The phylogenetically related Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum and M. mycoides subsp. mycoides biotype Large Colony are two small-ruminant pathogens involved in contagious agalactia. Their respective contributions to clinical outbreaks are not well documented, because they are difficult to differentiate with the current diagnostic techniques. In order to identify DNA sequences specific to...

The two subspecies of Francisella tularensis, F. tularensis subsp. tularensis (type A) and F. tularensis subsp. palaearctica (type B), differ from each other in biochemistry and virulence. Strains of F. tularensis subsp. tularensis are believed to be confined to North America, whereas strains of F. tularensis subsp. palaearctica occur in Europe, in Asia, and in North America. Moreover, the exis...

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium are antigenically and genetically very similar organisms; however, they differ markedly in their virulence for cattle. We evaluated the capacity of bovine macrophages infected with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis or M. avium subsp. avium to express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II antige...

A population (SERD3) of the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L.) with field-evolved resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD-1 (Dipel) and B. thuringiensis subsp. aizawai (Florbac) was collected. Laboratory-based selection of two subpopulations of SERD3 with B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (Btk-Sel) or B. thuringiensis subsp. aizawai (Bta-Sel) increased resistance to the se...

Arthritis has been reported as an acute pattern, generally evanescent with oligoarthritis, mostly affecting knees and ankles in childhood systemic polyarteritis nodosa. However, chronic polyarthritis with morning stiffness mimicking juvenile idiopathic arthritis has not been reported. We describe the case of a 4-year old girl who had additive and chronic polyarthritis with edema, tenderness, pa...

Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) causes necrotizing angitis mainly in medium-sized muscular arteries throughout the body, and various clinical signs and symptoms such as fever, malaise, weight loss, skin necrosis, renal failure, cerebral nervous system disorder, heart failure, and myalgia develop in affected patients. However, otolaryngologists rarely encounter patients with polyarteritis nodosa, exc...

A 64-year-old man was admitted for alithiasic cholecystitis. Necrotizing vasculitis was detected in a gallbladder obtained at the cholecystectomy. Slight elevation of transaminases, HBe antigens and hepatitis B-DNA (HBV-DNA) were detected in the patient. Intrahepatic necrotizing vasculitis was also detected in the liver biopsy specimen, and he also suffered from peripheral neuropathy of suddenl...

BACKGROUND The pathogenesis of Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, has been primarily characterized in mice. However, the high degree of sensitivity of mice to bacterial challenge, especially with the human virulent strains of F. tularensis, limits this animal model for screening of defined attenuated vaccine candidates for protection studies. METHODS AND FINDINGS We ana...

Cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa (CPN) is an uncommon form of vasculitis. It exists as a separate entity, though bearing similar name with polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) which is an aggressive systemic vasculitis with multi-organ involvement. CPN runs a chronic but benign course. Its aetiology is unknown and it usually presents with painful nodules on the legs with mild constitutional symptoms, and e...

cPAN: cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa IL: interleukin pANCA: perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies INTRODUCTION Cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa (cPAN) is a vasculitis of medium-sized arteries in the dermis and subcutaneous tissues. Etiology is currently unknown, although it may be immune complex mediated and has been linked to various infections, drugs, and autoimmune diseases. Dermat...