IMAGING DIAGNOSIS ‐ SPONTANEOUS SUBPERIOSTEAL VERTEBRAL HEMORRHAGE IN A GREYHOUND

A 4‐year‐old, spayed female greyhound dog was presented with an acute onset of paraplegia. There was no known history of trauma or coagulopathy. Spinal cord compression was identified on MRI. Intra‐operative evaluation revealed the presence of a large subperiosteal hematoma and a smaller epidural hematoma. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of a spinal subperiosteal hematoma diagnosed antemortem through MRI, with surgical exploration and successful treatment in a dog.     

Virus infections of the European Eel in North Rhine Westphalian rivers

Viral infections have been suggested to play a role in the decline of the panmictic population of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). However, despite the importance of knowledge about pathogenic eel viruses, little is known about their spread in the wild European eel population and only a few eel pathogenic viruses have been described so far. In this study, we aimed to investigate the health status of the A. anguilla stock in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) State of Germany. For this purpose, we examined tissue samples of 16 elvers, 100 yellow eels and 6 silver eels, sampled from the rivers Rhine, Lippe and Ems. Virus detection was performed via a combination of cell culture and PCR. Next to the detection of frequently encountered pathogenic eel viruses (anguillid herpesvirus 1 and eel virus European X (EVEX)), we isolated the eel picornavirus 1 (EPV-1) from tissue of yellow eels and elvers and demonstrate the distribution of EPV-1 in wild eel population in NRW.     

Mammalian Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone Indirectly Stimulates Sex Steroid Production in Tilapia

Abstract.— Fish possess a growth hormone similar to mammalian growth hormone, and the presence of a growth hormone-releasing hormone-like material in the brain has been demonstrated in several teleost species. We investigated the effect of a mammalian growth hormone-releasing hormone on serum estradiol-17β and testosterone concentrations in tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus and a hybrid O. niloticus × O aureus because growth hormone has been implicated in the regulation of gonadal functions in teleosts. Three hours after injecting the releasing hormone, male and female serum testosterone concentrations significantly increased compared to controls, while serum estradiol-17β concentrations increased significantly only in females. These increases were commensurate with respective serum steroid concentrations in fish injected with gonadotropin releasing-hormone. Studies utilizing hypophysectomized fish resulted in non-detectable levels of serum sex steroids in fish treated with the growth hormone-releasing hormone; however, significant increases occurred in fish treated with human chorionic gonadotropin. Similarly, gonadal tissue incubated with growth hormone releasing hormone had non-detectable levels of sex steroids in the media, whereas gonads incubated with human chorionic gonadotropin had significant increases in sex steroid concentrations. These studies suggest that growth hormone-releasing hormone acts at the level of the pituitary. Although mammalian growth hormones have been shown to increase serum gonadotropic hormone concentrations, this study provides evidence that a mammalian growth hormone-releasing hormone has the ability to indirectly increase sex steroid levels in fish.     

Effects of Yucca shidigera Extract on Growth, Nitrogen Retention, Ammonia Excretion, and Toxicity in Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus and Hybrid Tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus × O. niloticus

Nitrogenous waste control in aquaculture systems is necessary to maintain healthy animals and to meet effluent standards. Decreased ammonia production has been attained in traditional livestock production systems by adding extracts of Yucca shidigera to the feed or storage lagoon system. An extract of Yucca shidigera was fed to post yolk-sac and juvenile channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus and hybrid tilapia Oreochrornis mossambicus × O. niloticus to determine the effects on growth, nitrogen retention, ammonia excretion, and toxicity. Post yolk-sac channel catfish fry fed the 1.0-g yucca extract/kg as an agar coating were the only group of experimental organisms that had significantly greater weight gains compared to the control and 0.5-g yucca extract/kg diet groups after 12 wk. Significantly lower fecal nitrogen concentrations were obtained from catfish fed diets containing yucca extract compared to the control groups, although no differences between fecal nitrogen concentrations for catfish fed diets with either 0.5-g or 1.0-g yucca extract/kg diet occurred. Ammonia excretion rates were significantly lower for catfish fed diets containing yucca extract compared to the control group. Accordingly, fish fed diets containing the yucca extract had significantly greater whole-body protein composition, while lipid levels were significantly lower. No significant differences in proximate composition occurred for fish fed any of the diets containing yucca extract, though growth rates were significantly higher than the controls. This study demonstrated that a yucca extract can be used in the diet of channel catfish, and increased growth and decreased ammonia concentrations can be obtained in rearing systems.     

Teratoma in desert grassland whiptail lizards (Cnemidophorus uniparens).

The clinical, gross necropsy, and histopathology findings in two unrelated desert grassland whiptail lizards (Cnemidophorus uniparens) with teratoma are described. The desert grassland whiptail is a parthenogenic lizard species with a polyploid chromosomal complement. The chromosome composition of the teratomas from these lizards was not determined.     

Marker assisted accelerated introgression of null allele of kunitz trypsin inhibitor in soybean

Development of kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI)-free soybean is crucial for soy-food industry as the heat inactivation employed to inactivate the anti-nutritional factor in regular soybean incurs extra cost and affects protein solubility. In the presented work, a null allele of KTI from PI542044 was introgressed into cultivar ‘JS97-52’ (recurrent parent) through marker assisted backcrossing. Foreground selection in BC₁F₂, BC₂F₂ and BC₃F₂ was carried out using the null allele-specific marker in tandem with SSR marker Satt228, tightly linked with a trypsin inhibitor Ti locus. Background selection in null allele-carrying plants through 106 polymorphic SSR markers across the genome led to the identification of 9 KTI-free lines exhibiting 98.6% average recurrent parent genome content (RPGC) after three backcrosses, which otherwise had required 5–6 backcrosses through conventional method. Introgressed lines (ILs) were free from KTI and yielded at par with recurrent parent. Reduction of 68.8–83.5% in trypsin inhibitor content (TIC) in ILs compared to the recurrent parent (‘JS97-52’) was attributed to the elimination of KTI.     

Evidence for ozone formation in human atherosclerotic arteries

Here, we report evidence for the production of ozone in human disease. Signature products unique to cholesterol ozonolysis are present within atherosclerotic tissue at the time of carotid endarterectomy, suggesting that ozone production occurred during lesion development. Furthermore, advanced atherosclerotic plaques generate ozone when the leukocytes within the diseased arteries are activated in vitro. The steroids produced by cholesterol ozonolysis cause effects that are thought to be critical to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, including cytotoxicity, lipid-loading in macrophages, and deformation of the apolipoprotein B-100 secondary structure. We propose the trivial designation "atheronals" for this previously unrecognized class of steroids.     

Truncated RanGAP encoded by the Segregation Distorter locus of Drosophila

Segregation Distorter (SD) in Drosophila melanogaster is a naturally occurring meiotic drive system in which the SD chromosome is transmitted from SD/SD+ males in vast excess over its homolog owing to the induced dysfunction of SD+-bearing spermatids. The Sd locus is the key distorting gene responsible for this phenotype. A genomic fragment from the Sd region conferred full distorting activity when introduced into the appropriate genetic background by germline transformation. The only functional product encoded by this fragment is a truncated version of the RanGAP nuclear transport protein. These results demonstrate that this mutant RanGAP is the functional Sd product.