Relationship between an increase of juvenile hormone titer in early instars and the induction of diapause in fully grown larvae of Sesamia nonagrioides

The larvae of Sesamia nonagrioides (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) grown at 25 degrees C and long photoperiod (16:8h light:dark) pupate in the 5th or 6th (mostly) larval instar, while the larvae reared under a short photoperiod (12:12h) enter diapause during which they consume some food and undergo up to 12 (usually 3-4) stationary larval molts. Diapause programming includes an increase of juvenile hormone (JH) titer in the hemolymph from about 20 to 50 nM in the 4th and 5th instar larvae (titer in earlier instars was not measured). JH I, II, and III are present in approximate ratio 1-2:10:1. The JH titer drops to zero before pupation but remains around 20 nM during diapause. Perfect extra larval molts associated with a body weight increase can be induced in the non-diapausing larvae with a JH analogue (JHA). The weight rise is due to accumulation of reserves and not to a general body growth. The timing of extra molts is similar to the molting pattern of the diapausing larvae only when JHA is present since early larval instars. In the diapausing larvae, JHA application affects neither molting periodicity nor the body weight. It is concluded that (1) Increased JH titer in early larval instars is a part of diapause programming; (2) The extension of larval stage in the diapausing larvae, but not the timing pattern of extra molts, is due to continuously high JH titer; (3) The diapause program includes low food intake, maintenance of a certain body weight, and periodic larval molts.

Occurrence of Campylobacter and Listeria monocytogenes in a poultry processing plant

The occurrence of Campylobacter and Listeria monocytogenes was studied in 645 samples from surfaces, water, and poultry products (chicken carcasses, chicken parts, viscera, and spoils) in a poultry processing plant in southern Brazil. The automated mini-VIDAS system was used to detect the presence of Campylobacter and L. monocytogenes on the samples. The positive samples were confirmed by conventional methods. Campylobacter and L. monocytogenes were found in 16.6 and 35.6% of the analyzed samples, respectively. The sampling points with the highest Campylobacter incidence were intestine (63.3%, 19 of 30 samples), gallbladder (46.7%, 14 of 30), carcasses before evisceration (33.33%, 10 of 30), and carcasses after plucking (30%, 9 of 30). For L. monocytogenes, the majority of positive samples were from frozen breast (100%, 15 of 15 samples), frozen wing (93.3%, 14 of 15), fresh breast (83.3%, 25 of 30), fresh wing (80%, 24 of 30), skin of breast and leg (76.7%, 23 of 30), frozen leg (60%, 9 of 15), and fresh leg (50%, 15 of 30).

Larval development of Neostrongylus linearis (Nematoda, Protostrongylidae) in the mollusc Cochlicella barbara infected and maintained in a subhumid area (north-west Spain) and its possible influence on the infection of small ruminants

Twelve batches of 100 Cochlicella barbara (Mollusca, Helicidae) were deposited monthly, from January to December in plots (0.5 x 0.5 m) with faeces of sheep containing first-stage larvae of Neostrongylus linearis in order to be naturally infected, and another 12 batches acted as uninfected controls. Every 2 weeks dead molluscs were removed from the plots and three to five specimens were examined to study larval development in the snail. Infected and control snails did not differ in their mortality, which may be associated with the low rate of infection of snails. The highest number of molluscs that were infected and the maximum level of infection were observed in batches deposited in summer months. There was a positive correlation between the percentage of infected snails and temperature. Molluscs harboured higher number of infectious third-stage larvae (L3) from mid-spring to mid-autumn and especially in summer months; thus under these climatic conditions and periods small ruminants are more likely to get infected by N. linearis.

Study of perkinsosis in the carpet shell clam Tapes decussatus in Galicia (NW Spain). II. Temporal pattern of disease dynamics and association with clam mortality

Temporal dynamics of the infection by Perkinsus olseni in a clam (Tapes decussatus) bed was studied over 5 yr (March 1996 to December 2000). Diagnostic techniques were compared to assess their suitability for epizootiological purposes. A technique based on incubation of 2 gill lamellae in Ray's fluid thioglycollate medium (RFTM) was more sensitive, quicker and cheaper than examination of histological sections. Incubation of the whole-clam soft tissues in RFTM allowed detection of very light infections that were not detected with incubation of only 2 gill lamellae. Nevertheless, the correlation between the infection intensity estimated by both RFTM incubations was high. Infection intensity was significantly and positively correlated with clam size/age. No infected clam smaller than 20 mm was found. There was an annual pattern of infection involving lower mean infection intensity and prevalence in winter and higher values for both variables from spring to autumn, with 2 main annual peaks in spring and late summer-early autumn. This temporal pattern was significantly associated with the seawater temperature. The annual spring peak of infection intensity occurred when seawater temperature was around 15 degrees C. Monthly mortality in the clam bed peaked in spring and summer--after peaks of P. olseni infection intensity and concurrently with high seawater temperature. A comparison of percentage mortality between clams from 2 sources (a perkinsosis-affected and a non-affected area) placed in the same clam bed revealed significantly higher mortality in the clams originating from the perkinsosis-affected area.

MRI of vaginal conditions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an important part of the assessment of suspected vaginal pathology. This pictorial review demonstrates the MRI features and some of the histopathological findings of a variety of vaginal conditions. These may be congenital (total vaginal agenesis, partial vaginal agenesis, longitudinal vaginal septum, transverse vaginal septum), benign (Bartholin's cyst, diffuse vaginal inflammation, invasive endometriosis, ureterovaginal fistula, post-surgical appearances with the formation of a neovagina and adhesions) or malignant, usually due to extension or recurrence from another pelvic malignancy. In this paper, examples of the above are described and illustrated together with examples of the much rarer primary vaginal malignancies.

Extramammary Paget's disease of scrotum. A case with local lymph node metastasis

OBJECTIVE

We describe the clinical, histological and immunohistochemical studies in a case of extramammary Paget's disease localized in the scrotum with lymph node inguinal metastasis.

METHODS/RESULTS

A 80-year old man consulted with a one-year history of a pruritic erythematous skin rash of the scrotum. Physical examination showed demarcated erythematous lesion involving the scrotum and right inguinal adenopathy. Final histological examination revealed extramammary Paget's disease with inguinal metastasis.

CONCLUSION

Extramammary Paget's disease of the scrotum is a rare disease. This pathological condition may spread to dermal region and the regional lymph nodes. Although genitourinary cancer may accompany scrotal extramammary Paget's disease, an extensive search for cancer may be unnecessary.

Effects of sublethal concentrations of Bacillus thuringiensis on larval development of Sesamia nonagrioides

In the Mediterranean Basin, developed diapausing larvae of the borer Sesamia nonagrioides Lefèbvre are found consistently during autumn in transgenic corn, Zea mays L., expressing Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) toxins derived from event 176. These larvae can feed on sublethal concentrations of Bt toxins because the expression of this corn toxin declines after flowering. To evaluate the possible consequences of this phenomenon, the effect of sublethal concentrations of the natural toxin producer, B. thuringiensis variety kurstaki (Dipel DF) on the performance of S. nonagrioides in the laboratory was examined. Larvae treated with Dipel DF showed higher mortality, longer developmental time, extra molts, and higher sensitivity to critical daylength for diapause induction than the untreated larvae. Accordingly, diapausing larvae collected in October and February in a Bt cornfield exhibited a higher number of supernumerary molts before pupating and longer diapause development than larvae collected in a non-Bt field at the same time. These results demonstrate that deployment of Bt corn in the Mediterranean may affect both the borer performance and the development of Bt resistance in addition to direct mortality caused by the Bt toxin.

Mechanism of enzymatic degradation of the azo dye Orange II determined by ex situ 1H nuclear magnetic resonance and electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry

Removal of azo dye effluents generated by textile photography industries is a main issue in wastewater treatment. Enzymatic treatment of dyes appears to be one of the most efficient processes for their degradation. The elucidation of degradation pathways is of special interest considering health and environmental priorities. Ex situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and electrospray ionization (ESI)-ion trap mass spectrometry performed directly on incubation medium have been used for the first time to follow kinetics of sulfonated azo dye Orange II enzymatic degradation. Nine transformation products were identified using these complementary analyses performed ex situ without any prior treatment. Three types of cleavage are proposed for the degradation pathway: (i) a symmetrical splitting of the azo linkage that leads to the formation of 4-aminobenzenesulfonate (and 1-amino-2-naphthol, not detected); (ii) an asymmetrical cleavage on the naphthalene side that generates 1,2-naphthoquinone and 4-diazoniumbenzenesulfonate as products, with the latter one being transformed into 4-hydroxybenzensulfonate; and (iii) a third degradation pathway that leads to 2-naphthol and 4-hydroxybenzenesulfonate. Moreover, three other intermediates have been identified. This study, which constitutes the first concomitant use of (1)H NMR spectroscopy and ESI-ion trap mass spectrometry in this field, illustrates the indubitable interest of the ex situ approach.

[Comparison of different methods for species identification of genus Candida]

Different species of genus Candida can cause a wide range of pathologies, since mucocutaneous trivial infections to disseminated serious forms. Traditionally, taxonomy of yeast has been performed taking into account morphologic and physiologic studies, but they depend on the culture conditions of strains, what cause certain difficulties. Thus, recently, molecular biology methods have been tried. The aim of this work is to correlate taxonomic studies of most important pathogenic species--C. albicans, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis and C. glabrata--all of them performed by phenotypic traditional methods, commercial ones, and by a molecular method, PCR fingerprinting. Comparing useful methods for C. albicans identification, corn flour agar and germinative tube formation, no statistical differences between them are observed (chi2 = 0.5, p = 0.4795). By comparison between methods to discriminate different Candida species, physiological tests, CHROMagar, API 20C and PCF fingerprinting we observed no significative differences in proportion of accurate results, in test that can identify any Candida species, such as physiological assays, API 20C and PCR fingerprinting. The proportion of unequivocal results is greater than the obtained performing the CHROMagar culture method (p < 0.001).

Comparison of the complete sequences of three different isolates of Pepino mosaic virus: Size variability of the TGBp3 protein between tomato and L. peruvianum isolates

The complete nucleotide sequence of the genomes of two Spanish isolates (LE-2000 and LE-2002) from tomato and one Peruvian isolate (LP-2001) from Lycopersicon peruvianum of the Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) were determined. The tomato isolates share identities higher than 99%, while the genome of LP-2001 had mean nucleotide identities of 95.6% to 96.0% with tomato isolates. The predicted amino acid sequences showed similarities ranging between 95.2% and 100% with TGBp3 and TGBp2 and CP proteins, respectively. In LP-2001 two main differences were found with respect to the tomato isolates; (i) the 5' untranslated region (UTR) was 2 nt shorter by deletion at position 12-13 and it had some polymorphims at the putative promoter sequence reported for PepMV tomato isolates and other potexviruses, which could be functionally significant for RNA replication, and (ii) the TGBp3 protein had two extra amino acids in the C-terminal region.

Toxocara canis in experimentally infected pigs: migratory pattern and tissue lesions

Fifteen Yorkshire female pigs were inoculated with 100,000 infective T. canis eggs. Three animals were used as uninfected controls. Groups of three infected pigs were euthanized by accepted methods on days 7, 14, 21, 28 and 126 p.i., respectively. Larvae were recovered from all animals included in each group slaughtered on days 7 and 14 p.i.; on day 21 p.i. from two pigs, on day 28 p.i. from one, and no larvae were found on day 126 p.i. Differences in the mean number of larvae per gram in lymph nodes, liver and lungs between slaughter days, were significant for livers on day 7 p.i. and for lungs on day 14 p.i. (P < 0.10). The decrease over time was significant in all the organs that previously had larvae. Larvae were not found in the other organs and tissues analysed. Macroscopical lesions were found in the liver, lungs and lymph nodes on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 p.i. The entire surface of the liver was covered with small white spots on day 7 p.i., on days 14 and 21 p.i. the spots were distinctly nodular and, in some places, individual lesions were confluent. Lesions had apparently started to heal on days 28 and 126 p.i. appearance was normal. Lymph nodes were enlarged and oedematous during the first 4 weeks and the lungs had small areas of consolidation visible all over the surface, but by day 126 p.i., no visible lesions could be seen. Microscopical lesions were observed in the liver on day 7 p.i., with a largely periportal hepatitis. Numerous eosinophils and lymphocytes were present. The typical granulomatous reaction was observed on days 14 and 21 p.i. with a central necrotic core and a narrow region of fibroblastic tissue. By day 28 p.i. lesions had almost disappeared and the number of eosinophils was fewer. There were fewer leukocytes and the fibrous tissue had disappeared from the liver on day 126 p.i. For the first 3 weeks, pictures of the lymph nodes and the lungs were characterised by the formation of a granuloma. In the center of the granuloma larvae were observed. The majority of the lesions had healed by day 126 p.i.

Occurrence and behavior of Enterobacteriaceae and enterococci in mediterranean dry sausages during ripening in a Pilot-Scale chamber

The occurrence and evolution of Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, Escherichia coli, and enterococci in 252 samples of six types of Mediterranean dry-ripened sausages during maturation was investigated. The changes of the pH values were also recorded. Samples were analyzed in three steps of the ripening process: fresh product, first drying stage, and finished product. In all six sausages, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, and E. coli counts were characterized by high initial concentrations that significantly decreased during ripening. However, the initial counts of enterococci remained stable throughout the experiments in all sausages types. The average pH values of finished sausages ranged from 4.54 to 5.31.

Larval development of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (Nematoda, Angiostrongylidae) in experimentally infected Cernuella (Cernuella) virgata (Mollusca, Helicidae)

The larval development of the cat lungworm Aelurostrongylus abstrusus was studied for the first time in the helicid mollusc Cernuella (Cernuella) virgata, in order to know its performance as intermediate host (I.H.). This snail is very common in the north-west of Spain. First-stage larvae (L1) of A. abstrusus were obtained by the Baermann-Wetzel method from the faeces of a naturally infected cat. Then, 120 specimens of C. (C.) virgata were infected with 500 L1/snail and maintained under laboratory conditions (20+/-2 degrees C). Every 2 days, from day 8 to day 76 post-infection (p.i.), three snails were killed in order to study the larval development of the parasite. Morphological features of the different larval stages were also recorded. The apparent rate of penetration of L1 into the snail foot was 65.5%, but only 4.78% completed their development to the infective stage (L3). The total number of larvae was 49.8+/-28.8 larvae/snail and the average number of L3 was 23.9+/-18.4 L3/snail. The first L2 and L3 were observed on day 12 and day 18 p.i., respectively. From day 52 p.i. onwards, all larvae were at the infective stage in the snail. Considering those results, it was concluded that C. (C.) virgata is a suitable I.H. for A. abstrusus.

Non-invasive interventions for improving well-being and quality of life in patients with lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally. Despite advances in treatment, outlook for the majority of patients remains grim and most face a pessimistic outlook accompanied by sometimes devastating effects on emotional and psychological health. Although chemotherapy is accepted as an effective treatment for advanced lung cancer, the high prevalence of treatment-related side effects as well the symptoms of disease progression highlight the need for high quality palliative and supportive care to minimise symptom distress and to promote quality of life.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effectiveness of non-invasive interventions delivered by healthcare professionals in improving symptoms, psychological functioning and quality of life in patients with lung cancer.

SEARCH STRATEGY

The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library Issue 4, 2003), MEDLINE (1966-March 2003), EMBASE (1974-March 2003), CINAHL (1982-September 2002), CancerLit (1975-October 2002), PsycINFO (1873-March 2003), reference lists of relevant articles and contact with authors.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Randomised or quasi-randomised clinical trials assessing the effects of non-invasive interventions in improving well-being and quality of life in patients diagnosed with lung cancer.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two reviewers independently assessed relevant studies for inclusion. Data extraction and quality assessment of relevant studies was performed by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer.

MAIN RESULTS

Nine trials were included and categorised into six groups. Two trials of a nursing intervention to manage breathlessness showed benefit on symptom experience, performance status and emotional functioning. Three trials assessed structured nursing programmes and found positive effects on delay in clinical deterioration, dependency and symptom distress, and improvements in emotional functioning and satisfaction with care. One trial assessing counselling showed benefit on some emotional components of the illness but findings were not conclusive. One trial assessing an exercise programme, found a beneficial effect on self-empowerment. One trial of nutritional interventions found positive effects for increasing energy intake, but no improvement in quality of life. One trial of reflexology showed some positive, but short-lasting effects on anxiety.

REVIEWERS' CONCLUSIONS

Nurse follow-up programmes and a nurse intervention to manage breathlessness may produce beneficial effects. Psychotherapeutic study indicates that counselling may help patients cope more effectively with emotional symptoms, but the evidence is not conclusive. Findings from the included studies reinforce the necessity for increased training and education of healthcare professionals giving in these interventions. More research, of higher methodological quality is needed in this area to explore possible underlying explanatory mechanisms.

Population dynamics of the constitutive biota of French dry sausages in a pilot-scale ripening chamber

The population dynamic of constitutive biota on 84 samples belonging to two different types of French fermented dry sausages during the ripening process in a pilot-scale ripening chamber was investigated. Samples were analyzed in three steps of their production: fresh product, first drying stage, and finished product. In addition, 180 strains of lactic acid bacteria were identified using a miniaturized biochemical procedure of characterization. In general, the number of lactic acid bacteria that evolved during the ripening process of French dry sausages increased during the first days of the process after which the number of these organisms remained constant at approximately 8 log CFU/g. Lactobacillus sakei and Pediococcus pentosaceus, bacteria added as starter, were the dominant species. Pediococcus urinaeequi, Pediococcus acidilactici, and particularly Lactobacillus curvatus were also present. Finally, we have to take into account that the controlled conditions of the pilot plant generally contribute to the homogenization of the behavior of the starter biota.