Due to their worldwide importance for human and animal health, schistosomes are in the focus of national and international research activities. Schistosomiasis is a major health problem and despite decades of research, only one effective drug, Praziquantel is currently available. Recent expansion of sequence databases on Schistosoma mansoni and S. japonicum has permitted a wealth of novel prote...

Schistosomiasis japonicum is one of the most severe zoonotic diseases in China. Water buffalo and yellow cattle are important reservoir hosts and the main transmission sources of Schistosoma japonicum in endemic areas. The susceptibility of these two hosts to schistosome infection is different, as water buffaloes are less susceptible to S. japonicum than yellow cattle. In this study, iTRAQ-coup...

Genome sequences for Schistosoma japonicum and Schistosoma mansoni are now available. The schistosome genome encodes ~13,000 protein encoding genes for which the function of only a minority is understood. There is a valuable role for transgenesis in functional genomic investigations of these new schistosome gene sequences. In gain-of-function approaches, transgenesis can lead to integration of ...

Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized enzymatically by nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Several groups have previously presented evidence for NOS activity and immunoreactivity in several parasitic platyhelminths, including schistosomes. Here, we use 4,5-diaminofluorescein-2 diacetate (DAF-2 DA), a fluorescent indicator of NO, to detect NO in living schistosomes. In adult worms, DAF-2 fluorescence is fou...

avian influenza is an important disease of poultry with the potential to cause major epidemics resulting in significant economic losses. the presence of avian influenza viruses (aiv) in chickens in iran has not been previously reported. an avian influenza outbreak in broiler, layer and breeder farms occurred during a very hot summer in july 1998. three aiv isolates designated as 101, 102 and 10...