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

The Carboxyl-Terminal Segment of Apolipoprotein A-V Undergoes a Lipid-Induced Conformational Change

Apolipoprotein (apo) A-V is a 343-residue, multidomain protein that plays an important role in regulation of plasma triglyceride homeostasis. Primary sequence analysis revealed a unique tetraproline sequence (Pro293-Pro296) near the carboxyl terminus of the protein. A peptide corresponding to the 48-residue segment beyond the tetraproline motif was generated from a recombinant apoA-V precursor wherein Pro295 was replaced by Met. Cyanogen bromide cleavage of the precursor protein, followed by negative affinity chromatography, yielded a purified peptide. Nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis verified that apoA-V(296-343) solubilizes phospholipid vesicles, forming a relatively heterogeneous population of reconstituted high-density lipoprotein with Stokes’ diameters\u3e17 nm. At the same time, apoA-V(296-343) failed to bind a spherical lipoprotein substrate in vitro. Far-UV circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed the peptide is unstructured in buffer yet adopts significant R-helical secondary structure in the presence of the lipid mimetic solvent trifluoroethanol (TFE; 50% v/v). Heteronuclear multidemensional NMR spectroscopy experiments were conducted with uniformly 15N- and 15N/13C-labeled peptide in 50% TFE. Peptide backbone assignment and secondary structure prediction using TALOSþ reveal the peptide adopts R-helix secondary structure from residues 309 to 334. In TFE, apoA-V(296-343) adopts an extended amphipathic R-helix, consistent with a role in lipoprotein binding as a component of full-length apoA-V

A luciferase based viability assay for ATP detection in 384-well format for high throughput whole cell screening of Trypanosoma brucei brucei bloodstream form strain 427

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is caused by two trypanosome species, <it>Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense </it>and <it>Trypanosoma brucei gambiense</it>. Current drugs available for the treatment of HAT have significant issues related to toxicity, administration regimes with limited effectiveness across species and disease stages, thus there is a considerable need to find alternative drugs. A well recognised approach to identify new drug candidates is high throughput screening (HTS) of large compound library collections.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe here the development of a luciferase based viability assay in 384-well plate format suitable for HTS of <it>T.b.brucei</it>. The parameters that were explored to determine the final HTS assay conditions are described in detail and include DMSO tolerability, Z', diluents and cell inoculum density. Reference compound activities were determined for diminazene, staurosporine and pentamidine and compared to previously published IC₅₀data obtained. The assay has a comparable sensitivity to reference drugs and is more cost effective than the 96-well format currently reported for <it>T.b.brucei</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Due to the reproducibility and sensitivity of this assay it is recommended for potential HTS application. As it is commercially available this assay can also be utilised in many laboratories for both large and small scale screening.</p

Development of computer software to analyze entire LANDSAT scenes and to summarize classification results of variable-size polygons

The Forest Pest Management Division (FPMD) of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry has the responsibility for conducting annual surveys of the State's forest lands to accurately detect, map, and appraise forest insect infestations. A standardized, timely, and cost-effective method of accurately surveying forests and their condition should enhance the probability of suppressing infestations. The repetitive and synoptic coverage provided by LANDSAT (formerly ERTS) makes such satellite-derived data potentially attractive as a survey medium for monitoring forest insect damage over large areas. Forest Pest Management Division personnel have expressed keen interest in LANDSAT data and have informally cooperated with NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) since 1976 in the development of techniques to facilitate their use. The results of this work indicate that it may be feasible to use LANDSAT digital data to conduct annual surveys of insect defoliation of hardwood forests

Anisotropic expansion of a thermal dipolar Bose gas

We report on the anisotropic expansion of ultracold bosonic dysprosium gases at temperatures above quantum degeneracy and develop a quantitative theory to describe this behavior. The theory expresses the post-expansion aspect ratio in terms of temperature and microscopic collisional properties by incorporating Hartree-Fock mean-field interactions, hydrodynamic effects, and Bose-enhancement factors. Our results extend the utility of expansion imaging by providing accurate thermometry for dipolar thermal Bose gases, reducing error in expansion thermometry from tens of percent to only a few percent. Furthermore, we present a simple method to determine scattering lengths in dipolar gases, including near a Feshbach resonance, through observation of thermal gas expansion.Comment: main text and supplement, 11 pages total, 4 figure

PSPSO: A package for parameters selection using particle swarm optimization

This paper reports a high-level python package for selecting machine learning algorithms and ensembles of machine learning algorithms parameters by using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm named PSPSO. The first version of PSPSO supports four algorithms: Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Gradient Boosting Decision Trees (GBDT). PSPSO provides an easy framework for building machine learning algorithms using PSO and a new platform for researchers to investigate their selection methods. In addition, it provides a basis for establishing new selection ideas and can be easily extended to support other algorithms

Enhancing disaster preparedness of specialty nurses on a national scale

Purpose – The number of disasters has increased by 30 per cent worldwide in the past 30 years. Nurses constitute the largest clinical group within a hospital and their ability to respond to disasters is crucial to the provision of quality patient care. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a four-year disaster preparedness partnership between two tertiary hospitals from the perspective of executive staff, senior clinical managers and specialist nurses. The national disaster response centre was situated in one hospital and the other hospital was located 3,500 km away. Design/methodology/approach – The intervention involved selected nurses working at the partner hospital to enable familiarisation with policies, procedures and layout in the event of a request for back-up in the event of a national disaster. A mixed-methods design was used to elicit the strengths and limitations of the partnership. Surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups were used. Findings – In total, 67 participants provided evaluations including ten executive staff, 17 clinical management nurses and 38 nurses from the disaster response team. Improvements in some aspects of communication were recommended. The successful recruitment of highly skilled and committed nurses was a strength. A disaster exercise resulted in 79 per cent of nurses, able and willing to go immediately to the partner hospital for up to 14 days. Research limitations/implications – During the four year partnership, no actual disaster occurred that required support. This limited the ability to fully trial the partnership in an authentic manner. The disaster exercise, although helpful in trialling the processes and assessing nurse availability, it has some limitations. Originality/value – This innovative partnership successfully prepared specialist nurses from geographically distant hospitals for a disaster response. This together with a willingness to be deployed enhanced Australia’s capacity in the event of a disaster