As American entomologists, we are often unaware of how insects are integrated into other cultures. In Asia, insects first appeared on traditional Chinese and Japanese ornamental artwork dating before 600 A.D. (Crambfrot, 1994). During the Meiji period (1868-1912), mushiya, or insect shops, sold collecting equipment and singing insects in cages (Laurent, 2001). Although there are no longer insec...

AIMS To characterise patients with birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) clinically and electrophysiologically in order to monitor changes in retinal function before and after treatment with corticosteroids and/or immunosuppression. METHODS 18 patients with BCR were characterised clinically and electrophysiologically. Serial studies were performed on 14 patients in order to monitor changes in reti...

932 CMAJ, May 17, 2011, 183(8) © 2011 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors A29-year-old man presented with nonpainful white lesions on his tongue that he had recently noticed while brushing his teeth. Testing for oral candidal infection by his general practitioner was negative. The patient was feeling otherwise healthy and had no further complaints. Clinical examination showed bilatera...

Availability of snake genome sequences has opened up exciting areas of research on comparative genomics and gene diversity. One of the challenges in studying snake genomes is the acquisition of biological material from live animals, especially from the venomous ones, making the process cumbersome and time-consuming. Here, we report comparative sequence analyses of putative toxin gene homologs f...

It is demonstrated that carboxypeptidase Y can be used to exchange the C-terminal alanyl residue of porcine insulin with a threonyl residue, thus forming human insulin. Using threonine amide as nucleophile, the reaction proceeds as a transpeptidation via human insulin amide, des(Ala)a30(Thr-NH2)a30insulin. However, since the amidase activity of carboxypeptidase Y towards this particular insulin...

Aims: To characterise patients with birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) clinically and electrophysiologically in order to monitor changes in retinal function before and after treatment with corticosteroids and/or immunosuppression. Methods: 18 patients with BCR were characterised clinically and electrophysiologically. Serial studies were performed on 14 patients in order to monitor changes in reti...

totally, 3200 and 320 young worker bees were investigated morphologically and molecularly respectively. the four important honey bee microsatellite loci, a24, a28, a29, a113, indicated a considerable level of genetic diversity among the nation’s northwest honey bee populations and, considering average number of alleles per locus (3.25-5.75) and, average expected heterozygosity (0.445-0.701) hig...