Photo-catalytic products have been widely used at home and hospital to prevent bacteria, virus and fungus. Activities of anti-bacteria, anti-viruses and anti-fungi are based upon direct contact of crystals and particles of titanium dioxide with pathogens, into which titanium is catalyzed by phoo. Those antimicrobial activities of the photo-catalytic titanium dioxide have been proved in vitro. However, in vivo tests of those activities have not been carried out on dog skin. Aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activities of the catalytic titanium dioxide in vivo.

This study was performed to assess the growth plate closure time with aging in the Korean native goat. Radiographs of proximal and distal epiphysis of humerus, radius, ulna, femur and tibia were obtained at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 30, 43 and 52 weeks after birth in 30 Korean native goats. The secondary ossification centers were scrutinized and assessed the maturity process on the basis of the criteria (stage 0 to 10). The secondary ossification centers of proximal and distal epiphysis of humerus, radius, femur and tibia and proximal ulna epiphysis appeared immediately after birth.

A 2-month-old female Shih-tzu dog was referred because of lameness, exercise intolerance, depression, elbow and stifle joint swelling. Physical examination, complete blood counts, serum-chemistry, radiography, synovial fluid analysis, antinuclear antibody test, and rheumatoid factor measurement were initiated. On radiography, soft tissue swelling of elbow and stifle joints without erosiveness were founded. The results of synovial fluid analysis revealed severe neutrophilic pleocytosis (nondegenerative), decreased viscosity, increased turbidity, positive on mucin-clot test, and negative on bacterial culture.

Caudal occipital malformation syndrome (COMS) is relatively common disease which occurs at craniocervical junction. It has been known that this syndrome was developed mainly in Cavalier King Charles spaniels, but these days there a lot of case reports about COMS in other small breed dogs. In this report, COMS was diagnosed in ten dogs presented to Haemaru Referral Animal Hospital using MRI examination from January 2005 to April 2006. These cases were also investigated about concurrent diseases and syringomyelia was the most common type of complication, but clinical signs were nonspecific.

Serological analysis was performed to detect morbillivirus infection in Kuril harbor seals in Hokkaido, Japan. Serum samples were collected from the seals at Nosappu (231 sera), Akkeshi (16), and Erimo (75) between 1998 and 2005. Antibodies to phocine distemper virus (PDV) were detected by ELISA in seals from Nosappu and Erimo. Antibodies to PDV were found in 56% (5/9) of the sampled seals from Nosappu in 1998, versus only 5% (3/66) for 2003, 1% (1/79) for 2004, and 1% (1/77) for 2005. These suggest epidemic caused by the virus in or before 1998. As antibody-positive seals included juvenile seals in 2003 and 2005, sporadic infections of the virus are thought to have occurred in recent years. In Erimo, antibodies to PDV were found in 50% (14/28) of sampled seals in 2004, versus only 13% (1/8) for 1999, 7% (1/15) for 2003, and 0% (0/24) for 2005. These suggest sporadic infection by the virus before 2003 and the epizootic between after autumn in 2003, when samples of 2003 were collected, and 2004. Since antibodies to canine distemper virus (CDV) were detected in one adult seal from Nosappu in each year from 2003 to 2005, sporadic infections of the virus, were suggested. There were no difference in incidence of seals with antibodies to the viruses between males and females and between juveniles and adults.

The mitochondrial DNA control region of the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) was sequenced using 21 DNA samples collected from confiscated sun bears to identify conservation units, such as evolutionarily significant units and management units, in Sarawak, Borneo Island. A total of 10 haplotypes were observed, indicating the presence of at least two lineages in the sun bear population in Sarawak. Presumably, these two lineages could represent evolutionarily significant units. However, the geographical distributions of the two lineages remained unknown due to the lack of information regarding the exact capture locations of the confiscated sun bears. It is essential to elucidate the geographical distributions of these lineages in order to create a proper conservation plan for the sun bears in Sarawak. Therefore, further studies examining the haplotype distributions using DNA samples from known localities are essential.

The LEC rat is reported to exhibit hypersensitivity to X-irradiation, deficiency in DNA double-strand break repair, and radio-resistant DNA synthesis. This character of the LEC rat has been thought to be due to abnormal G1 arrest in cells after X-irradiation. In this report, we re-investigated the effect of X-irradiation on the cell cycle in primary-cultured fibroblasts. Primary-cultured fibroblasts derived from LEC and BN rats were exposed to 4 Gy of X-ray and their cell cycle analysis was performed with a flow cytometer. Fibroblasts derived from both rats showed normal response of the cell cycle, indicating the arrest at both G1- and G2/M-phase and no difference in the cell cycle population between fibroblasts derived from both rats. In contrast, when the same analysis was performed using the cell line, L7 and W8, which had been established from the lung fibroblasts of LEC and control WKAH rats, respectively, by immortalizing with SV40 T-antigen, L7 cells but not W8 cells showed impaired G1 arrest and abnormal cell cycle. These results suggest that fibroblasts derived from LEC rats possess the normal cell cycle response after X-irradiation, if they are kept naive as not immortalized with SV40 T-antigen.

The major cause of infection in animal prion diseases is thought to be consumption of prion-contaminated stuff. There is evidence that the enteric nerve system (ENS) and gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GATL) are involved in the establishment of prion infection through alimentary tract. To elucidate the initial entry port for prion, we inoculated prion to alymphoplasia (aly) mice showing a deficiency in systemic lymph nodes and Peyer's patches. The aly/aly mice were susceptible to prion infection by intra-cranial inoculation and there were no differences in incubation periods between aly/aly mice and wild-type C57BL/6J mice. Incubation periods in aly/aly mice were about 20 days longer than those in C57BL/6J mice with the intra-peritoneal inoculation. The aly/aly mice were completely resistant to prion infection by per os administration, while C57BL/6J mice were sensitive as they entered the terminal stage of disease around 300 days post inoculation. PrPsup(sc) were detected in the intestine and spleen of C57BL/6J mice inoculated with prion intra-peritoneally or orally; however PrPsup(sc) was not detected in the spleen and intestine of aly/aly mice. Prion infectivity was detected in the intestines and spleens of prion-inoculated C57BL/6J mice, even after the early stages of ex-posure, while no infectivity was detected in these tissues of prion-inoculated aly/aly mice. No apparent differences were observed in the organization of the enteric nerve system between wild-type and aly/aly mice. These results indicate that GALT rather than ENS acts as the primary entry port for prion after oral exposure.

Anthrax is endemic in Western and North-western Provinces of Zambia. The disease occurs throughout the year and impacts negatively on the economy of the livestock industry and public health in Zambia. During 1989-1995, there were 1,626 suspected cases of anthrax in cattle in Western province and of these 51 were confirmed. There were 220 cases of human anthrax cases in 1990 alone and 248 cases during 1991-1998 with 19.1% and 7.7% case fatality rates, respectively. Interplay of the ecology of affected areas and anthropogenic factors seem to trigger anthrax epidemics. Anthrax has drawn considerable attention in recent years due to its potential use as a biological weapon. In this paper, the history, current status and approaches towards the control of the disease in Zambia are discussed. Quarantine measures restrict trade of livestock and exchange of animals for draught power resulting in poor food security at household levels. Challenges of anthrax control are complex and comprise of socio-political, economical, environmental and cultural factors. Inadequate funding, lack of innovative disease control strategies and lack of cooperation from stakeholders are the major constraints to the control of the disease.

In genome sequencing project, we encounter the DNA regions that often contain stable secondary structure with high GC content. These regions are difficult to not only amplify by PCR for template preparations, but also deter mine the DNA sequences using standard Cycle sequencing (CS) method. Transcriptional sequencing (TS) is a unique DNA sequencing method using RNA polymerase, and is based on the principles of the chain-termination method, which is a powerful method to analyze GC-rich sequences. In this study, we examined the multiple displacement amplification (MDA) to overcome low efficiency of PCR amplification in GC-rich regions and subjected to TS reaction. Combination of MDA and TS (MDA-TS) was extremely successful with GC content ranging from 65 % to 85%, which are difficult to analyze with PCR and CS. We also report plasmid vector, pTS1, which has the stronger T7 and T3 promoters than those of conventional vectors, and the sequence that decreases transcriptional efficiency was removed from its multiple cloning sites. pTS1 resulted in the improved sequencing accuracy and reduced reaction time up to 5 min. These results showed that MDA-TS is a rapid and accurate method for the analysis of GC-rich templates.