Feline discrete high‐grade gastrointestinal lymphoma treated with surgical resection and adjuvant CHOP‐based chemotherapy: retrospective study of 20 cases

The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the outcome of cats treated with surgical intervention for a discrete intermediate‐/high‐grade gastrointestinal lymphoma prior to CHOP‐based chemotherapy. Variables including sex, breed, haematocrit, white blood cell count, serum albumin concentration, clinical stage of disease, gastrointestinal obstruction and peritonitis were assessed for their effect on survival. Twenty cats met the inclusion criteria with three cats still alive at the time of data analysis. The overall median survival time (MST) was 417 days (range: 12–2962 days). The disease‐free interval (DFI) was 357 days (range: 0–1585 days) with six cats still deemed in remission prior to death. Only clinical stage had a significant effect on both MST and DFI. Cats with discrete intermediate/high‐grade gastrointestinal lymphoma that undergo surgical resection followed by adjuvant CHOP chemotherapy may achieve acceptable overall survival times.     

Redesigning nature's poisons to create anti-tumor reagents

Immunotoxins are conjugates of cell-reactive antibodies and toxins or their subunits. In this report, the chemistry, biology, pharmacokinetics, and anti-tumor effects of first generation immunotoxins; the preparation of improved second generation immunotoxins that display greater anti-tumor efficacy; and the role of genetic engineering in creating third-generation immunotoxins are discussed.     

Molecular mimicry regulates ABA signaling by SnRK2 kinases and PP2C phosphatases

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential hormone for plants to survive environmental stresses. At the center of the ABA signaling network is a subfamily of type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs), which form exclusive interactions with ABA receptors and subfamily 2 Snfl-related kinase (SnRK2s). Here, we report a SnRK2-PP2C complex structure, which reveals marked similarity in PP2C recognition by SnRK2 and ABA receptors. In the complex, the kinase activation loop docks into the active site of PP2C, while the conserved ABA-sensing tryptophan of PP2C inserts into the kinase catalytic cleft, thus mimicking receptor-PP2C interactions. These structural results provide a simple mechanism that directly couples ABA binding to SnRK2 kinase activation and highlight a new paradigm of kinase-phosphatase regulation through mutual packing of their catalytic sites.     

Communication education in veterinary in the United Kingdom and Ireland: the NUVACS project coupled to progressive individual school endeavors

This article reports on the coordination of communications skills training in veterinary schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland and describes the progress and status of training that is occurring in six of these schools.     

Domesticated nature: shaping landscapes and ecosystems for human welfare

Like all species, humans have exercised their impulse to perpetuate and propagate themselves. In doing so, we have domesticated landscapes and ecosystems in ways that enhance our food supplies, reduce exposure to predators and natural dangers, and promote commerce. On average, the net benefits to humankind of domesticated nature have been positive. We have, of course, made mistakes, causing unforeseen changes in ecosystem attributes, while leaving few, if any, truly wild places on Earth. Going into the future, scientists can help humanity to domesticate nature more wisely by quantifying the tradeoffs among ecosystem services, such as how increasing the provision of one service may decrease ecosystem resilience and the provision of other services.     

Human-mouse cell hybrids: a suggestion of structural mutation for dipeptidase-2 deficiency in mouse cells

The dipeptidase-2 enzyme is inactive in certain cultured cell lines from the mouse. In somatic cell hybrids between such deficient cells and diploid human fibroblasts, the mouse deficiency was complemented when the homologous human peptidase-A was retained. The results suggested that the murine peptidase deficiency was the result of a structural mutation, rather than a regulatory one.     

Nematode diversity,food web condition,and chemical and physical properties in different soil habitats of an organic farm

The aim of this paper was to assess biodiversity among different habitats of an organic farm and the relationships between some soil properties, nematode taxonomic diversity, and soil food web condition. Eight habitats were studied in the farm: ponds, ditches, a riparian corridor, hedgerows, and four agricultural fields (mustard, oats, fallow, and legumes). The undisturbed riparian corridor had higher soil and concentrations, and potentially mineralizable N and higher abundances of bacterivore nematodes and longer food webs. Canonical correlation analysis showed associations between habitats and nematode trophic groups: predatory and bacterial-feeding nematodes in the riparian corridor and hedgerows, omnivore nematodes in the ponds and ditches, and fungal-feeding nematodes in the legume field. Soil chemical and physical properties mirrored the aboveground farm patterns and were more similar among habitats that were or had been cultivated, compared to the riparian corridor. Soil food web indices, based on functional analysis of nematode faunal composition, reflected the aboveground landscape heterogeneity. Discriminant analysis indicated that soil food web indices separated the two most disturbed habitats (ponds and tailwater ditches) from the two least disturbed habitats (the riparian corridor and hedgerows). The indices correlated with soil functioning as inferred by soil properties. Abundance of nematode taxa was not associated with aboveground landscape patterns. The complexity of the soil food web may have been influenced by (1) environmental factors that differed between years, (2) different time periods since disturbance in the various habitats, and (3) movement of nutrients and organisms by water flow between habitats in the farmscale.     

Chocolate is a powerful ex vivo and in vivo antioxidant, an antiatherosclerotic agent in an animal model, and a significant contributor to antioxidants in the European and American Diets

Chocolate today is often viewed as a food or snack with little nutritional value. The high saturated fat content of chocolate has also contributed to the belief that its consumption increases the risk of heart disease. However, recent human studies have proven that chocolate has beneficial effects on some pathogenic mechanisms of heart disease such as endothelial function and blood pressure. Although the antioxidant properties of chocolate have been known for some time, there has been no examination of its place in the U.S. diet as a source of antioxidants. This paper demonstrates that chocolate makes a significant contribution to U.S. per capita dietary antioxidants and by inference the European Community's. In the U.S. diet chocolate is the third highest daily per capita antioxidant source. An ex vivo study shows that epicatechin, a major polyphenol in chocolate and chocolate extracts, is a powerful inhibitor of plasma lipid oxidation due to polyphenols' ability to bind to lower density lipoproteins. Conversely, the fat from chocolate alone is a pro-oxidant in this model. This is also demonstrated in an in vivo human study. After consumption of dark chocolate and cocoa powder, the lower density lipoproteins isolated from plasma were protected from oxidation compared to the lipoproteins isolated after cocoa butter consumption, which were put under oxidative stress. In an animal model of atherosclerosis, cocoa powder at a human dose equivalent of two dark chocolate bars per day significantly inhibited atherosclerosis, lowered cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides, raised high-density lipoprotein, and protected the lower density lipoproteins from oxidation. Chocolate has thus been shown to have potential beneficial effects with respect to heart disease.