Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in dogs from Colombia, South America and genetic characterization of T. gondii isolates

The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in 309 unwanted dogs from Bogotá, Colombia, South America was determined. Antibodies to T. gondii were assayed by the modified agglutination test (MAT) and found in 52 (16.8%) of 309 dogs with titers of 1:20 in 20, 1:40 in six, 1:80 in 17, 1:160 in three, 1:320 in three, 1:1280 or higher in three. Some organs obtained after necropsy of dogs (hearts, tongues and brains, either separately or pooled) were used in bioassays carried out in mice (37 samples, of which 20 were assayed with separate organs and 17 were assayed with pooled organs), cats (pooled organs from six) and pooled organs of two dogs both in mice and cat. Mice receiving dog tissues were examined for T. gondii infection. Feces of cats that received dog tissues were examined for oocyst shedding. In total, T. gondii was isolated from tissues of 20 dogs (16 by bioassays in mice, 3 by bioassay in cats and 1 by bioassay in mice and cat). All infected mice from 7 of 17 isolates bioassayed in this host died of toxoplasmosis during primary infection. Only 10 of the 20 dogs whose tissues were bioassayed separately induced infections in mice. Interestingly, dog organs varied in their capacity to induce T. gondii infection in mice, hearts and tongues producing more positive results than the brain. The 20 T. gondii isolates obtained from seropositive dogs were PCR-RFLP genotyped using polymorphisms at 10 nuclear markers including SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1, a new SAG2 and an apicoplast marker Apico. Ten genotypes were revealed. These genotypes are different from the three predominant Types I, II and III lineages that are widely spread in North America and Europe. A new allele denoted u-3 at PK1 locus was identified in three isolates. This result supports previous findings that T. gondii population is highly diverse in Colombia.     

Classification of guppies’ (Poecilia reticulata) gender by computer vision

Labor costs of guppy growers and breeders are largely those of manual sorting (by strain, quality and gender) and counting fish. In most farms, female and male fish are grown together and sold either separately or together. Sorting fish according to gender is important for marketing as well as for breeding programs, so that a device for sorting and counting fish can potentially reduce production costs and improve quality.

A project aiming to develop sorting and counting technologies for ornamental fish growers included development and testing of image-processing algorithms for sorting guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) by gender. The algorithms are derived from shape and color differences between female and male guppies. An algorithm for the determination of landmarks on fish contours was developed and found to be accurate in accordance with human judgment, enabling extraction of specific shape and color features of the tail and the body.

The algorithms were applied to three sets of images of guppies of the “Red-Blond” strain. Gender identification accuracy was approximately 90% using shape features, approximately 96% using color features and was slightly improved when both color and shape features were used.

Some of the components used are essential for future development of a computer vision based system for sorting and grading ornamental fish by strain and quality.     

Selectivity in a trawl codend during haul-back operation—An overlooked phenomenon

The selectivity of a 99 mm trawl codend was assessed using a codend cover fitted with a MultiSampler, which was acoustically triggered to take separate samples at three different phases of the haul. The first sample was collected during towing, the second during haul-up and the third at the surface. A total of 18 hauls were conducted with a commercial fishing vessel west of Scotland. It was demonstrated that escapes take place not only during the tow but also in the short period when the trawl is hauled back from the seabed and when the codend is at the surface. For haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), whiting (Merlangius merlangus) and Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), respectively, the mean percentages escaping at the surface were 16, 12 and 38% of the total escape while 17, 8 and 28% escaped during the haul-up phase. Compared to towing, the escape rate (no./min) increased for haddock by a factor 2.7 during haul-up and by a factor 1.7 at the surface, whereas the escape rates of whiting were similar for the three phases. The escape rate of Norway lobster increased by a factor of approximately 7 for both the haul-up and surface phases, compared to the towing phase. The selectivity parameters L50 (50% retention length) and SR (selection range = L75–L25) were estimated and compared for the three different phases and for the whole haul for haddock, whiting and Norway lobster. For all three species there was no significant (P > 0.05) difference in L50 between the three phases of the haul. There was also no significant difference for whiting and Norway lobster when comparing the SR of the three phases, whereas the SR was significantly lower for haddock when comparing the surface phase with towing and haul-up. The estimate of L50 when towing was about 6 cm lower for haddock and whiting and 9 mm for Norway lobster compared to the selection curve estimated conventionally for the whole haul. Finally, the effect of sea state, duration and codend catch on the selectivity parameters were estimated for the individual phases and for the whole haul. A significant effect of at least one variable was found in all phases.     

Feeding ragworm (Nereis virens Sars) to common sole (Solea solea L.) alleviates nutritional anaemia and stimulates growth

Common sole fed with commercial pellets develop anaemia and are restricted in their growth performance. The anaemia can be the result of a difference in feed intake, a nutritional deficiency, an inflammatory response to infection or combinations of these aspects. In this study, it was investigated whether feeding ragworm would alleviate the anaemia and stimulate growth. Sole were fed one of three diets: a commercial feed, a commercial feed treated with ragworm extract or chopped ragworm. By comparing groups, three hypotheses were tested: (1) feeding ragworm alleviates the anaemia and positively affectS the sole's metabolic performance reflected in feed intake, feed efficiency and growth; (2) anaemia is alleviated by a higher feed intake when feeding ragworm and (3) anaemia is caused by an inflammatory response to infection. The sole fed with a commercial diet suffered from anaemia. Feeding sole with ragworm alleviated the anaemia as the average haematocrit level nearly doubled in these fish as compared to fish fed pellets. Investigation of the expression of genes in the liver indicated that the anaemia in sole fed pellets is a nutritional anaemia and not an anaemia due to an inflammatory response. Sole fed ragworm showed improved growth which may be a consequence of the higher haematocrit levels in these fish increasing their oxygen carrying capacity. Addition of ragworm extract to the pellets levelled the feed intake between pellets and ragworm, but did not improve the anaemic state of sole and had only a limited effect on growth.     

Pathologic findings and association of Mycobacterium bovis infection with the bovine NRAMP1 gene in cattle from herds with naturally occurring tuberculosis

OBJECTIVE: To determine necropsy and Mycobacterium bovis culture results in cattle from herds with tuberculosis, the role of the bovine NRAMP1 gene in resistance and susceptibility to infection with M bovis, and the association between magnitude of the tuberculous lesions and various types of M bovis isolates. ANIMALS: 61 cattle from herds with tuberculosis in Texas and Mexico. PROCEDURE: 61 cattle were evaluated by necropsy; 59 had positive and 2 had negative caudal fold tuberculin intradermal test (CFT) results. Thirty-three cattle with positive CFT results were genotyped to evaluate polymorphism of the 3' untranslated region of the bovine NRAMP1 gene, using single-stranded conformational analysis, 9 were resistant to M bovis with no tuberculous lesions and negative M bovis culture results, and 24 were susceptible with tuberculous lesions and positive M bovis culture results. Isolates of M bovis were analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) on the basis of IS6110 sequences and direct-repeat fingerprinting patterns. RESULTS: 21 (35.6%; 21/59) cattle with positive CFT results had tuberculous lesions or positive culture results; in addition, 1 of 2 cattle with negative CFT results had tuberculous lesions and positive culture results. Tuberculous lesions were most common in the thorax (35/63; 55.5%) and lymphoid tissues of the head (10/63; 15.9%). Tuberculous lesions varied from 1 to 11/animal; 8 of 21 (38.1%) had solitary lesions. Associations were not found between resistance or susceptibility to infection with M bovis and polymorphism in the NRAMP1 gene or between the magnitude of the lesions and various RFLP types of M bovis isolates. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The NRAMP1 gene does not determine resistance and susceptibility to infection with M bovis in cattle.     

Rapid sequence modification in the highly polymorphic region (HPR) of the hemagglutinin gene of the infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) suggests intra-segmental template switching recombination

The ISAV has a genome composed of eight segments of (–)ssRNA, segment 6 codes for the hemagglutinin–esterase protein, and has the most variable region of the genome, the highly polymorphic region (HPR), which is unique among orthomyxoviruses. The HPR has been associated with virulence, infectivity and pathogenicity. The full length of the HPR is called HPR0 and the strain with this HPR is avirulent, in contrast to strains with deleted HPR that are virulent to varying degrees. The molecular mechanism that gives rise to the different HPRs remains unclear. Here, we studied in vitro the evolution of reassortant recombinant ISAV (rISAV) in Atlantic salmon head kidney (ASK) cells. To this end, we rescued and cultivated a set of rISAV with different segment 6-HPR genotypes using a reverse genetics system and then sequencing HPR regions of the viruses. Our results show rapid multiple recombination events in ISAV, with sequence insertions and deletions in the HPR, indicating a dynamic process. Inserted sequences can be found in four segments of the ISAV genome (segments 1, 5, 6, and 8). The results suggest intra-segmental heterologous recombination, probably by class I and class II template switching, similar to the proposed segment 5 recombination mechanism.     

Effects of in vitro exposure to mercury on male gonads and sperm structure of the tropical fish tuvira Gymnotus carapo (L.)

This study investigated the progressive effects of HgCl₂ in the testis and sperm of the tropical fish tuvira Gymnotus carapo L. exposed to increasing Hg concentrations (5–30 μm ) and increasing exposure times (24–96 h). Histopathology and metal concentrations in the testis were observed. Hg concentrations in the testis reached 5.1 and 5.2 μg g^?1 in fish exposed to 20 and 30 μm of Hg, respectively. Hg effects on testicular tissue were observed even at low Hg concentrations, with no alterations in gonadosomatic index. However, the quantitative analysis of the induced alterations (lesion index) demonstrated that the Hg effects in testis became more severe after exposure to higher concentrations (20 and 30 μm ) and during longer exposure (72 and 96 h), probably leading to partial or total loss of the organ function. Hg exposure (20 μm ) also affected sperm count and altered sperm morphology. This study showed that HgCl₂ caused progressive damage to testicular tissue, reduced sperm count and altered sperm morphology. These results are important in establishing a direct correlation between Hg accumulation and severity of lesions.     

High stocking density and food restriction have minimum impact on size dispersal of cultured Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis, Kaup 1858) juveniles. Evidence for individual growth being regulated by population structure

The individual growth being regulated by population structure was studied in cultured populations of Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis Kaup) juveniles. Soles constituting an initial population were individually tagged and their specific growth rates (SGR) registered after two months of growth. Fish were then graded in order to achieve four new subpopulations based in their previous growths and cultured for other additional 60 days. Three subpopulations consisted of individuals that had previously shown an average SGR (% day⁻¹) of 1.04 ± 0.3, 0.66 ± 0.1 and 0.18 ± 0.1, respectively. A fourth sole subpopulation was established from randomly selected juveniles to constitute the ungraded control group. Growth of the three subpopulations originally graded according to high (1.04% day⁻¹), medium (0.66% day⁻¹) and low (0.18% day⁻¹) SGR soles, was always similar (P > 0.05) at any time (close to 0.60% day⁻¹). SGR distributions along time revealed a tendency of the three subpopulations to achieve similar growth rate dispersals to that of the ungraded group after 60 days of culture.The individual growth of sole juveniles was also determined in populations that were subject to increased stocking density and food restriction. Soles stocked at high density (N = 110 fish tank⁻¹; 30.97 ± 0.8 kg m⁻²) showed an increased growth standard deviation when compared with individuals kept at low density (N = 20 fish tank⁻¹; 6.20 ± 0.2 kg m⁻²). In contrast, it was found that population growth dispersal was unaffected in soles fed at a daily ration of either 0.25% or 1.0% of their biomass. Minimum consequences on overall size dispersal in terms of ΔCV were found when high stocking and restricted food ration conditions were compared to control groups. Overall results from this work indicate that individual growth of captive juvenile soles was mainly regulated at a population level, existing a strong tendency to achieve a social arrangement in terms of growth. High stocking density and low feeding ration assay suggests that potentially competitive rearing conditions do not contribute to increase population size dispersal during intensive production of S. senegalensis.