Brucellosis in Venezuela

Brucellosis is a public health problem in Venezuela and affects large numbers of animals. The most important biovar in the country is Brucella abortus. In cattle and buffalo it causes high rates of abortions in females and infertility in males; it is transmissible to occupationally exposed humans. In 1968, an official program was set up for the control and eradication of the disease and it is still in place. Amongst the control provisions, this program provides for the vaccination of female calves with strain 19 and the slaughtering of positive reactors following the official diagnosis (rapid agglutination in plate test). According to the official reports, the positive reactors ranged from 0.8 to 1.2% in the past few years. These values do not corroborate reports showing an average positive rate of 10.5% and even higher values in some areas of the country. The government is working to approve a new resolution that will replace the rapid agglutination in plate test with the Card Test, the use of 2-Mercaptoetanol, fixation of complement and competitive ELISA as confirmatory tests. In addition, there will be an obligatory vaccination with B. abortus strain 19 or B. abortus RB51 of all female calves between 3- and 8-month-old and a recommended revaccination at 10–15-month-old and adult cows in high prevalence areas. These measures should allow help to reduce the prevalence of the disease in cattle herds and thus minimize the risk for human populations.     

Eradication of bovine brucellosis in the 10th Region de Los Lagos,Chile

The process of Bovine Brucellosis Eradication that began in 1996 in the 10th Region de Los Lagos of Chile will be reviewed. The region comprises the most important dairy area of the country and it has the largest concentration of brucellosis infected herds. Based on the information gathered by an epidemiological surveillance system, the results of the eradication process for the years 1996 till 2001 are presented as rates of Milk Ring Test (MRT) positive dairies, rates of brucellosis reactors (bovines) in livestock markets and slaughterhouses, and the annual incidence and prevalence of brucellosis infected herds.

During the period the rates of positive dairies, bovine reactors in livestock markets and slaughterhouses, and the annual incidence and prevalence of infected herds have experienced a decrease, while the rate of bovine reactors in slaughterhouses has remained stable. Data on the preventive measures taken, such as vaccination of female bovines and Certification of Brucellosis Free Herds, are also shown. The surveillance system has allowed the detection of infected herds, while the measures of prevention and cleaning of infected herds have allowed a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of the infection by Brucella abortus.     

Incidence of brucellosis in Sri Lanka: an overview

Infection by Brucella abortus seems to be a major cause of abortions among cattle and buffaloes in Sri Lanka. The incidence of this disease is more prominent among the animals in the Dry zone of the country raised under extensive management systems. The present low incidence of this disease and the small size of the country may facilitate launching of an effective disease control scheme. The milk ring test (MRT) has proven to be usable in testing milk for the infection at farm level. An ELISA technique could be employed to test the seroprevalence of infection among MRT-positive animals. A program to purchase the diseased animals by the state for slaughter, and a countrywide vaccination program with B. abortus strain RB51 would enable the country’s livestock industry to eventually eradicate this disease.     

Brucella abortus RB51: enhancing vaccine efficacy and developing multivalent vaccines

Brucella abortus vaccine strain RB51 is an attenuated, stable rough mutant that is being used in many countries to control bovine brucellosis. Our earlier study demonstrated that the protective efficacy of strain RB51 can be significantly enhanced by overexpressing Cu–Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD), a homologous protective antigen. We have also previously demonstrated that strain RB51 can be engineered to express heterologous proteins and mice vaccinated with such recombinant RB51 strains develop a strong Th1 type of immune response to the foreign proteins. The present study is aimed at combining these two characteristics to generate new recombinant RB51 vaccines with enhanced abilities to protect against brucellosis and simultaneously able to protect against infections by Mycobacterium spp. We constructed two recombinant RB51 strains, RB51SOD/85A which overexpresses SOD with simultaneous expression of the 85A, a protective protein of Mycobacterium spp., and RB51ESAT which expresses ESAT-6, another protective protein of M. bovis, as a fusion protein with the signal sequence and few additional amino terminal amino acids of SOD. Mice vaccinated with these recombinant strains developed specific immune responses to the mycobacterial proteins and significantly enhanced protection against Brucella challenge compared to the mice vaccinated with strain RB51 alone.     

LED光对温室植物生长的影响

研究红色LED、蓝色LED和白色LED组合光源对室内种植蔬菜生长的影响以及光的强度、光的照射时间对植物的营养成分的影响,同时研究3种不同的光对生菜的生物量、叶绿素、胡萝卜素、可溶性蛋白和糖和硝酸盐的含量影响以及市场对生菜外观质感的评价。对比可溶性糖、可溶性蛋白、硝酸盐在3种不同的光照后,叶绿素、胡萝卜素和可溶性蛋白的含量随这3种光的反映程度。研究结果表明,适当地补充特种光谱和光辐射,可以提高植物的产量和质量;在红蓝白LED照射后的生菜的营养价值更丰富。     

柔嫩艾美耳球虫杨凌株RB1-a基因的克隆表达及免疫保护性研究

【目的】对柔嫩艾美耳球虫(E.tenella)杨凌株RB1-a基因进行克隆与表达,检测表达产物的免疫保护性,为鸡球虫基因工程疫苗的研制奠定基础。【方法】以纯化的E.tenella杨凌株孢子化卵囊的总RNA为模板,用RT-PCR方法扩增出其RB1-a基因,测序后进行序列分析。然后将RB1-a基因N端不含信号肽序列克隆到表达载体pET-32a(+)中,构建pET-32a-RB1-a重组质粒,并在大肠埃希菌BL21(DE3)中诱导表达出重组蛋白,将重组蛋白纯化后免疫雏鸡,对其免疫效果进行评价。【结果】柔嫩艾美耳球虫杨凌株RB1-a基因的开放阅读框(ORF)包含618个碱基,编码205个氨基酸,与GenBank报道的柔嫩艾美耳球虫PAPa46株ORF序列相似性为99.84%,两者推导的氨基酸序列相同。SDS-PAGE分析表明,重组质粒表达分子质量为42ku的融合蛋白。免疫效果测定结果显示,RB1-a免疫组和RB1-a+佐剂免疫组的相对增重率分别为64.2%和69.4%,卵囊减少率分别达37.22%和30.56%,抗球虫指数分别为146.2和150.4。【结论】RB1-a基因具有很强的保守性,种间差异不大;RB1-a重组蛋白具有一定的免疫保护效果。     

适合人工饲料育家蚕品种“R9501×RB”的育成初报

R9501是由日系品种9202经14代人工饲料摄食性系统选择培育而成,RB是由中系品种苏春经16代人工饲料摄食性系统选择培育而成。家蚕品种R9501×RB人工饲料育2龄发育整齐度达80％以上,疏毛率达到95％以上,4龄起蚕结茧率、死笼率、全茧量、茧层量、茧层率、解舒率等6项性状均略高于对照种春蕾X镇珠;5龄经过、茧丝长、解舒丝长、纤度、净度5项性状基本与对照种春蕾×镇珠持平;张种产量、张种产值分别比对照高2．3kg和92元。实验室与农村生产鉴定R9501×RB是一对综合经济性状优良的人工饲料摄食性家蚕品种。     

NF-κB信号通路调控布鲁氏菌胞内存活分子机制的初步研究

本试验用布鲁氏菌强、弱毒株侵染小鼠巨噬细胞RAW264.7,旨在探讨NF-κB信号通路与布鲁氏菌强、弱毒株在胞内生存的关系。采用光滑型牛布鲁氏菌2308、粗糙型牛布鲁氏菌RB51在不同感染复数下侵染小鼠巨噬细胞RAW264.7,侵染0、4、8、24 h后,裂解细胞收集蛋白,Western blotting检测布鲁氏菌对激活NF-κB信号通路的影响。利用不同浓度的NF-κB信号通路抑制剂处理小鼠巨噬细胞RAW264.7,然后用布鲁氏菌在不同感染复数下侵染小鼠巨噬细胞RAW264.7,ELISA试剂盒检测细胞因子TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6的表达量;同时对胞内菌CFU进行计数。结果显示粗糙型牛布鲁氏菌RB51可以强烈激活NF-κB信号通路,光滑型牛布鲁氏菌2308对其激活作用较弱;同时对NF-κB信号通路的激活具有浓度依赖性,在感染复数为80:1、侵染时间为8 h时光滑型牛布鲁氏菌2308和粗糙型牛布鲁氏菌RB51对NF-κB激活程度最强,且该通路参与产生TNF-α、IL-1β和IL-6;NF-κB信号通路抑制剂BAY11-7082影响布鲁氏菌在胞内的生存。因此,粗糙型牛布鲁氏菌RB51胞内存活与NF-κB信号通路密切相关,为进一步研究布鲁氏菌的胞内致病机制奠定基础,也为布鲁氏菌新型药物的研发、家畜布鲁氏菌病预防和治疗提供科学依据。     

Brucellosis: a short review of the disease situation in Paraguay

A short review of the brucellosis situation, its control and eradication programs are presented. Data from over 1.2 milliom samples collected from more than 50,718 groups of cattle over a period of over 20 years (1979–2000) illustrates that over the last few years the number of individual reactors remain constant at around 3–4%. The percentage of reactive groups of animals decreased over these years, reflecting a better disease management and possibly an improved general education, handling of information on the immune (vaccination) status of animals and testing practices. Reported zoonotic cases are presented, as well as control and eradication programs, including utilization of vaccines.