A novel gene cluster in Fusarium graminearum contains a gene that contributes to butenolide synthesis.

The development of expressed sequence tag (EST) databases, directed transformation and a sequenced genome has facilitated the functional analysis of Fusarium graminearum genes. Extensive analysis of 10,397 ESTs, derived from thirteen cDNA libraries of F. graminearum grown under diverse conditions, identified a novel cluster of eight genes (gene loci fg08077-fg08084) located within a 17kb region of genomic sequence contig 1.324. The expression of these genes is concomitantly up-regulated under growth conditions that promote mycotoxin production. Gene disruption and add-back experiments followed by metabolite analysis of the transformants indicated that one of the genes, fg08079, is involved in butenolide synthesis. The mycotoxin butenolide is produced by several Fusarium species and has been suggested, but not proven, to be associated with tall fescue toxicoses in grazing cattle. This is the first report of the identification of a gene involved in the biosynthetic pathway of butenolide.

The effect of GnRH analogs on urinary incontinence after ablation of the ovaries in dogs.

After removal of the ovaries approximately 20% of dogs develop urinary incontinence. Removal of the gonads results in estrogen deficiency and chronic elevation in the production and secretion of FSH and LH. The gonadotrophins may directly or indirectly, adversely affect the sphincter function of the urethra. Estrogen replacement therapy and treatment with sympathomimetics, such as ephedrine or phenylpropanolamine (PPA), are effective only in some of the affected dogs, and many of these subsequently become nonresponsive. Since the role of the elevated gonadotrophins has not been elucidated, we used depot preparations of GnRH analogues to down-regulate gonadotrophins once or twice in 13 ovariectomized (ovx), incontinent dogs, which were either refractory to alpha-adrenergics (n=11) or in which alpha-adrenergics were contraindicated (n=2). Dogs were treated with leuprolide, deslorelin, buserelin or triptorelin. In 7 dogs treatments with GnRH analogues alone (n=11) resulted in continence for 50-738 days (mean 247). In all dogs except one, where GnRH treatments did not resolve the incontinence completely, additional treatment with phenylpropanolamine was successful. With additional treatment of phenylpropanolamine complete continence was restored for 21-367 days (mean 159). All treatments caused long-term reduction of circulating FSH and LH concentrations to very low or undetectable levels. No adverse effects of treatments were observed.

Expression of cyclo-oxygenase-2 in naturally occurring squamous cell carcinomas in dogs.

Squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common cancers in humans and is also a frequently diagnosed neoplasm in dogs. Induction of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2), a key rate-limiting enzyme in prostaglandin biosynthesis, has been implicated in the oncogenesis of various cancers in humans, including squamous cell carcinomas. However, expression of COX-2 has not been reported in spontaneous squamous cell carcinomas of non-human species. Canine squamous cell carcinomas share several similarities with the human disease. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether COX isoenzymes were expressed in naturally occurring cases of squamous cell carcinomas in dogs. Canine normal skin (n=4) and squamous cell carcinomas (n=40) were studied by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting analysis using polyclonal antibodies selective for COX-1 or COX-2. COX-2 was strongly expressed by neoplastic keratinocytes in all cases of squamous cell carcinomas, whereas no COX-2 was detected in normal skin and in the non-neoplastic skin and oral mucosa included in the tumor tissue samples (p<0.01). Immunoblotting analysis confirmed the restricted expression of COX-2 (72,000--74,000 molecular weight doublet) in squamous cell carcinomas only. In contrast, faint COX-1 staining was found in normal skin and in squamous cell carcinomas. This study demonstrates for the first time that COX-2 is induced in canine squamous cell carcinomas, and provides a new model to investigate the role and regulation of COX-2 gene expression in naturally occurring squamous cell carcinomas. (J Histochem Cytochem 49:867-875, 2001)

Proximate effects of a child sexual abuse prevention program in elementary school children.

OBJECTIVE: The effects of the sexual child abuse prevention program ESPACE were evaluated by means of a Solomon-type design with first and third grade children. ESPACE is an adaptation of the American Child Assault Prevention Program (CAP). Possible side effects of the program were also examined. METHOD: A total of 133 children (64 first-graders and 69 third-graders) participated in the study. Children completed a knowledge questionnaire and a video vignette measure designed to evaluate preventive skills towards abusive and potentially abusive situations. A follow-up measure (2 months) was administered to verify whether knowledge and skills were maintained. RESULTS: Results indicated that children participating in the prevention program showed greater preventive knowledge and skills relative to children not participating. Follow-up data showed that knowledge gains were maintained while the preventive skill gains may attenuate. However, while global skill scores decreased between post-test and follow-up, children still showed greater preventive skills at follow-up than before the program. In terms of unanticipated side effects, results revealed that almost half of the parents noted positive reactions following children's participation in the ESPACE program. Furthermore, the majority of parents did not identify negative reactions in their children following their participation in the workshop. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the Quebec adaptation of the CAP program was effective in training children in abuse prevention concepts and skills.

Coping strategies and social support as mediators of consequences in child sexual abuse victims.

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the mediator role of coping strategies and social support on the adaptation of children following CSA. Empirical studies indicate that short-term consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) are multiple and varied (Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993; Wolfe & Birt, 1995). While abuse-related characteristics were first studied to explain the variability of CSA outcome, more recently, the influence of other variables such as coping strategies and social support have been considered. METHOD: Fifty sexually abused children aged between 7 and 12 participated in this study. The Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) and the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1985) were used to measure victims' adjustment. Coping strategies were evaluated by the Self-Report Coping Scale (Causey & Dubow, 1992) and the children completed the Perceived Social Support (Harter, 1985). A French version of the History of Victimization (Wolfe, Gentile, & Bourdeau, 1987) was used to gather abuse-related characteristics from medical records. RESULTS: Results indicate that sexually abused children exhibit internalizing and externalizing behavior problems following CSA. Coping strategies and social support exert direct effects on victims' adjustment instead of the mediator influences originally expected. Among abuse-related variables, only the perpetrator's identity is directly related to internalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of mediational effects of coping and social support is discussed in light of the measures used and the cross-sectional nature of the study. Results highlight the importance of parental implication and the consideration of coping strategies in designing therapeutic interventions with this population.

Effect of antiparasitic treatment in beef replacement heifers.

Two studies were conducted in western Canada to evaluate the impact of antiparasitic treatment on weight gain and reproductive performance in beef replacement heifers from weaning to first breeding. Treatment of heifers at weaning with ivermectin increased the rate of weight gain in comparison to treatment with fenthion. The feed efficiency of ivermectin-treated animals was also significantly better than those treated with fenthion. Increased weight was associated with an increased number of animals in estrus at the end of the feeding period for heifers receiving ivermectin. We concluded that treatment with ivermectin improved feed efficiency and weight gain in heifers from weaning to breeding. In turn, this weight gain appeared to be associated with an increased number of heifers in estrus.

Epidemiological study of parasite infection in a cow-calf beef herd in Quebec.

The patterns of gastrointestinal and pulmonary nematode infections in a previously untreated Aberdeen Angus cow-calf herd were observed between May 1988 and December 1990. The cow-calf herd and replacement heifers were on separate pastures. The relatively high mean faecal egg counts of cows and heifers at the time of turnout were mainly owing to the maturation of hypobiotic worms. The strongyle egg counts of calves began to rise soon after turnout onto pasture and reached peak levels at the end of the grazing season. The number of infective larvae on pasture was highest during September/October. Ostertagia, Cooperia and Nematodirus were the most prevalent genera found at necropsy and on pasture. Larvae of these nematodes were able to overwinter on pasture and Ostertagia larvae, additionally, were able to overwinter in the host as arrested early fourth stage larvae. The high egg output of cows at the time of turnout may serve as a source of infection for their calves and be responsible for the late-season rise in pasture larval counts.

[Parental stress in mothers of preschool children: validation and Quebec norms for the Parental Stress Inventory]. / Le stress parental chez les mères d'enfants d'âge préscolaire: validation et normes québécoises pour l'Inventaire de Stress Parental.

The authors examine the metrological qualities of a French version of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1983; Loyd and Abidin, 1985) based on a sampling of 122 Québec mothers with a preschool child. Results show that the Parental Stress Inventory presents internal consistency indices that are equivalent to those obtained in the U.S. sampling. However, the samplings differ on seven out of 13 subscales, as well as concerning the scores obtained for the child's realm and the overall stress, Québec mothers show higher scores. The factorial analysis of the subscales supports the existence of a hierarchical structure composed of a general factor of parental stress and two specific factors: the realm of the child and the realm of the parent. The score relative to the realm of the parent varies according to the socioeconomic level and the marital status of the mother. The mother's age is negatively correlated with the score of the child's realm. The child's aggressiveness/hyperactivity level, as perceived by the teacher in a class situation, is positively correlated with the score of the subscale Difficulty to accept the child's characteristics and the subscale Distraction and hyperactivity of the child. The authors present benchmarks that were developed in order to take into account the noted differences between the Québec and U.S. samplings.

Comparison of ivermectin, oxibendazole, and pyrantel pamoate in suppressing fecal egg output in horses.

Thirty resident horses at a boarding stable in Alberta were used to evaluate the relative efficacies of ivermectin, oxibendazole, and pyrantel pamoate in reducing fecal egg output in adult horses under routine management conditions during spring and early summer, and to more clearly define the duration of suppression of fecal egg production following anthelmintic treatment. Horses were blocked according to pretreatment egg counts and randomly assigned to one of three treatments: pyrantel pamoate at 6.6 mg/kg body weight; oxibendazole at 10 mg/kg body weight; or ivermectin at 200 mug/kg body weight. All treatments were administered orally as a paste on day 0.Fecal samples were collected for examination by the modified Wisconsin procedure before treatment, and then at 4-11 day intervals up to day 72.Very few if any strongyle eggs were found in the feces of any horses up to day 35. On days 42, 50 and 57, the geometric mean egg count for the ivermectin group was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that for the oxibendazole or pyrantel pamoate groups. Based on a survival curve analysis of the data, the mean number of days for recurrence of eggs in the feces was significantly longer for the ivermectin group than for the oxibendazole and pyrantel pamoate groups.Under conditions encountered in this study, the posttreatment interval to resumption of fecal egg out-put in horses treated with ivermectin was eight to nine weeks, compared with five to six weeks for horses treated with oxibendazole or pyrantel pamoate.

Clinical observations on an outbreak of strangles.

An outbreak of strangles, which occurred during the spring, summer and fall of 1980 on a Standardbred stud farm in eastern Alberta is described. The infective organism, Streptococcus equi, may have been introduced by an outside mare that was brought to the stud for breeding. All of the groups of horses on the farm were affected. For the most part, the disease was allowed to run its natural course. Only severely affected individuals were treated. During the outbreak, the foals were prophylactically treated with penicillin to prevent them from contracting the disease. Ten horses died of complications of strangles infection.

[The child and his family : some new research topics.]. / L'enfant et sa famille : quelques nouveaux thèmes de recherche.

The aim of the article is to demonstrate the ever-increasing interest of genetic psychology in the multi-variate analysis of the numerous factors in psychological development. Going beyond the mother-child relation, researchers are turning, more and more, towards physical and family milieu social factors, factors directly linked to the child and forms of family-child adjustment, and this, as much within the context of socio-affective development as that of cognitive development. What is presented is not an exhaustive survey of documentation, but rather an introduction to new, particularly promising, avenues of research.