Four of 28 wild boodies or burrowing bettongs, Bettongia lesueur (Quoy et Gaimard) passed oocysts of species of Eimeria Schneider, 1875. The boodies are surviving on off-shore islands and in large predator-proof sanctuaries on the mainland where they were reintroduced. The boodie is a potoroid marsupial extinct from the mainland of Australia due to predation from red foxes and feral cats. Comparison with other species of the genus Eimeria indicates that the coccidium found represents a new species. Sporulated oocyst of Eimeria burdi sp. n. are pyriform, 21.0-24.0 µm (mean 22.6 µm) by 14.0-16.0 µm (14.9 µm), with a length/width ratio 1.31-1.71 (1.52) and 1-µm-thick yellowish bilayered wall. Micropyle is present at the thinner apex end filled with hyaline body. Polar granules are absent. Sporocysts are ellipsoidal, 10.0-13.5 µm (11.8 µm) by 7.0-8.5 µm (7.4 µm), shape index is 1.42-1.89 (1.63) and a very thin, poorly defined unilayered sporocyst wall is 0.2 µm thick with a domelike almost indistinct Stieda body. Substieda body is indistinct., Frances Hulst, Leah F. Kemp, Jan Šlapeta., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) is an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite and can infect warmblooded animals and humans all over the world. Development of effective vaccines is considered the only ideal way to control infection with T. gondii. However, only one live vaccine is commercially available for use in sheep and goats. Thus more effective antigenic proteins are searched for. In the present study we report a novel protein by secreted T. gondii termed Myc regulation 1 (MYR1). The physical and chemical characteristics, epitopes, hydrophilicity and functional sites of MYR1 were analysed by multiple bioinformatic approaches. The 3D models of MYR1 proteins were constructed and analysed. Furthermore, liner B-cell epitopes and T-cell epitopes of MYR1 protein and SAG1 were predicted. Compared to SAG1, MYR1 with good B-cell epitopes and T-cell epitopes had a potentiality to become a more successful vaccine against T. gondii. The bioinformatics analysis of MYR1 proteins could laid the foundation for further studies of its biological function experimentally and provide valuable information necessary for a better prevention and treatment of toxoplasmosis., Jian Zhou, Gang Lu, Shenyi He., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We observed instances of cannibalism (intraspecific predation) among intra-instar larvae of Culex pipiens Linnaeus, 1758 while performing a bioassay of Lysinibacillus sphaericus (formerly named Bacillus sphaericus) larvicide, when the larvae were exposed to the larvicide for 48 h in the absence of food. Larvae without symptoms of poisoning attacked and devoured those visibly affected. Cannibalism was more prevalent in 1st-2nd instar larvae than in 3rd-4th instar. This phenomenon should be taken into account when interpreting the results of larvicide bioassays, especially when the exposure lasts over 24 h. The necessity of creating optimal conditions for organisms tested is emphasised., Igor Uspensky and Sergei Braun., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The presence of Neospora caninum Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 in small mammals (i.e. murid rodents, Erinaceomorpha, Eulipotyphla and Scadentia) was explored for first time in South-East Asia. A total of 192 individuals from six localities across Thailand were analysed. A general prevalence of N. caninum of 22% was observed, with some variation among localities (5-36%). Four main types of habitat were included and rodents trapped in dry-land habitat (17 positive among 41 individuals) were more likely to be infected with N. caninum than those from other habitats (forest, rain-fed land and settlement). Rodent species identity and individual rodent weight had no influence on individual infection. Our results provided the first data on the presence of N. caninum in rodents in South-East Asia and first report of N. caninum in the order Scadentia., Ornampai Japa, Serge Morand, Anamika Karnchanabanthoeng, Kittipong Chaisiri, Alexis Ribas., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Former authors claimed that, due to parasites' aggregated distribution, small samples underestimate the true population mean abundance. Here we show that this claim is false or true, depending on what is meant by 'underestimate' or, mathematically speaking, how we define 'bias'. The 'how often' and 'on average' views lead to different conclusions because sample mean abundance itself exhibits an aggregated distribution: most often it falls slightly below the true population mean, while sometimes greatly exceeds it. Since the several small negative deviations are compensated by a few greater positive ones, the average of sample means approximates the true population mean., Jenő Reiczigel, Lajos Rózsa., and Obsahuje bibliografii
There is limited data on the role of intestinal parasites in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in South America. We evaluated the association between intestinal parasitism and IBS status in Peru. Intestinal parasites were detected in 43% of the IBS cases and in 51% of the controls (P = 0.4). After excluding those infected by any parasite, the IBS prevalence remained high (22%; P = 0.7). No statistically significant difference was noted between IBS cases and controls in terms of monoparasitism, biparasitism or multiparasitism. Furthermore, the protist Blastocystis sp. was inversely associated with IBS., George Vasquez-Rios, Jorge D. Machicado, Maria T. Gamero, Adriana Pezua, Angel B. Betancourt, Angelica Terashima, Luis A. Marcos., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Although the microscopic examination of stool samples remains the reference method of choice for the diagnosis of intestinal protistan infections, this method is time-consuming and requires experienced and well-trained operators. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of agreement between the BD MAX TM Enteric Parasite Panel (EPP) and microscopy for the detection of Giardia intestinalis (Lambl, 1859), Cryptosporidium spp. and Entamoeba histolytica Schaudinn, 1903 in stool samples. The study included faecal samples of 362 patients who were admitted to our hospital due to gastrointestinal complaints. In the microscopic examination, which was made with the native-lugol method on the stool samples that were taken from the patients, cysts, trophozoites and eggs of the parasite were examined. The diagnosis of G. intestinalis, Cryptosporidium parvum Tyzzer, 1912 and Cryptosporidium hominis Morgan-Ryan, Fall, Ward, Hijjawi, Sulaiman, Fayer, Thompson, Olson, Lal et Xiao, 2002, and E. histolytica was made in the faecal samples using the EPP assay. and In the microscopic examination, Cryptosporidium spp. positive stool samples were stained with kinyoun's acid-fast. In the microscopic examination, parasites were detected in 41 (11%) of the 362 stool samples. In contrast, EPP assay identified parasites in 23 (6.3%) of the samples. In the microscopic examination, E. histolytica and Entamoeba dispar Brumpt, 1925 were detected in 22 (6.1%) of the samples, G. intestinalis was seen in 15 (4.1%), and C. parvum or C. hominis were detected in three (0.8%); these values were five (1.4%), 16 (4.4%) and two (0.5%) positive with the EPP assay. Although C. parvum or C. hominis were detected as positive in the microscopic examination of three samples, only two of the samples were positive in both EPP assay and kinyoun's acid-fast method. The EPP assay is a relatively simple test that can distinguish E. histolytica and E. dispar, but it cannot replace microscopy in the diagnosis of amoebiasis. Diagnosis for G. intestinalis and C. parvum/C. hominis with the BD MAXTM enteric parasite panel was equivalent to that with microscopy. We believe that E. histolytica must be diagnosed with nucleic acid amplification tests that have a high sensitivity and specificity like EPP assay in certain patient groups.