Search results for " Organism"

First record of the non-pollinating fig wasp Odontofroggatia galili Wiebes, 1980 from Malta (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae)

2010

Successful subretinal delivery and monitoring of MicroBeads in mice

2013

BACKGROUND: To monitor viability of implanted genetically engineered and microencapsulated human stem cells (MicroBeads) in the mouse eye, and to study the impact of the beads and/or xenogenic cells on retinal integrity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: MicroBeads were implanted into the subretinal space of SV126 wild type mice using an ab externo approach. Viability of microencapsulated cells was monitored by noninvasive retinal imaging (Spectralis™ HRA+OCT). Retinal integrity was also assessed with retinal imaging and upon the end of the study by light and electron microscopy. The implanted GFP-marked cells encapsulated in subretinal MicroBeads remained viable over a period of up to 4 mont…

Metabolic impact of adult-onset, isolated, growth hormone deficiency (AOiGHD) due to destruction of pituitary somatotropes.

2011

Growth hormone (GH) inhibits fat accumulation and promotes protein accretion, therefore the fall in GH observed with weight gain and normal aging may contribute to metabolic dysfunction. To directly test this hypothesis a novel mouse model of adult onset-isolated GH deficiency (AOiGHD) was generated by cross breeding rat GH promoter-driven Cre recombinase mice (Cre) with inducible diphtheria toxin receptor mice (iDTR) and treating adult Cre(+/-), iDTR(+/-) offspring with DT to selectively destroy the somatotrope population of the anterior pituitary gland, leading to a reduction in circulating GH and IGF-I levels. DT-treated Cre(-/-), iDTR(+/-) mice were used as GH-intact controls. AOiGHD im…

An odor timer in milk? Synchrony in the odor of milk effluvium and neonatal chemosensation in the mouse.

2012

International audience; Mammalian newborns exhibit avid responsiveness to odor compounds emanating from conspecific milk. Milk is however developmentally heterogeneous in composition as a function of both evolved constraints and offspring demand. The present study aimed to verify whether milk odor attractivity for neonates is equally distributed along lactation in Mus musculus (Balb-c strain). Therefore, we exposed pups varying in age to milk samples collected from females in different lactational stages. The pups were assayed at postnatal days 2 (P2), 6 (P6) and 15 (P15) in a series of paired-choice tests opposing either murine milk and a blank (water), or two samples of milk collected in …

Redescription ofOdhneriella subtila (Skrjabin, 1959) (Digenea: Campulidae) from the intestine ofGlobicephala melaena (Traill, 1809) (Cetacea: Delphin…

1989

During parasitological investigations of long-finned pilot whales,Globicephala melaena (Traill, 1809), in the Faroe Islands, the trematode speciesOdhneriella subtila (Digenea: Campulidae), parasitising the small intestine, was detected. Skrjabin's (1959) original description of this species was based on a single individual. The collection and availability for study of several thousands of specimens permitted the redescription of this campulid and the noting of some new morphological characters. This trematode is reported for the first time from the long-finned pilot whale, and the Atlantic Ocean is a new locality record.

The transcriptome of Echinostoma caproni adults: further characterization of the secretome and identification of new potential drug targets.

2013

Abstract Echinostomes are cosmopolitan parasites that infect a large number of different warm-blooded hosts, both in nature and in the laboratory. They also constitute an important group of food-borne trematodes of public health importance mainly in Southeast Asia and the Far East. In addition, echinostomes are an ideal model to study several aspects of intestinal helminth biology, since they present a number of advantages. For example, echinostomes are large worms whose life cycle is relatively easy to maintain in the laboratory. Recently, several studies documented their great value in the study of intestinal helminth–vertebrate host relationship. Detailed knowledge of their genome, trans…

Peptides of the Constant Region of Antibodies Display Fungicidal Activity

2012

Synthetic peptides with sequences identical to fragments of the constant region of different classes (IgG, IgM, IgA) of antibodies (Fc-peptides) exerted a fungicidal activity in vitro against pathogenic yeasts, such as Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Malassezia furfur, including caspofungin and triazole resistant strains. Alanine-substituted derivatives of fungicidal Fc-peptides, tested to evaluate the critical role of each residue, displayed unaltered, increased or decreased candidacidal activity in vitro. An Fc-peptide, included in all human IgGs, displayed a therapeutic effect against experimental mucosal and systemic candidiasis in mouse models. It is in…

Prophylaxis of Non-communicable Diseases: Why fruits and vegetables may be better chemopreventive agents than dietary supplements based on isolated p…

2019

The World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2014 documented that non-communicable socalled civilization diseases such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer or type 2 diabetes are responsible for over 50% of all premature deaths in the world. Research carried out over the past 20 years has provided data suggesting that diet is an essential factor influencing the risk of development of these diseases. The increasing knowledge on chemopreventive properties of certain food ingredients, in particular, those of plant origin, opened the discussion on the possibility to use edible plants or their active components in the prevention of these chronic diseases. Health-pro…

A modified culture medium for improved isolation of marine vibrios

2019

Abstract Marine Vibrio members are of great interest for both ecological and biotechnological research, which often relies on their isolation. Whereas many efforts have been made for the detection of food‐borne pathogenic species, much less is known about the performances of standard culture media toward environmental vibrios. We show that the isolation/enumeration of marine vibrios using thiosulfate‐citrate‐bile salts‐sucrose agar (TCBS) as selective medium may be hampered by the variable adaptability of different taxa to the medium, which may result even in isolation failure and/or in substantial total count underestimation. We propose a modified TCBS as isolation medium, adjusted for mar…

Acute hazard of biocides for the aquatic environmental compartment from a life-cycle perspective

2019

One of the aims of the European project LIFE-COMBASE is to build a computational tool to predict the acute toxicity for aquatic organisms of biocidal active substances and its environmental degradation products. A database was implemented compiling toxicity data for these substances in organisms of the freshwater/marine and sewage treatment plant compartments. The goal of this study is to analyze the compiled data to identify the possible hazard of these compounds for the aquatic compartments. Several official and scientific databases were consulted. Data from 196 biocidal substances and 206 environmental metabolites were collected for the taxonomic groups, including fish, invertebrates, al…