Project description:Type specimens of seven nominal species of sawfly described by Edward Newman and one by Charles Healy were studied. This material is housed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, United Kingdom. The following new synonymies are proposed (valid names in parentheses): Hartigia Schiødte, 1839 (Phylloecus Newman, 1838), Cephus helleri Taschenberg, 1871 (Phylloecus faunus Newman, 1838) and Euura gallae Newman, 1837 (Euura mucronata (Hartig, 1837)). The type species of Euura Newman, 1837 and Euura subgenus Gemmura E. L. Smith, 1968 belong to the same taxonomic species, Euura mucronata (Hartig, 1837), so that these genus group names become new synonyms. Lectotypes are designated for Phyllotoma tormentillae Healy, 1868, Fenusa ianthe Newman, 1837, Fenusa parviceps Newman, 1837, Selandria pallida Newman, 1837 and Phylloecus faunus Newman, 1838. 26 new combinations are proposed for species formerly placed in Hartigia and here transferred to Phylloecus, and 4 original combinations are re-instated as valid.
Project description:BackgroundFetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a leading preventable cause of neurodevelopmental disability in North America. The stigma associated with alcohol use and abuse during pregnancy makes it difficult to obtain information on prenatal alcohol use through self-reporting. We assessed the incidence of prenatal alcohol exposure in Prince Edward Island to facilitate future public health initiatives addressing FASD.MethodsPrenatal alcohol exposure was examined via population-based collection of meconium and analysis of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs). Fatty acid ethyl esters are nonoxidative metabolites of ethanol that are produced in the fetus. Meconium FAEE concentrations of 2.0 nmol/g or greater are indicative of frequent prenatal alcohol exposure during the last 2 trimesters of pregnancy. Samples were collected from 1307 neonates between Nov. 8, 2010, and Nov. 8, 2011, in hospitals in PEI, or from those born to mothers who resided in PEI but gave birth in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Samples were frozen and shipped for analysis. Fatty acid ethyl esters were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and quantified by means of deuterated internal standards.ResultsOf the 1307 samples collected, 1271 samples were successfully analyzed. Positive results for FAEEs were obtained in 3.1% (n = 39) of samples collected within the first 24 hours after birth.InterpretationNot all neonates exposed to heavy prenatal alcohol in utero will exhibit FASD; based on current estimates of predictive value for disease by exposure, our findings suggest that 1.3% of neonates born in PEI during this 1-year period will have FASD. In its application to an entire provincial birth cohort, this study successfully implemented a public health-centred approach for evaluating population-based risk of FASD, with implications for practice across Canada.
Project description:The molecular diversity of rumen methanogens in feedlot cattle and the composition of the methanogen populations in these animals from two geographic locations were investigated using 16S rRNA gene libraries prepared from pooled PCR products from 10 animals in Ontario (127 clones) and 10 animals from Prince Edward Island (114 clones). A total of 241 clones were examined, with Methanobrevibacter ruminantium accounting for more than one-third (85 clones) of the clones identified. From these 241 clones, 23 different 16S rRNA phylotypes were identified. Feedlot cattle from Ontario, which were fed a corn-based diet, revealed 11 phylotypes (38 clones) not found in feedlot cattle from Prince Edward Island, whereas the Prince Edward Island cattle, which were fed potato by-products as a finishing diet, had 7 phylotypes (42 clones) not found in cattle from Ontario. Five sequences, representing the remaining 161 clones (67% of the clones), were common in both herds. Of the 23 different sequences, 10 sequences (136 clones) were 89.8 to 100% similar to those from cultivated methanogens belonging to the orders Methanobacteriales, Methanomicrobiales, and Methanosarcinales, and the remaining 13 sequences (105 clones) were 74.1 to 75.8% similar to those from Thermoplasma volcanium and Thermoplasma acidophilum. Overall, nine possible new species were identified from the two clone libraries, including two new species belonging to the order Methanobacteriales and a new genus/species within the order Methanosarcinales. From the present survey, it is difficult to conclude whether the geographical isolation between these two herds or differences between the two finishing diets directly influenced community structure in the rumen. Further studies are warranted to properly assess the differences between these two finishing diets.
Project description:This review strikes at the very heart of how the microcirculation functions to facilitate blood-tissue oxygen, substrate, and metabolite fluxes in skeletal muscle. Contemporary evidence, marshalled from animals and humans using the latest techniques, challenges iconic perspectives that have changed little over the past century. Those perspectives include the following: the presence of contractile or collapsible capillaries in muscle, unitary control by precapillary sphincters, capillary recruitment at the onset of contractions, and the notion of capillary-to-mitochondrial diffusion distances as limiting O2 delivery. Today a wealth of physiological, morphological, and intravital microscopy evidence presents a completely different picture of microcirculatory control. Specifically, capillary red blood cell (RBC) and plasma flux is controlled primarily at the arteriolar level with most capillaries, in healthy muscle, supporting at least some flow at rest. In healthy skeletal muscle, this permits substrate access (whether carried in RBCs or plasma) to a prodigious total capillary surface area. Pathologies such as heart failure or diabetes decrease access to that exchange surface by reducing the proportion of flowing capillaries at rest and during exercise. Capillary morphology and function vary disparately among tissues. The contemporary model of capillary function explains how, following the onset of exercise, muscle O2 uptake kinetics can be extremely fast in health but slowed in heart failure and diabetes impairing contractile function and exercise tolerance. It is argued that adoption of this model is fundamental for understanding microvascular function and dysfunction and, as such, to the design and evaluation of effective therapeutic strategies to improve exercise tolerance and decrease morbidity and mortality in disease.
Project description:PurposeTo update information on cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and to integrate information on its pathogenesis and clinical outcomes.DesignLiterature review.MethodsSelected articles from the medical literature, particularly large epidemiologic studies, including the Johns Hopkins Cytomegalovirus Retinitis Cohort Study, the Longitudinal Study of the Ocular Complications of AIDS, and the Cytomegalovirus Retinitis and Viral Resistance Study, were reviewed. Clinical information is discussed in light of knowledge on CMV, its pathogenesis, and its interactions with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).ResultsCytomegalovirus uses several mechanisms to evade the immune system and establish latent infection in immunologically normal hosts. With immune deficiency, such as late-stage AIDS, CMV reactivates, is disseminated to the eye, and establishes a productive infection, resulting in retinal necrosis. HIV and CMV potentiate each other: CMV accelerates HIV disease, and CMV retinitis is associated with increased mortality. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of treatments for CMV retinitis. Systemically administered treatment for CMV retinitis decreases AIDS mortality. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) effectively suppresses HIV replication, resulting in immune recovery, which, if sufficient, controls retinitis without anti-CMV therapy. Resistant CMV, detected in the blood, correlates with resistant virus in the eye and is associated with worse clinical outcomes, including mortality. Host factors, including host genetics and access to care, play a role in the development of CMV retinitis.ConclusionsClinical outcomes of CMV retinitis in patients with AIDS are dependent on characteristics of the virus and host and on HIV-CMV interactions.
Project description:PurposeTo evaluate the importance of nutritional supplements, dietary pattern, and genetic associations in age-related macular degeneration (AMD); and to discuss the technique of artificial intelligence/deep learning to potentially enhance research in detecting and classifying AMD.DesignRetrospective literature review.MethodsTo review the studies of both prospective and retrospective (post hoc) analyses of nutrition, genetic variants, and deep learning in AMD in both the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and AREDS2.ResultsIn addition to demonstrating the beneficial effects of the AREDS and AREDS2 supplements of antioxidant vitamins and zinc (plus copper) for reducing the risk of progression to late AMD, these 2 studies also confirmed the importance of high adherence to Mediterranean diet in reducing progression of AMD in persons with varying severity of disease. In persons with the protective genetic alleles of complement factor H (CFH), the Mediterranean diet had further beneficial effect. However, despite the genetic association with AMD progression, prediction models found genetic information added little to the high predictive value of baseline severity of AMD for disease progression. The technique of deep learning, an arm of artificial intelligence, using color fundus photographs from AREDS/AREDS2 was superior in some cases and noninferior in others to clinical human grading (retinal specialists) and to the gold standard of the certified reading center graders.ConclusionsCounseling individuals affected with AMD regarding the use of the AREDS2 supplements and the beneficial association of the Mediterranean diet is an important public health message. Although genetic testing is important in research, it is not recommended for prediction of disease or to guide therapies and/or dietary interventions in AMD. Techniques in deep learning hold great promise, but further prospective research is required to validate the use of this technique to provide improvement in accuracy and sensitivity/specificity in clinical research and medical management of patients with AMD.
Project description:Terrosamycins A (1) and B (2), two polycyclic polyether natural products, were purified from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces sp. RKND004 isolated from Prince Edward Island sediment. The one strain-many compounds (OSMAC) approach coupled with UPLC-HRMS-based metabolomics screening led to the identification of these compounds. The structure of 1 was determined from analysis of NMR, HRMS, and X-ray diffraction data. NMR experiments performed on 2 revealed the presence of two methoxy groups replacing two hydroxy groups in 1. Like other polyether ionophores, 1 and 2 exhibited excellent antibiotic activity against Gram-positive pathogens. Interestingly, the terrosamycins also exhibited activity against two breast cancer cell lines.