Serum antigen 85 levels in adjunct testing for active mycobacterial infections in orangutans

Diagnosis of active mycobacterial disease in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) has been impeded by high levels of non-specific intradermal skin test reactivity to mycobacterial antigens. This may be due in part to cross reactivity between antigens, tuberculin concentrations used or other species-specific factors. Antigen 85 (Ag85) complex proteins are major secretory products of actively growing mycobacteria, and measurement of serum Ag85 could provide a method for determining active mycobacterial infections that was not dependent on host immunity. Serum Ag85 was measured by dot-immunobinding assay using monoclonal anti-Ag85, purified Ag85 standard and enhanced chemiluminescence technology in coded serum samples from 14 captive orangutans from a zoo in Colorado, 15 semi-captive orangutans in Malaysia, and 19 free-ranging wild orangutans in Malaysia. Orangutans from Colorado (USA) were culture negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. avium, although all had laboratory suspicion or evidence of mycobacterial infection; median serum Ag85 was 10 microU/ml (range, <0.25-630 microU/ml). Of the semi-captive orangutans, six were skin test reactive and two were culture positive for M. avium on necropsy. Median serum Ag85 for this group was 1,880 microU/ml (0.75-7,000 microU/ml), significantly higher than that of Colorado zoo or free-ranging Malaysian orangutans. Median serum Ag85 in the latter group was 125 microU/ml (range, 0.75-2,500 microU/ml). These data suggest that suggest that additional studies using more specific reagents and more samples from animals of known status are appropriate.     

Ten polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci for paternity and population genetics analysis in the fen raft spider (Dolomedes plantarius)

Ten polymorphic di‐ and trinucleotide microsatellite loci were developed in the fen raft spider Dolomedes plantarius from a partial phagemid genomic library enriched for microsatellite inserts. The expected heterozygosity at these loci ranges from 0.62 to 0.9, with the observed allele numbers varying from four to 15 in the 22 individuals tested. Average paternity exclusion probabilities ranged between 0.290 and 0.686. In combination, the 10 polymorphic loci elicit an exclusion probability of 0.999. The high level of polymorphism of these microsatellite loci makes them ideal genetic markers for paternity and population genetics analysis in this endangered species.     

Gar-Bitten Coprolite From South Carolina,USA

Coprolites can preserve a wide range of biogenic components. Of all the coprolites known from the fossil record, hitherto only two are known to preserve vertebrate tooth impressions (i.e., those of chondrichthyans). Here, a coprolite, from a thick lag deposit that includes a mixture of late Cretaceous, early Paleocene, and Plio-Pleistocene taxa at Clapp Creek in Kingstree, Williamsburg County, South Carolina, USA, preserves bite marks most consistent with having been made by a gar, Lepisosteus sp. (Lepisosteidae, Actinopterygii). This is the first-known coprolite to preserve actinopterygian tooth/bite marks. Aborted coprophagy seems unlikely; an accidental or serendipitous strike more likely describes the origin of the score marks over the surface of the coprolite. This coprolite also preserves small paired striations interpreted as evidence of coprophagy by an unknown organism.     

Size, space, and adaptation in some subfossil lemurs from Madagascar

We examine several explanations for the geographic pattern of body size variation exhibited by the subfossil lemur Archaeolemur. Part and partial correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis are applied in a stepwise, hierarchical fashion to help to determine variable interdependencies. Variance in site means for body size is best explained by the richness of the plant community and by several correlated climatic variables (bioclimatic zone and mean annual rainfall). Body size differentiation in Archaeolemur roughly mirrors patterns observed among many other Malagasy lemur species and subspecies groups. This consistency alone suggests that common ecological factors have strongly affected size differentiation in lemurs, most probably (as suggested by our correlation analyses) by uniformly influencing the productivity of their niches. Smaller individuals tend to inhabit arid regions, and larger individuals tend to inhabit wetter regions. The interplay between selective differentiation and allopatric speciation appears to have yielded the concordant pattern of size variation observed in Malagasy lemurs.     

Gross anatomy of the reproductive tract of female black (Diceros bicornis michaeli) and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum)

Reproductive tracts were collected from three black rhinoceros and two white rhinoceros at necropsy. All females were nulliparous, except for one primiparous white rhinoceros. The animals ranged in age from 7 days to 28 years. All nulliparous animals had a constriction in the vaginal canal, which appeared to be a hymen. The primiparous female had only remnants of a hymen. The total length of the tract averaged 102 cm in three adult animals (≥21 years old). The distance from the vulva to the external cervical os averaged 40 cm in these animals. The endometrium of a 28-year-old nulliparous black rhinoceros and a 27-year-old nulliparous white rhinoceros exhibited signs of hyperplasia, whereas this condition was not present in the other animals. It is not known if this condition was related to the fertility of these animals. The cervix of the rhinoceros was firm, and the lumen followed a very tortuous path through eccentric rings of tissue. Visual examination of the ovaries revealed the presence of surface follicles on the ovaries in both species. The overall size of the reproductive tract, especially the vagina and uterine horns, and the extremely tortuous cervical lumen will present obstacles that must be overcome when developing artificial insemination and embryo transfer proceduers for use in rhinoceros.     

The flexibility of low molecular weight double-stranded dna as a function of length: I. Isolation and physical characterization of seven fractions

Sonicated calf thymus DNA was fractionated by rate zonal centrifugation into seven fractions with weight average molecular weights ranging from 0.28 to 1.3 × 10⁶ daltons, as determined by sedimentation equilibrium and light scattering measurements (the latter are described in the accompanying paper). Electron microscopy and sedimentation equilibrium analysis revealed these fractions to be narrowly disperse with M_w/M_n ratios averaging about 1.06. Intrinsic viscosities and sedimentation rates were measured and found to vary linearly with molecular weight in double-logarithmic plots in fair agreement with previously published functions relating these parameters for low molecular weight DNA. The average value for β from the Mandelkern— Flory equation was 2.59 × l0⁶, also agreeing with reported estimates of this parameter for short DNA. These data will be used in the second paper of this series to calculate the persistence length of the DNA fragments in each of the seven fractions by light scattering and hydrodynamic theories for the Kratky—Porod worm-like coil.     

A relationship between synaptosomal GABA uptake and blood pressure in five inbred strains of mice

Synaptosomal GABA uptake, sodium-dependent GABA binding to synaptic membranes and GABA receptor binding were measured in the cerebral cortex of five inbred strains of mice. These were the SWR/J, BALB/cJ, DBA/1J, C57BL/10J and C3HeB/FeJ strains. A highly significant negative correlation was found to exist between GABA uptake and blood pressure (r = ?0.92). A similarly good negative correlation occurred between sodium-dependent GABA binding and blood pressure. A poor correlation was observed between blood pressure and GABA receptor binding (r = ?0.46). Taken together with other evidence that exists in the literature, these results suggest that in mice blood pressure could be under the influence of the GABA system.