Sequence analysis of the second internal Transcribed spacer (ITS2) region of rDNA for species identification of trichostrongylus nematodes isolated from domestic livestock in Iran

Background: Infectivity of herbivores with Trichostrongylus nematodes is widespread in many countries, having a major economic impact on breeding, survivability, and productivity of domestic livestock. This study was carried out on Trichostrongylus species isolated from domestic livestock in order to develop an easy-to-perform method for species identification. Methods: Trichostrongylus isolates were collected from sheep, goat, cattle, and buffaloes in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran. Primary species identification was carried out based on morphological characterization of male worms. PCR amplification of ITS2-rDNA region was performed on genomic DNA and the products were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequence data was conducted employing Bayesian Inference approach. Consequently, a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) profile was designed to differentiate Trichostrongylus species. Results: A consensus sequence of 238 nucleotides was deposited in the GenBank for Iranian isolates of Trichostrongylus species including T. colubriformis, T. capricola, T. probolurus and T. vitrinus. The designated RFLP using restriction enzyme TasI could readily differentiate among species having different ITS2 sequence. The molecular analysis was in concordance with morphological findings. Conclusion: Phylogenetic analysis indicated a close relationship among the sequences obtained in this study and reference sequence of relevant species. ITS2-RFLP with TasI is recommended for molecular differentiation of common Trichostrongylus species

Natural killer cells and natural killer T cells in Lyme arthritis

Introduction: Natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells provide a first line of defense against infection. However, these cells have not yet been examined in patients with Lyme arthritis, a late disease manifestation. Lyme arthritis usually resolves with antibiotic treatment. However, some patients have persistent arthritis after spirochetal killing, which may result from excessive inflammation, immune dysregulation and infection-induced autoimmunity. Methods: We determined the frequencies and phenotypes of NK cells and invariant NKT (iNKT) cells in paired peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) samples from eight patients with antibiotic-responsive arthritis and fifteen patients with antibiotic-refractory arthritis using flow cytometry and cytokine analyses. Results: In antibiotic-responsive patients, who were seen during active infection, high frequencies of CD56bright NK cells were found in SF, the inflammatory site, compared with PB (P <0.001); at both sites, a high percentage of cells expressed the activation receptor NKG2D and the chaperone CD94, a low percentage expressed inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR), and a high percentage produced IFN-γ. In antibiotic-refractory patients, who were usually evaluated near the conclusion of antibiotics when few if any live spirochetes remained, the phenotype of CD56bright cells in SF was similar to that in patients with antibiotic-responsive arthritis, but the frequency of these cells was significantly less (P = 0.05), and the frequencies of CD56dim NK cells tended to be higher. However, unlike typical NKdim cells, these cells produced large amounts of IFN-γ, suggesting that they were not serving a cytotoxic function. Lastly, iNKT cell frequencies in the SF of antibiotic-responsive patients were significantly greater compared with that of antibiotic-refractory patients where these cells were often absent (P = 0.003). Conclusions: In patients with antibiotic-responsive arthritis, the high percentage of activated, IFN-γ-producing CD56bright NK cells in SF and the presence of iNKT cells suggest that these cells still have a role in spirochetal killing late in the illness. In patients with antibiotic-refractory arthritis, the frequencies of IFN-γ-producing CD56bright and CD56dim NK cells remained high in SF, even after spirochetal killing, suggesting that these cells contribute to excessive inflammation and immune dysregulation in joints, and iNKT cells, which may have immunomodulatory effects, were often absent

Occurrence of Salmonella and Shigella on Dried Crayfish (Procambarus Clarkia) Sold in Zaria and Kaduna Central Market, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Dried crayfish is a rich source of protein and an important crustacean consumed all over the world.To determine the occurrence of Salmonella and Shigella in dried crayfish and crayfish sellers practices which may predispose the food item to microbial contamination, dried crayfish were sampled from 100 stalls in Samaru (n=20), Sabo (n=30) and Central market (n=50) markets of Kaduna state. Dried crayfish samples were each homogenized, analyzed for total coliform plate count, then pre-enriched and enriched in peptone water and Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth respectively, which was further cultured on Salmonella Shigella Agar (SSA). Non-lactose fermenting colonies were subjected to biochemical and Sugar tests. The overall mean coliform count was 14.95log10cfu/100ml. Salmonella and Shigella species were isolated from 12 (35.3%) and 5 (14.3%) samples respectively. Locational distribution of dried crayfish showed, Sabon gari (13.3%) and Central market Kaduna (6%) having the highest occurrence of Salmonella and Shigella suspect species respectively. Questionnaire survey administered to 100 of the crayfish sellers revealed that most of them 71 (74%) eat uncooked dried crayfish, 39% (44/100) of them use their bare hands unwashed while packaging the crayfish at point of sale. The presence of Salmonella and Shigella in crayfish from these locations is of public health significance. Therefore, public enlightenment on hygiene, sanitation and proper storage and packaging of crayfish to prevent foodborne disease outbreak such as Salmonellosis and Shigellosis in Nigeria is highly advocated. Key words: Crayfish, Salmonella, Shigella, food contamination and hygien

Innovating the Study of Context: Using a Qualitative Study on Subjugation and Resistance to Explore the Utility of Foucauldian Governmentality as a Framework for Enriching Situational Analyses

Situational analysis has, as an emerging poststructuralist approach to grounded theory, recently grown in use across a diverse range of disciplines and substantive areas. In this paper, we consider the complementarity of Foucauldian governmentality as a theoretical framework for supporting and enriching situational analyses. Our work is based on the findings of a recent study, informed by situational analysis, in which we interviewed 27 HIV-positive (n=16) and HIV-negative (n=11) gay men ages 50 and over about their health care experiences, and used these data to examine processes of subjugation and resistance reflected in their accounts. Drawing on our analytical process, we consider the utility of governmentality in identifying salient discursive forces within a situation of interest, in theorizing how contextual factors operate on and influence the experiences of key actors in a field of inquiry, and in generating insight on fluid uses of power within an area under examination

Nuclear reactor power as applied to a space-based radar mission

The SP-100 Project was established to develop and demonstrate feasibility of a space reactor power system (SRPS) at power levels of 10's of kilowatts to a megawatt. To help determine systems requirements for the SRPS, a mission and spacecraft were examined which utilize this power system for a space-based radar to observe moving objects. Aspects of the mission and spacecraft bearing on the power system were the primary objectives of this study; performance of the radar itself was not within the scope. The study was carried out by the Systems Design Audit Team of the SP-100 Project

Goiter frequency is more strongly associated with gastric adenocarcinoma than urine iodine level

Purpose: We designed our study to evaluate the hypothesis that gastric cancer is correlated with iodine deficiency or thyroid dysfunction. Materials and Methods: We investigated the total body iodine reserve, thyroid function status and autoimmune disorder in 40 recently diagnosed gastric adenocarcinoma cases versus 80 healthy controls. The participants came from a region with high gastric cancer rate but sufficient iodine supply due to salt iodination. The investigation included urine iodine level, thyroid gland clinical and ultrasonograph-ic examination, and thyroid function tests. Results: Goiter was detected more frequently in the case group (P=0.001); such a finding, however, was not true for lower than normal urine iodine levels. The free T3 mean level was significantly lower in the case group compared to the control group (P=0.005). Conclusions: The higher prevalence of goiter rather than low levels of urinary iodine in gastric adenocarcinoma cases suggests that goi-ter, perhaps due to protracted but currently adjusted iodine deficiency, is more likely to be associated with gastric adenocarcinoma com-pared to the existing iodine deficiency itself. © 2013 by The Korean Gastric Cancer Association

Minimax mean estimator for the trine

We explore the question of state estimation for a qubit restricted to the $x$-$z$ plane of the Bloch sphere, with the trine measurement. In our earlier work [H. K. Ng and B.-G. Englert, eprint arXiv:1202.5136[quant-ph] (2012)], similarities between quantum tomography and the tomography of a classical die motivated us to apply a simple modification of the classical estimator for use in the quantum problem. This worked very well. In this article, we adapt a different aspect of the classical estimator to the quantum problem. In particular, we investigate the mean estimator, where the mean is taken with a weight function identical to that in the classical estimator but now with quantum constraints imposed. Among such mean estimators, we choose an optimal one with the smallest worst-case error-the minimax mean estimator-and compare its performance with that of other estimators. Despite the natural generalization of the classical approach, this minimax mean estimator does not work as well as one might expect from the analogous performance in the classical problem. While it outperforms the often-used maximum-likelihood estimator in having a smaller worst-case error, the advantage is not significant enough to justify the more complicated procedure required to construct it. The much simpler adapted estimator introduced in our earlier work is still more effective. Our previous work emphasized the similarities between classical and quantum state estimation; in contrast, this paper highlights how intuition gained from classical problems can sometimes fail in the quantum arena.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

Socioeconomic position and use of hospital-based care towards the end of life: a mediation analysis using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license Background: Many patients prefer to avoid hospital-based care towards the end of life, yet hospitalisation is common and more likely for people with low socioeconomic position. The reasons underlying this socioeconomic inequality are not well understood. This study investigated health, service access, and social support as potential mediating pathways between socioeconomic position and receipt of hospital-based care towards the end of life. Methods: For this observational cohort study, we included deceased participants from the nationally representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing of people aged 50 years or older in England. We used a multiple mediation model with age-adjusted and gender-adjusted probit regression to estimate the direct effect of socioeconomic position (measured by wealth and education) on death in hospital and three or more hospital admissions in the last 2 years of life, and the indirect effects of socioeconomic position via three mediators: health and function, access to health-care services, and social support. Findings: 737 participants were included (314 [42·6%] female, 423 [57·4%] male), with a median age at death of 78 years (IQR 71–85). For death in hospital, higher wealth had a direct negative effect (probit coefficient −0·16, 95% CI −0·25 to −0·06), which was not mediated by any of the pathways tested. For frequent hospital admissions, health and function mediated the effect of wealth (−0·04, −0·08 to −0·01), accounting for 34·6% of the total negative effect of higher wealth (−0·13, −0·23 to −0·02). Higher wealth was associated with better health and function (0·25, 0·18 to 0·33). Education was associated with the outcomes only indirectly via wealth. Interpretation: Our findings suggest that worse health and function could partly explain why people with lower wealth have more hospital admissions, highlighting the importance of socioeconomically driven health differences in explaining patterns of hospital use towards the end of life. The findings should raise awareness about the related risk factors of low wealth and worse health for patients approaching the end of life, and strengthen calls for resource allocation to be made on the basis of health need and socioeconomic profile. Funding: Dunhill Medical Trust Fellowship Grant (RTF74/0116)

Rapid screening of diabetic polyneuropathy : Selection of accurate symptoms and signs in an outpatient clinical setting

Authors would like to thank Ms. Ameneh Ebrahim Valojerdi for her great help in preparation of this manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Transcriptional and Chemical Changes in Soybean Leaves in Response to Long-Term Aphid Colonization

Soybean aphids (Aphis glycines Matsumura) are specialized insects that feed on soybean (Glycine max) phloem sap. Transcriptome analyses have shown that resistant soybean plants mount a fast response that limits aphid feeding and population growth. Conversely, defense responses in susceptible plants are slower and it is hypothesized that aphids block effective defenses in the compatible interaction. Unlike other pests, aphids can colonize plants for long periods of time; yet the effect on the plant transcriptome after long-term aphid feeding has not been analyzed for any plant–aphid interaction. We analyzed the susceptible and resistant (Rag1) transcriptome response to aphid feeding in soybean plants colonized by aphids (biotype 1) for 21 days. We found a reduced resistant response and a low level of aphid growth on Rag1 plants, while susceptible plants showed a strong response consistent with pattern-triggered immunity. GO-term analyses identified chitin regulation as one of the most overrepresented classes of genes, suggesting that chitin could be one of the hemipteran-associated molecular pattern that triggers this defense response. Transcriptome analyses also indicated the phenylpropanoid pathway, specifically isoflavonoid biosynthesis, was induced in susceptible plants in response to long-term aphid feeding. Metabolite analyses corroborated this finding. Aphid-treated susceptible plants accumulated daidzein, formononetin, and genistein, although glyceollins were present at low levels in these plants. Choice experiments indicated that daidzein may have a deterrent effect on aphid feeding. Mass spectrometry imaging showed these isoflavones accumulate likely in the mesophyll cells or epidermis and are absent from the vasculature, suggesting that isoflavones are part of a non-phloem defense response that can reduce aphid feeding. While it is likely that aphid can initially block defense responses in compatible interactions, it appears that susceptible soybean plants can eventually mount an effective defense in response to long-term soybean aphid colonization