Dermatoses caused by infestations of immature Ixodes spp. on dogs and cats in Sydney, Australia

Infestations of larval and nymphal Ixodes spp. were identified in 16 dogs and 16 cats from several small animal clinics in Sydney. Cases occurred in late summer or autumn, peaking in February, and were seasonally recurrent in some individuals. Clinical signs of infestation included a papular dermatitis and irritation or pruritus that ranged from severe to mild or absent. The distribution of tick attachment tended to be cranial and ventral, with the face, legs, axillae and ventrum the most commonly affected sites. The estimated number of ticks in each infestation varied from less than 10 to more than 100. Basic morphological examination of ticks collected from affected animals was performed by attending veterinarians using light microscopy, and larvae and nymphs belonging to the Ixodes genus were identified. Ticks collected from 17 animals and submitted to the Department of Medical Entomology, Westmead Hospital were putatively identified as I. trichosuri (57%) and I. holocyclus (25%) larvae. Histopathological samples of attachment sites collected from three dogs and one cat were characterised by ticks attached in well-demarcated invaginations of the skin ('tick craters') associated with variable epidermal and/or dermal necrosis, focal eosinophilic intraspinous pustules, mild to marked eosinophilic and neutrophilic, superficial to deep, dermal perivascular to interstitial inflammation, and moderate to marked superficial dermal oedema and red cell extravasation. A range of topical acaricidal preparations, including fipronil and synthetic pyrethroids, were used for treatment.     

Immunochemical and mass spectrometric analysis of Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine content of AGE-BSA systems prepared with and without selected antiglycation agents

The present study was designed to compare surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) methods for the analysis of Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) in glucose-bovine serum albumin (BSA) model systems and to investigate the possible inhibitory effect of selected compounds (α-tocopherol, ferulic acid, rutin, thiamin, thiamin monophosphate, and thiamin pyrophosphate) on CML formation. The reported levels of CML detected were dependent upon the method of analysis employed. The highest reported concentrations were obtained with the SPR biosensor, whereas the lowest were found by ELISA. However, a high correlation was observed between these two immunochemical procedures. CML concentrations were dependent upon the type and concentration of the candidate CML inhibitor. All inhibitory compounds investigated, with the exception of α-tocopherol, decreased the level of CML formation in the glucose-BSA system.     

Effect of inhibitor compounds on Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and Nε-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) formation in model foods

The possible adverse effects on health of diet-derived advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and advanced lipoxidation endproducts (ALEs) is of current interest. This study had the objective of determining the effects of the addition of AGE/ALE inhibitors and different types of sugar and cooking oil on Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and Nε-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) formation in model foods (sponge cakes). The cake baked using glucose produced the highest level of CML (2.07±0.24 mmol/mol lysine), whereas the cake baked using fructose produced the highest concentration of CEL (25.1±0.15 mmol/mol lysine). There were no significant differences between CML concentrations formed in the cakes prepared using different types of cooking oil, but significant differences (P<0.001) were observed between the cakes prepared using different proportions of cooking oil. The cakes containing oil generated greater concentrations of CML than sucrose. α-Tocopherol and rutin did not inhibit CML and CEL formation. In contrast, ferulic acid and thiamin, thiamin monophosphate, and thiamin pyrophosphate reduced CML and CEL formation.     

Comparison of shoot dry weight, Na+ content and δ13C values of ari-e and other semi-dwarf barley mutants under salt-stress

Four breviaristatum (short awned and semi-dwarf) barley mutants; ari-e.1, ari-e.119, ari-e.156 and ari-e.228 were compared with other semi-dwarf mutants; Golden Promise, Alf, Pallas and Diamant along with their non-mutant parents; Bonus, Foma, Maythorpe, Bomi and Valticky, for response to salt stress. Plants were exposed to hydroponic salt treatments (NaCl at 25 and 175 mol m^-3) for 4 weeks, after which response was measured in terms of shoot dry weight, sodium content and δ¹³C. In general ari-e mutants and Golden Promise had significantly lower Na⁺ contents than the other mutants. They also had significantly more negative δ¹³C values than the other lines in stressed (175 mol m^-3 NaCl) conditions. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.71, p < 0.01) between shoot Na⁺ and δ¹³C values so that δ¹³C became less negative with increasing Na⁺ content. Shoot dry weights were compared to shoot Na⁺ and δ¹³C values. The ari-e and Golden Promise mutants showed less reduction in dry matter production in salt stress relative to the control treatment than all the other lines. The data suggest that ari-e mutants and Golden Promise are better adapted to salt stressed environments than the other lines examined. Tests for gibberellic acid sensitivity revealed that ari-e mutants and Golden Promise responded weakly to GA₃, while other dwarf mutants Pallas, Diamant and Alf along with their parents Bonus, Foma, Maythorpe, Valticky and Bomi were highly sensitive. Our results support previous findings that ari-e mutants and the GPert mutant are allelic. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Building neural representations of habits

Memories for habits and skills ("implicit or procedural memory") and memories for facts ("explicit or episodic memory") are built up in different brain systems and are vulnerable to different neurodegenerative disorders in humans. So that the striatum-based mechanisms underlying habit formation could be studied, chronic recordings from ensembles of striatal neurons were made with multiple tetrodes as rats learned a T-maze procedural task. Large and widely distributed changes in the neuronal activity patterns occurred in the sensorimotor striatum during behavioral acquisition, culminating in task-related activity emphasizing the beginning and end of the automatized procedure. The new ensemble patterns remained stable during weeks of subsequent performance of the same task. These results suggest that the encoding of action in the sensorimotor striatum undergoes dynamic reorganization as habit learning proceeds.     

Partially Molten Middle Crust Beneath Southern Tibet: Synthesis of Project INDEPTH Results

INDEPTH geophysical and geological observations imply that a partially molten midcrustal layer exists beneath southern Tibet. This partially molten layer has been produced by crustal thickening and behaves as a fluid on the time scale of Himalayan deformation. It is confined on the south by the structurally imbricated Indian crust underlying the Tethyan and High Himalaya and is underlain, apparently, by a stiff Indian mantle lid. The results suggest that during Neogene time the underthrusting Indian crust has acted as a plunger, displacing the molten middle crust to the north while at the same time contributing to this layer by melting and ductile flow. Viewed broadly, the Neogene evolution of the Himalaya is essentially a record of the southward extrusion of the partially molten middle crust underlying southern Tibet.