Heavy Hymenolepis nana Infection Possibly Through Organic Foods: Report of a Case

We encountered a patient with heavy Hymenolepis nana infection. The patient was a 44-year-old Korean man who had suffered from chronic hepatitis (type B) for 15 years. A large number of H. nana adult worms were found during colonoscopy that was performed as a part of routine health screening. The parasites were scattered throughout the colon, as well as in the terminal ileum, although the patient was immunocompetent. Based on this study, colonoscopy may be helpful for diagnosis of asymptomatic H. nana infections.     

Immunopathological Changes in the Brain of Immunosuppressed Mice Experimentally Infected with Toxocara canis

Toxocariasis is a soil-transmitted helminthozoonosis due to infection of humans by larvae of Toxocara canis. The disease could produce cognitive and behavioral disturbances especially in children. Meanwhile, in our modern era, the incidence of immunosuppression has been progressively increasing due to increased incidence of malignancy as well as increased use of immunosuppressive agents. The present study aimed at comparing some of the pathological and immunological alterations in the brain of normal and immunosuppressed mice experimentally infected with T. canis. Therefore, 180 Swiss albino mice were divided into 4 groups including normal (control) group, immunocompetent T. canis-infected group, immunosuppressed group (control), and immunosuppressed infected group. Infected mice were subjected to larval counts in the brain, and the brains from all mice were assessed for histopathological changes, astrogliosis, and IL-5 mRNA expression levels in brain tissues. The results showed that under immunosuppression, there were significant increase in brain larval counts, significant enhancement of reactive gliosis, and significant reduction in IL-5 mRNA expression. All these changes were maximal in the chronic stage of infection. In conclusion, the immunopathological alterations in the brains of infected animals were progressive over time, and were exaggerated under the effect of immunosuppression as did the intensity of cerebral infection.     

Can spatial sorting associated with spawning migration explain evolution of body size and vertebral number in Anguilla eels?

Spatial sorting is a process that can contribute to microevolutionary change by assembling phenotypes through space, owing to nonrandom dispersal. Here we first build upon and develop the “neutral” version of the spatial sorting hypothesis by arguing that in systems that are not characterized by repeated range expansions, the evolutionary effects of variation in dispersal capacity and assortative mating might not be independent of but interact with natural selection. In addition to generating assortative mating, variation in dispersal capacity together with spatial and temporal variation in quality of spawning area is likely to influence both reproductive success and survival of spawning migrating individuals, and this will contribute to the evolution of dispersal‐enhancing traits. Next, we use a comparative approach to examine whether differences in spawning migration distance among 18 species of freshwater Anguilla eels have evolved in tandem with two dispersal‐favoring traits. In our analyses, we use information on spawning migration distance, body length, and vertebral number that was obtained from the literature, and a published whole mitochondrial DNA‐based phylogeny. Results from comparative analysis of independent contrasts showed that macroevolutionary shifts in body length throughout the phylogeny have been associated with concomitant shifts in spawning migration. Shifts in migration distance were not associated with shifts in number of vertebrae. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that spatial sorting has contributed to the evolution of more elongated bodies in species with longer spawning migration distances, or resulted in evolution of longer migration distances in species with larger body size. This novel demonstration is important in that it expands the list of ecological settings and hierarchical levels of biological organization for which the spatial sorting hypothesis seems to have predictive power.     

Tunable luminescence and energy transfer in Ca3SiO4Cl2:Ce3+,Li+,Mn2+,Eu2+ phosphors

A series of color‐tunable Ca_{3–2x‐y‐z}SiO₄Cl₂ (CSC):xCe³⁺,xLi⁺,yMn²⁺,zEu²⁺ phosphors with low temperature phase structure was synthesized via the sol–gel method. An energy transfer process from Ce³⁺ to Mn²⁺ in CSC:0.01Ce³⁺,0.01Li⁺,yMn²⁺ (y = 0.03–0.09) and the mechanism was verified to be an electric dipole–dipole interaction. The Ce³⁺ and Mn²⁺ emission intensities were greatly enhanced by co‐doping Eu²⁺ ions into CSC:0.01Ce³⁺,0.01Li⁺,0.07Mn²⁺ phosphors due to competitive energy transfers from Eu²⁺/Ce³⁺ to Mn²⁺, and Ce³⁺ to Eu²⁺. Under 332 nm excitation, CSC:0.01Ce³⁺,0.01Li+,0.07Mn²⁺,zEu²⁺ (z = 0.0005–0.002) exhibited tunable emission colors from green to white with coexisting orange, green and violet‐blue emissions. These phosphors could have potential application in white light‐emitting diodes.     

Tests of associational defence provided by hairy plants for glabrous plants of Arabidopsis halleri subsp. gemmifera against insect herbivores

1. Trichome‐producing (hairy) and trichomeless (glabrous) plants of Arabidopsis halleri subsp. gemmifera were investigated to test whether plant resistance to herbivory depends on the plants' phenotypes and/or the phenotypes of neighbouring plants (associational effects). 2. A common garden experiment was conducted in which the relative frequency of hairy and glabrous plants was manipulated. Two species of leaf‐chewing insects (larvae of a white butterfly and a cabbage sawfly) were found less often on hairy plants than on glabrous plants. By contrast, the numbers of aphids and flea beetles did not differ significantly between hairy and glabrous plants. For none of these insects did abundance depend on the frequency of the two plant morphs. 3. A field survey was conducted in two natural populations of A. halleri. In the first population, a species of white butterfly was the dominant herbivore, and hairy plants incurred less leaf damage than glabrous plants across 2 years. By contrast, in the other population, where flea beetles were dominant, there were no consistent differences in leaf damage between the two types of plants. In neither of the two populations was any evidence found of associational effects. 4. This study did not provide any conclusive evidence of associational effects of anti‐herbivore resistance, but it was discovered that trichomes can confer resistance to certain herbivores. Given the results of previous work by the authors on associational effects against a flightless leaf beetle, such associational effects of the trichome dimorphism of A. halleri were herbivore‐specific.     

Resistance to pathogens in terpene down-regulated orange fruits inversely correlates with the accumulation of D-limonene in peel oil glands

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are secondary metabolites acting as a language for the communication of plants with the environment. In orange fruits, the monoterpene D-limonene accumulates at very high levels in oil glands from the peel. Drastic down-regulation of D-limonene synthase gene expression in the peel of transgenic oranges harboring a D-limonene synthase transgene in antisense (AS) configuration altered the monoterpene profile in oil glands, mainly resulting in reduced accumulation of D-limonene. This led to fruit resistance against Penicillium digitatum (Pd), Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) and other specialized pathogens. Here, we analyze resistance to pathogens in independent AS and empty vector (EV) lines, which have low, medium or high D-limonene concentrations and show that the level of resistance is inversely related to the accumulation of D-limonene in orange peels, thus explaining the need of high D-limonene accumulation in mature oranges in nature for the efficient attraction of specialized microorganism frugivores.     

Identification of cardiac stem cells within mature cardiac myocytes

Cardiac stem cells are described in a number of mammalian species including humans. Cardiac stem cell clusters consisting of both lineage-negative and partially committed cells are generally identified between contracting cardiac myocytes. In the present study, c-kit⁺, Sca⁺, and Isl1⁺ stem cells were revealed to be located inside the sarcoplasm of cardiac myocytes in myocardial cell cultures derived from newborn, 20-, and 40-day-old rats. Intracellularly localized cardiac stem cells had a coating or capsule with a few pores that opened into the host cell sarcoplasm. The similar structures were also identified in the suspension of freshly isolated myocardial cells (ex vivo) of 20- and 40-day-old rats. The results from this study provide direct evidence for the replicative division of encapsulated stem cells, followed by their partial cardiomyogenic differentiation. The latter is substantiated by the release of multiple transient amplifying cells following the capsule rupture. In conclusion, functional cardiac stem cells can reside not only exterior to but also within cardiomyocytes.