Despite its extensive presence among grazing ruminants, dicrocoeliosis, also known as ‘small liver fluke’ disease, is poorly known and often underestimated by researchers and practitioners in many countries. The accurate identification and prepatent diagnosis of Dicrocoelium dendriticum infection is an essential prerequisite for its prevention and control. In the present study, the morphologically identified specimens isolated from the bile ducts of sheep (Ovis aries) were validated through molecular data. The sequence analysis of the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of our isolates showed a high degree of similarity with D. dendriticum using the BLAST function of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The phylogenetic analysis of our isolates showed a close relationship with previously described D. dendriticum isolates from different countries. The antigenic profiles of somatic and excretory/secretory (E/S) antigens of D. dendriticum were revealed by sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) and immunoblotting using sera from sheep naturally infected with D. dendriticum. By SDS–PAGE, 16 distinct bands were revealed from crude somatic fraction. Immunoblotting analysis of these proteins with positive sera exhibited six seroreactive bands ranging from 27 to 130 kDa. Among these, the 84 and 130 kDa bands were quite specific, with high diagnostic specificity and sensitivity. The E/S fraction comprised nine distinct bands, as revealed by SDS–PAGE analysis. Immunoblotting analysis of these proteins with positive sera exhibited five antigenic bands ranging from 27 to 130 kDa. Among these, the 130 kDa band was found to be quite specific, with high diagnostic specificity and sensitivity. The present study concludes that the protein bands of 84 and 130 kDa in somatic fraction and 130 kDa in E/S fraction can be used for the immunodiagnostic purpose for this economically important parasite, which may also encourage further studies regarding their vaccine potential.

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between close proximity to detonated blast munitions and cognitive functioning in OEF/OIF/OND Veterans. Methods: A total of 333 participants completed a comprehensive evaluation that included assessment of neuropsychological functions, psychiatric diagnoses and history of military and non-military brain injury. Participants were assigned to a Close-Range Blast Exposure (CBE) or Non-Close-Range Blast Exposure (nonCBE) group based on whether they had reported being exposed to at least one blast within 10 meters. Results: Groups were compared on principal component scores representing the domains of memory, verbal fluency, and complex attention (empirically derived from a battery of standardized cognitive tests), after adjusting for age, education, PTSD diagnosis, sleep quality, substance abuse disorder, and pain. The CBE group showed poorer performance on the memory component. Rates of clinical impairment were significantly higher in the CBE group on select CVLT-II indices. Exploratory analyses examined the effects of concussion and multiple blasts on test performance and revealed that number of lifetime concussions did not contribute to memory performance. However, accumulating blast exposures at distances greater than 10 meters did contribute to poorer performance. Conclusions: Close proximity to detonated blast munitions may impact memory, and Veterans exposed to close-range blast are more likely to demonstrate clinically meaningful deficits. These findings were observed after statistically adjusting for comorbid factors. Results suggest that proximity to blast should be considered when assessing for memory deficits in returning Veterans. Comorbid psychiatric factors may not entirely account for cognitive difficulties. (JINS, 2018, 24, 466–475)

An overview of bioinformatics is presented with an emphasis on describing a set of tools, databases, and ontologies useful to the weed science community. These tools can be used to identify genes whose product may be the target site of a herbicide or in the degradation pathway of a xenobiotic. They may identify receptors responsible for pathogen recognition or enzymes in the metabolic pathway for allelopathic compounds. Whatever the gene of interest, bioinformatics allows researchers to assemble complete or partial genes from expressed sequence tags (ESTs), complete cDNAs, or complete genomes and then translate them into their corresponding amino acid sequences. Similarity searches can be used to find other proteins with homology to the gene of interest, which can provide clues to its function from the annotation of these database hits. The use of protein domain databases can also provide insight into the functional capabilities of the protein in question and delineate those portions essential for activity. Enzyme Commission (EZ) numbers or gene ontology (GO) descriptors allow placement of the protein within the larger network context of a biological system. These capabilities allow the scientist to probe deeper into the function of their protein of interest to gain a novel understanding of the biology.

Blast injury is a frequent cause of injury during armed conflicts, and the force of a blast can cause closed colorectal injury and perforation.1 After identification of a blast-related colorectal injury, the surgical options are primary repair or fecal diversion with the option for secondary repair. This structured review was conducted to determine which patients could be treated with primary repair (PR) or with fecal diversion. The review method followed the Prisma Statement method for medical systematic review. All data from the relevant articles were collected in a single database. Articles took into account wars in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan from January 1993 through November 2012. The review was limited due to lack of reported data, hence qualitative analysis was the main review method. The review showed that for patients who do not have associated intra-abdominal injuries (diaphragm, stomach, pancreas, spleen, or kidney) or hemodynamic instability, PR did not result in an increase of complications or mortality.

Bortolin M, Baldari L, Sabbadini MG, Roy N. Primary Repair or Fecal Diversion for Colorectal Injuries After Blast: A Medical Review. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(3):1-3.

A brief introductory exercise in the use of on-line databases to examine fungal genes and their products is described. Fungal genes make particularly good teaching models owing to their relatively simple eukaryotic structure and wide range of homologues in higher organisms including humans. An evaluation of students' reactions to the exercise is included.

In an experiment to test the efficiency of carbofuran, as furadan 5G, as an oil palm nursery insecticide, its rate of application is recommended at 1.5 g furadan 5G per plant, which had no adverse physiological effects on seedlings. The number of mealybugs/plant was reduced by between 58 and 95% with increasing application of carbofuran, and the percentage of transplantable seedlings increased by about 6%. The percentage of stunted seedlings decreased with decreasing numbers of mealybugs. Major nursery pests identified were Temnoschoita quadrimaculata and mealybugs (Pseudococous sp.). Minor pests identified were Arantia rectifolia, Eulioptera reticulata, Homeogryllus reticulatus and Pyrgomorpha sp.