Allergic Inhalent Dermatitis in the Canine

A dog with allergic inhalant dermatitis presents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the veterinarian. The patient exhibits intense pruritus often accompanied by scratching, foot licking, face rubbing, sneezing, and lacrimation. The occurrence of signs is often seasonal and is usually first seen in the second or theird year. Allergic inhalant dermatitis is an immediate type of allergic hypersensitivity mediated by the skin sensitizing antigen, IgE

Stoichiometry control of sputtered CuCl thin films: Influence on ultraviolet emission properties

We demonstrate that the chemical composition of the sputtered CuCl thin films could be finely controlled by adjusting the bias to the substrate. The films deposited without any intentional bias were Cl rich (CuCl1+x), a bias of −22 V yielded stoichiometric CuCl, and a further increase in the negative bias resulted in Cl deficient films (CuCl1−x). The crystalline and optical properties were found to be associated with the chemical composition. Cl rich films showed a deep level green emission at around 515 nm in addition to ultraviolet (UV) excitonic emission. The stoichiometric films have higher optical quality, exhibiting a sharp UV emission at around 385 nm at room temperature, compared to nonstoichiometric samples. Visible luminescence related to deep level defects was not observed in the stoichiometric films. Changes in energy of the flux from the target and the subsequent ion bombardment on the substrate surface are correlated with the variations in chemical composition and their impact on the film microstructure and UV emission

Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms : non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population

Despite the global distribution and public health consequences of Taenia tapeworms, the life cycles of taeniids infecting wildlife hosts remain largely undescribed. The larval stage of Taenia serialis commonly parasitizes rodents and lagomorphs, but has been reported in a wide range of hosts that includes geladas (Theropithecus gelada), primates endemic to Ethiopia. Geladas exhibit protuberant larval cysts indicative of advanced T. serialis infection that are associated with high mortality. However, non-protuberant larvae can develop in deep tissue or the abdominal cavity, leading to underestimates of prevalence based solely on observable cysts. We adapted a non-invasive monoclonal antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect circulating Taenia spp. antigen in dried gelada urine. Analysis revealed that this assay was highly accurate in detecting Taenia antigen, with 98.4% specificity, 98.5% sensitivity, and an area under the curve of 0.99. We used this assay to investigate the prevalence of T. serialis infection in a wild gelada population, finding that infection is substantially more widespread than the occurrence of visible T. serialis cysts (16.4% tested positive at least once, while only 6% of the same population exhibited cysts). We examined whether age or sex predicted T. serialis infection as indicated by external cysts and antigen presence. Contrary to the female-bias observed in many Taenia-host systems, we found no significant sex bias in either cyst presence or antigen presence. Age, on the other hand, predicted cyst presence (older individuals were more likely to show cysts) but not antigen presence. We interpret this finding to indicate that T. serialis may infect individuals early in life but only result in visible disease later in life. This is the first application of an antigen ELISA to the study of larval Taenia infection in wildlife, opening the doors to the identification and description of infection dynamics in reservoir populations

Na incorporation into Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cell absorbers deposited on polyimide: Impact on the chemical and electronic surface structure

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 111.3 (2012): 034903 and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/111/3/10.1063/1.3679604Na has deliberately been incorporated into Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) chalcopyrite thin-film solar cell absorbers deposited on Mo-coated polyimide flexible substrates by adding differently thick layers of NaF in-between CIGSe absorber and Mo back contact. The impact of Na on the chemical and electronic surface structure of CIGSe absorbers with various Cu-contents deposited at comparatively low temperature (420 C) has been studied using x-ray photoelectron and x-ray excited Auger electron spectroscopy. We observe a higher Na surface content for the Cu-richer CIGSe samples and can distinguish between two different chemical Na environments, best described as selenide-like and oxidized Na species, respectively. Furthermore, we find a Cu-poor surface composition of the CIGSe samples independent of Na content and - for very high Na contents - indications for the formation of a (Cu,Na)-(In,Ga)-Se like compound. With increasing Na surface content, also a shift of the photoemission lines to lower binding energies could be identified, which we interpret as a reduction of the downward band bending toward the CIGSe surface explained by the Na-induced elimination of In Cu defects.X.S., R.F., D.G., R.G.W., and M.B. are grateful to the Helmholtz-Association for financial support (VH-NG-423). R.F. also acknowledges the support by the German Academic Exchange Agency (DAAD; 331 4 04 002)

Maize leaf PPDK regulatory protein isoform-2 is specific to bundle sheath chloroplasts and paradoxically lacks a Pi-dependent PPDK activation activity

In C4 plants, the pyruvate phosphate dikinase regulatory protein (PDRP) regulates the C4 pathway enzyme pyruvate phosphate dikinase (PPDK) in response to changes in incident light intensity. In maize (Zea mays) leaves, two distinct isoforms of PDRP are expressed, ZmPDRP1 and ZmPDRP2. The properties and C4 function of the ZmPDRP1 isoform are well understood. However, the PDRP2 isoform has only recently been identified and its properties and function(s) in maize leaves are unknown. We therefore initiated an investigation into the maize PDRP2 isoform by performing a side by side comparison of its enzyme properties and cell-specific distribution with PDRP1. In terms of enzyme functionality, PDRP2 was found to possess the same protein kinase-specific activity as PDRP1. However, the PDRP2 isoform was found to lack the phosphotransferase activity of the bifunctional PDRP1 isoform except when PDRP2 in the assays is elevated 5- to 10-fold. A primarily immuno-based approach was used to show that PDRP1 is strictly expressed in mesophyll cells and PDRP2 is strictly expressed in bundle sheath strand cells (BSCs). Additionally, using in situ immunolocalization, we establish a regulatory target for PDRP2 by showing a significant presence of C4 PPDK in BSC chloroplasts. However, a metabolic role for PPDK in this compartment is obscure, assuming PPDK accumulating in this compartment would be irreversibly inactivated each dark cycle by a monofunctional PDRP2

Effects of Cordyceps Mushroom Powder on Nursery Pig Performance

One hundred sixty crossbred pigs (Duroc × (York × Landrace)) weaned at 18.8 d of age and weighing an average of 13.1 lb were used in a 35-day growth trial to evaluate Cordyceps mushroom powder as potential alternative to carbadox in nursery pig diets. Pigs were divided by weight, sex, litter, and assigned to body weight (BW) blocks. Within BW blocks, sex ratios were constant in each pen. Each pen within a BW block was randomly assigned a dietary treatment. Growth performance was analyzed using BW, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion as feed-to-gain (F:G). Pigs were blocked by weight with 5 or 6 pigs per pen and there were 6 pens per treatment. There were 5 diets used in the study: a negative diet or a positive control (carbadox, 50 g/ton); 300 or 600 ppm mushroom powder, and a step-down treatment (900, 900, 450, 300, and 150 ppm mushroom powder during weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively). At various points of the study, pigs fed the 300 ppm and the step-down mushroom powder treatments tended to have improved (P \u3c 0.10) growth performance compared with those fed the negative control diet. During Phase 4 of the study, pigs fed carbadox had greater ADG (P \u3c 0.02) and improved feed efficiency (P \u3c 0.09) over pigs fed the negative control diet. However, overall data showed that there were no statistical differences among treatments (P \u3e 0.05). In summary, pigs fed 300 ppm mushroom powder or the step-down treatment showed comparable results to pigs fed carbadox. However, future research is needed under a greater disease pressure to show mushroom powder’s full potential as an alternative to antibiotics

The Effects of Cordyceps Mushroom Powder and Purified Mushroom Beta-Glucan on Nursery Pig Performance

One hundred thirty-two gilts and barrows (18.2 d of age) weighing an average of 13.4 lb (Duroc × (York × Landrace)) were put on test for a 35-day growth trial to assess the effects of Cordyceps mushroom powder (MP) or purified mushroom beta-glucan (BG) as an antibiotic alternative in nursery diets. There were 6 diets, negative and positive controls (NC and PC), 150 and 300 ppm mushroom powder, and 150 and 300 ppm beta-glucan equivalents to the MP diets. Pigs were divided by weight, sex, litter, and assigned to 6 body weight (BW) blocks. Within BW blocks, sex ratios were constant in each pen. Pigs and feeders were weighed weekly to determine average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed efficiency (F/G). During phase 1 (d 0 to 7), pigs fed the PC had increased ADG, ADFI, and d 7 BW (P \u3c 0.05) compared to pigs fed the NC. Beta-glucan and MP also increased ADFI in phase 1 (P \u3c 0.05) compared to the NC. During phase 2 (d 7 to 14), a health challenge (hemolytic Escherichia coli) went through half of the pigs with the other half challenged in phase 3 (d 14 to 21). This led to some erratic performance because of the pigs eating, but losing weight. In phase 4 there was a BG and MP interaction between source and dose. Pigs fed 300 level of MP had improved F/G, while those fed the 300 level of BG had poorer efficiency in phase 4 (P \u3c 0.07). Overall, there was an improvement (P \u3e 0.05) in F:G ratio in the PC when compared to the NC. There was also an interaction between source and dose for ADFI (P \u3c 0.05) between the BG and MP treatments. There was a significant improvement in F/G in MP and BG pigs compared to NC pigs (P \u3c 0.05). On day 35, there were no differences in final BW among treatments. A premarket weight was collected on all pigs at d 154 after weaning, and pigs fed the 300 BG from day 0 to 35 were 24.4 lb heavier than the NC (P \u3c 0.05) and 15.4 lb heavier than the PC (P \u3c 0.05)

Nodal dynamics, not degree distributions, determine the structural controllability of complex networks

Structural controllability has been proposed as an analytical framework for making predictions regarding the control of complex networks across myriad disciplines in the physical and life sciences (Liu et al., Nature:473(7346):167-173, 2011). Although the integration of control theory and network analysis is important, we argue that the application of the structural controllability framework to most if not all real-world networks leads to the conclusion that a single control input, applied to the power dominating set (PDS), is all that is needed for structural controllability. This result is consistent with the well-known fact that controllability and its dual observability are generic properties of systems. We argue that more important than issues of structural controllability are the questions of whether a system is almost uncontrollable, whether it is almost unobservable, and whether it possesses almost pole-zero cancellations.Comment: 1 Figures, 6 page

OBSERVATIONS ON NAVICULA THALLODES (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE), A BLADE-FORMING DIATOM FROM THE BERING SEA 1

A thallus-forming diatom, Navicula thallodes Proschkina-Lavrenko, previously known only from the original collection at Bering Island (U.S.S.R.), has been found at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, Alaska. The most remarkable observation of the present report is that N. thallodes may form blades up to 50 cm long, which to our knowledge is the greatest length reported for a colonial diatom. SEM observations of this diatom are presented for the first time.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65176/1/j.1529-8817.1988.tb04487.x.pd

Dynamics of DNA replication loops reveal temporal control of lagging-strand synthesis

In all organisms, the protein machinery responsible for the replication of DNA, the replisome, is faced with a directionality problem. The antiparallel nature of duplex DNA permits the leading-strand polymerase to advance in a continuous fashion, but forces the lagging-strand polymerase to synthesize in the opposite direction. By extending RNA primers, the lagging-strand polymerase restarts at short intervals and produces Okazaki fragments. At least in prokaryotic systems, this directionality problem is solved by the formation of a loop in the lagging strand of the replication fork to reorient the lagging-strand DNA polymerase so that it advances in parallel with the leading-strand polymerase. The replication loop grows and shrinks during each cycle of Okazaki fragment synthesis. Here we use single-molecule techniques to visualize, in real time, the formation and release of replication loops by individual replisomes of bacteriophage T7 supporting coordinated DNA replication. Analysis of the distributions of loop sizes and lag times between loops reveals that initiation of primer synthesis and the completion of an Okazaki fragment each serve as a trigger for loop release. The presence of two triggers may represent a fail-safe mechanism ensuring the timely reset of the replisome after the synthesis of every Okazaki fragment.