Cerebrospinal fluid eosinophilia and ataxia in five llamas

Cerebrospinal fluid eosinophilia was associated with ataxia in five llamas. A presumptive diagnosis of cerebrospinal parasitism was made, and a response to combined anthelmintic and anti-inflammatory therapy was seen in each animal. The results demonstrate the value of an examination of cerebrospinal fluid in the evaluation of neurological disease in llamas.     

Principal Component Analyses of Groundwater Chemistry Data During Enhanced Bioremediation

A bioremediation project has been monitored for two years at a former sour gas plant site that had ethanolamine, glycol and their degradation products in the subsurface. The active enhanced bioremediation program consisted of dewatering and bioventing. An extensive groundwater monitoring program mapped the distribution of chemical species. Principal component analysis was used to help organize and interpret the chemical analysis. Three principal components accounted for 75% of the variability in the data. The first component separated contaminated waters from background. The second component indicated aerobic versus anaerobic conditions and the third component was indicative of the accumulation of nitrogen compounds. The site is extremely heterogeneous with preferential pathways due to fractures, sand lenses and a fractured horizontal well. In addition the source and contaminated areas are very heterogeneous. The PCA shows drastically different geochemical conditions residing within relatively small areas. The study site can be conceptualized as a series of small, meter-scale sized reactors that interact and mix due to preferential flow paths and diffusion. The evolution of the chemistry shows that the bioremediation process is successfully removing acetic acid, and it is becoming more aerobic. Enhanced infiltration in the process area is slowly removing the source and degradation products.     

Evaluation of immune responses following infection of ponies with an EHV-1 ORF1/2 deletion mutant

ABSTRACT: Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection remains a significant problem despite the widespread use of vaccines. The inability to generate a protective immune response to EHV-1 vaccination or infection is thought to be due to immunomodulatory properties of the virus, and the ORF1 and ORF2 gene products have been hypothesized as potential candidates with immunoregulatory properties. A pony infection study was performed to define immune responses to EHV-1, and to determine if an EHV-1 ORF1/2 deletion mutant (ΔORF1/2) would have different disease and immunoregulatory effects compared to wild type EHV-1 (WT). Infection with either virus led to cytokine responses that coincided with the course of clinical disease, particularly the biphasic pyrexia, which correlates with respiratory disease and viremia, respectively. Similarly, both viruses caused suppression of proliferative T-cell responses on day 7 post infection (pi). The ΔORF1/ORF2 virus caused significantly shorter primary pyrexia and significantly reduced nasal shedding, and an attenuated decrease in PBMC IL-8 as well as increased Tbet responses compared to WT-infected ponies. In conclusion, our findings are (i) that infection of ponies with EHV-1 leads to modulation of immune responses, which are correlated with disease pathogenesis, and (ii) that the ORF1/2 genes are of importance for disease outcome and modulation of cytokine responses.     

Further analysis of anti-human leukocyte mAbs with reactivity to equine leukocytes by two-colour flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry

We have reported on the reactivity of anti-human CD molecules with equine leukocytes by single-colour flow cytometry (this issue). The objectives of this additional study were to test for the reliability of the results obtained, and to obtain further information on the positive populations of lymphocytes. Two-colour flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were performed, using many of the positive mAbs and a few questionable ones from the first part of the study. All mAbs analysed by two-colour flow cytometry could be confirmed to their previous designation as "positive" or "questionable". Most of the mAbs tested were effective in immunohistochemistry, supporting previous results. Examples of positive results will be presented and limitations of the study will be discussed briefly.     

酒制熟地黄炮制过程中梓醇的变化趋势及变化机理

为研究酒制熟地黄炮制工艺过程中梓醇的变化趋势和变化机理，利用HPLC检测酒制熟地黄炮制过程中不同时间点梓醇的含量，并利用FT-IR结合变温附件获取梓醇在不同温度点的红外光谱信息。结果表明，酒制熟地黄炮制过程中，梓醇含量整体呈下降趋势，但不同时间段梓醇含量下降率不同。梓醇含量下降的原因是其热稳定性较低，在温度90～100℃之间，其结构就发生变化。所以，生地黄产地加工焙干时，温度不能太高，以免梓醇含量下降；熟地黄炮制过程中，时间不能太短，以免“火候”不到。