Coprological study on intestinal helminths in Swiss dogs: temporal aspects of anthelminthic treatment

Coproscopic examination of 505 dogs originating from the western or central part of Switzerland revealed the presence (prevalence data) of the following helminthes: Toxocara canis (7.1%), hookworms (6.9%), Trichuris vulpis (5.5%), Toxascaris leonina (1.3%), Taeniidae (1.3%), Capillaria spp. (0.8%), and Diphyllobothrium latum (0.4%). Potential risk factors for infection were identified by a questionnaire: dogs from rural areas significantly more often had hookworms and taeniid eggs in their feces when compared to urban family dogs. Access to small rodents, offal, and carrion was identified as risk factor for hookworm and Taeniidae, while feeding of fresh and uncooked meat did not result in higher prevalences for these helminths. A group of 111 dogs was treated every 3 months with a combined medication of pyrantel embonate, praziquantel, and febantel, and fecal samples were collected for coproscopy in monthly intervals. Despite treatment, the yearly incidence of T. canis was 32%, while hookworms, T. vulpis, Capillaria spp., and Taeniidae reached incidences ranging from 11 to 22%. Fifty-seven percent of the 111 dogs had helminth eggs in their feces at least once during the 1-year study period. This finding implicates that an infection risk with potential zoonotic pathogens cannot be ruled out for the dog owner despite regular deworming four times a year.

Temporal expression of inflammatory mediators in brain basilar artery vasculitis and cerebrospinal fluid of rabbits with coccidioidal meningitis

Strokes due to transmural vasculitis associated with coccidioidal meningitis result in significant morbidity and mortality. The immunological and inflammatory processes responsible are poorly understood. To determine the inflammatory mediators, i.e. cytokines, chemokines, iNOS, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), that possibly contribute to vasculitis, temporal mRNA expression in brain basilar artery samples and MMP-9 protein in the CSF of male NZW rabbits infected intracisternally with 6.5 x 10(4) arthroconidia of Coccidioides immitis were assessed. Five infected and 3 sham-injected rabbits at each time point were euthanized 4, 9, 14 and 20 days post infection. All infected rabbits had neurological abnormalities and severe vasculitis in the basilar arteries on days 9-20. In basilar arteries of infected animals versus controls, mRNAs encoding for IL-6, iNOS, IFN-gamma, IL-2, MCP-1, IL-1beta, IL-10, TNF-alpha, CCR-1, MMP-9, TGF-beta, as well as MMP-9 protein in CSF, were found to be significantly up-regulated. Thus, this study identified inflammatory mediators associated with CNS vasculitis and meningitis due to C. immitis infection. Assessment of the individual contribution of each mediator to vasculitis may offer novel approaches to the treatment of coccidioidal CNS infection. This study also provides unique methodology for immunology studies in a rabbit model.

An analysis of the spatial and temporal patterns of highly pathogenic avian influenza occurrence in Vietnam using national surveillance data

The objectives of this study were to describe the spatio-temporal pattern of an epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Vietnam and to identify potential risk factors for the introduction and maintenance of infection within the poultry population. The results indicate that during the time period 2004–early 2006 a sequence of three epidemic waves occurred in Vietnam as distinct spatial and temporal clusters. The risk of outbreak occurrence increased with a greater percentage of rice paddy fields, increasing domestic water bird and chicken density. It increased with reducing distance to higher population density aggregations, and in the third epidemic wave with increasing percentage of aquaculture. The findings indicate that agri-livestock farming systems involving domestic water birds and rice production in river delta areas are important for the maintenance and spread of infection. While the government’s control measures appear to have been effective in the South and Central parts of Vietnam, it is likely that in the North of Vietnam the vaccination campaign led to transmission of infection which was subsequently brought under control.

First trial of spatial and temporal fractionations of the delivered dose using synchrotron microbeam radiation therapy

The technical feasibility of temporal and spatial fractionations of the radiation dose has been evaluated using synchrotron microbeam radiation therapy for brain tumors in rats. A significant increase in lifespan (216%, p < 0.0001) resulted when three fractions of microbeam irradiation were applied to the tumor through three different ports, orthogonal to each other, at 24 h intervals. However, there were no long-term survivors, and immunohistological studies revealed that 9 L tumors were not entirely ablated.

The annexins: spatial and temporal coordination of signaling events during cellular stress

Annexins are a family of structurally related, Ca2+-sensitive proteins that bind to negatively charged phospholipids and establish specific interactions with other lipids and lipid microdomains. They are present in all eukaryotic cells and share a common folding motif, the "annexin core", which incorporates Ca2+- and membrane-binding sites. Annexins participate in a variety of intracellular processes, ranging from the regulation of membrane dynamics to cell migration, proliferation, and apoptosis. Here we focus on the role of annexins in cellular signaling during stress. A chronic stress response triggers the activation of different intracellular pathways, resulting in profound changes in Ca2+ and pH homeostasis and the production of lipid second messengers. We review the latest data on how these changes are sensed by the annexins, which have the ability to simultaneously interact with specific lipid and protein moieties at the plasma membrane, contributing to stress adaptation via regulation of various signaling pathways.