The kinds of Aeromonas hydrophila-2

by : Elfahry

5. Associated Foods:
A. hydrophila has frequently been found in fish and shellfish. It has also been found in market samples of red meats (beef, pork, lamb) and poultry. Since little is known about the virulence mechanisms of A. hydrophila, it is presumed that not all strains are pathogenic, given the ubiquity of the organism.

6. Relative Frequency of Disease:
The relative frequency of A. hydrophila disease in the U.S. is unknown since efforts to ascertain its true incidence have only recently been attempted. Most cases have been sporadic rather than associated with large outbreaks, but increased reports have been noted from several clinical centers.

7. Course of Disease and Complications:
On rare occasions the dysentery-like syndrome is severe and may last for several weeks.
A. hydrophila may spread throughout the body and cause a general infection in persons with impaired immune systems. Those at risk are individuals suffering from leukemia, carcinoma, and cirrhosis and those treated with immunosuppressive drugs or who are undergoing cancer chemotherapy.

8. Target Populations:
A. hydrophila can be recovered from most foods by direct plating onto a solid medium containing starch as the sole carbohydrate source and ampicillin to retard the growth of most competing microorganisms.

9. Food Analysis:
All people are believed to be susceptible to gastroenteritis, although it is most frequently observed in very young children. People with impaired immune systems or underlying malignancy are susceptible to the more severe infections.

10. Selected Outbreaks:
Literature references can be found at the links below.
Most cases have been sporadic, rather than associated with large outbreaks.
For information on recent outbreaks see the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports from CDC.

11. Education and Background Resources:
Literature references can be found at the links below.

Loci index for genome Aeromonas hydrophila
Available from the GenBank Taxonomy database, which contains the names of all organisms that are represented in the genetic databases with at least one nucleotide or protein sequence.

12. Molecular Structural Data:
None currently available.

Reff from :

CDC/MMWR
The CDC/MMWR link will provide a list of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports at CDC relating to this organism or toxin. The date shown is the date the item was posted on the Web, not the date of the MMWR. The summary statement shown are the initial words of the overall document. The specific article of interest may be just one article or item within the overall report.
NIH/PubMed
The NIH/PubMed button at the top of the page will provide a list of research abstracts contained in the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database for this organism or toxin.
AGRICOLA
The AGRICOLA button will provide a list of research abstracts contained in the National Agricultural Library database for this organism or toxin.

The kinds of Aeromonas hydrophila - 1

Aeromonas hydrophila consist of :

1. Name of the Organism:
Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas caviae, Aeromonas sobria & (Aeromonas veronii?)

Aeromonas hydrophila is a species of bacterium that is present in all freshwater environments and in brackish water. Some strains of A. hydrophila are capable of causing illness in fish and amphibians as well as in humans who may acquire infections through open wounds or by ingestion of a sufficient number of the organisms in food or water.
Not as much is known about the other Aeromonas spp., but they too are aquatic microorganisms and have been implicated in human disease.

2. Nature of Acute Disease:
A. hydrophila may cause gastroenteritis in healthy individuals or septicemia in individuals with impaired immune systems or various malignancies.
A. caviae and A. sobria also may cause enteritis in anyone or septicemia in immunocompromised persons or those with malignancies.



3. Nature of Disease:
At the present time, there is controversy as to whether A. hydrophila is a cause of human gastroenteritis. Although the organism possesses several attributes which could make it pathogenic for humans, volunteer human feeding studies, even with enormous numbers of cells (i.e. 10^11), have failed to elicit human illness. Its presence in the stools of individuals with diarrhea, in the absence of other known enteric pathogens, suggests that it has some role in disease.

Likewise, A. caviae and A. sobria are considered by many as "putative pathogens," associated with diarrheal disease, but as of yet they are unproven causative agents.
Two distinct types of gastroenteritis have been associated with A. hydrophila: a cholera-like illness with a watery (rice and water) diarrhea and a dysenteric illness characterized by loose stools containing blood and mucus. The infectious dose of this organism is unknown, but SCUBA divers who have ingested small amounts of water have become ill, and A. hydrophila has isolated from their stools.
A general infection in which the organisms spread throughout the body has been observed in individuals with underlying illness (septicemia).

4. Diagnosis of Human Illness:
A. hydrophila can be cultured from stools or from blood by plating the organisms on an agar medium containing sheep blood and the antibiotic ampicillin. Ampicillin prevents the growth of most competing microorganisms. The species identification is confirmed by a series of biochemical tests. The ability of the organism to produce the enterotoxins believed to cause the gastrointestinal symptoms can be confirmed by tissue culture assays.

Cancer Cells

by : Rien Elfahri

This posting dedicated to people whoever have pain cause of cancer, expecially to my own sister in Sape Bima - that had been attacked by this terrible multi-hit.
Cancer cells appear differently than normal cells do under the microscope. Their nucleus is much larger than in normal cells, their chromosomes are irregular in distribution and the nucleoli in the nucleus are very prominent. When cancer cells are grown in culture in the lab they also appear different than normal cells. Rather than growing in neat single-layer sheets with one next to the other they grow more haphazardly. They have long processes that extend from the cells, they overlap one another and their shape is more rounded. Normal cells will continue to divide and grow in a culture plate until they touch a neighboring cell where they receive a signal to stop growing. Cancer cells, on the other hand, do not receive this signal and grow on top of each other forming piles of growing cells that resemble a tumor.
Normal cells require growth factors added to their growth medium to enable them to grow in culture. Cancer cells do not require the same amount of growth factors, possibly because they are able make their own growth factors. Normal human cells will grow for a short amount of time in culture and then die, while cancer cells tend to keep on growing. The term given for this ability is immortalization. Cancer cells in culture are immortalized or have unlimited growth potential.
Cancer cells also have a more immature appearance compared to normal cells. This is referred to as dedifferentiation, or they lack differentiation. As an embryo matures and develops, its cells differentiate. This means they take on more specific roles that are reflected in their appearance—kidney cells begin to look different than skin cells or breast cells. Cancer cells look less and less like the tissue they are part of and more like embryonic cells. They also produce embryonic proteins that are used as tumor markers such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha fetoprotein (AFP).

Pathology
Tumors - are either malignant or benign depending upon their invasiveness. Benign tumors are less aggressive, less likely to invade the surrounding tissue, less likely to metastasize (spread) and are slower growing. Although it sounds as if they pose no threat to the individual, this is not always the case. A tumor in the brain especially can be life threatening and put pressure on the brain as it grows. A benign tumor may also secrete hormones that in high levels can be toxic to the individual.
A malignant tumor is more aggressive, more invasive into the surrounding tissue, faster growing and more likely to metastasize. Malignant tumors usually kill the individual if they are not removed. The diagnosis as to whether a tumor is benign or malignant is done on a small sample of the tumor, called a biopsy. A pathologist will microscopically examine a thin, stained slice of the tissue. The tumor is graded, or given a number from 1 -4 that corresponds to its degree of malignancy, with 4 being the most malignant and 1 being benign. The more malignant the tumor, the less organized the cells of the tissue are and the more anaplastic or dedifferentiated they appear.
The tumor is also staged which refers to the amount it has spread. This is done both by gross examination of the patient and by microscopic examination of the tissue. The staging relates to the patient's prognosis. The best prognosis is if the tumor is confined to the epithelial layer of an organ and not spread into the basement membrane. The prognosis is worse if the tumor cells have spread to adjacent lymph nodes. As a tumor grows, it becomes capable of both invasion and metastasis.
An organ of the body consists of epithelial cells that are supported by a basement membrane. (Epithelial cells are cells that form the tissue that covers internal and external surfaces of the body and is found on skin and mucosal surfaces.) The basement membranes separate the epithelial cells from connective tissues that are rich in blood vessels. As the tumor enlarges, it can grow into the surrounding tissue, through the basement membrane and into blood or lymph vessels. This is a critical point in the growth of a tumor. Now, a small piece of tumor can break off and travel through the circulation until it receives a signal to attach to the vessel wall. It can then move through the vessel, into the tissue bed, where it grows to become a secondary tumor. This is termed metastasis. Two common locations for metastasizing tumors are the lungs and the liver.
Cancer can also involve the immune system and individuals with weakened immune systems are often at increased risk for developing cancer. AIDS patients, for example, are at increased risk for developing some cancers, such as Kaposi's sarcoma. As a cell becomes cancerous, it develops different antigens on its cell surface that should be recognized by the immune system and removed. For some reason, the immune system does not remove tumors. Probably, many cancer cells do develop in the body that are identified and removed by the immune system. It is not understood why this happens occasionally but not consistently. There have been documented cases of spontaneous tumor regression which may be due to activation of the immune system.
These unique antigens expressed on the surface of cancer cells can be used to the patient's advantage in treating cancer. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins produced in the laboratory from a single clone of a B cell, the type of cells of the immune system that make antibodies. Antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins, are proteins that help identify foreign substances to the immune system, such as bacteria or a virus. Antibodies work by binding to the foreign substance to mark it as foreign. The substance that the antibody binds to is called an antigen. Monoclonal antibodies that can recognize and attach to the specific antigens found on cancer cells are now being used to target cancer cells directly.
Unfortunately, cancer may go undiagnosed until it is quite advanced. This is because the body has many ways to adapt itself to damage and so symptoms are reduced for some time. Metastasis may be present by the time cancer is diagnosed. Symptoms of cancer include pain emanating from the organ being stretched, as well as fever and weakness. As the disease progresses, cachexia (the wasting that occurs due to starvation and debilitation caused by the cancer) may occur. The patient becomes unable to mount an anti-inflammatory response and infections occur. These infections become the cause of death in most cancer patients.

Carcinogenesis
How does a cancer cell become a cancer cell? Most scientists agree that cancer is a "multi-hit" process—a process that requires a series of genetic mutations that occur either spontaneously, are inherited or are caused by specific carcinogens. There are several stages in the development of cancer: initiation, promotion and progression.
•Initiation. During initiation, a carcinogen interacts with and damages the DNA. Repair can occur after this point and the process can be reversed.
•Promotion. Promotion causes reproduction or proliferation of these damaged cells, forming a mass of cells or a benign adenoma. This stage is still reversible and removal of the promoting agent can stop the expansion of the tumor mass.
•Progression. Progression, however, is irreversible and involves a number of sequential mutations in genes including oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. The end result of progression is a late adenoma that eventually converts to a malignant carcinoma.

References :

American Cancer Society, ed: Osteen, Robert T. Cancer Manual. Framingham, MA: The American Cancer Society, 1996.
McKinnell, Robert G, Ralph E. Parchment, Alan O. Perantoni, and G. Barry Pierce. The Biological Basis of Cancer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Templeton, Dennis J., and Robert A. Weinberg. "Principles of Cancer Biology." In Clinical Oncology, edited by Gerald P. Murphy, Walter Lawrence, and Raymond E. Lenhard. Atlanta, GA: The American Cancer Society, 1995.
Weinberg Robert A. One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins. New York: Basic Books, 1998.
El-fahribimantara.blogspot.com

Saving Coral Reefs Becomes a Tourism Priority

Snorkeling and DivingGREEN sea turtles, cascades of glittering reef fish, blooming coral pillars — countless travelers have come nose to nose with a thriving undersea universe while on vacation. But increasingly, divers and snorkelers are swimming
over bleached hunks of coral devastated by shore runoff or overfishing.

From the South Pacific to the Caribbean, coral reefs — which are among the most delicate of marine ecosystems — are bearing the brunt of climate change and other human-driven activities — including coastal development, deforestation
and unrestricted tourism. Now, many in the tourist industry are trying to halt the damage. And it is no wonder. The dollars involved in reef-based tourism are significant: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef alone draws about 1.9 million visitors a year, supporting a $4.2 billion industry. According to the Nature Conservancy, the annual economic value of coral reefs to world tourism is $9.6 billion.

Growing awareness of environmental issues means that the tourism industry has lately been a partner to conservation efforts in major reef areas. Though the Great Barrier is the most famous reef, it is not the most threatened; its extensive
marine management program is widely regarded as a model for conservation. It includes eco-certification programs for tourism operators within the boundaries of the marine park, environmental tourist fees, large no-take zones, species monitoring
and tourism industry contributions to the Great Barrier Reef’s main research center.
But the world’s second-largest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean, is seriously endangered by coastal development, runoff and pollution. The reef system stretches nearly 700 miles from the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico to the Bay Islands of Honduras. And reefs in the Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia — which reaches from Malaysia to the Philippines, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, encompassing some of the planet’s most diverse marine habitats — have been severely damaged by overfishing
and destructive practices, including the use of cyanide and dynamite to capture fish.
In 2004, the nonprofit group Conservation International began a program called the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative, which aims to address the threat that mass tourism poses to the Mesoamerican Reef by engaging hoteliers, developers,
cruise lines and local governments in Mexico, Belize and Honduras. There is special emphasis on the Riviera Maya of Mexico, where, less than nine miles offshore, the island of Cozumel is the world’s second most-visited cruise destination after Miami,
according to the International Council of Cruise Lines.

Last year, as part of the Mesoamerican Reef initiative’s efforts, the cruise line council began an effort to avoid wastewater discharge by cruise ships in environmentally sensitive areas.

“This program will ensure that cruise line wastewater is discharged at least four miles from any of the sensitive marine ecosystems within the Mesoamerican Reef system, thereby minimizing the chance such discharges will have negative
impact on the long-term health of the reef,” said Jamie Sweeting, who oversees Conservation International’s work with the travel industry.

The cruise industry is a particular area of concern, since ships regularly disgorge crowds of passengers into fragile coastal areas that strain to absorb the impact. Conservation International estimates that cruise passengers typically make about
2,000 scuba dives in and around Cozumel’s surrounding reefs in a single day.
“We’re working with the municipal government, the local dive and water sports association, and the cruise lines themselves, because they all have a vested interest to look after this coral reef,” Mr. Sweeting said.

Areas being addressed include the creation of a dedicated snorkeling zone in Cozumel to limit visitor impact to one section of the reef, and ensuring that park management fees are collected and put toward protection and management of marine areas. The Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative has also begun a program to evaluate and implement good business practices for conserving water and energy, reducing solid waste and managing chemicals at coastal hotels along the Riviera Maya and in southern Belize.

CRUCIAL partnerships between conservation groups and the tourism industry have also taken root in the Coral Triangle. In developing nations like Indonesia, where human and financial resources are slim, the cooperation of private tourism businesses has been instrumental in accomplishing reef conservation goals.

For example, Bunaken National Park, in north Sulawesi, is today managed in large part by a local association of dive operators who saw the declining quality of coral (and their livelihood) in the mid-1990s.

The Nature Conservancy’s Coral Triangle Center works at several sites in Indonesia, including the Raja Ampat Islands in Papua and Komodo National Park, a major protected marine area in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Komodo is now run by a nonprofit joint venture between the Nature Conservancy and a local tourism company. The joint venture, PT Putri Naga Komodo, was established in 2005.

Founded in 1980, the park is a World Heritage Site and protects the habitat of the Komodo dragon, as well as important whale migration routes between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The reefs are rich in coral species and home to up to 1,000
species of fish. “After a decade supporting conservation in Komodo National Park, the Nature Conservancy recognized the need for selfsufficiency,” said Marcus Matthews-Sawyer, director of tourism communications for the joint venture. “The idea was that a joint venture between a well-respected N.G.O. and local tourism company would be able to balance conservation concerns with the need to generate revenues to ensure the long-term sustainability of the park. ” Tourism has helped raise awareness of the destination and of the reefs’ biological importance. Blast fishing — using explosives
to stun or kill fish — is now prohibited within the park. The ban is credited with a 60 percent increase in hard coral coverage between 1996 and 2002, according to the Coral Triangle Center. The collection of conservation fees from tourists, about $15 a stay, is vital to sustaining park management. The partnership plans to have Komodo self-financed by park fees by 2012.

Though the dragon namely Komodo which lies in the island nearby Sape to Komodo Island of Indonesia’s greatest tourism assets — it is one of the most frequently visited nature reserves in the country — conservation work there is also necessary to protect young fish that are a source for surrounding fishing grounds.
Enforcement of the park zoning system, which restricts access to certain parts of the reefs, continues to be a challenge because of limited resources. But a major goal of the tourism partnership is supporting sustainable community use of the
reef area, which includes providing alternative livelihoods to destructive fishing.
“Tourism creates jobs and puts much-needed income into the hands of local people, including those who previously might only have made a living from fishing,” Mr. Matthews-Sawyer said.

All three reef systems — the Great Barrier Reef, the Mesoamerican Reef and the Coral Triangle — are jeopardized by the threat of global warming, which kills coral and leads to a bleaching effect. And while tourism cannot solve the problem of
rising sea temperatures, the industry’s cooperation to eliminate specific pressures — by establishing a well-enforced notake zone, or reducing wastewater pollution, for example — helps reefs recover from bleaching and disease. The contribution
of conservation fees to support the protected areas, which many businesses have long resisted, is also important.

To keep coral reefs from disappearing as quickly as they have in recent years, people need to be involved and educated on every level from local government to hotel developers to cruise lines, said Mr. Sweeting of Conservation International.
“It took Cancún 35 years to develop to this massive size, and it took less than a decade for the Riviera Maya,” he said. “But nature will not let you get away with it.”

Lakey and Wera Beach in Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara of Indonesia

Bima Distric - Each March to August, Lakey Beach always visited by foreign tourists. From Bali and Lombok, they switch to Sumbawa Island at Hu'u village in Kabupaten Dompu.
In surfing, they take pains bearable heavy equipment that can surf and enjoy the sensation wind surfing.Location approximately two hours drive from the airport Muhammad Salahuddin, must rent a car, trips Rp.500.000.

After bad happen Bali bombs, Lakey had become a quiet beach. Australia adventures who always visit Lakey beach diligently were fear to visit anymore. However, two years back Lakey life. This time, visitors came from countries in Latin America and Europe. They live up to a matter of weeks and months, before finally leaving again seek new challenges.

Lakey Beach - is known among the surfing fans in the world. The wave only six to eight meters. Less far from Hawaii which have wave able to reach dozens of meters. However, Lakey has a special way because the waves to the left, not to the right as in the general sea. "To overcome this expertise needs to some own skills. The teritory has a little bit heavy because southpaw waves," said a tourist from Brazil found that middle dab face with protective sun cream.
Lakey at the end of August still leaving roller although not high enough in the best month, March to June. Dozens of tourists seemed busy stimulate their adrenalin, with the launch event ran in the sand carpet.

From the city of Bima, Wera beach can reach about three hours, before eventually circle back to the starting point. Beaches in this the area Wara, Kabupaten Bima, really still natural.

In the blazing sun, water, marine blue shimmer with a curve of white beach on the lips. The Heat felt made the plants along the road without chocolate leaves wither. It's a guaranteed throughout the journey you will be stunned.Occasionally hand-side of the beach and cohesive terrain barren.
When entering the village, houses traditional of Bima stood intact. Completely with cows, horses, and other wild animal. It take 5 hours to drive from Bima City, a circle passing through Wera East Bima, certainly will not be futile. The views will be reminde with sticky in your memories.