Anti-vitamin K drugs are widely used as anticoagulant in human thromboembolic diseases. Similar compounds have also been used as rodenticides to control rodent population since 1950s. Massive use of Wrst generation anticoagulants, especially warfarin, has lead to the development of genetic resistances in rodents. Similar resistances have been reported in human. In both cases, polymorphisms in V...

A survey of Angiostrongylus infections in rats and snails was carried out in the provinces of Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani. Kalasin, Chaiyaphum and Khon Kaen in northeast Thailand. Only two Rattus norvegicus (3.8%) and one Bandicota indica (1.4%) out of 151 R. rattus, 52 R. norvegicus and 69 B. indica examined were infected with adult lung worms. All worms recovered were A. cantonensis. Prevale...

We evaluated the renal colonization by Leptospira interrogans in Rattus norvegicus (rats), as it is the major natural reservoir of urban leptospirosis. We caught 72 R. norvegicus, out of which 32 were found to be positive for L. interrogans by immunofluorescence assay. From these rats, we selected 17 and divided them into six groups based on the mass-age/sex. We performed the immunohistochemist...

Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii are closely related intracellular protozoan parasites associated with bovine and ovine abortion respectively. Little is known about the extent of Neospora/Toxoplasma co-infection in naturally infected populations of animals. Using nested PCR techniques, based on primers from the Nc5 region of N. caninum and SAG1 for T. gondii, the prevalence of N. caninum ...

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is the site of the primary circadian pacemaker in mammals. The lower sub paraventricular zone that is dorsal to and receives input from the suprachiasmatic nucleus may also play a role in the regulation of circadian rhythms. Calbindin has been described in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of some mammals, and may be important in the control of endogenous rhythms. In the f...

This study describes our investigation on the prevalence and molecular identification of bartonellae from Rattus diardii and R. norvegicus in the urban areas of Malaysia. Of 95 rats investigated, Bartonella tribocorum, B. rattimassiliensis, B. coopersplainsensis, B. elizabethae, and B. queenslandensis were isolated from kidney and spleen homogenates of four rats. Bartonellae DNA was amplified f...

Scrub typhus, caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, is a severe febrile illness transmitted to humans by trombiculid mites, which normally feed on rodents. The first known outbreak of scrub typhus in Palau occurred in 2001 to 2003 among residents of the remote southwest islands. To determine the extent of scrub typhus distribution in Palau, we tested serum samples from humans and rodents for antibo...

The relative abundance of ship rats (Rattus rattus), Norway rats (R. norvegicus), and Pacific rats (R. exulans), was measured in four vegetation types on Stewart Island/Rakiura, over six consecutive seasons. Ship rats were found in all four vegetation types and dominated in podocarp-broadleaf forest and riparian shrubland. Norway rats were most common in subalpine shrubland and Pacific rats dom...

Although the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is widely used as a model mammal throughout biological sciences, little is known about genetic variation in wild rat populations or the relationship of commonly used inbred strains to their wild relatives. We sampled wild brown rats from the species' presumed ancestral range in NW China and from a derived population in the UK and estimated nucleotide d...