Evaluation of marked rise in fecal egg output after bithionol administration to horse and its application as a diagnostic marker for equine Anoplocephala perfoliata infection.

To establish a reliable diagnostic measure for equine Anoplocephala perfoliata infection, the impact of deworming was examined in 12 Thoroughbreds to which bithionol (5-10 mg/kg body weight) was administered and feces were examined by the modified Wisconsin method using sucrose solution. One day after the administration, cestode eggs were detected in previously fecal egg-negative 3 horses and increased in the other 9 horses. The optimum time for post-deworming egg detection was examined in following horses: 17 mares were administered bithionol and 10 mares were used as controls. The fecal egg count was significantly (P<0.01) higher one day after the administration than that on other pre- and post-administration days, while no significant changes occurred in fecal egg count in the controls, demonstrating that one day after bithionol administration is the optimum time for detecting fecal cestode eggs. The diagnostic deworming involving bithionol and fecal examination on the day following administration provides a reliable diagnosis for equine Anoplocephala perfoliata infection.

[Contribution of hospital pharmacists for home parenteral nutrition--the case we were concerned with pharmaceutical management and support in mixing of injections].

Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is a useful measure when cancer patients are hoping to have a transition from the hospital to a home medical care arrangement. A contribution of pharmacist performing HPN to a patient is to manage pharmaceuticals so that an appropriate medicine is used for not only the prescription design of the infusion solution but also to give a relaxation care. Based on the patient information record gathered by a home-visit nursing care program, we tried to study what pharmacists could do to help the patient after he was discharged.

PCR-based species-specific amplification of ITS of Mecistocirrus digitatus and its application in identification of GI nematode eggs in bovine faeces.

Differential diagnosis of Mecistocirrus digitatus infection relies on morphological examination of either eggs in faecal samples or L3 larvae developed in vitro. Technical limitations hinder the practicability of these approaches. Hence, in order to develop a specific diagnostic measure for M. digitatus infection, we determined the sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of its ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and designed primers for PCR-based species-specific amplification of the ITS to differentiate between M. digitatus and other common gastrointestinal (GI) nematode species. The newly designed primers amplified a single specific 520 base pair (bp) fragment from the M. digitatus ITS, and its detection limit was as low as 0.001 ng. Further, this sensitivity suggested that the specific fragment could be amplified even from a unicellular egg that collected directly from uteri of an adult M. digitatus female. In fact, we designed a method that employs a small piece of a cover slip and a filter paper by which we could differentially amplify a PCR fragment from a unicellular egg. The reliability of the specific PCR assay was also demonstrated with 10 oval samples that collected from bovine faeces by using sugar flotation method. These data suggested that the specific PCR assay of the ITS region of M. digitatus rDNA could be useful for the identification of GI nematodes.