Tyrosinase is encoded by the Tyr (c or albino) locus and is the key enzyme in pigment biosynthesis. Loss of function of this enzyme caused by gene mutation results in albinism. Most cases of albinism are caused by missense mutations of tyrosinase. Albino mutations in Tyr have been identified in various animals, including human, mouse, rat, rabbit, cattle, cat, and ferret, but not in gerbil. We ...

BACKGROUND Many disabling human retinal disorders involve the central retina, particularly the macula. However, the commonly used rodent models in research, mouse and rat, do not possess a macula. The purpose of this study was to identify small laboratory rodents with a significant central region as potential new models for macular research. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Gerbillus perpallidu...

Meriones rex (King jird), Meriones libycus (Libyan jird), Acomys dimidiatus (Eastern spiny mouse), Acomys cahirinus (Egyptian spiny mouse), and Dipodillus dasyurus (Wagner's dipodil) are five species of small rodents of the superfamily Muroidea with distributions in Eastern Africa, Egypt, and the desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula. Water is scarce in these regions and may result in relativ...

Meriones shawi (M.shawi) is the main reservoir host for zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in Central Tunisia. The incorporation of environmental and climatic effects on spread ZCL M. remains difficult. This study presents an agent-based model (ABM) to overcome these difficulties examine impact environment (i.e. vegetation cover) climate temperature) movement prevalence. simulation consider...

The identification and classification of reservoir hosts zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis are very crucial towards the integrated management control planning. Molecular techniques have been deployed showed sensitive specific results to identify differentiate rodents with great similarity in phenotypes including Meriones spp. species difficult distinguish separate according their morphology phen...

  To examine the seroprevalence of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) among rodents in Azarshahr County, and to assess the possible association of infection among rodents in respect with transmission/prevalence of the disease among children, a survey was conducted during 2003-2004. Azarshahr County is an endemic region for leishmaniasis and this research is the first study in determining the...

Introduction: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an increasing public health problem in several parts of Iran. In southern parts, the incidence of CL has been doubled over the last decade. This epidemiological study was done for determination of reservoir(s) and vector(s) of cutaneous leishmaniasis in rural regions of Marvdasht, Fars province,southern Iran during 2003 and 2004. Methods: A total of...