The pathology and seawater performance of farmed Atlantic salmon infected with glochidia of Margaritifera margaritifera

The pathology of glochidial infection of the freshwater mussel Margaritifera margaritifera was examined in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in fresh water and for 150 days after transfer of salmon to sea water. Prevalence of infection in fresh water was 95%, mean abundance 134 per fish and mean infection intensity 140. Prevalence in sea water was 80–94% in the first 7 weeks after transfer but glochidia were absent, apart from remains, after 50 days in sea water. Glochidia on salmon in fresh water were associated with localized hyperplasia and fusion of secondary gill lamellae. Focally extensive epithelial hyperplasia and fusion of secondary lamellae were present 4–10 days after transfer to sea water. Twenty-three days after transfer, small nodules with a more discrete appearance were present suggesting partial resolution of tissue response; hyperplastic responses associated with glochidia were much reduced after 50 days. Plasma chloride in infected fish 10 days after transfer was 153 mmol. 1⁻¹, significantly higher than fish without infection, suggesting poorer adaptation to sea water. No mortalities due to glochidial infection in sea water were recorded and there was no significant difference in mean weight between infected and control fish.     

Development of a Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Detection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. basilici from Basil Seed and Roots

A real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using a TaqMan^® probe was developed to detect the causal agent of wilt and crown rot of basil from infected plants and seed in Italy. The aim of the study was to diminish testing time, previously performed using nested‐PCR, and to create the conditions for future automation. The sensitivity of the assay was shown to be similar to the detection limit of the available nested‐PCR procedure. The advantages of real‐time PCR system include halving of the testing time, as well as the ability to identify both internally and externally infected seed to the sensitivity of 1 pg of genomic DNA. The assay was able to detect the presence of the pathogen in infected seed up to a sensitivity of 24 (SD: ±10) CFU per 100 seeds.     

FT-IR Spectroscopy and Artificial Neural Network Identification of Fusarium Species

A rapid spectroscopic approach for whole‐organism fingerprinting of Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy was used to analyse 16 isolates from five closely related species of Fusarium: F. graminearum, F. moniliforme, F. nivale, F. semitectum and F. oxysporum. Principal components analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to study the clusters in the data. On visual inspection of the clusters from both methods, the spectra were not differentiated into five separate clusters corresponding to species and these unsupervised methods failed to identify these fungal strains. When the data were trained by back propagation algorithm of artificial neural networks (ANNs) with principal components scores of spectra used as input modes, the strains were accurately predicted and recognized. The results in this study show that FT‐IR spectroscopy in combination with principal component artificial neural networks (PC‐ANNs) is well suited for identifying Fusarium spp. It would be advantageous to establish a comprehensive database of taxonomically well‐defined Fusarium species to aid the identification of unknown strains.     

Die Ultrastruktur des Epithels des Wolffschen Ganges und des Ductus deferens beim Schafembryo

Zusammenfassung Die Epithelzellen der Wolffschen Gänge bzw. der Samenleiter von 28 Schafembryonen der Größe von 1,1–45 cm Scheitel-Steiß-Länge (SSL) wurden elektronenmikroskopisch untersucht. Der Golgiapparat von Embryonen in der Phase der aktiven Urnierensekretion zeichnet sich durch Zisternen mit kondensiertem Inhalt aus, von denen sich kleine coated vesicles abschnüren. Bei Feten mit inaktiver Urniere wurden keine Zisternen mit kondensiertem Inhalt beobachtet. Die Abschnürung kiemer coated vesicles vom Golgiapparat tritt jedoch in allen untersuchten Altersstadien auf. Eine zweite Population großer coated vesicles schnürt sich vom apikalen, basalen und interzellulären Plasmalemm ab, besonders häufig beim fast geburtsreifen Fetus. Die Vereinigung von Golgivesikeln mit einem Inhalt von mittlerer Elektronendichte mit multivesikulären Körpern kann in allen untersuchten Stadien festgestellt werden. Glykogen findet sich bereits bei 1,1 cm SSL in Lagern; ab ca. 20 cm SSL ist eine erhebliche Glykogenvermehrung zu beobachten. Stereozilien und glattes endoplasmatisches Retikulum treten erst ab 45 cm SSL auf.

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Fine structure of the epithelia of the Wolffian duct and of the vas deferens in fetal sheep

Summary The ultrastructure of the epithelium of the Wolffian duct and of the vas deferens of fetal sheep ranging from 1,1 to 45 cm CRL has been studied. The Golgi apparatus of specimens possessing an actively secreting mesonephros shows condensation of the contents of the cisternae with budding of small coated vesicles. In the fetuses possessing inactive mesonephros no condensation of the contents of Golgi cisternae is to be observed, but the budding of small coated vesicles continues. A second population of large coated vesicles originating by invagination of the plasma membrane occurs on the periphery of the epithelium cells, namely in the apical cell poles of the near term fetuses. The convergence and subsequent fusion of Golgi vesicles of medium electron density is already found in patches in the 1,1 cm CRL fetus; it increases in abundance in specimens of more than 20 cm CRL. Stereocilia and agranular endoplasmatic reticulum appear in full-term sheep fetuses.

     

An assessment of health and disease in the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands

Using a variety of skeletal and dental stress indicators, an assessment of the health and disease of the indigenous inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, the Chamorro, is made. The major hypothesis to be tested is that the Chamorro were relatively healthy and that deviations from the expected, as well as inter-island variation, may reflect environmental, ecological, and cultural differences. The major skeletal series surveyed include sites on Guam (N = 247 individuals), Rota (N = 14), Tinian (N = 20), and Saipan (N = 102). The majority of the specimens are from the transitional pre-Latte (AD 1–1000) and Latte (AD 1000–1521) periods. These data derive primarily from unpublished osteological reports. The indicators of health and disease surveyed include mortality and paleodemographic data, stature, dental paleopathology, cribra orbitalia, limb bone fractures, degenerative osteoarthritis, and infectious disease (including treponemal infection). Where appropriate, tests of significance are calculated to determine the presence of any patterning in the differences observed within and between the skeletal series. Information recorded in prehistoric Hawaiians provides a standard for external comparisons. Several of the larger skeletal series surveyed have paleodemographic features that are consistent with long-term cemetery populations. Females and subadults are typically underrepresented. Most subadult deaths occur in the 2–5 year age interval. Life expectancy at birth ranges from 26.4 to 33.7 years. A healthy fertility rate is indicated for these series. The prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands were relatively tall, exceeding living Chamorros measured in the early part of the present century. The greater prevalence of developmental defects in the enamel suggests that the Chamorro were exposed to more stress than prehistoric Hawaiians. The low frequency of cribra orbitalia further indicates iron deficiency anemia was not a problem. There are generally low frequencies of dental pathology in the remains from the Mariana Islands. Betel-nut staining is relatively common in all series which may help to explain the relatively low prevalence of dental pathology. Healed limb bone fractures are rare in these skeletal series; the frequency and patterns of fractures suggest accidental injury as the main cause. Greater physical demands involving the lower back region are indicated by a high frequency of spondylolysis, or stress fracture in the lumbar vertebrae in the Chamorro. Likewise, advanced degenerative bone changes, while of low occurrence, are significantly greater in the Chamorro than Hawaiians. The prevalence of skeletal and dental indicators of stress was generally higher in the smaller islands of the Marianas chain (e.g., Rota), islands with fewer resources to buffer environmental catastrophe. Bony changes suggestive of treponemal (probably yaws) disease are common in most of these Marianas Islands skeletal series. Am J Phys Anthropol 104:315–342, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Natural pathology of the captive chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes): A 35‐year review

We present the spontaneous pathological lesions identified as a result of necropsy or biopsy for 245 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) over a 35‐year period. A review of the pathology database was performed for all diagnoses on chimpanzees from 1980 to 2014. All morphologic diagnoses, associated system, organ, etiology, and demographic information were reviewed and analyzed. Cardiomyopathy was the most frequent lesion observed followed by hemosiderosis, hyperplasia, nematodiasis, edema, and hemorrhage. The most frequently affected systems were the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, urogenital, respiratory, and lymphatic/hematopoietic systems. The most common etiology was undetermined, followed by degenerative, physiologic, neoplastic, parasitic, and bacterial. Perinatal and infant animals were mostly affected by physiologic etiologies and chimpanzee‐induced trauma. Bacterial and physiologic etiologies were more common in juvenile animals. Degenerative and physiologic (and neoplastic in geriatric animals) etiologies predominated in adult, middle aged, and geriatric chimpanzees.     

Quantitative IR microscopy and spectromics open the way to 3D digital pathology

Currently, only mass‐spectrometry (MS) microscopy brings a quantitative analysis of chemical contents of tissue samples in 3D. Here, the reconstruction of a 3D quantitative chemical images of a biological tissue by FTIR spectro‐microscopy is reported. An automated curve‐fitting method is developed to extract all intense absorption bands constituting IR spectra. This innovation benefits from three critical features: (1) the correction of raw IR spectra to make them quantitatively comparable; (2) the automated and iterative data treatment allowing to transfer the IR‐absorption spectrum into a IR‐band spectrum; (3) the reconstruction of an 3D IR‐band matrix (x, y, z for voxel position and a 4^th dimension with all IR‐band parameters). Spectromics, which is a new method for exploiting spectral data for tissue metadata reconstruction, is proposed to further translate the related chemical information in 3D, as biochemical and anatomical tissue parameters. An example is given with oxidative stress distribution and the reconstruction of blood vessels in tissues. The requirements of IR microscopy instrumentation to propose 3D digital histology as a clinical routine technology is briefly discussed.

     

Biobanking for Europe

Biobanks are well-organized resources comprising biological samples and associated information that are accessible to scientific investigation. Across Europe, millions of samples with related data are held in different types of collections. While individual collections can be well organized and accessible, the resources are subject to fragmentation, insecurity of funding and incompleteness. To address these issues, a Biobanking and BioMolecular Resources Infrastructure (BBMRI) is to be developed across Europe, thereby implementing a European 'roadmap' for research infrastructures that was developed by a forum of EU member states and that has been received by the European Commission. In this review, we describe the work involved in preparing for the construction of BBMRI in a European and global context.     

Effect of Bacillus thuringiensis naturally colonising Brassica campestris var. chinensis leaves on neonate larvae of Pieris brassicae

The feeding of neonate larvae of Pieris brassicae (Order Lepidoptera) on leaves of brassica plants that had been colonised by Bacillus thuringiensis resulted in the death of 35% of the population within 72 h. The bacteria multiplied in the cadavers, resulting in an increase of about 50-fold compared to the living insects. Surviving insects showed no ill effects during the time of the study. There was negligible multiplication of B. thuringiensis in the frass.