Background: The species of liver fluke of the genus Fasciola are obligatory parasites that inhabit the biliary ducts of herbivorous animals as well as human. Understanding genetic structure and status of genetic variation of F. hepatica populations has important implications for epidemiology and effective control of fasciolosis. Aim: To genetically characterize Fasciola isolates from different hosts from Assiut, Egypt using sequence analysis of the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Methods: Three adults F. hepatica were isolated from naturally infected sheep and fragments of Fasciola spp. were extracted from three human cases by ERCP (Endscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography). Genomic DNA was extracted from preserved flukes. Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a set of arbitrary primers was used to estimate genetic variation within the species. Ribosomal ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions of the isolates were amplified. The amplicons were sequenced at ITS-1 and ITS-2. Results: Both regions were amplified successfully for all samples and bands ranged between 400 bp and 650 bp were shown in all cases. Comparison of the obtained ITS sequences to those from known Fasciola species circulating globally and retrieved from GenBank revealed that the present worms were genetically identical (100%) with F. hepatica. Different isolates did not show any significant genetic variations in rDNA-ITS-1 and ITS-2 as all the sequences showed to be 100% identical. Conclusions: These findings have implications for studying the population genetics, epidemiology, diagnosis and control of fasciolosis especially in human.

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

Dexmedetomidine(Dex)isanovelAlpha2-adrenoceptor agonist. It decreases sympathetic tone and attenuates the stress responses to anesthesia and surgery. People exposed to cold suffer unpleasant thermal pain, which is experienced as stress and causes the release of noradrenaline from the sympathetic terminals. The present study investigated the effects of cold stress and dexmedetomidine on chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of the sciatic nerve in rats.Sixty four male Wistar rats were divided into seven groups of eight rats each: repeated cold stress(RCS) group, sham RCS group, CCI group, sham CCI group, Dex-treated group received a single dose of Dex(5 μg/kg), CCI +Dex group,CCI+RCS group.Interleukin-6(IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels in the serum were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbentassay. The mean body weight of CCI, RCS,CCI+RCS,CCI+Dex and RCS+Dex groups decreased significantly compared with pre-values. Dexmedetomidine and CCI caused significant changes of the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure.Both RCS and CCI groups showed significant decreased of reaction time in the hot plate test.The RCS and CCI groups demonstrated a significant mechanical hyperalgesia, while pain threshold was increased in the RCS+Dex group. A significant decrease of serum IL-6 and TNF-α was demonstrated in CCI +RCS and CCI+Dex groups. The therapeutic effectiveness of dexmedetomidine in neuropathic pain may be through inhibi- tion of proinflammatory cytokines, primarily IL-6 and TNF-α. Moreover, cold stress may result in increased resistance to neuropathic pain.

NULL