Condylomatous genital lesions in cynomolgus macaques from Mauritius.

Genital condyloma-like lesions were observed on male and female cynomolgus macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) originating from the island of Mauritius. Cytobrush and/or biopsy samples were obtained from lesions of 57 affected macaques. Primary histologic features included eosinophilic, neutrophilic, and lymphoplasmacytic penile and vulvar inflammation, epidermal hyperplasia with acanthosis, and increased collagenous stroma. Polymerase chain reaction-based assays to amplify viral DNA revealed the presence of macaque lymphocryptovirus (LCV) DNA but not papillomavirus or poxvirus DNA. Subsequent DNA analyses of 3 genomic regions of LCV identified isolates associated with lesions in 19/25 (76%) biopsies and 19/57 (33%) cytology samples. Variable immunolabeling for proteins related to the human LCV Epstein Barr Virus was observed within intralesional plasma cells, stromal cells, and epithelial cells. Further work is needed to characterize the epidemiologic features of these lesions and their association with LCV infection in Mauritian-origin macaques.

Quality management for the international transportation of non-human primates.

Safe and humane transportation of live animals requires dedicated, informed personnel who carefully plan and attend to the details of appropriate animal care and handling throughout the shipping process. Specifically, although transportation of non-human primates shares goals common to all live animal transport, it also poses unique challenges stemming from the nature of these animals. Some of these unique challenges of transporting non-human primates, include the impact of public perception of non-human primates as cargo, maintaining biosecurity of non-human primate cargo, safety of both the non-human primate and public contacts, meeting the vital husbandry needs of varying species of non-human primates and compliance with numerous regulatory agencies, which may have overlapping responsibilities. This discussion will focus on these important considerations, as they relate to the legal international transportation of non-human primates for scientific use.

Monkey B virus (Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1).

Macaques are a particularly valuable nonhuman primate model for a wide variety of biomedical research endeavors. B virus (Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1; BV) is an alpha-herpesvirus that naturally infects conventional populations of macaques. Serious disease due to BV is rare in macaques, but when transmitted to humans, BV has a propensity to invade the central nervous system and has a fatality rate greater than 70% if not treated promptly. The severe consequences of human BV infections led to the inclusion of BV in the original NIH list of target viruses for elimination by development of specific pathogen-free rhesus colonies. In macaques and especially in humans, diagnosis of BV infection is not straightforward. Furthermore, development and maintenance of true BV specific pathogen-free macaque colonies has proven dif cult. In this overview we review the natural history of BV in macaques, summarize what is known about the virus at the molecular level, and relate this information to problems associated with diagnosis of BV infections and development of BV-free macaque colonies.

H-tetracycline as a proxy for Ca for measuring dietary perturbations of bone resorption.

Our group is interested in evaluating early effects of dietary interventions on bone loss. Postmenopausal women lose bone following reduction in estrogen which leads to increased risk of fracture. Traditional means of monitoring bone loss and effectiveness of treatments include changes in bone density, which takes 6 months to years to observe effects, and changes in biochemical markers of bone turnover, which are highly variable and lack specificity. Prelabeling bone with (41)Ca and measuring urinary (41)Ca excretion with accelerator mass spectrometry provides a sensitive, specific, and rapid approach to evaluating effectiveness of treatment. To better understand (41)Ca technology as a tool for measuring effective treatments on reducing bone resorption, we perturbed bone resorption by manipulating dietary calcium in rats. We used (3)H-tetracycline ((3)H-TC) as a proxy for (41)Ca and found that a single dose is feasible to study bone resorption. Suppression of bone resorption, as measured by urinary (3)H-TC, by dietary calcium was observed in rats stabilized after ovariectomy, but not in recently ovariectomized rats.

Evaluation of seeing-induced cross talk in tip-tilt-corrected solar polarimetry.

We reanalyze the effects of atmosphere-induced image motions on the measurement of solar polarized light using a formalism developed by Lites. Our reanalysis is prompted by the advent of adaptive optics (AO) systems that reduce image motion and higher-order aberrations, by the availability of liquid crystals as modulation devices, and by the need to understand how best to design polarimeters for future telescopes such as the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope. In this first attempt to understand the major issues, we analyze the influence of residual image motion (tip-tilt) corrections of operational AO systems on the cross talk between Stokes parameters and present results for several polarization analysis schemes. Higher-order wave-front corrections are left for future research. We also restrict our discussion to the solar photosphere, which limits several important parameters of interest, using some recent magnetoconvection simulations.

Tracing the history of nuclear releases: determination of 129I in tree rings.

Concentrations of the long-lived radioisotope 1291 were measured in dated tree rings in order to determine whether the distribution of this isotope reflects the history of nuclear deposition. 129I concentrations and 129I/127I ratios were analyzed in tree rings and bark samples from four trees at West Valley, NY, and from one tree at Rochester, NY. West Valley was the site of short-lived nuclear fuel reprocessing activities (1966-1972), while Rochester, located 115 km to the northeast, provided a regional control site for the study. The selected trees reflect different modes of fluid and nutrient transport in trees, with three species of ring-porous trees (elm, oak, and locust), one semidiffuse (cherry), and one diffuse-porous tree (maple). The results show that 1291 levels in ring-porous trees, in which xylem or hydrologic tissue is localized in the outermost growth ring, are generally well correlated with the expected 1291 deposition pattern for the region. In contrast, tree rings of the more common semidiffuse to diffuse-porous wood, where xylem is disseminated throughout the trunk, show a less well developed 129I signal, probably due to the transport of iodine ions across annual rings. Iodine concentrations in the tree rings range from 0.04 to 2 mg/kg, 129I/127I ratios from 6 x 10(-10) to 3.8 x 10(-6). Tree bark and the outermost rings show significantly higher 129I concentrations than the wood of the trunk. The 129I/127I ratios for bark are very similar to values obtained for surface soil and water at the two localities, while inner rings have ratios similar to those in deeper layers of the soil, reflecting different pathways for 129I uptake and the differences in ambient 1291 levels between the atmosphere and deep soil. Although ring porous trees preserve the depositional pattern of nuclear releases, rings older than or close to the onset of the nuclear age have 129I/127I ratios significantly above the preanthropogenic level, suggesting that even in these trees some redistribution of 129I occurs throughout the trunk. Our results indicate that growth rings from ring-porous wood are useful in time-series analyses of regional 129I deposition, yielding reliable information on relative changes in 129I concentrations but requiring caution in the reconstruction of absolute ambient concentrations during any given time.