1. Rat's age versus human's age: what is the relationship?
Nelson Adami Andreollo, Elisvânia Freitas dos Santos, Marina Rachel Araújo, Luiz Roberto Lopes Arq Bras Cir Dig. 2012 Jan-Mar;25(1):49-51. doi: 10.1590/s0102-67202012000100011.
Background: Millions of mice are used annually in research and teaching. The exact relationship between age of the animals compared with the age of humans is still subject to discussion and controversy. Objective: Literature review analyzing the age of rats in comparison with men age. Methods: Were reviewed the existing publications on the subject contained in Medline / PUBMED, SciELO, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Lilacs crossing the headings rats, experimental surgery and physiology. Results: Rats rapidly develop during childhood and become sexually mature at about six weeks old, but reach social maturity five to six months later. In adulthood, every month of the animal is approximately equivalent to 2.5 human years. Several authors performed experimental studies in rats and estimated 30 days of human life for every day life of the animal. Conclusion: The differences in anatomy, physiology, development and biological phenomena must be taken into consideration when analyzing the results of any research in rats when age is a crucial factor. Special care is necessary to be taken when the intention is to produce correlation with human life. For this, special attention is needed to verify the phase in days of the animal and its correlation with age in years of humans.
2. Dialogue between skin microbiota and immunity
Yasmine Belkaid, Julia A Segre Science. 2014 Nov 21;346(6212):954-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1260144.
Human skin, the body's largest organ, functions as a physical barrier to bar the entry of foreign pathogens, while concomitantly providing a home to myriad commensals. Over a human's life span, keratinized skin cells, immune cells, and microbes all interact to integrate the processes of maintaining skin's physical and immune barrier under homeostatic healthy conditions and also under multiple stresses, such as wounding or infection. In this Review, we explore the intricate interactions of microbes and immune cells on the skin surface and within associated appendages to regulate this orchestrated maturation in the context of both host physiological changes and environmental challenges.
3. Streptococcus suis: an emerging zoonotic pathogen
Zhao-Rong Lun, Qiao-Ping Wang, Xiao-Guang Chen, An-Xing Li, Xing-Quan Zhu Lancet Infect Dis. 2007 Mar;7(3):201-9. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(07)70001-4.
Streptococcus suis is a major porcine pathogen worldwide, and can be transmitted to human beings by close contact with sick or carrier pigs. S suis causes meningitis, septicaemia, endocarditis, arthritis, and septic shock in both pigs and human beings, and mortality is high. Human infection with S suis occurs mainly among certain risk groups that have frequent exposure to pigs or pork. Outbreaks of human S suis infection are uncommon, although several outbreaks have occurred in China in recent years. In July, 2005, the largest outbreak of human S suis infection occurred in Sichuan province, China, where 204 people were infected and 38 of them died. There have been 409 cases of human S suis infection worldwide, most of which have occurred in China, Thailand, and the Netherlands, and these infections have led to 73 deaths. This review provides background information on the biology and molecular characteristics of this Gram-positive bacterium, and describes the clinical signs, pathology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of human infection with S suis.
