Contaminations contaminate common databases.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a very powerful method to detect and identify pathogens. The high sensitivity of the method, however, comes with a cost; any of the millions of artificial DNA copies generated by PCR can serve as a template in a following experiment. If not identified as contaminations, these may result in erroneous conclusions on the occurrence of the pathogen, thereby inflating estimates of host range and geographic distribution.

Identification of Fasciola hepatica recombinant 15-kDa fatty acid-binding protein T-cell epitopes that protect against experimental fascioliasis in rabbits and mice.

Vaccination with fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) from Fasciola hepatica has been shown to confer significant levels of protection against challenge infection in mice, rabbits, and sheep. A recombinant 15-kDa FABP (rFh15) has been purified and also shown to be an immunoprotective molecule. From the rFh15 molecule sequence 2, 12- and 10-mer putative T-cell epitopes were identified, the first an Fh15Ta of amino acid sequence IKMVSSLKTKIT, and the second an Fh15Tb of amino acid sequence VKAVTTLLKA.

Toxocara canis antigens stimulate the production of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 by rat alveolar macrophages.

The effect of four Toxocara canis antigens on nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synthesis was studied in vitro using rat alveolar macrophages. Somatic and excretory/secretory T. canis antigens prepared from adult worms and LII larvae were incubated with rat alveolar macrophages obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage at concentrations of 0.