Identifying Areas of High Risk of Human Exposure to Coccidioidomycosis in Texas Using Serology Data from Dogs

Coccidioidomycosis or Valley Fever (VF) is an emerging soil‐borne fungal zoonosis affecting humans and animals. Most non‐human cases of VF are found in dogs, which we hypothesize may serve as sentinels for estimating the human exposure risk. The objective of this study is to use the spatial and temporal distribution and clusters of dogs seropositive for VF to define the geographic area in Texas where VF is endemic, and thus presents a higher risk of exposure to humans. The included specimens were seropositive dogs tested at a major diagnostic laboratory between 1999 and 2009. Data were aggregated by zip code and smoothed by empirical Bayesian estimation to develop an isopleth map of VF seropositive rates using kriging. Clusters of seropositive dogs were identified using the spatial scan test. Both the isopleth map and the scan test identified an area with a high rate of VF‐seropositive dogs in the western and southwestern parts of Texas (relative risk = 31). This location overlapped an area that was previously identified as a potential endemic region based on human surveys. Together, these data suggest that dogs may serve as sentinels for estimating the risk of human exposure to VF.     

Diversity of G proteins in signal transduction

The heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) act as switches that regulate information processing circuits connecting cell surface receptors to a variety of effectors. The G proteins are present in all eukaryotic cells, and they control metabolic, humoral, neural, and developmental functions. More than a hundred different kinds of receptors and many different effectors have been described. The G proteins that coordinate receptor-effector activity are derived from a large gene family. At present, the family is known to contain at least sixteen different genes that encode the alpha subunit of the heterotrimer, four that encode beta subunits, and multiple genes encoding gamma subunits. Specific transient interactions between these components generate the pathways that modulate cellular responses to complex chemical signals.     

Derivation, characterization and differentiation of buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) amniotic fluid derived stem cells

Amniotic fluid cells (AFCs) are obtained from amnion for pre-natal analysis and can be cultured in vitro. Heterogeneous amniotic fluid (AF) contains various cell types, and it is believed that some of these cells possess the stem cell properties. The aim of this study was to characterize these cells by phenotypical and genotypical means in buffalo. The differentiation potential of amniotic fluid stem (AFS) cells was carried out by converting these cells into neurons. The AFCs were cultured without feeder cells in DMEM containing 16% foetal bovine serum, 1% penicillin/streptomycin and 1%l-glutamine in 5% CO(2) at 38.5 ± 0.5 °C in a CO(2) incubator. After 6 days of culture, different types of cells viz., star shaped (62.7%), spherical without nucleus (1.9%), spherical with nucleus (26.4%), pentagonal (0.4%) and free floating/rounded cells (8.3%) were observed. Most of the cells started anchorage-dependent growth after day 7 of the culture. Expression of Oct-4, Sox-2, Nanog, alkaline phosphatase, 18s rRNA, stem cell factor, cyclin A, Nestin and FGF-5 was observed from the AFS cells in different passages with PCR amplicon of 314, 277, 317, 180, 162, 216, 421, 307 and 210 bp, respectively. During the differentiation step, at day 6, neuron-like cells could be clearly identified and confirmed with Nestin-specific RT-PCR. The cells were found to have a normal karyotype at different passages. These results may contribute towards establishing non-embryonic pluripotent stem cells for various therapeutic and reproductive biotechnological applications in the species.