Toxoplasma gondii infects all species of warm-blooded animals, including humans, and domestic cats and other felidae are its definitive hosts. The aim of the present survey was to compare serological and molecular tests in accurate diagnosis of T. gondii infection among stray cats in Ahvaz, Iran. A total of 100 cats were examined for the detection of serum antibodies against T. gondii (chronic ...

background: neospora caninum , an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, is recognized as a major cause of abortion in cattle, while limited information is presently available on the seropreva­lence of neospora antibodies in horses' worldwide .the aim of the present study was to de­termine serologic prevalence of neospora infection in horses in iran. methods: sera from 150 horses from mashh...

leptospirosis in cattle is a worldwide problem associated with abortion, agalactia, still birth and infertility resulting in major economic losses to dairy industry. there is lack of data regarding seroprevalence of bovine leptospirosis in eastern india. so, with the aim to investigate the prevalence of the disease in odisha and west bengal state of eastern india, a total of 350 cattle serum sa...

In most fungal ascomycetes, mating is controlled by a single locus (MAT). Fungi requiring a partner to mate are heterothallic (self-sterile); those not requiring a partner are homothallic (self-fertile). Structural analyses of MAT sequences from homothallic and heterothallic Cochliobolus species support the hypothesis that heterothallism is ancestral. Homothallic species carry both MAT genes in...

A new species of abertellid sand dollar, Abertella miskellyi n. sp., is described from the Miocene Camarones Formation of Patagonia, southern Argentina. The new taxon corroborates the existence of the genus in South America, given that Abertella is most common in the southeastern USA and the eastern coast of Central America. It is characterized by a unique basicoronal circle, in which the inter...

Insights into the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the enzyme, Methionine S-adenosyltransferase (MAT). can throw light on its role in humans and help in evolving se lectivity attributes of inhibitors targeted at bacterial MAT. We report here a 30model of human MAT, using the X-ray structure of MAT from the rat as a template, by comparative protein modeling principles. The resulting model has...

Organisms with external fertilization are often sperm limited, and in echinoids, larger eggs have a higher probability of fertilization than smaller eggs. This difference is thought to be a result of the more frequent sperm-egg collisions experienced by larger targets. Here we report how two components of egg target size, the egg cell and jelly coat, contributed to fertilization success in a se...

To determine whether the use of an under-mat has an effect on impact forces to the head in Judo, a Judo expert threw an anthropomorphic test device using the Osoto-gari and Ouchi-gari techniques onto a tatami (judo mat) with and without an under-mat. Head acceleration was measured and the head injury criterion (HIC) values with or without under-mat were compared. The use of an under-mat signifi...

Marrow adipose tissue (MAT) is functionally distinct from both white and brown adipose tissue and can contribute to systemic and skeletal metabolism. MAT formation is a spatially and temporally defined developmental event, suggesting that MAT is an organ that serves important functions and, like other organs, can undergo pathologic change. The well-documented inverse relationship between MAT an...