Quantitative studies of Theileria parva in the bovine host

A preliminary quantitative study on the population growth rate of Theileria parva in the bovine host failed to confirm the constant growth rate independent of size of infective dose reported by earlier workers. Experiments in methodology were performed therefore to standardize the techniques for obtaining (a) accurate estimates of infection rates from biopsy smears, (b) representative samples from a superficial lymph node source. A further experiment was carried out to establish that such samples were representative of the total parasitic biomass. These techniques were applied in a wider ranging quantitative study using four infective doses at ten fold intervals for infecting animals. The resultant growth rates were again dependent on the size of the infective dose. A definitive experiment, using five infective doses at ten fold intervals confirmed the divergence of growth rates. It was also shown that the severity of the clinical reaction, and the survival time was dependent on the size of the infective dose. The implications of these results in relation to immunization of cattle against T. parva are discussed.The standardized methods were applied also in a chemoprophylactic study to observe the growth rates of T. parva as affected by different regimens of tetracycline. Other possible applications of these standardized methods are discussed

Coldwater reattachment of colonial tunicate Didemnum vexillum fragments to natural (eelgrass) and artificial (plastic) substrates in New England

© The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Aquatic Invasions 9 (2014): 105–110, doi:10.3391/ai.2014.9.1.09.The colonial tunicate Didemnum vexillum Kott, 2002, was introduced to New England in the 1980s and by 2000 it was widespread. This highly invasive species spreads by larval release and fragmentation. We tested the ability of D. vexillum fragments to reattach to natural (eelgrass Zostera marina (Linnaeus, 1753)) and artificial (plastic container) substrates during late fall and early winter. On average, 77% of D. vexillum fragments reattached to eelgrass and plastic in water temperatures between 6 and 10°C. Eelgrass appeared to facilitate D. vexillum reattachment success in early winter but this tendency should be further investigated.Funding to Carman came from the US EPA RARE Program and USGS-WHOI Cooperative Agreement

Aspects of time and the study of activity routines.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of City and Regional Planning. Thesis. 1968. M.C.P.Eleven unnumbered leaves inserted.Bibliography: leaves 179-190.M.C.P

Improving arteriovenous fistula patency : transdermal delivery of diclofenac reduces cannulation-dependent neointimal hyperplasia via AMPK activation

Creation of an autologous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) for vascular access in haemodialysis is the modality of choice. However neointimal hyperplasia and loss of the luminal compartment result in AVF patency rates of ~60% at 12months. The exact cause of neointimal hyperplasia in the AVF is poorly understood. Vascular trauma has long been associated with hyperplasia. With this in mind in our rabbit model of AVF we simulated cannulation autologous to that undertaken in vascular access procedures and observed significant neointimal hyperplasia as a direct consequence of cannulation. The neointimal hyperplasia was completely inhibited by topical transdermal delivery of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) diclofenac. In addition to the well documented anti-inflammatory properties we have identified novel anti-proliferative mechanisms demonstrating diclofenac increases AMPK-dependent signalling and reduced expression of the cell cycle protein cyclin D1. In summary prophylactic transdermal delivery of diclofenac to the sight of AVF cannulation prevents adverse neointimal hyperplasic remodelling and potentially offers a novel treatment option that may help prolong AVF patency and flow rates

Equine Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalies maps to a 4.9 megabase interval on horse chromosome 6

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Equine Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalies (MCOA) syndrome consists of a diverse set of abnormalities predominantly localized to the frontal part of the eye. The disease is in agreement with a codominant mode of inheritance in our horse material. Animals presumed to be heterozygous for the mutant allele have cysts originating from the temporal ciliary body, peripheral retina and/or iris. In contrast, animals predicted to be homozygous for the disease-causing allele possess a wide range of multiple abnormalities, including iridociliary and/or peripheral retinal cysts, iridocorneal angle abnormalities, cornea globosa, iris hypoplasia and congenital cataracts. MCOA is most common in the Rocky Mountain horse breed where it occurs at a high frequency among Silver colored horses. The Silver coat color is associated with mutations in <it>PMEL17 </it>that resides on ECA6q23. To map the <it>MCOA </it>locus we analyzed 11 genetic markers on ECA6q and herein describe a chromosome interval for the <it>MCOA </it>locus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We performed linkage analysis within 17 paternal half-sib families of the Rocky Mountain horse breed. More than half of the 131 offspring had the Cyst phenotype and about one third had MCOA. Segregation data were obtained by genotyping 10 microsatellite markers most of which are positioned on ECA6q22-23, as well as the missense mutation for the Silver phenotype in <it>PMEL17</it>. Significant linkage was found between the <it>MCOA </it>locus and eight of the genetic markers, where marker <it>UPP5 </it>(Theta = 0, z = 12.3), <it>PMEL17ex11 </it>(Theta = 0, z = 19.0) and <it>UPP6 </it>(Theta = 0, z = 17.5) showed complete linkage with the <it>MCOA </it>locus. DNA sequencing of <it>PMEL17 </it>in affected and healthy control individuals did not reveal any additional mutations than the two mutations associated with the Silver coat color.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The <it>MCOA </it>locus can with high confidence be positioned within a 4.9 megabase (Mb) interval on ECA6q. The genotype data on <it>UPP5</it>, <it>PMEL17ex11 </it>and <it>UPP6 </it>strongly support the hypothesis that horses with the Cyst phenotype are heterozygous for the mutant allele and that horses with the MCOA phenotype are homozygous for the mutant allele.</p

Improving arteriovenous fistula patency : transdermal delivery of diclofenac reduces cannulation-dependent neointimal hyperplasia via AMPK activation

Creation of an autologous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) for vascular access in haemodialysis is the modality of choice. However neointimal hyperplasia and loss of the luminal compartment result in AVF patency rates of ~60% at 12months. The exact cause of neointimal hyperplasia in the AVF is poorly understood. Vascular trauma has long been associated with hyperplasia. With this in mind in our rabbit model of AVF we simulated cannulation autologous to that undertaken in vascular access procedures and observed significant neointimal hyperplasia as a direct consequence of cannulation. The neointimal hyperplasia was completely inhibited by topical transdermal delivery of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) diclofenac. In addition to the well documented anti-inflammatory properties we have identified novel anti-proliferative mechanisms demonstrating diclofenac increases AMPK-dependent signalling and reduced expression of the cell cycle protein cyclin D1. In summary prophylactic transdermal delivery of diclofenac to the sight of AVF cannulation prevents adverse neointimal hyperplasic remodelling and potentially offers a novel treatment option that may help prolong AVF patency and flow rates

Empirical Evaluation of Oligonucleotide Probe Selection for DNA Microarrays

DNA-based microarrays are increasingly central to biomedical research. Selecting oligonucleotide sequences that will behave consistently across experiments is essential to the design, production and performance of DNA microarrays. Here our aim was to improve on probe design parameters by empirically and systematically evaluating probe performance in a multivariate context. We used experimental data from 19 array CGH hybridizations to assess the probe performance of 385,474 probes tiled in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) region of the X chromosome. Our results demonstrate that probe melting temperature, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and homocytosine motifs all have a strong effect on probe behavior. These findings, when incorporated into future microarray probe selection algorithms, may improve microarray performance for a wide variety of applications

Tangential momentum accommodation coefficient in microtube

Une campagne expérimentale d'écoulement gazeux (azote, argon et helium) a été conduite dans un microtube de silice. Les écoulements expérimentaux sont obtenus par un gradient de pression dans des conditions isothermes. Ces expériences ont été réalisées en régime de glissement, elles ont necessité le développement d'une plateforme expérimentale performante pour mesurer de très faibles débits massiques. Une approche analytique basée sur les équations de Navier-Stokes (NS) avec des conditions limites du premier ou du second ordre selon leur pertinence ont été utilisées pour déterminer les coefficients d'accommodation (TMAC). Les coefficients obtenus pour les différentes paires gaz(azote, argon, helium)/surface (silice) excluent une réflexion totalement diffuse à la surface