Chronic otitis externa with heat shock protein 70-positive intranuclear inclusion bodies in the ceruminous gland epithelium of a Chihuahua dog

A Chihuahua dog showed persistent itching in the right ear canal. Anti-inflammatory medicines and prednisolone were ineffective and total ear canal ablation was performed. Histological diagnosis was chronic otitis externa. Eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies (Cowdry type A and full-type) were occasionally observed in the ceruminous gland epithelium. The inclusion bodies were negative for nucleic acid and ultrastructurally composed of fibrous structures (approximately 10 nm in width). Viral infection was initially suspected, but polymelase chain reaction tests did not detect the expected viral genes. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the inclusion bodies were positive for heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), suggesting that these bodies could be protein aggregates including HSP70. The etiology of this lesion has not been elucidated, but chronic inflammation may influence the cytoplasm-to-nuclear transportation of HSP70. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of canine chronic otitis externa with HSP70-positive intranuclear inclusion bodies.     

Development and testing of a surface roughness measurement device based on aerial ultrasonic reflections

Paddy and Water Environment - Repairs of concrete irrigation channels in Japan are guided to a large extent by the degree to which their walls have degraded over decades of use. Current methods of...     

A plant vacuolar protease, VPE, mediates virus-induced hypersensitive cell death

Programmed cell death (PCD) in animals depends on caspase protease activity. Plants also exhibit PCD, for example as a response to pathogens, although a plant caspase remains elusive. Here we show that vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE) is a protease essential for a virus-induced hypersensitive response that involves PCD. VPE deficiency prevented virus-induced hypersensitive cell death in tobacco plants. VPE is structurally unrelated to caspases, although VPE has a caspase-1 activity. Thus, plants have evolved a regulated cellular suicide strategy that, unlike PCD of animals, is mediated by VPE and the cellular vacuole.     

The flammability of shrubs and trees in anAcacia mangium plantation based on silica-free ash content

Preliminary research to understand the flammability of 14 species of shrubs and 8 species of trees based on silica-free ash content was done in order to recognize which shrubs or trees are more flammable. The results show that the silica-free ash content of shrubs and trees leaves was greater than the stems ranging between 1.7% and 11.4% for leaf and 0.4% and 7.8% for the stems. The shrubsDicranopteris linearis, Imperata cylindrica, Eupatorium pubescens, Lantana camara, Eugenia sp.,Cliforia laurifolia, Pterospermum sp.,Hibiscus similis, Clidemia hirta andTrema orientalis must be considered when fire invades the plantation as well as the treeParaserianthes falcataria, Eucalyptus urophylla, Calliandra callothyrsus, andPeronema canescens.     

Mutagenesis, heterogeneous gene expression, and purification and amino acid substitution analyses of plant peroxidase, PrxA3a

We introduced mutations into prxA3a, a peroxidase gene of hybrid aspen, Populus kitakamiensis, to substitute the amino acid residues at the surface of the protein, and analyzed substrate specificities. PrxA3a and mutated enzymes heterogeneously gene expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were purified by Ni affinity chromatography, hydrolysis of sugar chain (Endoglycosidase H_f) and gel filtration. The substrate specificities were altered by substituted amino acid residues. PrxA3a F77Y A165W acquired the substrate specificity to m-chlorophenol. PrxA3a F77Y and PrxA3a F77YA165W could polymerize sinapyl alcohol. In addition, PrxA3a A165W, F77Y, and F77YA165W improved cytochrome c oxidizing activity. These substituted amino acid residues should function as a catalytic site outside of the heme pocket.     

Dual effects of reversed winter–spring temperatures on year‐to‐year variation in the recruitment of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus)

To clarify the effects of temperature on the recruitment of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in the North Pacific, we investigated the influence of winter surface temperature (WST) on spawners at the time of maturity around the spawning grounds and the influence of ambient spring temperature on larvae using estimated temperature (ET) obtained from particle tracking experiments. We found a significant positive correlation between ET approximately 10 days following hatching and the recruitment per spawning stock biomass (RPS) after 2000. The closer (more meandering) the Kuroshio Current (KC) axis was in relation to the spawning ground, the higher (lower) the spring surface temperature and the higher (lower) RPS was in the spawning ground. In contrast, WST inside KC near the maturity/spawning ground was significantly negatively correlated with RPS. A significant negative correlation between the temperatures in winter and spring was detected in the area after 2000, when the conditions of the Pacific decadal oscillation index and the stability of the Kuroshio Extension were synchronous, indicating that KC shifted northward during this time. The reversed temperature pattern was consistent with the winter–spring movement of KC axis in the offshore direction and was correlated with the winter–spring difference in the intensity of the Aleutian low. These results suggest that the annual variation in chub mackerel recruitment after 2000 was strongly affected by the combined effects of ambient temperature because of the reversal of conditions that occurred between winter and spring around the maturity/spawning ground, which was related to the KC path.     

Guanine-cytosine contents of the host and symbiont cDNA in a symbiotic coral

ABSTRACT:   Hermatypic (reef-building) corals harbor dinoflagellate endo-symbionts Symbiodinium spp. In studying gene expression in such symbiotic corals, problems arise regarding how to distinguish the coral and symbiont mRNA, and how to estimate their fractions in the mRNA population of the holobiont (symbiotic complex of the coral and Symbiodinium cells). In this study, these issues were addressed using juveniles of hermatypic coral Acropora tenuis in symbiosis with Symbiodinium cells of strain PL-TS-1. First, the guanine-cytosine (GC) contents were determined in expressed sequence tags (EST) from PL-TS-1 cells cultured in vitro and symbiont-free larvae of A. tenuis , and their average GC contents were found to be significantly different. The average GC content of the EST from the holobiont was much closer to that of A. tenuis larvae, suggesting that the majority (>90%) of mRNA isolated from the holobiont originated in the host. In protein-coding sequences, little overlap was observed between the GC-content distributions of PL-TS-1 cells and A. tenuis larvae. All of the coding sequences ( n  = 59) found in the A. tenuis EST had GC contents below 0.5, whereas the GC content exceeded 0.5 in the majority (43/44) of coding sequences from the nuclear genome of PL-TS-1 cells.     

Involvement of microaerophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria in the iron-oxidizing process at the surface layer of flooded paddy field soil

Journal of Soils and Sediments - To reveal whether microaerophilic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) participate in the Fe(II) oxidation at the oxic-anoxic interface in flooded paddy field soil,...     

Pentachlorophenol-decomposing and PCP-tolerant bacteria in field soil treated with PCP

Soil samples from field plots that had received annual applications of pentachlorophenol (PCP) for 3 consecutive years were analyzed each year for changes in microbial populations, particularly in PCP-decomposing microorganisms and PCP-tolerant bacteria. Within 6 weeks after an initial application of PCP, PCP-decomposing microorganisms increased by about 3 orders of magnitude; this increased population was still observed the following spring. The number of PCP-decomposing microorganisms in the soils that received PCP for 3 yr reached 10⁵· g^?1 soil or more, while that in soils without PCP was 10²· g^?1. The soils that received PCP were not enriched with tetrachlorophenoldecomposing microorganisms. The microbes enriched by PCP may have been bacterial in nature. In 1972 and 1974, the number of PCP-tolerant bacteria increased immediately after PCP application and continued to increase for 2 weeks, then declined. The 1973 data, however, showed no such decline. The number of PCP-tolerant and of crystal violet-tolerant (Gram-negative) bacteria correlated fairly well except at 2 weeks after PCP application (when PCP-tolerant bacteria were more numerous).     

Sulfate-reducing bacteria and nitrogen fixation in flooded rice soil

Acetyle reduction and ¹⁵N studies showed that the addition of sulfate to flooded soil with rice straw enhanced N₂ fixation. The extent of the enhancement was dependent on the sulfate concentration. Sulfate also increased the population of SO₄^2? reducing bacteria and was completely reduced to sulfide by those microorganisms. Purified cultures of soil isolates were capable of C₂H₂ reduction. Based on this evidence, SO₄^2? reducing bacteria were considered responsible for the increase in N₂ fixation but only 1–2 mg N₂ were fixed g^1? SO₄^2? reduced. We conclude that the contribution of SO₄^2? reducing bacteria to the total N₂ fixation in flooded soil is unimportant.