Pelodera (syn. Rhabditis) strongyloides as a cause of dermatitis – a report of 11 dogs from Finland

Background  

Pelodera (Rhabditis) strongyloides is a small saprophytic nematode that lives in decaying organic matter. On rare occasions, it can invade the mammalian skin, causing a pruritic, erythematous, alopecic and crusting dermatitis on skin sites that come into contact with the ground. Diagnosis of the disease is based on case history (a dog living outdoors on damp straw bedding) with characteristic skin lesions and on the demonstration of typical larvae in skin scrapings or biopsy. Pelodera (rhabditic) dermatitis cases have been reported mainly from Central European countries and the United States.     

Activities of glutathione-S-transferase and ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase in tissues of camels, sheep, goats and rats.

1. The activities of the drug metabolizing enzymes ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase, glutathione-S-transferase, and protein concentrations were measured in vitro in the liver, kidney and duodenal mucosa of camels, sheep, goats and rats. 2. Enzyme activities were generally higher in the liver than in the kidney and duodenal mucosa in the four species studied. 3. The activities of ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase and glutathione-S-transferase in liver of male kids were about one third and half of that in adult male goats, respectively. In the kidney and duodenal mucosa of male kids, the activity of glutathione-S-transferase was about 70% and 53% of that in the mature male goat, respectively. In the latter tissues, however, there was no detectable activity of ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase. 4. In general, goats and sheep had similar activities of the two enzymes which were significantly higher than those found in camels and rats. 5. Some sex-related differences were noted in the activity of the two enzymes studied. Female sheep had significantly higher hepatic glutathione-S-transferase than the male: while the enzyme activity in the kidney and duodenal mucosa of male goats was significantly higher than in females. Male rats had higher hepatic ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase activity than females.     

A new selective medium for isolating Pseudomonas spp. from water

A new medium, pseudomonas selective isolation agar, was developed to isolate Pseudomonas spp. from water. It consists of 350 micrograms of nitrofurantoin per ml and 2 micrograms of crystal violet per ml in a nutrient agar base. It is more selective for Pseudomonas spp. than are available commercial media. Its ingredients are inexpensive and readily available, and it is easy to prepare.     

Ecological Observations along Baghdad-Huseiba Road. Western Desert,Iraq With 2 figures

The area studied comprises four different ecosystems. Each is differentiated into various habitats distinguished according to their physiography, edaphic conditions and plant cover. Any particular habitat supports a definite community which could be identified by the dominant species. The physiography and the physical soil properties, especially texture and depth, are the major factors affecting the distribution of the plant communities. This is mainly due to their effect on the water resources of the different habitats. The plant coverage increases by the increase of the soil depth. There may be a sort of allogenic succession among the differentiated communities which is closely related to building up of soil and the water resources.     

In-vitro model systems to study Hepatitis C Virus

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver diseases including steatosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there is no vaccine available for prevention of HCV infection due to high degree of strain variation. The current treatment of care, Pegylated interferon α in combination with ribavirin is costly, has significant side effects and fails to cure about half of all infections. The development of in-vitro models such as HCV infection system, HCV sub-genomic replicon, HCV producing pseudoparticles (HCVpp) and infectious HCV virion provide an important tool to develop new antiviral drugs of different targets against HCV. These models also play an important role to study virus lifecycle such as virus entry, endocytosis, replication, release and HCV induced pathogenesis. This review summarizes the most important in-vitro models currently used to study future HCV research as well as drug design.     

Small Molecule Metabolite Extraction Strategy for Improving LC/MS Detection of Cancer Cell Metabolome

Metabolomics is the comprehensive assessment of endogenous metabolites of a biological system. “Oncometabolomics” is a rapidly emerging field with potential for developing specific biomarkers for early detection, diagnosis, and disease prognosis. Given the power of this technology, the availability of standardized sample preparation methods for immortalized human cancer cell lines is critical toward augmenting research in this direction. Using MCF-7 cells as a model system, we describe an approach for intracellular metabolite extraction from cell cultures for reproducible and comprehensive metabolite extraction. The samples, when injected onto a reverse-phase 50 × 2.1 mm Acquity 1.7-μm C18 column, using an ultra performance liquid chromatography system (UPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization-quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (ESI-Q-TOF-MS) in positive and negative modes, yielded a data matrix with a total of 2600 features. This method, when compared with a water-extraction procedure described earlier, was found to yield significantly higher coverage and detection of molecular features. Finally, we successfully tested the performance of this method for an array of human cancer cell lines used widely in the cancer research field.     

The incidence of yeasts in cases of vaginitis and children with oral thrush in the Sudan

Summary A fresh specimen ofGloeotulasnella pinicola was allowed to discharge basidiospores on agar. Germination of the basidiospores was by production of a germination hypha, and subsequent production of asexual spores took place. These spores were produced on simple sporophores in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the method of spore production inTrichothecium roseum. The cells of the germination mycelium and sporophores were described as monokaryotic, with the assumption that these nuclei were haploid. The possible use of asexual spore type and production as taxonomic tools in the Heterobasidiomycetes is discussed, as well as a conjecture on phylogeny within the group.Contribution no. 300 from the Department of Botany, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. The author wishes to acknowledge, with thanks, the technical assistance of MissEmily Shanks.