Costellonikolajsen3855

e., venom-microbiomics) and introduce iVAMP, the Initiative for Venom Associated Microbes and Parasites (https//ivamp-consortium.github.io/), as a growing collaborative consortium. We express commitment to the diversity, inclusion and scientific collaboration among researchers interested in this emerging subdiscipline through expansion of the iVAMP consortium.The Ceylon krait (Bungarus ceylonicus) is a highly venomous elapid snake endemic to Sri Lanka. Its bites are rare and only seven reports are found in the literature. Therefore, the clinical manifestations and natural history of envenoming of Ceylon krait are not well studied yet. Neuroparalysis is the main clinical manifestation of their bites. We report two cases of proven Ceylon krait bites of two young snake keepers working in a serpentarium. They developed acute neuroparalysis, abdominal pain and a period of amnesia. The first patient developed myalgia and increased level of serum creatine kinase suggestive of rhabdomyolysis. One was treated with Indian polyvalent antivenom and both recovered with some long-lasting clinical disabilities namely impairment of sensation of the bitten arm and persistent refraction errors in the eyes in the first patient. The second patient had persistent marked nystagmus.We describe two dogs with persistent visual impairment after initially mild intoxication signs following ingestion of Ornithogalum arabicum plant material. Additionally, a 12-year analysis of the Dutch Poisons Information Centre database additionally reveals that ingestion of Ornithogalum plant material can be potentially life-threatening to companion animals. Proteasome inhibitor Further studies are necessary to confirm the involvement of cardiac glycoside-like toxins present in Ornithogalum arabicum and the toxicity of these substances to the retina.In the present work, venoms from five species of the genus Agkistrodon were evaluated in terms of their enzymatic (Phospholipase A2 and caseinolytic) and biological (edema forming, hemorrhagic, procoagulant and lethal) effects. Horses were used to produce monovalent hyperimmune sera against each of three venoms (A. bilineatus, A. contortrix and A. piscivorus) and their neutralizing potency, expressed as Median Effective Dose (ED50), was determined against the venoms of all five species. In terms of PLA2 and caseinolytic activities, all venoms are extremely homogeneous. PLA2 activity is high, while caseinolytic activity is low when in contrast with that of the rattlesnake Crotalus simus. On the other hand, biological activities showed marked interspecific differences, particularly between the species from Mexico and those from the United States. Mexican species displayed higher edema-forming, hemorrhagic and lethal effects than US species, while none of the species studied presented procoagulant activity. All three monovalent hyperimmune sera showed good neutralizing potency against the analyzed venoms. Nonetheless, we observed relevant immunochemical differences among the venoms using ELISA and Western Blot assays. We conclude that the venoms of A. piscivorus (USA) and A. bilineatus would be ideal to use as immunogens for the production of a polyvalent antivenom with good neutralizing potency against the venoms of all the species of the genus.Clare's (1952) classification system for photosensitisation diseases (types I, II, III and Uncertain) has endured many years of use despite some confusion regarding his secondary, or type III, category, as well as the more recent discovery of two mechanisms (types I and II) of phototoxicity. Therefore, to reduce confusion in terminology, I propose that Clare's four groups be known as primary (or direct), secondary (indirect or hepatogenous), endogenous (aberrant porphyrin synthesis), and idiopathic. The use of the word type can then be reserved for the mechanisms of phototoxicity. Clare's (1952, 1955) papers listed three plants as primary photosensitisers and three as idiopathic. In the literature, several other plants have been associated with photosensitisation in farm animals. Most of these are likely to have a primary pathogenesis; however, the weight of evidence for all but a few is sparse. With respect to plants (and certain mycotoxins and insects) implicated in primary photosensitisation outbreaks, McK association of the same and similar anthraquinones as the most likely phototoxins in alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides).Background The accurate identification of the exon/intron boundaries is critical for the correct annotation of genes with multiple exons. Donor and acceptor splice sites (SS) demarcate these boundaries. Therefore, deriving accurate computational models to predict the SS are useful for functional annotation of genes and genomes, and for finding alternative SS associated with different diseases. Although various models have been proposed for the in silico prediction of SS, improving their accuracy is required for reliable annotation. Moreover, models are often derived and tested using the same genome, providing no evidence of broad application, i.e. to other poorly studied genomes. Results With this in mind, we developed the Splice2Deep models for SS detection. Each model is an ensemble of deep convolutional neural networks. We evaluated the performance of the models based on the ability to detect SS in Homo sapiens, Oryza sativa japonica, Arabidopsis thaliana, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhabditis elegans. Results demonstrate that the models efficiently detect SS in other organisms not considered during the training of the models. Compared to the state-of-the-art tools, Splice2Deep models achieved significantly reduced average error rates of 41.97% and 28.51% for acceptor and donor SS, respectively. Moreover, the Splice2Deep cross-organism validation demonstrates that models correctly identify conserved genomic elements enabling annotation of SS in new genomes by choosing the taxonomically closest model. Conclusions The results of our study demonstrated that Splice2Deep both achieved a considerably reduced error rate compared to other state-of-the-art models and the ability to accurately recognize SS in other organisms for which the model was not trained, enabling annotation of poorly studied or newly sequenced genomes. Splice2Deep models are implemented in Python using Keras API; the models and the data are available at https//github.com/SomayahAlbaradei/Splice_Deep.git.