Cell Proliferation And The Control Of Cellular Function

“RMSF is the most common fatal human tick-borne disease in the United States, with a minimal average of 351 confirmed human cases occurring annually and undoubtedly many more going unreported” (Niebylski et al.).

One of the most common Tick communicable diseases plaguing the United States today is a human transferable infection called Lyme disease, which is spread by Deer Ticks Ixodes scapularis, they are small arthropods often found in wooded areas of eastern United states (Orkin.com “Deer ticks” accessed may 8 2016); transmission of the infection occurs when an contaminated deer tick I. scapularis bites its victim transmitting the blood borne infection to its host; a bacteria called spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. (CDC) invades the body and begins it journey of destruction. Symptoms are not felt right away, yet over the

ticks that carry lyme disease, which is a bacterial infection caused by ticks, is bounded by temperature

Abstract: Retinoblastoma is a rare childhood tumour of the eye that is characterised by the inability of developing retinal cells to proliferate in a controlled way. This is because the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) involved in cell cycle regulation is non-functional due to the diversity of allelic mutations which arise in the Rb1 gene. The consequent tumours show distinct growth patterns, which if left untreated could severely compromise vision and cause the development of secondary malignancies. Survival from retinoblastoma is correlated with the severity of the disease and the speed of intervention. Though radiation therapies were the principle method of treatment, chemotherapy and surgical intervention now form the primary treatment

The purpose of this experiment was to determine how calf serum affected cell proliferation. The hypothesis is the following: if different concentrations of Fetal Bovine Serum were added to non-transformed and transformed cells, it would provide nutrients for the non-transformed cells but does not affect the transformed cells. As far as Western Blot analysis goes, the protein concentration for normal cells will increase with the calf serum and FGF concentrations, but Ras-transformed cells will have a constant protein concentration since they are independent from growth factors. Hence, my conclusion after analyzing the results of the experiment come to be that an increase in FBS increases cell density of non-transformed cells. The same does not go for transformed cells, because results show that cell density remained the same at concentrations of .5%, 2%, and 10%. The results also depict ERK1/2 factor increases in the cells, therefore cell density will increase in non-transformed cells.

The best-characterised hidden antigen of Haemonchus contortus, called H11, is a 110 kDa gut membrane glycoprotein (Smith et al., 1993) belonging to the M1 aminopeptidase family. Native H11, isolated from adult H. contortus, had been evaluated in numerous vaccine experiments in sheep of different breeds, including very young lambs, and shown to induce high levels of antibody-mediated protection, reflected in (on average) a >90% reduction in faecal egg counts (FECs) and > 75% reduction in worm burdens (reviewed by Newton and Munn, 1999; Newton and Meeusen, 2003; Knox, 2011). Molecular characterisation showed that H11 is a microsomal aminopeptidase (Graham et al., 1993; Smith et al., 1997), believed to be involved in the degradation of small peptides from dietary proteins (Munn and Munn, 2002). At the time, it was proposed that protection was achieved via antibody-induced disruption of nutrient absorption by the worm.

Babesia, a major pathogen infecting erythrocytes in animals, is transmitted by ticks to vertebrates and results in serious economic losses in the livestock industry worldwide. B. caballi and T. equi are the major cause of equine piroplasmosis all over the world. The clinical signs include malaise, fever, hemolytic anemia, jaundice, and hemoglobinuria (Kuttler, 1988). Babesia microti, a rodent Babesia, infects humans in North America (Kogut et al., 2005). The babesicidal drugs such as diminazene aceturate and imidocarb dipropionate have adverse side effects related to their toxicity (Vial and Gorenflot, 2006). Therefore, the development of new drugs that have a chemotherapeutic effect against babesiosis with low toxicity to the hosts is urgently needed.

The outside surface of soft ticks expands, but does not grow to accommodate the large volume of blood ingested, which may be anywhere from 5 to 10 times their unfed body weight (Sonenshine, 1991). Ticks cause great economic losses to livestock in the world and have adverse effect on livestock host in several ways (Snelson, 1975), parasitize a wide range of vertebrate hosts, and transmit a wider variety of pathogenic agents than any other group of arthropods (Oliver, 1989, colwell et al.,2011). There are 899 tick species those parasitize the vertebrates including Argasidae (185 species), Ixodidae (713 species) andNuttalliellidae (1 specie) (Barker and Murrell, 2004,Naval et al.,2012). Ticks are the most important ecto-parasites of livestock in tropical and sub-tropical areas, and are responsible for severe economic losses in

In the human body, the integration of cells into tissues, organs and organ systems is the propelling force behind maintaining homeostasis. Due to the intricate relationship of organ systems with each other, a dysfunction in one organ might have a domino effect on other tissues and organs within the body and since the human body is far from perfect, mutations, drugs, or pathogens may lead to cellular damage at a microscopic level, which could then lead to the deterioration of organs at a macroscopic level. In the past, organ failure was fatal and very little could be done to reverse the process. However, thanks to the integration of various disciplines with present day technology, organs and tissues can be regenerated through a multitude of distinct procedures involving a team of individuals across various professions. Without the incorporation of the works of doctors, mathematicians, physicists, material scientists, biochemists, and molecular biologists, these life-saving procedures may have not been possible.

Recurrent incidence of babesiosis among apparently healthy bovines in Egypt, submits the needs for suitably destined prevalence studies with rapid and accurate diagnosis and immediate treatment of infected animals are required to control this disease. The routine epidemiological survey and diagnosis usually based upon microscopical examination of Giemsa stained blood smears. This technique is insufficient for accurate detection and identification of Babesia species during mixed infections and not reliable for detecting the infection in carrier cases or subclinical infections with low parasitemia. Combination of molecular and serological diagnostic tools for the infection provides powerful tools for accurate diagnosis as well as for epidemiological investigations as means of overcoming limitations of microscopical examination. The polymerase chain reaction will be conducted using highly conserved and species specific genes for detecting the parasite DNA in the blood of infected animals based on the B. bigemina rhoptry associated proteins, Apical membrane protein 1 & Internal trancribed spacer and B. bovis Spherical body proteins 4. The serological diagnostic tools, including the indirect fluorescent antibody test, the Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, a competitive ELISA will be conducted to detect Babesia antibodies in serum of naturally infected cattle based on Babesia lysate, Cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose 4B, affinity purified antigen and expressed,

Malaria is a vector-borne, fever-producing disease caused by infection with one of four species of apicomplexan parasitic protozoa in the genus plasmodium. It is the most important arthropod-transmitted pathogen in the world today in terms of numbers of cases, deaths, and economic burden. Acquired from the bite of an infective Anopheles mosquito, malaria caused by plasmodium falciparum in which febrile paroxysms recur irregularly, is the most severe form of malaria. It has the highest levels of parasites in the blood and is a disease that is responsible for 880,000 deaths per year worldwide (WHO,2009). Vaccine development has proved difficult and resistance has emerged for most anti-malarial drugs.

Plasmodium eggs are fertilized in the mosquito host, migrating to the mosquito’s midgut where they enter an infective stage. The study specified in “Research Focus Box 14.1” stemmed from biologists attempting to genetically manipulate mosquitoes to prevent malarial parasites from maturing into an infective state. Without entering this stage, Plasmodium cannot be transmitted to a new host. Using previous findings of the prevention of parasite maturity by engineering mosquitoes possessing the peptide SM1, the study proposed to determine the success of engineered mosquitoes with SM1 peptides compared to wild-type mosquitoes. Experiments were conducted using the rodent parasite Plasmodium berghei along with engineered mosquitoes expressing SM1 and unaffected mosquitoes (Pechenik, 2010).

Malaria is a fever based disease caused by a microscopic parasite that is carried by a vector mosquito. An estimated 247 million cases of malaria occur annually and result in about 1-3 million deaths per year, majority of which are children under the age of 5 (1). In 2010, Malaria caused an estimated 219 (range 154–289) million cases and 660 000 (range 490 000–836 000) deaths of which 80% of the cases and 90% of the deaths were from Africa while the rest were in the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean Regions (2). Plasmodium which is the disease causing organism (DCO) is a genus of a parasitic protozoon in the phylum apicomplexa. This parasite has 2 hosts; a mosquito vector, which is also its definitive host and a vertebrate host, in this case a human which is their intermediate host. Five species of Plasmodium cause malaria in humans: P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale, P. falciparum, and the zoonotic monkey malaria parasite P. knowlesi. Of these, P. falciparum causes severe morbidity and mortality mainly in sub-Saharan Africa (2). The plasmodium parasite is transmitted by a female

Infectious disease states will be affected as a direct impact of climate change. Changes in climate can cause alterations in the patterns of certain disease vectors. This can be seen in Canada, where new populations of ticks are increasing the incidence of Lyme disease (McMichael and Lindgren, 2011, p. 409). A shift in the distribution of ticks and consequently Lyme disease threatens new populations that can increase the incidence and prevalence of Lyme disease in Canada (Mills, Gage and Khan, 2010, p. 1508.). These new populations facing Lyme disease will be particularly susceptible since it has not been an issue previously faced in their vicinity. Other vector-borne diseases and infections have seen a recent increase in population and geographic locations, including the West Nile Fever in Africa (McMichael and Lindgren, 2011, p. 409). Africa has been affected by climate change through rising temperatures. These increases in temperature have manifested themselves in an

their hardest to contain the parasite to where it now exists. The range of a