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Phocine Distemper
''Phocine morbillivirus'', formerly ''phocine distemper virus'' (PDV), is a paramyxovirus of the genus ''Morbillivirus'' that is pathogenic for pinniped species, particularly seals. Clinical signs include laboured breathing, fever and nervous symptoms. PDV was first identified in 1988 as the cause of death of 18,000 harbor seals (''Phoca vitulina'') and 300 grey seals (''Halichoerus grypus'') along the northern European coast. In 2002, an epizootic of PDV along the North Sea coast resulted in the deaths of 21,700 seals, estimated to be 51% of the population. Antibodies to PDV have been found in a number of carnivorous mammal species in the Western North Atlantic, including polar bears, and the Atlantic walrus. The suddenness of the emergence of PDV and related viruses in aquatic mammals has implicated environmental changes as the cause. Pollutants have been posited as contributors by interfering with the ability of animals to mount a defense against infection. Alternatively, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polydnavirus
A polydnavirus (PDV) is a member of the family (biology), family ''Polydnaviridae'' of insect viruses. There are two genera in the family: ''Bracovirus'' and ''Ichnovirus''. Polydnaviruses form a symbiotic relationship with parasitoid wasps; (ichnoviruses (IV) occur in Ichneumonidae, ichneumonid wasps and bracoviruses (BV) in Braconidae, braconid wasps). The larvae of wasps in both of those groups are themselves parasitic on Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), and the polydnaviruses are important in circumventing the immune response of their parasitized hosts. Little or no sequence homology exists between BV and IV, suggesting that the two genera have been evolving independently for a long time. Taxonomy The genus contains the following genera: * ''Bracovirus'' * ''Ichnovirus'' Structure Viruses in ''Polydnaviridae'' are viral envelope, enveloped, with prolate ellipsoid and cylindrical geometries. Genomes are circular and segmented, composed of multiple segments of double-str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Immunohistochemistry
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the most common application of immunostaining. It involves the process of selectively identifying antigens (proteins) in cells of a tissue section by exploiting the principle of antibodies binding specifically to antigens in biological tissues. IHC takes its name from the roots "immuno", in reference to antibodies used in the procedure, and "histo", meaning tissue (compare to immunocytochemistry). Albert Coons conceptualized and first implemented the procedure in 1941. Visualising an antibody-antigen interaction can be accomplished in a number of ways, mainly either of the following: * ''Chromogenic immunohistochemistry'' (CIH), wherein an antibody is conjugated to an enzyme, such as peroxidase (the combination being termed immunoperoxidase), that can catalyse a colour-producing reaction. * '' Immunofluorescence'', where the antibody is tagged to a fluorophore, such as fluorescein or rhodamine. Immunohistochemical staining is widely used in the dia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramyxoviridae
''Paramyxoviridae'' (from Ancient Greek, Greek ''para-'' “by the side of” and ''myxa'' “mucus”) is a family of negative-strand RNA viruses in the order ''Mononegavirales''. Vertebrates serve as natural hosts. Diseases associated with this family include measles, mumps, and respiratory tract infections. The family has four subfamilies, 17 genera, and 78 species, three genera of which are unassigned to a subfamily. Structure Virions are enveloped and can be spherical or pleomorphic and capable of producing filamentous virions. The diameter is around 150 nm. Genomes are linear, around 15kb in length. Fusion proteins and attachment proteins appear as spikes on the virion surface. Matrix proteins inside the envelope stabilise virus structure. The nucleocapsid core is composed of the genomic RNA, nucleocapsid proteins, phosphoproteins and polymerase proteins. Genome The genome is nonsegmented, negative-sense RNA, 15–19 kilobases in length, and contains six to 10 gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morbillivirus
''Morbillivirus'' is a genus of viruses in the order ''Mononegavirales'', in the family ''Paramyxoviridae''. Humans, dogs, cats, cattle, seals, and cetaceans serve as natural hosts. This genus includes seven species. Diseases in humans associated with viruses classified in this genus include measles; in animals, they include acute febrile respiratory tract infection. In 2013, a wave of increased death among the Common bottlenose dolphin population was attributed to morbillivirus. Genus Structure Morbillivirions are enveloped, with spherical geometries. Their diameter is around 150 nm. Genomes are linear, around 15-16 kb in length. The genome codes for eight proteins. Life cycle Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Entry into the host cell is achieved by virus attaching to host cell. Replication follows the negative-stranded RNA virus replication model. Negative-stranded RNA virus transcription, using polymerase stuttering Polymerase stuttering is the process by which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinniped
Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared seals: sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals). There are 34 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage (descended from one ancestral line). Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora; their closest living relatives are musteloids (weasels, raccoons, skunks, and red pandas), having diverged about 50 million years ago. Seals range in size from the and Baikal seal to the and southern elephant seal male, which is also the largest member of the order Carnivora. Several species exh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harbor Seal
The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared seals, and true seals), they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic, Pacific Oceans, Baltic and North Seas. Harbor seals are brown, silvery white, tan, or gray, with distinctive V-shaped nostrils. An adult can attain a length of 1.85 m (6.1 ft) and a mass of up to . Blubber under the seal's skin helps to maintain body temperature. Females outlive males (30–35 years versus 20–25 years). Harbor seals stick to familiar resting spots or haulout sites, generally rocky areas (although ice, sand, and mud may also be used) where they are protected from adverse weather conditions and predation, near a foraging area. Males may fight over mates under water and on land. Females bear a single pup after a nine-month gestation, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Seal
The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or "earless seals". It is the only species classified in the genus ''Halichoerus''. Its name is spelled gray seal in the US; it is also known as Atlantic seal and the horsehead seal. Taxonomy There are two recognized subspecies of this seal: The type specimen of ''H. g. grypus'' (Zoological Museum of Copenhagen specimen ZMUC M11-1525, caught off the island of Amager, Danish part of the Baltic Sea) was believed lost for many years but was rediscovered in 2016, and a DNA test showed it belonged to a Baltic Sea specimen rather than from Greenland, as had previously been assumed (because it was first described in Otto Fabricius' book on the animals in Greenland: ''Fauna Groenlandica''). The name ''H. g. grypus'' was therefore transferred to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than long and wide, covering . It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power. The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Republic, and the British each sought to gain command of the North Sea and access t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antibody
An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the pathogen, called an antigen. Each tip of the "Y" of an antibody contains a paratope (analogous to a lock) that is specific for one particular epitope (analogous to a key) on an antigen, allowing these two structures to bind together with precision. Using this binding mechanism, an antibody can ''tag'' a microbe or an infected cell for attack by other parts of the immune system, or can neutralize it directly (for example, by blocking a part of a virus that is essential for its invasion). To allow the immune system to recognize millions of different antigens, the antigen-binding sites at both tips of the antibody come in an equally wide variety. In contrast, the remainder of the antibody is relatively constant. It only occurs in a few varia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Bear
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore. A boar (adult male) weighs around , while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the family (biology), family Odobenidae and genus ''Odobenus''. This species is subdivided into two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (''O. r. rosmarus''), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus (''O. r. divergens''), which lives in the Pacific Ocean. Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers, and their considerable bulk: adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic zone, benthic bivalvia, bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climate Change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane. Greenhouse gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight. Larger amounts of these gases trap more heat in Earth's lower atmosphere, causing global warming. Due to climate change, deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. Increased warming in the Arctic has contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss. Higher temperatures are also causing m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
