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.     

An invasive tree facilitates the persistence of native rodents on an over‐grazed floodplain in tropical Australia

In an ecosystem under simultaneous threat from multiple alien species, one invader may buffer the impact of another. Our surveys on a remote floodplain in the Kimberley region of north western Australia show that invasive chinee apple trees (Ziziphus mauritiana) provide critical refuge habitat for native rodents (pale field rats, Rattus tunneyi). Feral horses (Equus caballus) have trampled most of the remaining floodplain, but are excluded from the area around each chinee apple tree by thorny foliage. Although chinee apple trees constituted <10% of trees along our transects, they represented >50% of trees that harboured rat burrows. The mean number of burrows under each chinee apple tree was twice as high as under most other tree species, and we trapped more than seven times as many rats under chinee apple trees as under other types of trees. The extensive burrow systems under chinee apple trees contained female as well as male rats, whereas we only captured males around the smaller burrow systems under other tree species. Our data suggest that this invasive tree plays a critical role in the persistence of pale field rat populations in this degraded ecosystem, and that managers should maintain these trees (despite their alien origins) at least until feral horses have been removed.     

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.     

In Situ Analysis of Na,K-ATPase α1- and α3-Isoform mRNAs in Aging Rat Hippocampus

Abstract: Age-related changes in the expression of Na,K-ATPase α1- and α3-isoform mRNAs were analyzed by in situ hybridization in the Fischer-344 rat hippocampus. Quantification of signal density with cRNA probes in rat hippocampus at 3 months of age showed (a) α1 content is 1.5 times higher in granule than in pyramidal cell layers, whereas α3 content shows the opposite ratio and (b) α3 label is found in large clusters related to mossy cells and basket cells and in medium clusters corresponding to interneurons within the dendritic fields of CA1–3. In the 24-month-old rats as compared with the young animals, the α1 signal is increased more than sevenfold in the dendritic fields and is not significantly changed in perikaryal layers. The α3 signal is reduced about threefold ( p < 0.0001, ANOVA, n = 6) in perikaryal layers, is almost completely absent over the interneurons, basket cells, and mossy cells, and is not significantly changed in dendritic fields. These data indicate age-related, cell- and isoform-specific alterations in pretranslational regulation of Na,K-ATPase α isoforms. The striking changes in the dendritic fields, mossy cells, and GABAergic basket cells and interneurons may constitute early and sensitive markers for age-related alterations in hippocampal function, before cell loss.     

Raking Kappa: Describing Potential Impact of Marginal Distributions on Measures of Agreement

Several authors have noted the dependence of kappa measures of inter-rater agreement on the marginal distributions of contingency tables displaying the joint ratings. This paper introduces a smoothed version of kappa computed after raking the table to achieve pre-specified marginal distributions. A comparison of kappa with raked kappa for various margins can indicate the extent of the dependence on the margins, and can indicate how much of the lack of agreement is due to marginal heterogeneity.     

Effects of prepubertal castration on the spinal motor nucleus of the ischiocavernosus muscle of the rat

Summary The location, number and size of the motoneurons innervating the ischiocavernosus muscle, identified by means of horseradish-peroxidase (HRP) retrograde transport, were studied (1) in adult untreated male rats, (2) in adult male rats castrated before puberty, and (3) in adult male rats castrated before puberty and injected with testosterone from the day of castration. After injection of HRP into the ischiocavernosus muscle, labeled motoneurons were found in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial columns of the lamina IX, at the level of L6 and S1 segments of the spinal cord. Morphometric analysis demonstrated that prepubertal castration induces a statistically significant reduction in the somatic and nuclear areas (40% and 35%, respectively, if compared to those of the control rats) of both the dorsolateral and dorsomedial motoneurons, but does not affect their number. The effects of castration are prevented by exogenous testosterone.Preliminary results were presented at the International Conference on Hormones, Brain and Behaviour, Liège, Belgium, August, 1989