Borrelia burgdorferi not detected in widespread Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) collected from white-tailed deer in Tennessee.

Lyme disease (LD), caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted in the eastern United States by blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, is classified as nonendemic in Tennessee and surrounding states in the Southeast. Low incidence of LD in these states has been attributed, in part, to vector ticks being scarce or absent; however, tick survey data for many counties are incomplete or out of date. To improve our knowledge of the distribution, abundance, and Borrelia spp. prevalence of I. scapularis, we collected ticks from 1,018 hunter-harvested white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmerman)) from 71 of 95 Tennessee counties in fall 2007 and 2008. In total, 160 deer (15.7%) from 35 counties were infested with adult I. scapularis; 30 of these counties were new distributional records for this tick. The mean number of I. scapularis collected per infested deer was 5.4 +/- 0.6 SE. Of the 883 I. scapularis we removed from deer, none were positive for B. burgdorferi and one tested positive for B. miyamotoi. Deer are not reservoir hosts for B. burgdorferi; nevertheless, past surveys in northern LD-endemic states have readily detected B. burgdoreferi in ticks collected from deer. We conclude that I. scapularis is far more widespread in Tennessee than previously reported. The absence of detectable B. burgdorferi infection among these ticks suggests that the LD risk posed by I. scapularis in the surveyed areas of Tennessee is much lower than in LD-endemic areas of the Northeast and upper Midwest.

High-prevalence Borrelia miyamotoi infection among [corrected] wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in Tennessee.

During spring and fall 2009, 60 wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) harvested by Tennessee hunters were surveyed for Borrelia spp. by sampling their blood, tissue, and attached ticks. In both seasons, 70% of turkeys were infested with juvenile Amblyomma americanum; one spring turkey hosted an adult female Ixodes brunneus. Polymerase chain reaction assays followed by DNA sequencing indicated that 58% of the turkeys were positive for the spirochete Borrelia miyamotoi, with tissue testing positive more frequently than blood (P = 0.015). Sequencing of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer indicated > or = 99% similarity to previously published sequences of the North American strain of this spirochete. Positive turkeys were present in both seasons and from all seven middle Tennessee counties sampled. No ticks from the turkeys tested positive for any Borrelia spp. This is the first report of B. miyamotoi in birds; the transmission pathways and epidemiological significance of this high-prevalence spirochetal infection remain uncertain.

Determinants of willingness to pay taxes for a community-based prevention programme.

Prevention can reduce the risk of disease, but has other consequences as well. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) is one method to analyse these multi-dimensional consequences, if the stated WTP is assumed to be a function of all the expected positive and negative effects perceived. An interview study of a community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programme in northern Sweden shows that expectations regarding reduced mortality in the community and future savings in public health care spending increase the perceived value of the programme. Among personal benefits, decreased disease risk was not positively associated with WTP, while a low level of anxiety was.

NMR studies of the paramagnetic complex Fe(II)-bleomycin.

The coordination chemistry of the iron(II) complex of the antitumor drug bleomycin has been extensively investigated with a number of spectroscopic and chemical techniques. However, the actual structure of this complex is not established. In this report, we present NMR studies of the paramagnetic Fe(II)BLM and use one- and two-dimensional methods to assign the paramagnetically shifted features to particular protons. The data analysis points toward the primary and secondary amines of the beta-aminoalanine fragment, the pyrimidine and imidazole rings, and the amide nitrogen of the beta-hydroxyhistidine fragment as ligands to the metal center. Correlation of the T1 values with the metal-proton distances derived from the NMR-generated solution structure of HOO-Co(III)BLM [Wu, W., Vanderwall, D. E., Lui, S. M., Tang, X.-J., Turner, C. J., Kozarich, J. W., & Stubbe, J. (1996) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 1268-1280] indicates that the two metallobleomycins share similar structures. The chemical shifts as well as the T1 values of the sugar protons indicate that these fragments are close but not bound to the metal in Fe(II)BLM.

Central vs. peripheral metabolic control of estrous cycles in Syrian hamsters. II. Glucoprivation.

Estrous cycles in Syrian hamsters are inhibited by food deprivation or treatment with pharmacological inhibitors of intracellular glucose utilization (glucoprivic treatments). These same metabolic challenges increase neural stimulation in areas of the caudal brain stem thought to be involved in detection of metabolic signals. Experiment 1 was designed to examine whether vagally transmitted signals are important for glucoprivic effects on estrous cycles and on neural stimulation in the caudal brain stem. Vagotomized or sham-operated hamsters were treated with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) at a dose known to decrease cellular glucose utilization and inhibit estrous cycles (1,750 mg/kg). Vagotomized and sham-operated hamsters did not differ significantly in incidence of 2-DG-induced anestrus or in neural stimulation in the caudal brain stem, but the effects of 2-DG on estrous cycles and neural stimulation appeared to have been attenuated in vagotomized hamsters. In experiment 2, hamsters were injected intracerebroventricularly with 2-DG or glucose at doses that did not induce anestrus when injected systemically (125 and 250 mg/kg). Groups treated with intracerebroventricular injections of 2-DG showed a significantly higher incidence of anestrus than those treated with glucose. In experiment 3, effects of systemic injections of 2-DG were prevented by prior injection of glucose or fructose at the same concentration, indicating that 2-DG acts via effects on glucose metabolism, rather than via a nonspecific pharmacological effect or generalized stress response. Results of these experiments and those reported elsewhere (J. E. Schneider, A. J. Hall, and G. N. Wade. Am. J. Physiol. 272 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol, 41) R400-R405, 1997] are consistent with the notion that central glucoprivation is sufficient, whereas peripheral lipoprivation is not critical, for metabolic effects on estrous cycles.