The productivity of plants as biofuel or biomaterial crops is established by both the yield of plant biomass per unit area of land and the efficiency of conversion of the biomass to biofuel. Higher yielding biofuel crops with increased conversion efficiencies allow production on a smaller land footprint minimizing competition with agriculture for food production and biodiversity conservation. Plants have traditionally been domesticated for food, fibre and feed applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Small Anim Pract
April 2015
A 13-year-old male neutered Siberian husky crossbreed dog was presented with a 3-week history of haematuria and penile swelling. Clinical examination and computed tomography demonstrated a soft-tissue mass located at the base of the penis without signs of other primary tumours or metastasis. Clinicopathological findings revealed paraneoplastic hypercalcaemia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDirect sequencing of total plant DNA using next generation sequencing technologies generates a whole chloroplast genome sequence that has the potential to provide a barcode for use in plant and food identification. Advances in DNA sequencing platforms may make this an attractive approach for routine plant identification. The HiSeq (Illumina) and Ion Torrent (Life Technology) sequencing platforms were used to sequence total DNA from rice to identify polymorphisms in the whole chloroplast genome sequence of a wild rice plant relative to cultivated rice (cv.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Parasitol Parasites Wildl
August 2014
The success of the helminth-host relationship depends on a biochemical molecular arsenal. Perhaps the proteome is the largest and most important set of this weaponry, in which the proteins have a crucial role in vital processes to the parasite/host relationship, from basic metabolism and energy production to complex immune responses. Nowadays, the bioproducts expressed by the parasites are under the "spotlight" of immunoassays and biochemical analysis in helminthology, especially in proteomic analysis, which has provided valuable information about the physiology of the infecting agent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Parasitol Parasites Wildl
August 2014
Ortleppascaris sp. is a helminth that, in its larval stage, infects the liver parenchyma of the amphibian Rhinella marina, resulting in severe physiological and pathological changes. This study used a proteomic approach to determine the overall profile of proteins expressed in a somatic extract from the nematodes to investigate the relationship between the parasite and its host.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNext-generation sequencing technologies rely on high quality DNA that is suitable for library preparation followed by sequencing. Some plant species store large amounts of phenolics and polysaccharides within their leaf tissue making genomic DNA extraction difficult. While many DNA extraction methods exist that contend with the presence of phenolics and polysaccharides, these methods rely on long incubations, multiple precipitations or commercially available kits to produce high molecular weight and contaminant-free DNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: In order to assist in the selection of artificial teeth for complete dentures, this study aimed to assess the relationship between horizontal and vertical measurements of the face and the morphology of the maxillary central incisor.
Materials And Methods: This was a study of 50 plaster casts and 100 teleradiographs - 50 in lateral norm and 50 in frontal norm, belonging to 50 individuals, Caucasian, with a naturally optimal occlusion, matching at least four of the six keys of Andrews. Images of the upper central incisors were obtained by scanning the plaster casts (three-dimensional) and subjectively classified by three examiners as oval, triangular or quadrangular.
Objectives: To describe the risk factors for treatment delay and the effect of delay on the severity of tuberculosis (TB) in a prospectively followed TB cohort at the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau.
Background: Treatment delay in patients with TB is associated with increased mortality and transmission of disease. However, it is not well described whether delay influences clinical severity at diagnosis.
Objectives: To determine the value of low-field magnetic resonance imaging in differentiating sino-nasal aspergillosis from lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis in dogs.
Methods: A retrospective study of 41 dogs (25 with lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis and 16 with sino-nasal aspergillosis) that underwent magnetic resonance imaging scan of the nasal cavity was conducted. On magnetic resonance imaging, turbinate destruction was classified as mild, moderate or severe.
Pseudoaneurysm of mitral-aortic intervalvular fibrosa (P-MAIVF) is a rare cardiac surgical condition. P-MAIVF commonly occurs as a complication of aortic and mitral valve replacement surgeries. The surgical trauma during replacement of the valves weakens the avascular mitral and aortic intervalvular area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEthnopharmacological Relevance: Envenoming caused by scorpion sting is a serious public health problem. In Brazil, 13,038 accidents caused by venomous animals have been reported. Of this total, 53% of the cases and 14 deaths were caused by scorpions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAspidogastreans are commonly found infecting freshwater and marine molluscs, teleosts fishes and freshwater turtles. The subclass comprises four families - Rugogastridae Schell 1973, Stichocotylidae Faust & Tang 1936, Multicalycidae Gibson & Chinabut 1984 and Aspidogastridae Poche 1907 - and it is characterized by the presence of a ventral adhesive disc divided into rows of alveoli. In the current work, using light and scanning electron microscopy and molecular approaches, a new species of Aspidogastridae of the genus Rohdella Gibson & Chinabut, 1984, is described as a parasite of Colomesus psittacus in Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfrica contains a huge diversity of both cultivated and wild rice species. The region has eight species representing six of the ten known genome types. Genetic resources of these species are conserved in various global germplasm repositories but they remain under collected and hence underrepresented in germplasm collections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLigation reactions to ligate a desired DNA fragment into a vector can be challenging to beginners and especially if the amount of the insert is limiting. Although additives known as crowding agents, such as PEG 8000, added to the ligation mixes can increase the success one has with ligation reactions, in practice the amount of insert used in the ligation can determine the success or the failure of the ligation reaction. The method described here, which uses insert DNA in gel slice added directly into the ligation reaction, has two benefits: (a) using agarose as the crowding agent and (b) reducing steps of insert purification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCereal grains, as storage tissues of the plant, contain high amounts of starch. Purification of RNA from plant tissue especially from seed tissue can be challenging due to this high starch content. Starch coprecipitates with RNA in the presence of isopropanol or ethanol and can interfere with the extraction process and downstream reactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe quality of extracted DNA is crucial for several applications in molecular biology. If the DNA is to be used for next-generation sequencing (NGS), then microgram quantities of good-quality DNA is required. In addition, the DNA must substantially be of high molecular weight so that it can be used for library preparation and NGS sequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNematodes of the genus Rhabdias Stiles & Hassall, 1905 (Rhabditoidea: Rhabdiasidae) have a dioecious free-living stage and a hermaphroditic stage that parasitises the lungs of amphibians and reptiles. Approximately 94 species of Rhabdias have been described. Because the similar morphological characteristics such as the labial structures, the location of the vulva and the shape of the tail of Rhabdias spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe facial nerve is the third most frequent location of intracranial schwannomas, with facial paresis the most common sign.(1,2) A 77-year-old woman presented with amnesia; the Mini-Mental State Examination score was 26, with normal cranial nerve function. A giant multicystic VII nerve schwannoma was identified in the left middle fossa, with components of the tumor in the temporal bone facial canal, geniculate ganglion, and internal auditory canal (figure).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChlamydia are obligate intracellular pathogens. Upon contact with the host, they use type III secretion to deliver proteins into the cell, thereby triggering actin-dependent entry and establishing the infection. We observed that Chlamydia caviae elicited a local and transient accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins at the entry sites, which disappeared within 20 min.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalodium hepaticum (syn. Capillaria hepatica) is a trichurid nematode that parasitizes the hepatic parenchyma of rodents and other mammals. Infections in humans are rare, although they have been reported worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAedes aegypti has developed evolution-driven adaptations for surviving in the domestic human habitat. Several trap models have been designed considering these strategies and tested for monitoring this efficient vector of Dengue. Here, we report a real-scale evaluation of a system for monitoring and controlling mosquito populations based on egg sampling coupled with geographic information systems technology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTropidurus oreadicus Rodrigues 1987 is a recently described species, thus there are no reports of helminthes parasites for this species. In this study, a morphological characterisation was performed of a nematode species parasite of the large intestine of T. oreadicus captured in an urban area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aims of this study are to suggest a histological classification and a scoring system (0-12) for dogs with inflammatory nasal disease, and to compare and determine statistical associations between histopathology findings and lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis (LPR) or aspergillosis. Twenty-one LPR cases and 13 aspergillosis cases were reviewed and classified at the Queen's Veterinary School Hospital of the University of Cambridge. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS V.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To describe HIV RNA levels during tuberculosis (TB) infection in patients co-infected with TB and HIV. Moreover, to examine the p24 antigen profile during TB treatment.
Methods: We examined the changes in CD4 cell count, HIV RNA, and p24 levels during anti-tuberculous therapy in a group of TB/HIV-1 co-infected and HIV-untreated patients from Guinea-Bissau.
We report a clinical case of a 60 year-old man, asymptomatic to whom was incidentally found two retrovesical cysts. Physical examination revealed hypogastric, elastic and painless masses; digital rectal examination documented a normal prostate gland. Computerized tomography confirmed the presence of two giant seminal vesicle cysts.
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