Effects of caffeine on locomotor activity of horses: determination of the no-effect threshold.

Caffeine is the legal stimulant consumed most extensively by the human world population and may be found eventually in the urine and/or blood of race horses. The fact that caffeine is in foods led us to determine the highest no-effect dose (HNED) of caffeine on the spontaneous locomotor activity of horses and then to quantify this substance in urine until it disappeared. We built two behavioural stalls equipped with juxtaposed photoelectric sensors that emit infrared beams that divide the stall into nine sectors in a 'tic-tac-toe' fashion.

Fine structure of sporogonic stages of Goussia clupearum (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) in the liver of infected fish (Belone belone L.), using light and electron microscopy.

A coccidian species, Goussia clupearum (L.) is reported to parasitize the liver of a new host, Belone belone (Teleostei: Belonidae), caught on the Atlantic coast at the north of Portugal. The parasitophorous vacuole containing oocysts was attached to the host's liver cells.

Ultrastructure of the microsporidian Inodosporus octospora (Thelohaniidae), a parasite of the shrimp Palaemon serratus (Crustacea, Decapoda).

A parasite of the muscle of the shrimp Palaemon serratus has been examined by light and electron microscopy. Development occurs among myofibrils and induces ultrastructural alterations of the muscle fibers causing white discoloration. This microsporidian is characterized by uninucleate, later diplokaryotic and di-diplokaryotic meronts.

[Applicability of the strategic planning approach to local health organizations].

This paper presents the preliminary results from a study on the limits and possibilities of the strategic planning approach for local health organizations. A comparative analysis is developed between two experiences concerning the application of the strategic situational planning method (PES method) in the management of a health center and hospital. Questions include the following: difficulties with the use of the category actor in local health organizations; possibility of drafting a collective project based on the multiple rationalities existing in such organizations; possibility of improving communications processes with the use of the PES method; difficulties related to organizational culture; and low levels of responsibility, as well as difficulties pertaining to the method's complexity and the possibility of simplifying it, maintaining strategic situational analysis and improving organizations' managerial capacity.

A revised description of Haplosporidium armoricanum, parasite of Ostrea edulis L. from Galicia, northwestern Spain, with special reference to the spore-wall filaments.

Haplosporidian spores from Ostrea edulis, previously described as Minchinia armoricana, were reexamined by light and electron microscopy. These spores were either free among host cells or enclosed in sporocysts. They contained two long epispore cytoplasm extensions (ECE), each possessing cytoskeletal structures corresponding to the filaments.

A novel class of eukaryotic zinc-binding proteins is required for disease resistance signaling in barley and development in C. elegans.

Barley Rar1 is a convergence point in the signaling of resistance to powdery mildew, triggered by multiple race-specific resistance (R) genes. Rar1 is shown to function upstream of H2O2 accumulation in attacked host cells, which precedes localized host cell death. We isolated Rar1 by map-based cloning.

Nail changes secondary to docetaxel (Taxotere).

Docetaxel is a new taxoid antineoplastic drug widely used for advanced breast cancer. Skin and nail toxicity are one of the more frequent nonhematologic adverse reactions. Besides dark pigmentations and Beau's lines, subungual hemorrhage, orange discoloration, acute painful paronychia, onycholysis, subungual hyperkeratosis and transverse loss of the nail plate are described.

Fine structure of spermiogenesis with special reference to the spermatid morulae of the freshwater mussel Prisodon alatus (Bivalvia, Unionoidea).

Within the testicular cysts of the mussel Prisodon alatus are numerous somatic host cells described as Sertoli cells (SC), each containing a variable number of young spermatid morulae. Among them, several free spermatid morulae, spermatids, and spermatozoa were observed. Each free spermatid morula is surrounded by an external membrane.

[Epidemiological surveillance of trachoma in a school in a city of southeast Brazil].

Introduction: Epidemiological surveillance activities undertaken after the detection of an active trachoma case in the APAE-SP are described.

Material And Method: A total of 1,009 pupils, employees and household contacts had an eye examination. Treatment control was carried out at the institution 4 times at 45 day-intervals.

Enzymes Involved in Defense Functions of Hemocytes of Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis.

Mytilus galloprovincialis hemocytes contain phosphatases, esterases, proteases, and glucosidases as revealed by a semiquantitative colorimetric method. The activity levels of some enzymes changed throughout the months of the experiment without a seasonal pattern. No differences in the enzyme levels were found between the two groups of mussels of different age (cultivated 11 and 19 months on ropes hung from the same raft).

Morphological characterization of the hemocytes of the clam, Ruditapes decussatus (Mollusca: Bivalvia).

Hemocytes play an important role in internal defence in molluscs. The morphology of hemolymph cells was studied for the first time in Ruditapes decussatus. Two main types of hemocytes (hyalinocytes and granulocytes) exist in R.

Light and electron microscopic study of a myxosporean, Tetrauronema desaequalis n. sp. (fam. Tetrauronematidae), from an Amazonian fish.

Tetrauronema desaequalis n. sp. described from the bases of the ventral fins of the teleost Hoplias malabaricus Boch, 1794, was collected in an estuarine region of the Amazon river near Belem, Brazil.

Henneguya malabarica sp. nov. (Myxozoa, Myxobolidae) in the Amazonian fish Hoplias malabaricus.

Henneguya malabarica sp. nov. is described from the Amazonian teleost fish Hoplias malabaricus Boch, 1794, collected from the estuarine region of the Amazon river near Belém, Brazil.

Henneguya adherens n. sp. (Myxozoa, Myxosporea), parasite of the Amazonian fish, Acestrorhynchus falcatus.

A new species of myxosporean from the gill filaments of the freshwater teleost fish, Acestrohynchus falcatus collected in the Amazon river is described from light and transmission electron microscope observations. The mature spores (total length 32.3 [30.

Substituted thiazolidinediones and thio-imidazolidinones: synthesis, structural study and pharmacological activity.

Synthesis and physico-chemical properties of six 3-(4-bromophenacyl)-5-arylidene-thiazolidine-2,4-diones and eight 3-(4-chlorobenzyl)-5-arylidene-4-thio-imidazolidine-2-ones are described. These products were synthesized by an aldolisation-crotonisation reaction from aromatic aldehydes and 3-substituted thiazolidine-2,4-diones or 4-thio-imidazolidine-2-ones. Hypoglycemic and peripheral antinociceptive activities were investigated for these compounds.

Histochemical Studies of Jelly Coat of Marthasterias glacialis (Echinodermata, Asteroidea) Oocytes.

Histochemical studies revealed the presence of two major polysaccharides in the oocyte jelly coat (JC) of Marthasterias glacialis: a fibrillar component that contains carboxylic and sulfated groups and a loose component composed of neutral or weakly acidic polysaccharides. When isolated JC was submitted to cellulose acetate electrophoresis (CAE) and then stained with alcian blue, three bands appeared, of which one remained at the origin and two migrated toward the anode. Glycosaminoglycan-like molecules isolated from JC were separated by CAE into three main moving bands, two that present an Rf similar to that of the intermediary moving band of total JC and one that has an Rf similar to that of the faster moving band of total JC.

Ultrastructural Histochemistry of Marthasterias glacialis (Echinodermata, Asteroidea) Gametes Before and After Fertilization.

The gametes of the starfish Marthasterias glacialis were studied, both before and after fertilization, using several histochemical methods at the ultrastructural level. Results showed that the oocyte jelly coat (JC) could be morphologically differentiated into a fibrillar network of acidic polysaccharides, probably containing glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and a loose component made of neutral polysaccharides that occupies the interstices of the former. Results also suggested that it is the fibrillar component of the JC to which the spermatozoon attaches and reacts.

Morphological data of Calyptospora spinosa n. sp. (Apicomplexa, Calyptosporidae) parasite of Crenicichla lepidota HECKEL, 1840 (Teleostei) from Amazon river.

A new coccidian species, Calyptospora spinosa (fam. Calytosporidae) is described from liver, testis and ovary tissue of a freshwater fish, Crenicichla lepidota, from the lower Amazon river near Belém, Brazil, where it causes great mortality. Each oocyst contains four ellipsoidal sporocysts, each one surrounded by a membranous veil.

Ultrastructural and cytochemical identification of peroxisomes in the ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.

The peroxisomes of the parasitic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis were studied, using ultrastructural and cytochemical techniques. In this ciliate most peroxisomes possess a circular or oval section less than 0.6 micron in diameter.

Processing of food vacuoles in the parasitic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis after exit from the host.

The digestive cycle of the fish parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ciliophora) can be divided into three main stages. During stage A the vacuoles are not yet condensed. This stage can be subdivided into an early phase in which food vacuoles contain almost intact fish cells and a later phase in which dense material accumulates at the periphery of the vacuoles.

Henneguya amazonica n.sp. (Myxozoa, Myxobolidae), parasitizing the gills of Crenicichla lepidota Heckel, 1840 (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from Amazon river.

The authors present light and electron microscopical data on a myxosporidian found in the gills of Crenicichla lepidota Heckel, 1840 (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from the Amazon river. Based on the spore morphology, it is concluded that this species belongs to the family Myxobolidae, genus Henneguya, and that it constitutes a new species: Henneguya amazonica n.sp.

Presence of a trypsin-like protease in starfish sperm acrosome.

Marthasterias glacialis sperm cells were treated with ionophore A23187, centrifuged, and the supernatants were assayed for esterase activity. With N-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester-HCl (BAEE) as substrate, a net activity was determined which was not detectable when N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester (ATEE) was used. The BAEE trypsin-like activity was inhibited by soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI), N-alpha-p-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone-HCl (TLCK), and phenyl methyl sulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), but not by L-1-tosylamido-2-phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone (TPCK).

Silver staining of the postacrosomal sheath during human spermiogenesis.

Applying the silver staining technique, it could be shown that in the early phase of spermiogenesis a layer of argyrophilic material accumulated at the base of the acrosomal vesicle and at the outer side of the nuclear envelope opposite that region, and, later, at the inner side of the plasma membrane near the base of the acrosomal vesicle. During further development of the postacrosomal region of the spermatozoon head, the argyrophilic material associated with the plasmalemma grew caudally to form the postacrosomal dense lamina, while the argyrophilic material associated with the nuclear envelope, staying the same size, shifted to the caudal end of the postacrosomal dense lamina to form the post-nuclear band.

Extracellular giant rickettsiae associated with bacteria in the gill of Crassostrea gigas (Mollusca, Bivalvia).

Extracellular giant rickettsiae closely associated with bacteria with a Gram-negative type wall are reported among the basal insertions of the cilia of the gill epithelium of the oyster Crassostrea gigas (Mollusca, Bivalvia) from the north of Spain. These rickettsiae are extremely pleomorphic cells with a maximum 9 microns length. The internal elements are ribosome-like particles and DNA strands are distributed in some light areas.