A one-year-old, female, Maltese dog was presented with head tilting, horizontal nystagmus, and tetraparesis. Blindness was first identified, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning revealed diffuse lesion which was hyperintense on T2-weighted image over the cerebellum and brainstem. The immunosuppressive therapy had been administered, but the patient had no improvement. Re-performed MRI revealed the progression of the pre-existed inflammatory lesions. Treatment with prednisolone, leflunomide, cyclosporine, and cytosine arabinoside was initiated. However, neurological signs had been progressive, and the patient was euthanized. The histopathological examination revealed the disseminated granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis (GME). This GME case suggests the importance of initiation of treatment at the appropriate time.

We sequenced 15,803 bp of the leaf-rolling-weevil, Apoderus jekelii (Coleoptera: Attelabidae) mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) that lacked ~8,000 bp of the A+T-rich region for the completion of the genomic sequence. The A. jekelii mitogenome, which includes 1,169 bp of A+T-rich region, possesses typical sets of genes [13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, and 2 rRNA genes]. Phylogenetic analyses using the eight concatenated PCG sequences, which are commonly available for the mitogenome sequences of Curculionoidea, revealed Attelabidae as monophyletic, as well as the sister relationship between current A. jekelii and congeneric species A. coryli in Attelabidae, with the highest nodal supports both in Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods. In order to gain a more comprehensive picture of the phylogenetic relationships among the lineages of Attelabidae, an extended analysis with more taxonomic sampling will be necessary. †These authors contributed equally to this paper.

담관 낭종은 담관에 발생하는 선천성 담관 확장증을 의미하며, 담도계에 발생하는 비교적 드문 질환이다. 담관 낭종과 관련된 합병증으로는 담석 형성, 담관염, 췌장염이 있으며, 무엇 보다도 담관암이 발생할 수 있어서 낭종 절제술 같은 외과적 절제가 치료 원칙이다. 담관 낭종을 수술한 후에도 담관 낭종 의 불완전 절제로 인해 남아있는 낭종에서 담도계 암이 발생 하는 경우가 종종 있다. 저자들은 담관 낭종으로 수술받은 후 일부 남아있는 췌장내 총담관 부위 낭종에서 수술 15년 후 담관암이 발생한 1예를 경험하여 보고하고자 한다. 이 증례는 담관 낭종의 치료로써 완전 절제의 중요성과 정기적인 추적 검사의 필요성을 일깨워준다고 볼 수 있다.

Branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas (BD-IPMN) without malignant features rarely developed into invasive cancer. However, invasive cancer is aggressive once an invasive change occurs. We report three cases of invasive cancers which developed in patients with BD-IPMN and they showed grave clinical courses. All patients were diagnosed with BD-IPMN < 3 cm without malignant features on imaging. Invasive cancer was detected at 2.5 years, 3.0 years, and 4.0 years after BD-IPMN detection in each patient. The intervals of invasive cancer and the last follow-up were 9 months, 3 years, and 1.5 years in the three patients, respectively. All patients were diagnosed with locally advanced pancreas invasive cancers and were treated with palliative chemotherapy or conservative management. The patients died at 3 months, 9 months, and 10 months after the diagnosis of invasive cancers, respectively. We report three cases of invasive cancer developed in BD-IPMN patients and followed fatal courses.

In Hymenoptera, thanks to its haplodiploid sex determination, arrhenotokous parasitoid females are able to control offspring sex ratio by determining whether to use sperm or not at the time of oviposition. However, the offspring sex ratio may also be influenced by the mating behavior of a male. When a male searches females, he will have more chances to encounter with other males in a high male density population than low male density population. If the male is competitive, the male can find females faster and may have longer copulation time, and eventually transfer more sperm than other males. In this study, we investigated mate searching time, copulation duration and offspring sex ratio as a function of the male density. Although the results show difference between searching time and copulation duration, they are not statistically significant. We will discuss the statistical consequence, male density dependent offspring sex ratio and its evolutionary implications.

SERPINB3 (also known Squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1, SCCA1) is involved in apoptosis, immune response, cell migration and invasiveness of cells. It has been investigated in various types of squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore we investigated the functional role of SERPINB3 gene in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) using laying hens, the most relevant animal model. In 136 laying hens, EOC was found in 10 (7.4%). We compared the expression and localization of SERPINB3 using RT-PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and SERPINB3 activation was detected in chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines using immunofluorescence microscopy. Thereafter, we examined the prognostic value of SERPINB3 expression in patients with EOC by multivariate linear logistic regression and Cox’ proportional hazard analyses. In present study, SERPINB3 mRNA was induced in cancerous ovaries (p< 0.01), and it was only expressed in the glandular epithelium(GE) of cancerous ovaries of laying hens. SERPINB3 protein was localized predominantly to the nucleus of glandular epithelium in cancerous ovaries of laying hens, and it was abundant in the nucleus of both chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines. In 109 human patients with EOC, 15 (13.8%), 66 (60.6%) and 28 (25.7%) of those patients showed weak, moderate and strong expression of SERPINB3 protein, respectively. Strong expression of SERPINB3 protein was a prognostic factor for platinum resistance (adjusted OR, 5.94; 95% Confidence Limits, 1.21-29.15). Therefore SERPINB3 may play an important role in ovarian carcinogenesis and be a novel biomarker for predicting platinum resistance and a poor prognosis for survival in patients with EOC. This research was funded by the World Class University (WCU) program (R31-10056), Basic Science Research Program (2010- 0013078) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No.PJ008142), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Serpins are a superfamily of related protease inhibitors with common structural features and inhibitory mechanisms. However, SERPINA 14 in mammals does not have inhibitory activity against most known proteases. Rather, it may have an immunoregulatory role in mammals to prevent rejection of the fetal allograft by inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation and natural killer cell function. In the pig, SERPINA14 is involved in iron transport to the fetus by binding to and stabilizing the iron-binding protein uteroferrin (ACP5). In chickens, these very little known about serpins in chickens. Therefore, we investigated the expression patterns of serpin genes in the oviduct of adult hens and in the oviduct of 37-day-old chicks treated with an estrogen analogue, diethylstilbestrol (DES). Results indicated that SERPINB3 and SERPINB11 genes were highly expressed in oviducts of DES-treated chicks, but not in oviducts of control chicks. Both SERPINB3 and SERPINB11 transcripts were localized specifically to the gland-like areas of oviducts of DES-treated chicks. Immunohistochemical analyses confirmed that SERPINB3 and SERPINB11 proteins were present in the gland-like area and luminal epithelium of the oviducts of DES-treated chicks. Collectively, the results suggest that SERPINB3 and SERPINB11 are expressed in response to estrogens and they have distinct functions related to development and differentiation of the mature oviduct in hens.

S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase-like protein 1 (AHCYL1), also known as IP3 receptor- binding protein released with IP3 (IRBIT), is a member of the AHCY-like protein family. AHCYL1 protein regulates IP3-induced Ca2+ release in the cytoplasm of cells and, therefore, is likely to be an important gene regulating various biological processes in the oviduct of chickens. Inmammals, expression is greatest during activation of dendritic cells which are antigen presenting cells associated with immunoregulatory processes in blood and skin. However, the identification of the AHCYL1 gene in chickens has not been investigated. In the present study, we first used RT-PCR to demonstrate AHCYL1 gene expression in adult chicken organs and oviducts of immature chickens treated with DES (diethylstilbesterol, a synthetic estrogen agonist). The results indicated that AHCYL1 mRNA is expressed in chicken reproductive organs (testis, ovary and oviduct). Inaddition, expression of AHCYL1 mRNA increased in response to DES-treated immature oviducts compared to the non-treated control immature oviducts of chickens. Interestingly, AHCYL1 was abundant in the cytoplasm of luminal and glandular epithelia, but not in other cell-types such as stroma and connective tissues, of the chicken oviduct. These results suggest that AHCYL1 is a novel estrogen-stimulated gene associated with development of the chicken oviduct, as well as functions of oviductal glandular and luminal epithelia that may include activation of resident immune cells, such as dendritic cells.