Five new stilbenoids, vatalbinosides A-E (1-5), and 13 known compounds (6-18) were isolated from the stem of Vatica albiramis. The effects of these new compounds on interleukin-1β-induced production of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in human dermal fibroblasts were examined. Three resveratrol tetramers, (-)-hopeaphenol (6), vaticanol C (13), and stenophyllol C (14), were identified as strong inhibitors of MMP-1 production.
Background: Dirofilaria ursi is a filarial nematode that parasitizes the subcutaneous tissues of the American black bear (Ursus americanus) and Japanese black bear (Ursus thiabetanus japonicus). D. ursi that has parasitized black bears has the potential to subsequently infect humans. In addition, extra-gastrointestinal anisakiasis is less common in Japan.
Case presentation: We report a case of ventral subcutaneous anisakiasis and dorsal subcutaneous dirofilariasis that was acquired in Fukushima, in the northern part of Japan. The patient was an 83-year-old Japanese female, and subcutaneous parasitic granulomas were present on her left abdomen (near the navel) and left scapula. A pathological examination of the surgically dissected tissue sections from each region demonstrated eosinophilic granulomas containing different species of parasites. To enable the morphological and molecular identification of these parasites, DNA was extracted from paraffin-embedded sections using DEXPAT reagent, and the cytochrome oxidase 2 (COX2), internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1), 5.8S and ITS2 regions of the Anisakis larvae, and the 5S rRNA region of the male Dirofilaria were sequenced. The PCR products were examined and compared with DNA databases. Molecular analysis of the COX2 and 5S rRNA sequences of each worm revealed that the nematode found in the ventral region belonged to Anisakis simplex sensu stricto (s.s.) and the male Dirofilaria found in the dorsal region was classified as D. ursi.
Conclusion: The present case showed a combined human case of D. ursi and A. simplex s.s. infections in subcutaneous tissues. The results of this study will contribute to the identification of unknown parasites in histological sections.
The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.