First glanders cases detected in Nepal underscore the need for surveillance and border controls.

BACKGROUND: Glanders is a transmissible zoonotic disease caused by Burkholderia mallei that infects equids and humans. No glanders cases in equids were reported so far in Nepal. CASE PRESENTATION: Following suspected glanders in animals with clinical signs in different regions in Nepal, serum samples were tested by CFT, ELISA and Luminex® tests. Two horses and a mule tested positive for glanders by all tests, while two other equids only tested positive by ELISA and Luminex®. Analysis of swabs and pus samples by a PCR system targeting B. mallei confirmed the presence of the bacterium in the samples collected from the 3 equids that yielded positive results in all serological tests. Genotyping of the three PCR positive samples with a SNP-based method identified a genotype closely related to the B. mallei strains circulating in India. CONCLUSION: Confirmation of glanders cases underscores the need of implementing a surveillance program in Nepal and a strict control of the animal movement across the borders.

H nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics reveals sex-specific metabolic changes of gastrodin intervention in rats

OBJECTIVES@#To explore (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics on sex-specific metabolic changes of gastrodin intervention in rats.@*METHODS@#In this research, (1)H NMR-based metabolomics was used for the first time to investigate metabolic changes following chronic intervention with gastrodin in rats.@*RESULTS@#24 endogenous metabolites were identified. Body weight, daily diet and the total volume of urine in in each day of each rat were measured synchronously. Modifications in 12 metabolites were observed following gastrodin intervention, indicating gastrodin-induced alterations in carbohydrate and energy metabolism. Interestingly, these metabolic changes were not totally identical in female and male rats. Some metabolic changes arising from gastrodin intervention showed sexual dimorphism including LDL/VLDL and lactate which were on the decrease in the female but on the increase in the male, together with arginine/ornithine, creatine, and glycerol which were on the increase in the female but on the decrease in the male. While the decrease in pyruvate, succinate and glutamate was only shown in the male and the increase in valine, α-ketoglutarate, glycine and glucose was only in the female.@*CONCLUSIONS@#This research shows the sex-specific metabolic response to GAS intervention, weather GAS is a healthy dietary supplement for the male merits further investigation.

Identification of a biomarker for propetamphos and development of a biological monitoring assay.

This paper describes the identification of a human metabolite of propetamphos ((E-O-2-isopropylcarbonyl-1-methylvinyl-O-methylethylphosphoramidothioate), formed by the hydrolytic cleavage of the enol-vinyl-phosphate bond, and the development of an analytical method suitable for biological monitoring of propetamphos exposure. The metabolite has been detected in the urine of exposed workers but not in that of control subjects. The analytical method involves azeotropic distillation of the urine with acetonitrile, followed by derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl bromide and analysis using gas chromatography with flame photometric detection.