Echium oil is better than rapeseed oil in improving the response of barramundi to a disease challenge

Pathogen infection stimulates the fatty acid (FA) metabolism and the production of pro-inflammatory derivatives of FA. Barramundi, Lates calcarifer, was fed on a diet rich in preformed long-chain (?C₂₀) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) from fish oil (FO), to compare with diets containing high levels of C₁₈ precursors for LC-PUFA – stearidonic (SDA) and γ-linolenic acid (GLA) – from Echium plantagineum (EO), or rapeseed oil (RO) rich in α-linolenic acid (ALA), but a poor source of LC-PUFA and their precursors. After 6 weeks, when growth rates were similar amongst the dietary treatments, a sub-lethal dose of Streptococcus iniae was administered to half of the fish, while the other half were maintained unchallenged and were pair-fed with the infected fish. Under a disease challenge situation, the tissue FA depots depleted at 3 days post-infection (DPI) and were then restored to their previous concentrations at 7 DPI. During the infection period, EO fish had a higher content of n3 and n6 PUFA in their tissues, higher n3:n6 PUFA ratio and reduced levels of the eicosanoids, TXB₂ and 6-keto-PGF_1α, in their plasma compared with RO fish. Fish fed on FO and EO had a longer lasting and enduring response in their FA and eicosanoid concentrations, following a week of bacterial infection, compared with those fed on RO. EO, containing SDA and GLA and with a comparatively higher n3:n6 PUFA ratio, proved more effective than RO in compensating for immunity stress.     

The erythropoietin response to the anemia of thermal injury

Erythropoietin excretion was persistently increased following major thermal injury in 4 of 5 patients. A good correlation was found between erythropoietin excretion and red cell mass but not between erythropoietin excretion and hematocrit. In spite of the increased erythropoietin, erythropoiesis in these thermally injured patients was inadequate to compensate for erythrocyte deficits as judged by bone marrow morphology, reticulocyte counts, and transfusion requirements.     

An outbreak of giardiasis in a group of campers

Thirty-four of 54 campers on a 2 week trip in mountains of Utah had diarrhea during and after their trip. Twenty-two (79%) of 28 symptomatic campers' stools examined contained Giardia lamblia cysts, whereas 4 (29%) of 14 asymptomatic campers' stools had cysts. The temporal distribution of cases and the absence of clustering among food preparation subgroups suggested a common source exposure. Although the epidemiologic data and fecal coliform counts implicated the remote mountain stream used as water source by the group as the vehicle of transmission, Giardia lamblia cysts were not recovered from stream water nor were they found in intestines or feces of sampled mammals living in the drainage area. Twenty-five other campers had stools examined before and after a subsequent hiking trip in another area of Utah; none had Giardia cysts before, but 6 (24%) had them after return. Questionnaires returned by 133 of the campers showed that 5% had an illness compatible with giardiasis within 2 weeks after their trip. These surveys show that campers exposed to mountain stream water are at risk of acquiring giardiasis.     

Confusions in recognizing phonemes spoken by esophageal speakers: II. Vowels and diphthongs

A methodology was developed to determine the patterns of phonemic errors that listeners would make in receiving the vowels and dipthongs of monosyllables spoken by esophageal speakers. Analyses of the features preserved in the errors were performed. The identified phonemic error patterns and the features found to be poorly preserved in the errors were used to structure multiple-choice intelligibility practice materials for esophageal speakers.     

A staging system for forelimb regeneration in the axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum

A staging system has been devised for normal regeneration from the upper arm in the mature axolotl. It consists of seven externally definable stages: (1) Wound healing (WH): (2) Dedifferentiation (DD); (3) Early bud (EB); (4) Medium bud (MB); (5) Late bud (LB); (6) Palette (Pal), and (7) Digital outgrowth (DO). Serial histological sections of 38 regenerating limbs were used to correlate gross stages with microscopic events in the regenerative process.     

Cerebral blood flow changes in cluster headache

Serial cerebral blood flow studies performed by the intra-carotid 133Xenon method were fortuitously determined during the course of a cluster headache in a 32 year old man. The initial study was performed about 10 min after the headache began and showed values at the upper limit of normal. Twenty min after the headache started a second procedure showed that the autoregulatory response on hyperventilation was normal. Ergotamine tartrate was given intra-muscularly 23 min after the headache began and there was partial relief. A third cerebral blood flow estimation showed abnormally high values. The probable reasons for this are discussed.     

In situ morphology of nitrifying-like bacteria in aquaculture systems

The in situ microbiota from several aquaculture facilities with active nitrification was examined by transmission electron microscopy of thin sections for the presence of bacteria that contained intracytoplasmic membranes characteristic of the nitrifying bacteria. Colonies of bacteria with the cellular morphology of a species of Nitrosomonas were found to be present in both the culture water and in the biological filter slime of a freshwater chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) culture system. bacteria in the water possessed the normal nitrosomonas type of ultrastructure, whereas similar bacteria in the slime had an aberrant morphology due to multiple invaginations of the cell wall and cyto-membranes and a significantly greater number of ribosomes. These nitrosomonas-like bacteria lysed during enrichment in commonly used media. Bacteria with the morphology of species of Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus were also observed in colonies in the surface slimes of marine culture systems for striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and quahaug (Mercenaria mercenaria).     

Some characteristics of new tissue-binding proteins for metabolites of vitamin D other than 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D

Protein(s) have been found in a wide range of tissues which have a high affinity for 25-hydroxycholecalciferol. Of the tissues examined only erythrocytes do not have this protein. The properties of the protein have been examined and it has been found that the association constatns range from 2 - 10(9) to 5 - 10(9) M-1 and the sedimentation constants between 5.0 and 6.0 S. It was not possible to distinguish the proteins from the different tissues by their S values, mobility on gel electrophoresis or behaviour on ion-exchange chromatography. These techniques were all used, however, to show that the tissue 25-hydroxycholecalciferol binding protein is distinct from the main plasma binding protein for this steroid and from the intestinal 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol-binding protein. A protein has been in the plasma of rachitic animals but not of normals, which is apparently indistinguishable from this new tissue 25-hydroxycholecalciferol-binding protein. The steroid specificity of this new binding protein has been shown to be dependent upon a C-25 hydroxyl group, and an intact conjugated double bond system. Possible functions for this protein have been briefly discussed.