THE SENSIBILITY AND USE OF ENROFLOXACIN IN THE TREATMENT OF FELINE CHRONIC GINGIVITIS

Daniel, A.G.T; Reche Junior, A. & Santos, K.B. [The sensibility and use of enrofloxacin in the treatment of feline chronic gingivitis.] Sensibilidade e aplicabilidade da enrofloxacina no tratamento das gengivites cronicas em felinos domesticos. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinaria, 30(1):36-39, 2008. Medicoveterinario Residente na area de clinica e cirurgia de pequenos animais do Hospital Veterinario, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinaria e Zootecnia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Cidade Universitaria, Av. Prof. Dr. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, Sao Paulo, SP 05508-240. E-mail: alegtd@yahoo.com.br The goal of this study was to evaluate the in vitro sensitivity to enrofloxacin of bacteria isolated from the oral cavity of cats with chronic gingivitis. Twenty five cats male and famale with variable degrees of gingivitis were included in this study. The samples were colected by culturette swabs and submitted to bacterial culture and sensitivity. The results showed that 91% of the bacteria isolated from the culture were sensitive to enrofloxacin, demonstrating that this antibiotic is a good option in the clinical treatment or post-operative treatment of feline chronic gingivitis.

The immunology of Epstein-Barr virus infection

Epstein-Barr virus is a classic example of a persistent human virus that has caught the imagination of immunologists, virologists and oncologists because of the juxtaposition of a number of important properties. First, the ability of the virus to immortalize B lymphocytes in vitro has provided an antigen presenting cell in which all the latent antigens: of the virus are displayed and are available for systematic study. Second, the virus presents an ideal system for studying the immune parameters that maintain latency and the consequences of disturbing this cell-virus relationship. Third, this wealth of immunological background has provided a platform for elucidating the role of the immune system in protection from viral-associated malignancies of B cell and epithelial cell origin. Finally attention is now being directed towards the development of vaccine formulations which might have broad application in the control of human malignancies.

Human Fatalities from Cyanobacteria: Chemical and Biological Evidence for Cyanotoxins

An outbreak of acute liver failure occurred at a dialysis center in Caruaru, Brazil (8 degrees 17 'S, 35 degrees 58 'W), 134 km from Recife, the state capital of Pernambuco. At the clinic, 116 (89%) of 131 patients experienced visual disturbances, nausea, and vomiting after routine hemodialysis treatment on 13-20 February 1996. Subsequently, 100 patients developed acute liver failure, and of these 76 died. As of December 1996, 52 of the deaths could be attributed to a common syndrome now called Caruaru syndrome. Examination of phytoplankton from the dialysis clinic's water source, analyses of the clinic's water treatment system, plus serum and liver tissue of clinic patients led to the identification of two groups of cyanobacterial toxins, the hepatotoxic cyclic peptide microcystins and the hepatotoxic alkaloid cylindrospermopsin. Comparison of victims' symptoms and pathology using animal studies of these two cyanotoxins leads us to conclude that the major contributing factor to death of the dialyses patients was intravenous exposure to microcystins, specifically microcystin-YR, -LR, and -AR. From liver concentrations and exposure volumes, it was estimated that 19.5 mug/L microcystin was in the water used for dialysis treatments. This is 19.5 times the level set as a guideline for safe drinking water supplies by the World. Health Organization.

Development of disabled, replication-defective gene transfer vectors from the Jembrana disease virus, a new infectious agent of cattle

Jembrana disease virus (JDV) is a newly isolated and characterised bovine lentivirus. It causes an acute disease in Ball cattle (Bos javanicus). which can be readily transmitted to susceptible cattle with 17% mortality. There is as yet no treatment or preventive vaccine. We have developed a gene transfer vector system based on JDV that has three components. The first of the components is a bicistronic transfer vector plasmid that was constructed to contain cis-sequences from the JDV genome, including 5 '- and 3 ' -long terminal repeats (LTRs), 0.4 kb of truncated gag and 1.1 kb of 3 ' -env, a multiple cloning site to accommodate the gene(s) of interest for transfer, and an internal ribosome entry site plus the neomycin phosphotransferase (Neo) gene cassette for antibiotic selection. The second element is a packaging plasmid that contains trans-sequences. including gag, pol. vif, tar and rev: but without the env and packaging signals. The third is a plasmid encoding the G glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV-G) to supply the vector an envelope for pseudotyping. Cotransfection of 293T cells with these three plasmid components produced VSV-G pseudotyped. disabled, replication defective, bicistronic JDV vectors encoding the green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and the Neo resistance selection maker simultaneously with a titre range of (0.4-1.2) x 10(6) CFU/ml. Transduction of several replicating primary and transformed cells from cattle, primate and human sources and importantly growth-arrested cells with the JDV vectors showed high efficiency of EGFP gene transfer at 35-75%, which was stable and the expression of EGFP was long term. Furthermore, these JDV vectors were designed to suit the inclusion and expression of genes corresponding to JDV specific proteins, such as gag or env, for the development of vaccines for Jembrana disease. This strategy should also be applicable to other bovine diseases as wall. The design and construction of the JDV vector system should facilitate the study of the lentivirology and pathogenesis of the diseases associated with JDV or other bovine virus infections. To our knowledge, this is the first such vector system developed from a cattle virus. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.