Shigeo Ohba

MYCOBACTERIOSIS IN TWO CAPTIVE FLORIDA MANATEES (TRICHECHUS MANATUS LATIROSTRIS)

Abstract Two male Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) died at the marine aquarium in Inagi City, Tokyo, Japan. Acid-fast bacteria were demonstrated in tuberculoid nodules in the lungs from both manatees. Mycobacterium marinum and M. fortuitum were isolated from one manatee; M. marinum and M. kansasii were cultured from the second animal. This report confirms the pathogenicity and potentially fatal outcome of mycobacterial infection in manatees. In addition, the pathologic response to infection with these mycobacteria in manatees is similar to that associated with Mycobacterium spp. in other animals.

LINGUAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA IN A CALIFORNIA SEA LION (ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS)

Abstract A 28-yr-old female California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) in a commercial aquarium developed an ulcerated lingual tumor and died. Necropsy revealed a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining and electron microscopic studies revealed that the tumor cells were strongly positive with anti–keratin-cytokeratin antibody and had abundant tonofibrils and desmosomes. The neoplasm had metastasized to a mandibular lymph node.

Early diagnosis of feline medulloblastoma in the vermis

+ 90 per cent or more strains positive, 90 per cent or more strains negative, d 11 to 89 per cent strains positive, Brackets Delayed reaction, w Weak reaction, ND Not determined, S Susceptible, R Resistant, a 89 per cent and 80 per cent of canine strains positive for maltose and mannitol acidification, respectively (M. Bes, unpublished data). Phenotypical characteristics were determined using standard methods (Freney and others 1999)

Identification and characterization of ten polymorphic microsatellite loci in the red panda Ailurus fulgens

Ten polymorphic microsatellite loci were characterized from two genomic DNA-enriched libraries of the red panda (Ailurus fulgens). The number of observed alleles among 35 samples of red pandas ranged from five to 12. Observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.286–0.971 and 0.443–0.894, and the mean polymorphic information content was 0.712. All loci followed Hardy–Weinberg expectations except Aifu-14 and Aifu-16, which may due to the presence of inbreeding or null alleles. Three pairs of loci exhibited significant linkage disequilibrium after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. These microsatellites would be useful to strengthen population management, genetic diversity exploration, and demographic history speculation of this species.