceptibility methodology to 22 case patients utilizing rapid methodology with CHROMagar medium to detect and differentiate methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus strains hours before full susceptibilities were reported. The time to targeted therapy was statistically significantly different between control patients (mean, 56.5 ± 13.6 h) and case patients (44.3 ± 17.9 h) (P = 0.006). Intensive care unit status, time of day results emerged, and patient age did not make a difference in time to targeted therapy, either singly or in combination. Neither length of stay (P = 0.61) nor survival (P = 1.0) was statistically significantly different. Rapid testing yielded a significant result, with a difference of 12.2 h to targeted therapy. However, there is still room for improvement, as the difference in time to susceptibility test result between the full traditional methodology and CHROMagar was even larger (26.5 h). This study supports the hypothesis that rapid testing plays a role in antimicrobial stewardship by getting patients on targeted therapy faster

TALPID3/KIAA0586 Regulates Multiple Aspects of Neuromuscular Patterning During Gastrointestinal Development in Animal Models and Human

TALPID3/KIAA0586 is an evolutionary conserved protein, which plays an essential role in protein trafficking. Its role during gastrointestinal (GI) and enteric nervous system (ENS) development has not been studied previously. Here, we analyzed chicken, mouse and human embryonic GI tissues with TALPID3 mutations. The GI tract of TALPID3 chicken embryos was shortened and malformed. Histologically, the gut smooth muscle was mispatterned and enteric neural crest cells were scattered throughout the gut wall. Analysis of the Hedgehog pathway and gut extracellular matrix provided causative reasons for these defects. Interestingly, chicken intra-species grafting experiments and a conditional knockout mouse model showed that ENS formation did not require TALPID3, but was dependent on correct environmental cues. Surprisingly, the lack of TALPID3 in enteric neural crest cells (ENCC) affected smooth muscle and epithelial development in a non-cell-autonomous manner. Analysis of human gut fetal tissues with a KIAA0586 mutation showed strikingly similar findings compared to the animal models demonstrating conservation of TALPID3 and its necessary role in human GI tract development and patterning

Cyclic and Sleep-Like Spontaneous Alternations of Brain State Under Urethane Anaesthesia

Background: Although the induction of behavioural unconsciousness during sleep and general anaesthesia has been shown to involve overlapping brain mechanisms, sleep involves cyclic fluctuations between different brain states known as active (paradoxical or rapid eye movement: REM) and quiet (slow-wave or non-REM: nREM) stages whereas commonly used general anaesthetics induce a unitary slow-wave brain state. Methodology/Principal Findings: Long-duration, multi-site forebrain field recordings were performed in urethaneanaesthetized rats. A spontaneous and rhythmic alternation of brain state between activated and deactivated electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns was observed. Individual states and their transitions resembled the REM/nREM cycle of natural sleep in their EEG components, evolution, and time frame (,11 minute period). Other physiological variables such as muscular tone, respiration rate, and cardiac frequency also covaried with forebrain state in a manner identical to sleep. The brain mechanisms of state alternations under urethane also closely overlapped those of natural sleep in their sensitivity to cholinergic pharmacological agents and dependence upon activity in the basal forebrain nuclei that are the major source of forebrain acetylcholine. Lastly, stimulation of brainstem regions thought to pace state alternations in sleep transiently disrupted state alternations under urethane. Conclusions/Significance: Our results suggest that urethane promotes a condition of behavioural unconsciousness tha

A Deviation from the Bipolar-Tetrapolar Mating Paradigm in an Early Diverged Basidiomycete

In fungi, sexual identity is determined by specialized genomic regions called MAT loci which are the equivalent to sex chromosomes in some animals and plants. Usually, only two sexes or mating types exist, which are determined by two alternate sets of genes (or alleles) at the MAT locus (bipolar system). However, in the phylum Basidiomycota, a unique tetrapolar system emerged in which four different mating types are generated per meiosis. This occurs because two functionally distinct molecular recognition systems, each encoded by one MAT region, constrain the selection of sexual partners. Heterozygosity at both MAT regions is a pre-requisite for mating in both bipolar and tetrapolar basidiomycetes. Tetrapolar mating behaviour results from the absence of genetic linkage between the two regions bringing forth up to thousands of mating types. The subphylum Pucciniomycotina, an early diverged lineage of basidiomycetes encompassing important plant pathogens such as the rusts and saprobes like Rhodosporidium and Sporidiobolus, has been so far poorly explored concerning the content and organization of MAT loci. Here we show that the red yeast Sporidiobolus salmonicolor has a mating system unlike any previously described because occasional disruptions of the genetic cohesion of the bipolar MAT locus originate new mating types. We confirmed that mating is normally bipolar and that heterozygosity at both MAT regions is required for mating. However, a laboratory cross showed that meiotic recombination may occur within the bipolar MAT locus, explaining tetrapolar features like increased allele number and evolution rates of some MAT genes. This pseudo-bipolar system deviates from the classical bipolar–tetrapolar paradigm and, to our knowledge, has never been observed before. We propose a model for MAT evolution in the Basidiomycota in which the pseudo-bipolar system may represent a hitherto unforeseen gradual form of transition from an ancestral tetrapolar system to bipolarity

Transcription Factors Mat2 and Znf2 Operate Cellular Circuits Orchestrating Opposite- and Same-Sex Mating in Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen that undergoes a dimorphic transition from a unicellular yeast to multicellular hyphae during opposite sex (mating) and unisexual reproduction (same-sex mating). Opposite- and same-sex mating are induced by similar environmental conditions and involve many shared components, including the conserved pheromone sensing Cpk1 MAPK signal transduction cascade that governs the dimorphic switch in C. neoformans. However, the homeodomain cell identity proteins Sxi1α/Sxi2a encoded by the mating type locus that are essential for completion of sexual reproduction following cell–cell fusion during opposite-sex mating are dispensable for same-sex mating. Therefore, identification of downstream targets of the Cpk1 MAPK pathway holds the key to understanding molecular mechanisms governing the two distinct developmental fates. Thus far, homology-based approaches failed to identify downstream transcription factors which may therefore be species-specific. Here, we applied insertional mutagenesis via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and transcription analysis using whole genome microarrays to identify factors involved in C. neoformans differentiation. Two transcription factors, Mat2 and Znf2, were identified as key regulators of hyphal growth during same- and opposite-sex mating. Mat2 is an HMG domain factor, and Znf2 is a zinc finger protein; neither is encoded by the mating type locus. Genetic, phenotypic, and transcriptional analyses of Mat2 and Znf2 provide evidence that Mat2 is a downstream transcription factor of the Cpk1 MAPK pathway whereas Znf2 functions as a more terminal hyphal morphogenesis determinant. Although the components of the MAPK pathway including Mat2 are not required for virulence in animal models, Znf2, as a hyphal morphology determinant, is a negative regulator of virulence. Further characterization of these elements and their target circuits will reveal genes controlling biological processes central to fungal development and virulence