Oral Administration of Electron-Beam Inactivated Rhodococcus equi Failed to Protect Foals against Intrabronchial Infection with Live, Virulent R. equi

There is currently no licensed vaccine that protects foals against Rhodococcus equi-induced pneumonia. Oral administration of live, virulent R. equi to neonatal foals has been demonstrated to protect against subsequent intrabronchial challenge with virulent R. equi. Electron beam (eBeam)-inactivated R. equi are structurally intact and have been demonstrated to be immunogenic when administered orally to neonatal foals. Thus, we investigated whether eBeam inactivated R. equi could protect foals against developing pneumonia after experimental infection with live, virulent R. equi. Foals (n = 8) were vaccinated by gavaging with eBeam-inactivated R. equi at ages 2, 7, and 14 days, or gavaged with equal volume of saline solution (n = 4), and subsequently infected intrabronchially with live, virulent R. equi at age 21 days. The proportion of vaccinated foals that developed pneumonia following challenge was similar among the vaccinated (7/8; 88%) and unvaccinated foals (3/4; 75%). This vaccination regimen did not appear to be strongly immunogenic in foals. Alternative dosing regimens or routes of administration need further investigation and may prove to be immunogenic and protective

Intramuscular Administration of a Synthetic CpG-Oligodeoxynucleotide Modulates Functional Responses of Neutrophils of Neonatal Foals

Neutrophils play an important role in protecting against infection. Foals have age-dependent deficiencies in neutrophil function that may contribute to their predisposition to infection. Thus, we investigated the ability of a CpG-ODN formulated with Emulsigen to modulate functional responses of neutrophils in neonatal foals. Eighteen foals were randomly assigned to receive either a CpG-ODN with Emulsigen (N = 9) or saline intramuscularly at ages 1 and 7 days. At ages 1, 3, 9, 14, and 28, blood was collected and neutrophils were isolated from each foal. Neutrophils were assessed for basal and Rhodococcus equi-stimulated mRNA expression of the cytokines interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, and IL-8 using real-time PCR, degranulation by quantifying the amount of β-D glucuronidase activity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation using flow cytometry. In vivo administration of the CpG-ODN formulation on days 1 and 7 resulted in significantly (P<0.05) increased IFN-γ mRNA expression by foal neutrophils on days 3, 9, and 14. Degranulation was significantly (P<0.05) lower for foals in the CpG-ODN-treated group than the control group at days 3 and 14, but not at other days. No effect of treatment on ROS generation was detected. These results indicate that CpG-ODN administration to foals might improve innate and adaptive immune responses that could protect foals against infectious diseases and possibly improve responses to vaccination.The open access fee for this work was funded through the Texas A&M University Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Fund

Metabolic adaptation of a Chlamydomonas acidophila strain isolated from acid mine drainage ponds with low eukaryotic diversity

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. The diversity and biological characteristics of eukaryotic communities within acid mine drainage (AMD) sites is less well studied than for prokaryotic communities. Furthermore, for many eukaryotic extremophiles the potential mechanisms of adaptation are unclear. This study describes an evaluation of eight highly acidic (pH 1.6–3.1) and one moderately acidic (pH 5.6) metal-rich acid mine drainage ponds at a disused copper mine. The severity of AMD pollution on eukaryote biodiversity was examined, and while the most species-rich site was less acidic, biodiversity did not only correlate with pH but also with the concentration of dissolved and particulate metals. Acid-tolerant microalgae were present in all ponds, including the species Chlamydomonas acidophila, abundance of which was high in one very metal-rich and highly acidic (pH 1.6) pond, which had a particularly high PO4-P concentration. The C. acidophila strain named PM01 had a broad-range pH tolerance and tolerance to high concentrations of Cd, Cu and Zn, with bioaccumulation of these metals within the cell. Comparison of metal tolerance between the isolated strain and other C. acidophila strains previously isolated from different acidic environments found that the new strain exhibited much higher Cu tolerance, suggesting adaptation by C. acidophila PM01 to excess Cu. An analysis of the metabolic profile of the strains in response to increasing concentrations of Cu suggests that this tolerance by PM01 is in part due to metabolic adaptation and changes in protein content and secondary structure

Comparison of current undergraduate training future biology teachers in selected countries

In most of the countries all over the world, one can find governmental resorts (ministries) focused on education in the given country. The agenda of these ministries is, among other things, the education of those who are supposed to educate others, in other words, pedagogical workers or teachers. Teachers are the fundamental functional unit in education which is why there ought to be a special emphasis placed upon their education and preparation. Unless the society has sufficiently qualified teachers, it cannot expect any excellent results in education, even though there are some other factors involved as well. The main concern of this bachelor thesis lies on teachers' education, mainly biology teachers: what is the lowest possible education needed and how many years must a future teacher study; what is the required structure of teachers' education in the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Ireland and in the USA and what part of the future teachers' study is dedicated to gaining knowledge in biology and what part to obtain pedagogical-psychological knowledge which is considered necessary for working itself in the pedagogy sphere

Relative OD of IgGa against <i>R</i>. <i>equi</i> in control foals (left panel labeled C) and vaccinated foals (right panel labeled V).

<p>Both groups tended to decrease between days 2 and 21, but this difference was not significant; however, both groups increased significantly between days 21 and 84.</p

Production of IFN-γ by PBMCs exposed to <i>R</i>. <i>equi</i> antigen at ages 2, 21, and 84 days in 12 foals: 4 control foals that were unvaccinated and 8 foals vaccinated intragastrically with an eBeam vaccine.

<p>No significant effect of vaccine was observed, but concentrations of IFN-γ increased significantly (P < 0.0001; LME) at ages 21 and 84 days relative to controls, and values were significantly higher on day 84 than 21. A value for 1 control foal on day 21 was considered to be an outlier (arrow). When this value was excluded, significant effects of vaccination that varied by age were observed: excluding this value, the vaccinated group had significantly (P < 0.05; LME) higher IFN-γ expression than control foals on day 21 (but not at the other ages; see text for details).</p

Duration of clinical signs and ultrasonographic lesions of vaccinated and control foals.

<p>There were no significant differences between the 2 groups.</p

Production of IFN-γ by PBMCs exposed to stimuli at ages 2, 21, and 84 days in 12 foals.

<p>Circles represent unvaccinated foals (N = 4) and triangles represent vaccinated foals (N = 8). The mitogen (concavalin A) induced significantly (P < 0.0001; LME) greater expression of IFN-γ relative to the unstimulated PBMCs (Control) at each age; moreover, expression induced at days 21 and 84 was significantly (P = 0.0060 and 0.0160, respectively; LME) greater than that induced on day 2. There was no significant difference among ages for the unstimulated control samples. Stimulation with <i>R</i>. <i>equi</i> did not induce expression of IFN-γ relative to unstimulated control cells on day 2, but did induce significant expression on days 21 and 84 (P < 0.0001; LME) relative to baseline, and expression was significantly greater (0.0196; LME) on day 84 (following infection) than 21 (prior to infection).</p

Mean (and 95% confidence intervals) for mRNA copy numbers estimated by mixed-effects modeling for IL-4, IL-6, and IL-8.

<p>Data represent back-transformed results of log₁₀-transformed data. Values in columns with the same letter indicate absence of statistical significance between groups for a given age. Values in rows with differing superscripted numbers indicate significant (P<0.05) differences among ages within group.</p><p>Mean (and 95% confidence intervals) for mRNA copy numbers estimated by mixed-effects modeling for IL-4, IL-6, and IL-8.</p

Boxplots of log₁₀ values of mRNA copy numbers by age and treatment group: blue boxes are data from the control (saline) group and red boxes are data from the CpG-treated foals.

<p>The triangles in the middle of boxes represent the median value; the bottom and top of the boxes represent the 25^th and 75^th percentiles, respectively. The vertical lines extending from the boxes to horizontal lines represent multiples of 1.75 of the respective interquartile distance. Numbers above boxes represent within-treatment group differences among ages: within treatment group, ages with different numbers differed significantly (P<0.05) between groups. Asterisks denote days on which values were significantly (P<0.05) different between the control and Cp-G-treated foals. Arrows along the horizontal axis indicate ages when treatment (saline or CpG) was administered.</p