Cyathostomins are ubiquitous nematodes of horses. Once ingested, they can spend a substantial time as encysted larvae in the intestinal wall. The larvae can comprise up to 90% of the total burden, with up to several million worms reported in individuals. These stages can emerge in large numbers to cause life-threatening colitis. Direct methods for detection of encysted larval burdens in live horses do not exist. Previously, two antigen complexes were identified as promising markers for infection. A component of these, cyathostomin gut associated larval antigen-1 (Cy-GALA-1), was identified following immunoscreening of a complementary DNA library. Serum immunoglobulin G(T) (IgG(T)) responses to Cy-GALA-1 were shown to inform on larval infection. Sequence analysis of polymerase chain reaction products amplified from individual worms indicated that Cy-GALA-1 was derived from Cyathostomum pateratum. As cyathostomin infections always comprise multiple species, a diagnostic test must account for this. Here, segments of the Cy-gala gene were isolated from four common species, Cyathostomum catinatum, Cylicocyclus ashworthi, Cylicostephanus goldi and Cylicostephanus longibursatus, and the associated proteins expressed in recombinant form. The specificity and immunogenicity of each protein was confirmed. Each protein was assessed by enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) for its ability for informing on the presence of encysted larval infection and the level of burden.

The effects of a stressful challenge on the processing of emotional words were examined in college students. Stress induction was achieved using a competitive computer task, where the individual either repeatedly lost or won against a confederate. Mood, attention, and cortisol were recorded during the study. There were four findings: (1) Participants in the negative stressor condition were faster to shift attention away from negative words than positive or neutral words; (2) attentional shifts away from negative words were associated with stress-induced mood lowering; (3) participants in the negative stress condition with elevated scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were slow to disengage attention from all stimuli; and (4) elevated depression scores were associated with lower cortisol change from baseline during the experimental phase, and with higher cortisol levels during the recovery phase. These findings point to information-processing strategies as a means to regulate emotion, and to atypical features of cognitive and adrenocortical function that may serve as putative risk markers of depression.

Neonatal cerebral white matter echolucencies predict visual resolution acuity deficits in very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants. We examined maternal sociodemographic, lifestyle, intrapartum, infant birth/perinatal, and ocular motor/refractive characteristics to determine whether they accounted for this association in infants who were tested once between postnatal age 25 and 56 weeks (corrected for gestational age at birth). Cranial ultrasound scans were read by consensus to identify echolucency in a population of VLBW infants with no known ocular abnormalities. Visual resolution acuity was measured with the Acuity Card Procedure (ACP) in 14 infants with echolucency and compared with that of 81 VLBW infants born in the same hospitals with normal ultrasound scans. In time-oriented logistic regression models, echolucency remained a consistent predictor of abnormal visual resolution acuity after adjustment for covariates in three developmental periods (pre-, peri-, and postnatal). Odds ratios ranged from 19.3 (95% confidence interval, 4.5 to 82.2; p=0.001) to 10.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 81.9; p=0.03). Reduced visual resolution acuity in VLBW infants appears to be due to cerebral white matter damage.

The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) was an important prehistoric trade item in northern Mexico and southwestern United States. Paquimé (or Casas Grandes) in northwestern Chihuahua has been assumed to have dominated or even monopolized the macaw trade. This conclusion is a result of the fact that Paquimé is the only site with evidence of substantial macaw-breeding facilities. Two recent archaeological projects in Chihuahua indicate that macaw production was not limited to Casas Grandes. Furthermore, the political relations of production for these ritually and economically important birds differed depending on whether or not the producers were part of the complex polity centered at Casas Grandes.