Approaches to studying behavior in captive sloth bears through animal keeper feedback.

Animal keepers at zoos and wildlife rescue centers often possess in-depth knowledge of the health and behavior of the individuals under their care. While it is often not feasible for keepers to regularly collect behavior data through formal scientific methods, efforts should be made to find alternative means to capture this knowledge. We investigated the use of keeper feedback to study the behavior of sloth bears at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility (ABRF; Agra, India). We prepared a survey with 5 questions focused on behaviors indicative of playfulness, boldness, aggressiveness, and the tendency to express self-directed behaviors (SDB). We asked keepers to rate bears on a Likert scale from 1 (least likely to exhibit a behavior) to 5 (most likely) for 44 adult female bears (5-21 years of age). We validated this method by comparing keeper ratings of SDB with formal behavior observations, finding that time of day had an influence on the accuracy of keeper assessments. We found a significant negative correlation between housing bears in larger groups (>15) and SDB. In addition, we correlated ratings given by keepers for all study behaviors. Social play had significant negative correlation with aggression toward people. There was no correlation between social play and aggression toward other bears, possibly due to the existence of cohesive social groups in group housing or high dimensionality of the data. We found that keeper feedback is an efficient tool to gather behavior data on captive sloth bears and recommend its use in future studies.

siRNA as a tool to delineate pathway channelization in H(2)O(2) induced apoptosis of primary Leydig cells in vitro.

Using siRNA as a tool, the channelization of pathway in H(2)O(2) induced apoptosis of primary Leydig cells was investigated in vitro. Exposure (4 h) to H(2)O(2) (250 µM) induced maximum apoptosis but affected Leydig cell viability significantly. Therefore, expression of apoptotic marker genes, caspase-8, -9, -3 and polyadenosine ribose polymerase was subsequently investigated using the same concentration post 1 h exposure. Incubation with siRNA (20 nM) either for caspase-8 or -9, inhibited their individual expressions by 55-60 % and activity, 50-55 %. The inhibition efficiency using siRNA was comparable with post- or pre-H(2)O(2) treatment of cells. Like siRNA, Eugenia jambolana (100 µg/ml) plant extract too, effectively countered over-expression of all apoptotic marker proteins. Silencing expressions of caspase 8 but not 9 through siRNA leads to a profound inhibition of caspase 3 implying that H(2)O(2) induced Leydig cell apoptosis is preferably channeled through extrinsic and later extending to other pathways.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma of hard palate as first clinical manifestation of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an uncommon disease, accounting for <5% of all cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. We report a case of 48-year-old male who presented a clinically benign swelling in the right anterior palatal region since last 2 months. Radiographic evaluation showed no bone loss in palatal area. Histological and radiological examination was in favor of a peripheral reactive lesion like pyogenic granuloma or a benign salivary gland tumor. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the diagnosis of anaplastic lymphoma kinase-negative (ALK(-)) ALCL. Further laboratory tests ELISA for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and CD4 cell count was done which showed positivity for HIV. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first case of ALK(-) ALCL in the hard palate presenting as the first clinical manifestation of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Immature Gastric Teratoma in a Newborn: A Case Report.

A case of immature gastric teratoma in a neonate is being reported here. The neonate was presented with abdominal mass and distension and managed with excision of mass; the patient is doing fine postoperatively.