During parasitological surveys in the Okavango Delta and Panhandle in Botswana, two species of climbing perches belonging to the family Anabantidae were investigated for ectoparasites. The fishes were the blackspot climbing perch, Microctenopoma intermedium (Pellegrin) and the manyspined climbing perch, Ctenopoma multispine Peters. Five trichodinid species were found from the skin, fins and gills of these anabantids. One is a known species, i.e., Trichodina microspina Van As et Basson, 1992, for which a comparative description is provided. Four other species are described as new species using silver impregnation, i.e., Trichodina labyrinthipiscis sp. n., Trichodina anabantidarum sp. n., Tripartiella microctenopomae sp. n., and Tripartiella ctenopomae sp. n.
During surveys of parasites of the whitemouth croaker Micropogonias furnieri (Desmarest) and the mullet Mugil platanus Günther from Samborombón Bay, Argentina, Trichodina puytoraci, T. lepsii, T. jadranica, T. murmanica, Diparitella simplex and Trichodina scalensis sp. n. were morphologically studied. Taxonomic and morphometric data for these trichodinids based on dry silver nitrate-impregnated specimens are presented. This study is the first formal report of these trichodinids from the southwest Atlantic Ocean, and the description of a new species from M. platanus.
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a malignant tumour of soft tissues, occurring mainly in children and young adults. RMS cells derive from muscle cells, which due to mutations and epigenetic
modifications have lost their ability to differentiate. Epigenetic modifications regulate expression of genes responsible for cell proliferation, maturation, differentiation and apoptosis. HDAC inhibitors suppress histone acetylation; therefore, they are a promising tool used in cancer therapy. Trichostatin A (TsA) is a
pan-inhibitor of HDAC. In our study, we investigated the effect of TsA on RMS cell biology. Our findings strongly suggest that TsA inhibits RMS cell proliferation, induces cell apoptosis, and reactivates tumour cell differentiation. TsA up-regulates miR-27b expression, which is involved in the process of myogenesis. Moreover, TsA increases susceptibility of RMS cells to routinely used chemotherapeutics. In conclusion, TsA exhibits anti-cancer properties, triggers differentiation, and thereby can complement an existing spectrum of chemotherapeutics used in RMS therapy. and Corresponding author: Maciej Tarnowski
Experimental infection of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum) with the monogenean Discocotyle sagittata (Leuckart, 1842) allowed comparison between trickle and single exposure, two infection modes demonstrated to occur in the wild. Both types of infection resulted in mean larval attachment success around 50%, which was significantly dependent on dose of infective larvae used (P < 0.0001), but was not affected by mode of infection (P = 0.244). Worms recovered from fish exposed to the same number of oncomiracidia but different mode of infection differed in their rate of development. The developmental stage attained by parasites was significantly affected by number of infective larvae used (P = 0.005), and by the interaction between dose and mode of infection (P = 0.026), suggesting competition among attached larvae. Statistical analysis demonstrated that in the early stages of infestation, worm distribution over the gill arches can be explained by the relative amount of water flowing over them. One, two and three months post-infection parasite numbers were comparable (P = 0.805), but their observed distribution gradually decreased in gill arches III and IV and increased in gill arch I, suggesting that parasites migrate after initial attachment. These results reproduce phenomena observed in the field, indicating that the experimental infection system could be employed to study infection dynamics and host-parasite interactions under controlled conditions.
A new myxosporean species, Trilosporoides platessae gen. et sp. n. (Multivalvulida), is described from the gallbladder of the plaice Pleuronectes platessa L. (Pleuronectidae) from Denmark. The myxospore of T. platessae is conical in side view, with a 24 µm long, pointed posterior projection. In apical view, the myxospore (diameter 9.4 µm) is round, trilobed and with three spherical polar capsules arranged peripherally, equidistant and opening peripherally through protruding tips. The polar capsules are of different sizes, one often larger than the others (diameter 3.3 µm vs. 2.5 µm). Apart from the long posterior projection, the myxospore of T. platessae differs from those of the three known species of Trilospora Noble, 1959 and from all genera within the order Multivalvulida Shulman, 1959 in the arrangement of the polar capsules. Trilosporoides platessae may temporarily be placed in the vicinity of the Trilosporidae.
An invertible linear map $\varphi $ on a Lie algebra $L$ is called a triple automorphism of it if $\varphi ([x,[y,z]])=[\varphi (x),[ \varphi (y),\varphi (z)]]$ for $\forall x, y, z\in L$. Let $\frak {g}$ be a finite-dimensional simple Lie algebra of rank $l$ defined over an algebraically closed field $F$ of characteristic zero, $\mathfrak {p}$ an arbitrary parabolic subalgebra of $\mathfrak {g}$. It is shown in this paper that an invertible linear map $\varphi $ on $\mathfrak {p}$ is a triple automorphism if and only if either $\varphi $ itself is an automorphism of $\mathfrak {p}$ or it is the composition of an automorphism of $\mathfrak {p}$ and an extremal map of order $2$.
Pseudoconvex domains are exhausted in such a way that we keep a part of the boundary fixed in all the domains of the exhaustion. This is used to solve a problem concerning whether the generators for the ideal of either the holomorphic functions continuous up to the boundary or the bounded holomorphic functions, vanishing at a point in C n where the fibre is nontrivial, has to exceed n. This is shown not to be the case.
In a series of articles, we have been developing a theory of \emph{tropical diagrams of probability spaces}, expecting it to be useful for information optimization problems in information theory and artificial intelligence. In this article, we give a summary of our work so far and apply the theory to derive a dimension-reduction statement about the shape of the entropic cone.
Tumour necrosis factor-stimulated gene 6 (TSG6) is a protective inflammatory reaction gene which is upregulated by inflammatory processes. Recent studies suggest that TSG-6 exhibits anti-scar-ring effects. However, the mechanism of TSG-6 action in the scar formation remains poorly understood. We investigated whether TSG-6 affects growth of the human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSFs) via Fas/FasL signalling pathway. Cultured HSFs were transfected with a vector carrying the TSG6gene (pLVX-Puro-TSG-6) or with a vector not containing the TSG6 gene (pLVX-Puro). Untransfected HSFs served as a control group to both transfected HSFs. The expressions level of TSG-6 was up-regulated in the pLVX-Puro-TSG-6 group at the protein and mRNA level. MTT and flow cytometry were used to assess the effect of TSG-6 on the growth and apoptotic status of HSFs. Finally, qRT-PCR and western blot were used to measure the expression levels of Fas, FasL, FADD, caspase-3 and caspase-8 in each group. The apoptosis rate was significantly enhanced and the growth rate reduced in the HSFs transfected with the TSG6 gene vector. The expression levels of Fas, FasL, FADD, caspase-3 and caspase-8 were significantly raised in the TSG-6 overexpressing HSFs. It is concluded that increased expression of TSG-6 may induce apoptosis of human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts via activation of the Fas/FasL signalling pathway. and Corresponding author: Xiao-Jing Li