First report of Helleborus net necrosis virus isolated from hellebores with black death syndrome in Japan

Helleborus net necrosis virus (HeNNV) in hellebores (Helleborus spp.) has been detected for the first time in Japan. Infected plants had black streaks on fresh leaves and black spots on sepals, which resembled the symptoms of black death disease. The morphology of the virus particles isolated from infected plants was comparable to that of carlaviruses. RT-PCR analysis showed that the entire HeNNV genomic sequence isolated in Japan shared 99% identity with that of HeNNV previously reported in the United States.     

Alterations of lymphocyte subpopulations in healthy dogs with aging and in dogs with cancer

Changes in an individual's immune status are considered major contributing factors towards the morbidity of cancer and mortality of aging. To evaluate age-related changes in the immune status of dogs, the immunophenotypes (CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD21) of peripheral blood lymphocytes were measured in 160 healthy dogs aged from 1 to 17 years, and in 365 dogs with various tumors and at various stages. In healthy dogs, the absolute numbers of white blood cells, lymphocytes, and CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD21(+) lymphocytes decreased significantly with age. The relative percentages of lymphocytes and CD4(+) cells decreased significantly, while CD8(+) cells increased significantly with age. The CD4:CD8 ratio showed a significant age-related decrease. In contrast, dogs with tumors possessed significantly lower absolute numbers and relative percentages of all lymphocyte phenotypes, while the CD4:CD8 ratio was significantly higher than in age-matched controls. The relative percentages of CD3(+) and CD8(+) lymphocytes were significantly lower in dogs with distant metastases compared with dogs without metastases, and the CD4:CD8 ratio increased with advanced stage. These observations illustrate the significant changes in immune status with age and the presence of marked immunological defects in a large-scale study of dogs with advanced tumors.     

Mechanical stress grading of tropical timbers without regard to species

Some reports have shown that for single species the correlation between modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) in bending is quite high. Tropical timbers consist of hundreds of species that are difficult to identify. This report deals with the mechanical stress grading of tropical timber regardless of species. Nine timber species or groups of species with a total number of 1094 pieces measuring 60 × 120 × 3000 mm, were tested in static bending. The MOE was measured flat wise, while MOR was tested edge wise. Statistical analysis of linear regression with a dummy model and analysis of covariance were used to analyze the role of MOE and the effect of species on prediction of MOR. The analysis showed that using MOE as a single predictor caused under/overestimation for one or more species and/or groups of species. The accuracy of prediction would be increased with species identification. An allowable stress and reference resistance for species and/or groups of species were provided to compare with the prediction of strength through timber grading. The timber strength class for species and/or groups of species was also established to support the application of mechanical timber grading.     

Identification of heat shock protein 70 in canine reticulocytes and mature erythrocytes

In the present study, we demonstrated that heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) was present in both canine reticulocytes and mature erythrocytes, and that the canine Hsp70 in reticulocytes was decreased along with the maturation of the cells into erythrocytes. These results suggest that the Hsp70 in canine reticulocytes might act as a chaperone to remove unnecessary proteins during reticulocyte maturation. We also demonstrated that Hsp70 was present in exosomes from reticulocytes during their maturation in in vitro culture. Furthermore, the concentration of Hsp70 in reticulocyte membranes was increased in proportion to an increase of the protein in exosomes until 48 hours after the incubation of reticulocytes in vitro. At 96 hours of the incubation, however, only a trace amount of Hsp70 was detected in the membrane, while a large amount of the protein was present in the exosomes. These results suggest that Hsp70 in canine reticulocytes might play an important role for exosome formation in reticulocytes, resulting in the maturation of the cells.     

Sex identification of Japanese black bear,Ursus thibetanus japonicus,by PCR based on amelogenin gene

A method for sex identification of the Japanese black bear was examined using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of a part of the amelogenin gene. This gene is located on the X and Y chromosomes, and there are 54 nucleotide deletions on the Y chromosome-specific gene. Forty-seven (26 male and 21 female) DNA samples and 23 (13 male and 10 female) DNA samples, respectively extracted from white blood cells and hairs of Japanese black bears were analyzed. The primers SE47 and SE48 from this X-Y homologous region were used in sex identification by PCR amplification. These primers amplified X- and Y-specific bands, which could be used to discriminate between sexes by a length polymorphism in all samples. We suggest that PCR amplification using the primers SE47 and SE48 is useful for sex determination of the Japanese black bear and could be applied to DNA analysis of small samples such as hairs.     

Alternaria Leaf Spot on Mealycup Sage (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Salvia farinacea </Emphasis>Benth.) Caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Alternaria alternata </Emphasis>(Fr.) Keissler

In June 1995, a disease causing round to irregular-shaped, water-soaked, brown to blackish brown spots on mealycup sage (Salvia farinacea Benth.) was found in Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The symptoms were seen only on leaves, not on neither flower petals or stems. The disease was also found in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Memambetsu-cho, Hokkaido and Shimoda-shi and Matsuzaki-cho, Shizuoka. An Alternaria sp. was frequently isolated from these diseased plants. The isolates were severely pathogenic to mealycup sage and caused lesions on the inoculated leaves. The isolates were also weakly pathogenic on scarlet sage (S. splendens Sellow ex Roem. and Schult.) but not on any other Labiatae plants tested. Based on morphological characteristics, such as size of conidia, chain number, and the short beak on conidia, the causal fungus was identified as Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler. This report is the first on a mealycup sage disease caused by A. alternata. Because the symptom was restricted to the leaf, the common name of Alternaria leaf spot was proposed. Received 30 August 2002/ Accepted in revised form 18 November 2002     

Abundance of Type II Diamonds

More than 1300 natural microdiamonds, mostly averaging 0.0015 carat, were studied for transparency to ultraviolet radiation, lambda2537. Of most of them, of this size, 16 percent were completely transparent (presumably type II); 27 percent, completely absorbent (presumably type I). The remainder transmitted partially. The number of type-II diamonds is unexpectedly very high; a considerable proportion of microdiamonds may begin life as type II, later incorporating absorbent type-I material.