Pilot survey reveals ophidiomycosis in dice snakes Natrix tessellata from Lake Garda, Italy

Ophidiomycosis is an emerging infectious disease caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophidiicola (Oo). To date, Oo presence or associated disease condition has been recorded in wild and/or captive snakes from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, but the data is still scarce outside the Nearctic. Although Italy is a country with a high snake biodiversity in the European panorama, and animals with clinical signs compatible with Oo infection have been documented, to date no investigations have reported the disease in the wild. Therefore, a pilot survey for the Italian territory was performed in conjunction with setting up a complete diagnostic workflow including SYBR Green-based real-time PCR assay for the detection of Oo genomic and mitochondrial DNA combined with histopathology of scale clips. Oo presence was investigated in 17 wild snake specimens from four different species. Four snakes were sampled in a targeted location where the mycosis was suspected via citizen science communications (i.e. North of the Lake Garda), whereas other ophidians were collected following opportunistic sampling. Oo genomic and mitochondrial DNA were detected and sequenced from all four Lake Garda Natrix tessellata, including three juveniles with macroscopic signs such as discolouration and skin crusts. From histopathological examination of scale clips, the three young positive individuals exhibited ulceration, inflammation and intralesional hyphae consistent with Oo infection, and two of them also showed the presence of arthroconidial tufts and solitary cylindrical arthrospores, allowing "Ophidiomycosis and Oo shedder" categorisation. For the remaining snake samples, the real-time PCR tested negative for Oo. This pilot survey permitted to localise for the first time Oo infection in free-ranging ophidians from Italy. Ophidiomycosis from Lake Garda highlights the need to increase sampling efforts in this area as well as in other northern Italian lakes to assess the occurrence of the pathogen, possible risk factors of the infection, its impact on host population fitness and the disease ecology of Oo in European snakes.

Past history and degree of depression in paraplegic individuals

The purpose of this study was to attempt to collect sufficient data to substantiate the clinical impression that the degree of depression in the paraplegic and his past history are correlated. It was hypothesised that the poorer the past history, the greater the degree of depression in paraplegic individuals. This study was conducted on ten paraplegic subjects from the Spinal Cord Clinic at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, based on data obtained from the administration and scoring of the Depression Scale (D-scale) of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and by the clinical observation by the consulting psychiatrist with the Spinal Injury Clinic. Past history was assumed measurable as 'favourable' to 'poor' by the use of an original questionnaire. The results of this investigation suggested a relationship between a paraplegic individual's past history and the degree of depression. The study was deemed significant in presentation of an original past history questionnaire and in the prediction of future difficulties in the rehabilitation of paraplegics so that preventive measures could be instituted.