CD4+/CD8+ Ratio and Growth Differentiation Factor 8 Levels in Peripheral Blood of Large Canine Males Are Useful Parameters to Build an Age Prediction Model.

PURPOSE: To build an age prediction model, we measured CD4+ and CD8+ cells, and humoral components in canine peripheral blood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Large Belgian Malinois (BGM) and German Shepherd Dog (GSD) breeds (n=27), aged from 1 to 12 years, were used for this study. Peripheral bloods were obtained by venepuncture, then plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were separated immediately. Six myokines, including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-15, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF8), and GDF11 were measured from plasma and CD4+/CD8+ T-lymphocytes ratio were measured from PBMC. These parameters were then tested with age prediction models to find the best fit model. RESULTS: We found that the T-lymphocyte ratio (CD4+/CD8+) was significantly correlated with age (r=0.46, p=0.016). Among the six myokines, only GDF8 showed a significant correlation with age (r=0.52, p=0.005). Interestingly, these two markers showed better correlations in male dogs than females, and BGM breed than GSD. Using these two age biomarkers, we could obtain the best fit in a quadratic linear mixed model (r=0.77, p=3×10-6). CONCLUSIONS: Age prediction is a challenging task because of complication with biological age. Our quadratic linear mixed model using CD4+/CD8+ ratio and GDF8 level showed a meaningful age prediction.

Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in Dogs, South Korea.

Of 103 serum samples collected from dogs in South Korea, 3 (2.9%) were positive for severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) and 22 (21.4%) were positive for antibodies against SFTSV. A dog-derived isolate of SFTSV clustered with many South Korea SFTSV strains in the Japanese clade.

Retention characteristics of Schottky barrier tunneling transistor-nano floating gate memory with various side walls.

At present, the nano floating gate memory (NFGM) device has shown a great promise as a ultra-dense, high-endurance memory device for low-power applications. As the size of the NFGM reduced, the short channel effect became one of the critical issues in the base Field Effect Transistor (FET). Schottky barrier tunneling transistor (SBTT) can improve the controllability of the short channel effect. In this work, we studied nano floating gate memory based on the SBTT. Erbium silicide was employed instead of the conventional heavily doped S/D. The NFGM device based on the SBTT used Si nanocrystals as charge storages. The subthreshold slope and the threshold voltage of the SBTT-NFGM were 90 mV/dec. and 0.2 V, respectively. The memory window appeared about 4 V after the applied write/erase bias at +/- 11 V for 500 ms. The write/erase speeds of the memory device were 50 ms and 200 ms at +/- 13 V, respectively. We also analyzed the retention characteristics of the Schottky barrier tunneling transistor nonvolatile floating gate memory according to the various side walls.