Mycobacterial panniculitis caused by Mycobacterium thermoresistibile in a cat.

Case summaryA domestic shorthair cat was evaluated for chronic, bilateral, ulcerative dermatitis affecting the inguinal region and lateral aspects of both pelvic limbs. Histopathologic examination of skin biopsies collected throughout the course of disease revealed chronic pyogranulomatous ulcerative dermatitis. Aerobic bacterial skin cultures yielded growth of a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Corynebacterium amycolatum. Upon referral the clinical findings were suggestive of a non-tuberculous Mycobacterium species infection. Previously obtained skin cultures failed to yield growth of mycobacterial organisms. A deep skin biopsy was collected and submitted for mycobacterial culture. At 5 weeks of incubation Mycobacterium thermoresistibile was isolated. In previous reports, M thermoresistibile has been isolated after 2-4 days of incubation, suggesting that this strain may have been a slower growing variant, or other factors (such as prior antimicrobial therapy) inhibited rapid growth of this isolate. The cat was hospitalized for intravenous antibiotic therapy, surgical debridement of wounds, vacuum-assisted wound closure therapy and reconstruction procedures. The wounds were ultimately primarily closed and the cat was discharged to the owner after 50 days of hospitalization. Seven months after hospitalization, the ulcerative skin lesions had healed.Relevance and novel informationTo our knowledge, only two cases of M thermoresistibile panniculitis have been reported in cats. In the only detailed report of feline M thermoresistibile panniculitis, treatment was not attempted. The second case only reported detection of M thermoresistibile by PCR without a clinical description of the case. In our case report, severe chronic skin infection with M thermoresistibile was addressed using prolonged specific antibiotic therapy, surgical debridement and reconstructions, and treatment of secondary bacterial infections

Detailed analysis of radiation data from the Gemini 4 and Gemini 7 proton-electron spectrometer experiments Final report, 13 Jun. 1967 - 30 Dec. 1968

Detailed analysis of radiation data from Gemini 4 and 7 proton-electron spectrometer experiment

The effects of the geosynchronous energetic particle radiation environment on spacecraft charging phenomena

The energetic electron environment at the geosynchronous orbit is responsible for a variety of adverse charging effects on spacecraft components. The most serious of these is the degradation and failure of a complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronic components as a result of internal charge-buildup induced by the energetic electrons. Efforts to accurately determine the expected lifetime of these components in this orbit are hampered by the lack of detailed knowledge of the electron spectrum and intensity, particularly of the more penetrating energies greater than 1.5 MeV. This problem is illustrated through the calculation of the dose received by a CMOS device from the energetic electrons and associated bremsstrahlung as a function of aluminum shielding thickness using the NASA AE-6 and the Aerospace measured electron environments. Two computational codes which were found to be in good agreement were used to perform the calculations. For a given shielding thickness the dose received with the two radiation environments differ by as much as a factor of seven with a corresponding variation in lifetime of the CMOS

Analysis of high resolution satellite data for cosmic gamma ray bursts

Cosmic gamma ray bursts detected a germanium spectrometer on the low altitude satellite 1972-076B were surveyed. Several bursts with durations ranging from approximately 0.032 to 15 seconds were found and are tabulated. The frequency of occurrence/intensity distribution of these events was compared with the S to the -3/2 power curve of confirmed events. The longer duration events fall above the S to the -3/2 power curve of confirmed events, suggesting they are perhaps not all true cosmic gamma-ray bursts. The narrow duration events fall closely on the S to the -3/2 power curve. The survey also revealed several counting rate spikes, with durations comparable to confirmed gamma-ray bursts, which were shown to be of magnetospheric origin. Confirmation that energetic electrons were responsible for these bursts was achieved from analysis of all data from the complete payload of gamma-ray and energetic particle detectors on board the satellite. The analyses also revealed that the narrowness of the spikes was primarily spatial rather than temporal in character

Gene regulatory networks elucidating huanglongbing disease mechanisms.

Next-generation sequencing was exploited to gain deeper insight into the response to infection by Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus (CaLas), especially the immune disregulation and metabolic dysfunction caused by source-sink disruption. Previous fruit transcriptome data were compared with additional RNA-Seq data in three tissues: immature fruit, and young and mature leaves. Four categories of orchard trees were studied: symptomatic, asymptomatic, apparently healthy, and healthy. Principal component analysis found distinct expression patterns between immature and mature fruits and leaf samples for all four categories of trees. A predicted protein - protein interaction network identified HLB-regulated genes for sugar transporters playing key roles in the overall plant responses. Gene set and pathway enrichment analyses highlight the role of sucrose and starch metabolism in disease symptom development in all tissues. HLB-regulated genes (glucose-phosphate-transporter, invertase, starch-related genes) would likely determine the source-sink relationship disruption. In infected leaves, transcriptomic changes were observed for light reactions genes (downregulation), sucrose metabolism (upregulation), and starch biosynthesis (upregulation). In parallel, symptomatic fruits over-expressed genes involved in photosynthesis, sucrose and raffinose metabolism, and downregulated starch biosynthesis. We visualized gene networks between tissues inducing a source-sink shift. CaLas alters the hormone crosstalk, resulting in weak and ineffective tissue-specific plant immune responses necessary for bacterial clearance. Accordingly, expression of WRKYs (including WRKY70) was higher in fruits than in leaves. Systemic acquired responses were inadequately activated in young leaves, generally considered the sites where most new infections occur

Heteropolymer Sequence Design and Preferential Solvation of Hydrophilic Monomers: One More Application of Random Energy Model

In this paper, we study the role of surface of the globule and the role of interactions with the solvent for designed sequence heteropolymers using random energy model (REM). We investigate the ground state energy and surface monomer composition distribution. By comparing the freezing transition in random and designed sequence heteropolymers, we discuss the effects of design. Based on our results, we are able to show under which conditions solvation effect improves the quality of sequence design. Finally, we study sequence space entropy and discuss the number of available sequences as a function of imposed requirements for the design quality

Government review of the Mod-2 wind turbine (as-built)

The findings and recommendations of the Government committee formed to conduct an as-built review of the three Mod-2 wind turbine units at Goldendale, Washington are given. The purpose of the review was to identify any critical deficiencies in machine components that could result in failure, and to recommend any necessary corrective action before resuming safe machine operation. The review concluded that one of the deficiencies identified would preclude planned attended or unattended operation, provided that certain corrective actions were implemented