ULTRASONOGRAPHY OF ALIMENTARY LYMPHOSARCOMA IN THE CAT

Clinical, radiological and ultrasonographic findings from 22 cats with gastrointestinal lymphosarcoma were reviewed. The most common clinical findings were anorexia, weight loss, vomiting, lethargy, depression, fever, anemia and a palpable abdominal mass. Abdominal radiographs of 12 cats revealed a mass associated with the gastrointestinal tract and/or mesentery, and decreased serosal detail, suggestive of peritoneal effusion. The most common ultrasonographic finding was transmural gastric or intestinal thickening associated with loss of normal wall layering, reduced wall echogenicity and localized hypomotility. As is noted in people, other patterns such as transmural-segmental, transmural-nodular, transmural-bulky and mucosal infiltration were represented. In 3 cats, mesenteric lymph-adenopathy was responsible for most of the mass-effect. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy, automated microcore biopsy, endoscopic biopsy or necropsy confirmed the diagnosis of lymphosarcoma in all cats. Chemotherapy was instituted in 19 cats. Only 6 cats had a complete response to treatment. The results of this study indicate that ultrasonography is a valuable tool for the diagnosis of feline alimentary lymphosarcoma and that biopsies can be obtained under ultrasonographic guidance.     

USE OF ULTRASOUND-GUIDED FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATION BIOPSY AND AUTOMATED CORE BIOPSY FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES IN SMALL ANIMALS

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy and core biopsy in the diagnosis of infiltrative gastrointestinal diseases. Six dogs and seven cats with clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease underwent ultrasonography and intestinal lesions were identified. One or more ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy and/or core biopsy procedures were performed in each patient. Each patient also underwent one of the following additional procedures for comparison of results: 1) surgery (n=4), 2) endoscopy (n=2), 3) post mortem exam (n=3), and, 4) for lymphoma diagnosed with ultrasound-guided procedures, response to chemotherapy (n=4). Correct diagnoses were obtained in nine of the 13 patients, incorrect diagnoses in two of the 13 patients, and inconclusive diagnoses in two of the thirteen patients. Of the 16 total ultrasound-guided procedures performed, ten were confirmed as correct, three as incorrect, and three were non-diagnostic. Intestinal lesions with bowel wall thickness greater than 2.0 cm had a higher percentage of correct diagnoses than lesions of lesser wall thickness. Gastric lesions had a higher percentage of correct diagnoses than small and large intestinal lesions. Malignant lesions had a higher percentage of correct diagnoses than benign lesions. There were no complications. Ultrasound-guided gastrointestinal fine-needle aspiration biopsy and core biopsy appears to be a safe, accurate, and rapid procedure for use in the diagnosis of infiltrative gastrointestinal disease.     

An approximately 15,000-year record of El Nino-driven alluviation in southwestern ecuador

Debris flows have deposited inorganic laminae in an alpine lake that is 75 kilometers east of the Pacific Ocean, in Ecuador. These storm-induced events were dated by radiocarbon, and the age of laminae that are less than 200 years old matches the historic record of El Nino events. From about 15,000 to about 7000 calendar years before the present, the periodicity of clastic deposition is greater than or equal to 15 years; thereafter, there is a progressive increase in frequency to periodicities of 2 to 8.5 years. This is the modern El Nino periodicity, which was established about 5000 calendar years before the present. This may reflect the onset of a steeper zonal sea surface temperature gradient, which was driven by enhanced trade winds.     

Morphology of leukocytes from cats affected with alpha-mannosidosis and mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI)

The morphology and ultrastructure of circulating white blood cells from six Persian and from five Russian Blue/Siamese cats deficient in lysosomal activity of alpha-mannosidase and arylsulfatase B, respectively, were studied and compared to cells from corresponding normal and carrier cats. In cats with mannosidosis, light microscopic examination revealed vacuoles in lymphocytes and monocytes, whereas electron microscopic studies demonstrated additional vacuoles in neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils. In cats with mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI), vacuoles containing metachromatic granules were observed in lymphocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes. Ultrastructural studies of these cells identified the accumulation of fibrillar material, which often was associated with lamellated membrane structures.     

Evolution and functional impact of rare coding variation from deep sequencing of human exomes

As a first step toward understanding how rare variants contribute to risk for complex diseases, we sequenced 15,585 human protein-coding genes to an average median depth of 111× in 2440 individuals of European (n = 1351) and African (n = 1088) ancestry. We identified over 500,000 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), the majority of which were rare (86% with a minor allele frequency less than 0.5%), previously unknown (82%), and population-specific (82%). On average, 2.3% of the 13,595 SNVs each person carried were predicted to affect protein function of ~313 genes per genome, and ~95.7% of SNVs predicted to be functionally important were rare. This excess of rare functional variants is due to the combined effects of explosive, recent accelerated population growth and weak purifying selection. Furthermore, we show that large sample sizes will be required to associate rare variants with complex traits.     

Amplification of mesenchymal stem cells from human bone marrow and orientation to induce MSCs differentiating into endothelial cells in vitro

AIM: Our purpose was to induce MSCs differentiating into endothelial cells (EC) in vitro and to provide the seed cells for study of cardiovascular tissue-engineering. METHODS: MSCs were separated by gradient centrifugation on Percoll (density 1 073 g/L) from human bone marrow (HBM), and incubated for purification and amplification in DMEM (low glucose) with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Then, the MSCs were incubated for orientation differentiated into EC in DMEM (high glucose) with 20% FBS, VEGF (10 μg/L), bFGF (5 μg/L), L-glutamine (2 mmol/L), penicillin (1×105U/L) and streptomycin (100 mg/L) for about 14-21 days and their phenotypic characteristics were analyzed by flow cytometry. Afterwards, the differentiating cells were evaluated by histology and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The quantity of MSCs was increased from 5.0×105 in the primary culture to 8.0×1012, or to increase to 1.6×107 times after 15 generations of incubation. The purity of MSCs was above 95% and 98% homogeneous at passages 2 and 3, respectively. About 80%-90% of the differentiating cells from MSCs after 14-21 days were positively stained for Ⅷ factor (vWF) related antigen by immunohistochemistry assay, and Weible-palade corpuscle was also observed by transmission electron microscopy in the cytoplasm. CONCLUSION: MSCs from HBM have the capability of differentiation into ECs in vitro, which may be a potential source of seed cells for fabrication of tissue-engineering heart valve, particularly in children with congenital heart disease.     

加工类型黄瓜品质性状的主成分及聚类分析

对19个加工类型黄瓜品种的7个品质性状进行了主成分和聚类分析.结果表明19个品种分为产量、形态和品质3个主成分因子,其主成分的累计贡献率达89.81%,而且基本上可描述7个品质性状的遗传变异.当类平均距离为1.035时,19个品种被聚为短果和长果2种类型,而当类平均距离为0.942时,19个品种被聚为短果中等品质、短果优质和长果高产3种类型.     

东北三省番茄叶霉病生理小种分化的初步研究

采用国际通用番茄叶霉病鉴别寄主谱，利用苗期人工喷雾接种方法，参照国外Ｎ·Ｈｕｂｂｅｌｉｎｇ氏叶霉病生理小种分化表（１９７１），仿照Ｐ．Ｄａｙ分类方法，对东北三省郊区大棚番茄叶霉病进行鉴定．结果表明．东北三省郊区大棚番茄叶霉病生理小种为小种１，２，３；小种１，３和小种３；而以小种１，２，３为主．