Amniotic band syndrome in a rhesus monkey: a case report

A rhesus monkey fetus was examined by ultrasound at 110, 111, and 113 gestational days (GD) and showed features suggestive of Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS). These included an unusual craniofacial configuration, cortical distortion, asymmetrical hydrocephalus, a right occipital porencephalic cyst, and hydropic membranes with several free strands attached to the fetal head, neck, and scapular regions. The fetus remained fixed in the same position with the head retroflexed during each consecutive exam. A hysterotomy was performed and ABS was confirmed.     

The use of a urinary estrone conjugates assay for detection of optimal mating time in the cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Forty-four female cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) were examined to determine the optimum fertile period for mating. Daily urinary estrone conjugates (E1C) were measured, beginning on day 7 of the menstrual cycle, until a 1.5-gold E1C rise above the baseline was detected. The females were bred the next morning. Pregnancies were verified in all animals at day 18 postbreeding, and/or on day 25 postbreeding. Serum progesterone levels were used to correlate the relationship between ovulation and the E1C peak. Forty-four of the 57 cycles indicated a urinary E1C peak between days 10-15 of the menstrual cycle; this peak occurred on the day following the initial 1.5-fold to twofold rise in 90% of the cycles. A single 2-hr mating period the day before, the day of, or the day after the E1C peak resulted in conception in 17 of 44 (38.6%) animals.     

The number of umbilical vessels in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus).

The number of vessels present in the umbilical cords of 40 nonsurviving squirrel monkey fetuses an neonates has been determined by gross and histologic examination. Four umbilical vessels were present in 72.5% of the cords and 27.5% contained three vessels. Coincident fetal malformations are noted.     

Extension of the performance of Laplace deconvolution in the analysis of fluorescence decay curves.

The original Laplace deconvolution of luminescence data, obtained with pulsed systems, is reviewed. The system of equations from which the luminescence parameters can be determined is generalized for the case that describes the relaxation by a sum of exponentials. Artifacts such as scatter and time-shift can be taken into account. A modification of the original method that eliminates the iterative procedure in the estimation of the cut-off correction is suggested. This modified Laplace method is no longer restricted to the cases where the cut-off error is rather small and the exciting flash has a low tail. The possibility of the combination of several discrete experiments in a single Laplace deconvolution, without introducing new parameters or normalization factors, is shown. The merits of this combination method are demonstrated on a time-resolved depolarization experiment.     

The Global Burden of Disease Assessments—WHO Is Responsible?

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) concept has been used by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its reporting on health information for nearly 10 years. The GBD approach results in a single summary measure of morbidity, disability, and mortality, the so-called disability-adjusted life year (DALY). To ensure transparency and objectivity in the derivation of health information, WHO has been urged to use reference groups of external experts to estimate burden of disease. Under the leadership and coordination of WHO, expert groups have been appraising and abstracting burden of disease information. Examples include the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG), the Malaria Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (MERG), and the recently established Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG). The structure and functioning of and lessons learnt by these groups are described in this paper. External WHO expert groups have provided independent scientific health information while operating under considerable differences in structure and functioning. Although it is not appropriate to devise a single "best practice" model, the common thread described by all groups is the necessity of WHO's leadership and coordination to ensure the provision and dissemination of health information that is to be globally accepted and valued.     

The guanine-nucleotide-exchange factor P-Rex1 is activated by protein phosphatase 1α

P-Rex1 is a GEF (guanine-nucleotide-exchange factor) for the small G-protein Rac that is activated by PIP3 (phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate) and Gβγ subunits and inhibited by PKA (protein kinase A). In the present study we show that PP1α (protein phosphatase 1α) binds P-Rex1 through an RVxF-type docking motif. PP1α activates P-Rex1 directly in vitro, both independently of and additively to PIP3 and Gβγ. PP1α also substantially activates P-Rex1 in vivo, both in basal and PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor)- or LPA (lysophosphatidic acid)-stimulated cells. The phosphatase activity of PP1α is required for P-Rex1 activation. PP1β, a close homologue of PP1α, is also able to activate P-Rex1, but less effectively. PP1α stimulates P-Rex1-mediated Rac-dependent changes in endothelial cell morphology. MS analysis of wild-type P-Rex1 and a PP1α-binding-deficient mutant revealed that endogenous PP1α dephosphorylates P-Rex1 on at least three residues, Ser834, Ser1001 and Ser1165. Site-directed mutagenesis of Ser1165 to alanine caused activation of P-Rex1 to a similar degree as did PP1α, confirming Ser1165 as a dephosphorylation site important in regulating P-Rex1 Rac-GEF activity. In summary, we have identified a novel mechanism for direct activation of P-Rex1 through PP1α-dependent dephosphorylation.     

Dogs Are a Reservoir of Ampicillin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium Lineages Associated with Human Infections

Ampicillin resistance is a marker for hospital-associated Enterococcus faecium. Feces from 208 dogs were selectively screened for the occurrence of ampicillin-resistant E. faecium (AREF). AREF was detected in 42 (23%) of 183 dogs screened in a cross-sectional study in the United Kingdom and in 19 (76%) of 25 dogs studied longitudinally in Denmark. AREF carriage was intermittent in all dogs studied longitudinally. Multilocus sequence typing of 63 canine AREF isolates revealed the presence of 13 distinct sequence types. Approximately 76% of the isolates belonged to hospital-adapted clonal complex 17 (CC17), including those of sequence types ST-78 and ST-192, which are widespread in European and Asian hospitals. Longitudinal screening of 18 healthy humans living in contact with 13 of the dogs under study resulted in the identification of a single, intermittent CC17 carrier. This person carried one of the sequence types (ST-78) recovered from his dog. Based on PCR and Southern hybridization analyses, the putative virulence gene cluster from orf903 to orf907 was widespread in canine AREF isolates (present in 97%), whereas orf2351 (present in 26% of isolates) and orf2430 (present in 31%) were strongly associated with CC17-related sequence types (P < 0.05). Surprisingly, esp and hyl were not detected in any of the isolates. The antimicrobial resistance profiles of canine AREF isolates generally differed from those previously described for clinical human isolates. The results indicate that dogs are frequent carriers of CC17-related lineages and may play a role in the spread of this nosocomial pathogen. The distinctive virulence and antimicrobial resistance profiles observed among canine AREF isolates raise interesting questions about the origin and evolution of the strains causing human infections.Enterococci are opportunistic pathogens and form part of the normal gastrointestinal flora in humans and animals. Over the last two decades, nosocomial infections caused by enterococci have emerged and their incidence has increased rapidly, first in the United States and recently in Europe (25, 26, 29). Although Enterococcus faecalis is the causative agent in most enterococcal infections, a shift toward infections caused by multidrug-resistant E. faecium has been noted in the last years, and presently, up to one-third of enterococcal infections in some countries are attributed to this species (17). This shift may be explained by changes in the patterns of antimicrobial usage, which may have resulted in the emergence of a distinct genogroup of hospital-associated ampicillin-resistant E. faecium (AREF) strains, currently labeled clonal complex 17 (CC17) (33). CC17 isolates are characterized by resistance to ampicillin and fluoroquinolones, as well as by the presence in most isolates of putative virulence genes encoding the enterococcal surface protein (esp) and hyaluronidase (hyl) and five recently described open reading frames (ORFs; orf903, orf904.5, orf906.7, orf2351, and orf2430) encoding LPXTG surface proteins, which are found less frequently among other E. faecium lineages (15, 20, 27).Based on the results of multilocus sequence typing (MLST) (28) and amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis (34), E. faecium isolates of animal origin seem to be host specific and generally unrelated to human lineages of clinical importance. Prior to this study, AREF CC17 strains have been isolated only sporadically from animals, including pigs (2, 10) and more recently dogs (8). Following these unexpected findings, the present study was designed to investigate the prevalence and shedding patterns of AREF in dogs. A cross-sectional study and two longitudinal studies involving a total of 208 dogs and 479 canine fecal samples were conducted in the United Kingdom and in Denmark, respectively. Canine isolates were characterized by MLST, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and putative virulence gene profiling to assess the genetic relationship between human and canine AREF strains.