Animal Specimens Research Articles

Hunting for Museums*

This article begins on the floor of the laboratory of the Kaffrarian Museum in King William's Town, South Africa, in mid January 1949, where the body of the museum director, Guy Chester Shortridge, has just been found. The inquest found that he had died from ‘strychnine poisoning, self-administered’. Strychine was used in the museum as an insecticide and for the preservation of animal specimens. Many of these specimens had been obtained from the early 1920s on the 13 hunting/collecting expeditions that Shortridge went on with the museum's skinner and taxidermist, Nicholas Arends. Funded at times by the British and American Museums of Natural History, these trips to Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia provided these museums, together with the Kaffrarian, in the region of 25,000–30,000 specimens. Shortridge used the information he gathered on his expeditions to publish a two-volume directory titled Mammals of South-West Africa. Arends, who left the museum some time after Shortridge's death, and in1960 secured an appointment as a technical assistant in the Zoology Department of the newly established University College of the Western Cape, co-authored Trapping Safaris, a vivid account of the museum's collecting expeditions. Using these published works, together with correspondence from the museums in London, New York and King William's Town, this article analyses how the Kaffrarian Museum's expeditions into southern and central Africa established institutional knowledge and authority of mammals by making use of colonial structures of administration and supply chains in networks of international museums. Through examining these networks of empire and the narratives produced, this articles considers how the categories of history and the historical sciences were inscribed in and through the lives and deaths of these museum hunters and collectors.

Evaluation of Educator & Student Use of & Attitudes toward Dissection & Dissection Alternatives

Animal dissection has been routinely practiced in American biology classrooms for decades. With technological advancements, more states adopting student choice measures, and increased awareness about ethical concerns surrounding dissection, many useful dissection alternatives have been developed. To understand the current use of animal dissection and alternatives, and attitudes toward the practices, a nationwide survey of middle and high school biology teachers (n = 1178) and students (n = 500) was conducted. Most teachers (84%) and students (76%) reported using dissection in their classrooms, although nearly half of educators indicated that dissection is decreasing at their school. Educators cited student performance as the main factor driving their decision to use dissection or alternatives and reported conducting dissection exercises because of student interest. Most teachers had an interest in using alternatives, although only 36% used them in place of dissection. More than a third of biology students preferred the use of alternatives over animal specimens, yet most did not request dissection alternatives. Enabling students to opt in to dissection exercises rather than opt out, as is the current practice, and educating teachers and students about student choice and the advantages of dissection alternatives are suggested strategies to reduce animal use in education, in line with the “3 R’s” principle.

Genotypic characterization, invasion index and antimicrobial resistance pattern in Listeria monocytogenes strains isolated from clinical samples

ObjectiveTo evaluate antimicrobial resistance, invasion index and genetic profile in Listeria monocytogenes isolated from clinical samples. MethodsAt all, 170 clinical samples were collected from patients with spontaneous abortions hospitalized in Shariati hospital in Tehran during June 2010 to August 2013. Invasion index was determined using HeLa cells. The multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeats analysis (MLVA) was used for evaluation of genetic relatedness. ResultsOut of 14 L. monocytogenes isolates, 4 (28.57%), 2 (14.28%), 0 (0%), 5 (35.71%) and 3 (21.42%) were isolated from placental tissue, urine, blood, vaginal and rectal swabs, respectively. High resistance to penicillin and multidrug resistant were found amongst isolates. The invasion index was in the range of 0.001–0.007. Seven different types were obtained by MLVA assay and type 2 and 3 with 4 strains were the most frequent type. Strains isolated from the vagina and the placenta of the same type were also more resistant to penicillin. ConclusionsSince MLVA is a high-throughput screening method that is fairly inexpensive, easy to accomplish, rapid, and trustworthy, it is well suited to interlaboratory comparisons during epidemiological investigations. Also further studies of larger samples from a variety of sources such as food and animal specimens recommended comparing by MLVA method.

Development and systematical evaluation of an up-converting phosphor technology based lateral flow assay for quantitative detection of Burkholderia pseudomallei

To develop an up-converting phosphor technology-based lateral-flow (UPT-LF) assay for rapid quantitative detection of Burkholderia pseudomallei on site. The strip Bps-UPT-LF strip was prepared with up-converting phosphor (UCP) particles as the bio-label using double-antibody sandwich method. Detection performance, including sensitivity, quantitative accuracy, precision, and specificity, were first evaluated using bacterial suspensions of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the related species and the strains which had similar routes of transmission with serial standard concentrations diluted by phosphate buffer, then biological and chemical reagents and simulated samples with series concentrations were employed for sample tolerance evaluation, while the operation error during on site detection was also evaluated through adjusting liquid measure. The whole detection was accomplished within 20 minutes, and the sensitivity was 10(4) CFU/ml with linear quantitative range from 10(4) CFU/ml to 10(7) CFU/ml, which covered four orders of magnitude. Bps-UPT-LF strip demonstrated high specificity with the absence of any false-positive result even at 10(7) and 10(8) CFU/ml of non-specific bacterial contamination. Not only Bps-UPT-LF strip could tolerate to high concentration of the extreme acid and basic matter (pH 1-12), saline matter (≤ 2 mol/L mixture of NaCl and KCl), viscous materials (≤ 50 g/L of PEG 20000 and ≤ 20% of glycerol) and bio-macromolecule (≥ 400 g/L of bovine serum albumin or ≥ 80 g/L of casein), but also it can directly detect animal, environmental and powder specimen, such as ≥ 400 g/L of milk powder, flour powder, fruit juice, fresh and decomposed viscera, and ≤ 200 g/L of putty powder, sucrose, gourmet powder, and soil. Operation errors of liquid measure had few effects on sensitivity and specificity, including -50%-200% of sample, -22%-44% of sample-treating buffer and -30%-30% of loading mixture. The good detection performance and tolerance performance bring the bright future for Bps-UPT-LF strip to detect Burkholderia pseudomallei on site rapidly and quantitatively for nature foci surveillance and anti-bioterrorism.

Directions vs. averages: an in-vivo comparison for cardiac DTI

Background The ability to interrogate cardiac microstructure has led to much recent interest in in-vivo cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (cDTI). However, when compared to studies performed in neuro-imaging, very little work has been done to determine the optimal diffusion encoding schemes. Previous work has suggested that accuracy is improved by increasing the number of diffusion encoding directions (Ndirs) , but comparisons in the heart have been limited to fixed animal specimens. Here we compare parameters derived from cDTI using data acquired in vivo with an increasing Ndirs.

埋蔵文化財における動植物標本の現状と課題

埋蔵文化財における動植物標本の現状と課題

English

This present work describe the peripheral blood cell morphology from Chelonoids carbonaria . To do this were used ten animal specimens clinically healthy, six female and four male, submitted to peripheral blood collect by jugular vein. Blood was collected to prepare blood smears, without the use of anticoagulants. The slides were stained and analyzed microscopically to describe the cell morphology. The mature erythrocytes had an ellipsoid shape and a grain-free nucleus; immature ones were circular. The leukocytes, granulocytes and agranulocytes were also circular. The heterophils had cytoplasmic granules with various elongated shapes, and the eosinophils had a uniform round shape. The basophils had highly dense basophilic granules, stained in blue; the granules were irregularly arranged and also inside the nucleus. The lymphocytes were circular with a large circular nucleus. The thrombocytes were small, with basophilic staining and a small cytoplasm (the nucleus occupied almost the entire cell). The morphological results found in this study are consistent with cell types of other chelonians.

Acinetobacter variabilis sp. nov. (formerly DNA group 15 sensu Tjernberg & Ursing), isolated from humans and animals.

We aimed to define the taxonomic status of 16 strains which were phenetically congruent with Acinetobacter DNA group 15 described by Tjernberg & Ursing in 1989. The strains were isolated from a variety of human and animal specimens in geographically distant places over the last three decades. Taxonomic analysis was based on an Acinetobacter-targeted, genus-wide approach that included the comparative sequence analysis of housekeeping, protein-coding genes, whole-cell profiling based on matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), an array of in-house physiological and metabolic tests, and whole-genome comparative analysis. Based on analyses of the rpoB and gyrB genes, the 16 strains formed respective, strongly supported clusters clearly separated from the other species of the genus Acinetobacter. The distinctness of the group at the species level was indicated by average nucleotide identity values of ≤82 % between the whole genome sequences of two of the 16 strains (NIPH 2171(T) and NIPH 899) and those of the known species. In addition, the coherence of the group was also supported by MALDI-TOF MS. All 16 strains were non-haemolytic and non-gelatinase-producing, grown at 41 °C and utilized a rather limited number of carbon sources. Virtually every strain displayed a unique combination of metabolic and physiological features. We conclude that the 16 strains represent a distinct species of the genus Acinetobacter, for which the name Acinetobacter variabilis sp. nov. is proposed to reflect its marked phenotypic heterogeneity. The type strain is NIPH 2171(T) ( = CIP 110486(T) = CCUG 26390(T) = CCM 8555(T)).

Laboratory data of dog rabies in southern Cameroon from 2010 to 2013.

BackgroundDog rabies is endemic in most African countries and the risk of human rabies is estimated to be high in Cameroon according to WHO estimations in 2010. This study aimed to describe the circulation rabies virus (RABV) among dogs in the southern regions of Cameroon from 2010 to 2013 in a context, where mass vaccination campaigns are launched annually in order to control rabies in domestic animals including dogs and cats.FindingsFrom 2010 to 2013, 93 animal specimens (dogs: 91, monkey: 1, pig: 1) originating from the southern regions of Cameroon were collected and tested for rabies virus at the Centre Pasteur of Cameroon by fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and virus isolation. Of the total dog specimens, 69.2% (63/91) originated from the central part of the southern regions and 50.5% (46/91) were from the capital city Yaounde. Overall, 74.2% (66/89) of dogs’ specimens that could be tested were found rabies-positive while specimens from the monkey and pig were tested negative. Overall, dog rabies was repeatedly detected in the southern regions of Cameroon especially in the nation capital, Yaounde even though low specimen submission and geographic bias did not permit major conclusions about its actual rate, geographical and over time distribution.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that rabies is endemic in the dog population which is of public health concern. Therefore, coordinated rabies control program should be conducted to reduce the rabies incidence in dogs and in humans. In addition, proper rabies surveillance program including reporting system should be established to monitor the success of the control program in Cameroon.

Georeferencing Animal Specimen Datasets

AbstractFor biodiversity research, the field of study that is concerned with the richness of species of our planet, it is of the utmost importance that the location of an animal specimen find is known with high precision. Due to specimens often having been collected over the course of many years, their accompanying geographical data is often ambiguous or may be very imprecise. In this article, we detail an approach that utilizes reasoning and external sources to improve the geographical information of animal finds. Our main contribution is to show that adding external domain knowledge improves the ability to georeference locations over traditional methods that focus solely on analyzing geographical information. Additionally, our system is able to output the confidence it has in its decisions through a confidence measure based on the difficulty of the instance and the steps undertaken to disambiguate it. Our results show that adding domain knowledge to the georeferencing process increases the accuracy @5km from 38.9% to 61.7% and from 47.0% to 74.5% @25km. Furthermore, we reduce the mean distance by more than half, from 251.1km to 114.5km, and decrease the number of records for which no reference can be found from 26.2% to 7.4%.

Heinrich Sachs (1863-1928).

Heinrich Sachs (1863-1928).

Novel poxvirus infection in 2 patients from the United States.

Some human poxvirus infections can be acquired through zoonotic transmission. We report a previously unknown poxvirus infection in 2 patients, 1 of whom was immunocompromised; both patients had known equine contact. The patients were interviewed and clinical information was abstracted from the patients' medical files. Biopsies of the skin lesions were collected from both patients for histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and transmission electron microscopy analysis. Oral and skin swabs were collected from animals with frequent contact with the patients, and environmental sampling including rodent trapping was performed on the farm where the immunosuppressed patient was employed. "Pan-pox and high Guanine-cytosine" polymerase chain reaction assays were performed on patient, animal, and environmental isolates. Amplicon sequences of the viral DNA were used for agent identification and phylogenetic analysis. Specimens from both human cases revealed a novel poxvirus. The agent shares 88% similarity to viruses in the Parapoxvirus genus and 78% to those in the Molluscipoxvirus genus but is sufficiently divergent to resist classification as either. All animal and environmental specimens were negative for poxvirus and both patients had complete resolution of lesions. This report serves as a reminder that poxviruses should be considered in cutaneous human infections, especially in individuals with known barnyard exposures. The clinical course of the patients was similar to that of parapoxvirus infections, and the source of this virus is currently unknown but is presumed to be zoonotic. This report also demonstrates the importance of a comprehensive approach to diagnosis of human infections caused by previously unknown pathogens.

Vitamin E protects ovary cells against polychlorinated biphenyl induced toxicity

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants unintentionally released from anthropogenic sources. Among all PCBs congeners, PCB-153 is usually the most abundant in the environment and exhibits the highest concentrations across most tissue samples from regional (Croatia) animal specimens. Toxic potential of PCBs has been linked to various deleterious effects on human health. This study was focused on PCB 153 effects at ovarian cellular level with the intention of reducing toxic potential by vitamin E. Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1) were exposed to different concetrations of PCB 153 (10- 100 μM), and cytotoxicity was determined by MTT method. Inhibitory effects on CHO-K1 cells were observed at all concentrations of PCB153 as confirmed with determined IC50 values: 117.96 μM after 24 hours, 112.79 μM after 48 hours and 86.71 μM after 72 hours. Statistically significant inhibition of cellular proliferation was detected already after 24 hours with 75 µM PCB 153 (p<0.05) and therefore this concentration was further used in evaluation of possible protective effect of vitamin E (50 - 150 μM). In the presence of vitamin E, increase of viability was determined by different methods with distinct endpoints: MTT, Trypan blue, Neutral red and Kenacid blue. Statisticly significant protective effects were determined for 75 -150 μM vitamin E with Trypan Blue and MTT methods. Malondialdehyde as one of the toxic products of lipid peroxidation and ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) formation, were used in oxidative stress evaluation, and results confirmed the antioxidative capacity of vitamin E.

Estimation of pedicle screw fixation strength from probe indentation force and screw insertion torque: a biomechanical study on bone surrogates of various densities.

Posterior pedicle screw fixation is commonly used for patients with spinal disorders. However, failure of fixation is reported in many cases and surgeons have only little information. The objective of this study was to assess the correlation between the probe indentation force, screw insertion torque and the pullout force using bone surrogates of different densities. The indentation force and insertion torque were measured using a custom made test bench during screw insertion into polyurethane foam blocks. The two variables were significantly correlated to pullout force and to density. A high correlation was also found between indentation force and the peak insertion torque. The proposed methods for measuring indentation force and screw insertion torque were reproducible. This study suggests that the peak screw insertion torque and the indentation force can predict the screw fixation strength in synthetic bone models. Additional tests should be performed on animal and human specimens to confirm and to translate these findings to clinical applications.

A new species of the genus Ctenophora Meigen (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Tipulidae) from China, with a key to the world species.

One new species of the genus Ctenophora Meigen, 1803, C. fumosa Men, sp. nov. (southern China: Anhui) is described and illustrated. A key to known species along with a checklist of known species of the genus Ctenophora are provided. The type specimens of the new species are deposited in the animal specimen room, School of Life Science, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui Province, China.

First record of femaleTipula(Formotipula)vindexAlexander with description of eggs, and redescription of male (Diptera: Tipulidae)

The adult female of Tipula (Formotipula) vindex Alexander, 1940 is reported for the first time. The ovipositor and eggs are described and illustrated. The original description of the male is expanded upon with the description of new morphological characters and detailed illustrations. Examined specimens are deposited in the animal specimen room, at the School of Life Science, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui Province, China.

Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery Colorectal Anastomosis

Transanal endoscopic microsurgery is used in the surgical management of advanced rectal polyps and early rectal cancers. There are case reports of transanal endoscopic microsurgery colorectal anastomoses being performed with laparoscopic assistance in humans. The concept of a transanal endoscopic microsurgery colorectal anastomosis without laparoscopic assistance has been discussed and trialed on animal and cadaveric specimens; however, to date, there have been no technical reports of this particular procedure in the literature. We present a technical note describing a transanal endoscopic microsurgery intraperitoneal colorectal anastomosis in a live human without laparoscopic assistance.

145 Arbovirus and related infection disease in China

Arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) are maintained in nature in cycles involving hematophagous arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes, midges, ticks and susceptible vertebrate hosts human or animals. At present, more than 550 arboviruses have been identified, among which are more than 130 virus species that can cause disease in susceptible vertebrate hosts. Today, Dengue fever, West Nile virus disease, and Rift valley fever etc. still outbreak in the worldwide. Study of arboviruses not only becomes the important topics of virology, but also appears to be a social problem directly related with the public health.Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), Dengue Virus (DENV), Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) (also known as Xinjiang Hemorrhagic Fever Virus in Chinese, XHFV), and Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus (TBEV) are the 4 principal arboviruses of public health importance in mainland China at present.There is a growing body of evidence indicating that other arboviruses are present and causing human infections and disease in China. Over the past years, an investigation of arbovirus has been carried out in China, across the country, to learn more about arboviruses, or viruses spread by insects. The various specimens with a total number of 897, 369 have been collected from 29 provinces of mainland China, including 841, 576 mosquitoes, 16, 315 ticks, 5, 968 sandflies, 960 midges, 436 bats, 2, 309 animal specimens, 18, 579 clinical specimens from patients with fever and viral encephalitis and 13, 380 serum specimens from healthy populations. Total 512 arbovirues strains, belonging to 23 species in 10 genuses of 7 families, were isolated from various specimens, including Flavivirus, Alphavirus, Bunyavirus, dsRNA virus and DNA virus have been identified.

Food safety/food security aspects related to the environmental release of pharmaceuticals

The environmental presence of pharmaceuticals in top soil and in water where extensive animal farming occurs may represent an involuntary source of residues in food that might affect both food safety and food security. We modelled the presence of residues in animal matrices from the inventoried environmental concentration of selected drugs in surface waters (range: 0.1–10μgL−1) and agriculture soils (range: 1–100μgkg−1 dry weight), accounting for animal production parameters (i.e., forages, water intake and milk and egg production) and drug pharmacokinetics. The results indicate that the contamination of tetracyclines in top soil may represent a major issue both for the compliance with maximum residue levels in food (100–300ngg−1) and for the claim of organic products. via surface water, animals may be vulnerable to the intake of anabolics and growth-promoting agents, such as 17-beta estradiol and clenbuterol, only under a worst-case scenario. Their identification, which is currently achievable at a pgg−1 level in animal specimens, is considered proof of illegal treatment and can lead to the prosecution of farmers. The Environmental Quality Standards that have been proposed for priority substances in surface waters may also be considered protective in terms of food security/food safety; however, a broad-spectrum characterisation of drugs within the agriculture context could be envisaged to refine the uncertainties in the risk assessment and for combined intakes.

Nucleic Acid Test to Diagnose Cryptosporidiosis: Lab Assessment in Animal and Patient Specimens

Diarrheal diseases cause more morbidity and mortality around the world than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria, or tuberculosis. Given that effective treatment of persistent diarrheal illness requires knowledge of the causative organism, diagnostic tests are of paramount importance. The protozoan parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium are increasingly recognized to be responsible for a significant portion of diarrhea morbidity. We present a novel nucleic acid test to detect the presence of Cryptosporidium species in DNA extracted from stool samples. The assay uses the isothermal amplification technique recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) to amplify trace amounts of pathogen DNA extracted from stool to detectable levels in 30 min; products are then detected visually on simple lateral flow strips. The RPA-based Cryptosporidium assay (RPAC assay) was developed and optimized using DNA from human stool samples spiked with pathogen. It was then tested using DNA extracted from the stool of infected mice where it correctly identified the presence or absence of 27 out of 28 stool samples. It was finally tested using DNA extracted from the stool of infected patients where it correctly identified the presence or absence of 21 out of 21 stool samples. The assay was integrated into a foldable, paper and plastic device that enables DNA amplification with only the use of pipets, pipet tips, and a heater. The performance of the integrated assay is comparable to or better than polymerase chain reaction (PCR), without requiring the use of thermal cycling equipment. This platform can easily be adapted to detect DNA from multiple pathogens.