The purpose of this science of Art History research paper is to find out the meaning of Cats in Art. I have limited my studies to the Nationalmuseums picture gallery and found forty paintings with cats. I have chosen sixteen of these to furthur analyze typographically and chronologically from a symbolic perspective. The forty paintings from the Nationalmuseum were created during four centuries, with the first being painted in the Sixteenth Century. I have studied the cats dimensional placement in the picture, if the cat is in an outdoor or indoor environment, with people and if the cat is active or passive. I have studied which color the cat has in the motive, if it is painted on the left or right side of the picture and if the cat as at symbol enhances the motives.

Feline lipid metabolism is a topic for greater exploration due to this specie?s unique characteristics. Cats express limited Delta 6-desaturase activity necessary for conversion of linoleic acid (LA, 18:2n-6) to arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-6). The possibility exists that Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3n-6) may serve as a precursor of AA in reproductive tissues especially if coupled with chain elongation and a functionally active Delta 5-desaturase. In addition no research has been conducted regarding feline reproductive Delta 8-desaturase activity as an alternate to the production of AA. To investigate desaturation activities, a group of 26 adult female cats were randomly assigned into 1 of 3 groups based on the diet fed: High Linoleic Acid (HL, n=7), Low Linoleic Acid (LL, n=9), and High Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA, n=10).The diets were fed for 300 days prior to ovariohysterectomy at which time EDTA plasma and ovarian, uterine, and subcutaneous adipose tissues were collected. Homogenates of each tissue were prepared and frozen in aliquots at -80 degrees C. Total lipids were extracted from the plasma and tissue homogenates followed by phospholipid (PL) fractionation via thin layer chromatography and fatty acid (FA) analyses by gas chromatography. The Shapiro-Wilks test was used to determine normal distribution of FA data followed by One-Way ANOVA and Tukey multiple comparisons (p<0.05). Plasma PLs were significantly increased in both GLA and dihomo-Gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA, 20:3n-6Delta8,11,14) in the GLA group and statistically increased in 20:2n-6 and 20:3n-6(Delta5,11,14) in the HL group. Uterine tissue homogenates had significantly increased amounts of DGLA and AA, however ovarian tissue showed an increase of only DGLA. Adipose tissue FAs showed significantly high amounts of DGLA in the GLA group. It is concluded that a high GLA diet results in increased AA in uterine, but not ovarian, tissues and thus may supply eicosanoid precursors in support of reproduction. The presence of increased amounts of 20:3n-6(Delta5,11,14) and not AA in the plasma and uterine tissues in the HL group suggests that Delta6-desaturase cannot be induced and that Delta8-desaturase is not active when feeding high dietary LA. Furthermore, the increase in DGLA may provide an adipose storage reservoir for additional conversion under times of metabolic need. These data support the presence of a functionally active Delta5-desaturase in uterine, but not ovarian, tissues. The findings also suggest that increased dietary GLA may be used to meet the AA requirements for reproduction in cats in the absence of an animal based pre-formed source of AA.

Mammalian striate and circumstriate cortical neurons have long been understood as coding spatially localized retinal luminance variations, providing a basis for computing motion, stereopsis, and contours from the retinal image. However, such perceptual attributes do not always correspond to the retinal luminance variations in natural vision. Recordings from area 17 and 18 neurons revealed a specialized nonlinear processing stream that responded to stimulus attributes having no corresponding luminance variations. This nonlinear stream acts in parallel to the conventional luminance processing of single cortical neurons. The two streams were consistent in their preference for orientation and direction of motion, but distinct in processing spatial variations of the stimulus attributes. The ensemble of these neurons provides a combination of stimulus attributes with and without corresponding luminance variations.

The Postcentral gyrus of the brain of the cat has been studied with the technics of Nisel and Golgi. Qualitative data concerning packing densities and volumes of the nerve cells and of the glia, as welll as the distribution of the dendrites are reported. The existence of alternate dendritic and axonal layers has been demonstrated and the relationship of these layers to the stripes of Baillarger has been analyzed. / fr

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Staphylococci are important opportunistic pathogens often found in the microflora of skin and mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract of man and animals. The coagulase-positive species such as Staphylococcus aureus are capable of causing invasive (eg furuncles and bacteraemia) and non-invasive (food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome) conditions in humans. In animals, S. intermedius and S. aureus have been implicated in a variety of conditions including pyoderma in dogs, mastitis in cows and skin infections in horses with S. intermedius being responsible for more than 95% of staphylococcal infections in dogs. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in humans, animals and the environment, has become a cause for concern following the introduction of antimicrobial agents in clinical practice. Staphylococcal species, in particular, have developed or acquired antibiotic-resistance determinants to almost all the antimicrobial agents in clinical use today. In recent years there has been an increase in reports of the isolation of antibiotic-resistance staphylococci especially methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS), from cats and dogs. Cats and dogs are in close contact with humans, especially in advanced countries and therefore the possibility for transfer of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci from these animals to humans or vice versa may exist. The aims of this study were; to determine the species distribution and antibiotic sensitivity of staphylococci obtained from cats and dogs, to investigate the molecular basis of resistance and to examine the genetic relatedness of specific resistant isolates. Many studies have shown that S. intermedius and S. simulans (S. felis) are the predominante species on healthy dogs and cats, respectively, and lesions in these animals are caused by S. aureus and S. intermedius. In this study, a diverse range of coagulase-negative staphylococci was isolated from healthy animals but staphylococci from skin lesions of cats and dogs were identified mainly as S. intermedius as reported in the literature. A limited number of resistant isolates (~20%) were observed in this study and were mostly isolated from dogs. Investigations into the molecular basis of resistance to beta-lactam, macrolide and tetracycline antibiotics were carried out. The resistant isolates were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing techniques. MRS were analysed for the presence of the mecA gene and the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec). The recombinase genes, cassette chromosome recombinase (ccr) on SCCmec elements were also examined. The SCCmec elements detected were as diverse as those reported in human staphylococcal strains. Comparative analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of mecA and ccr gene complexes revealed that the genes are conserved among MRS of cat and dog orgin. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and S. epidermidis isolates showed that, the MRSA were of human origin but the S. epidermidis isolates were unique to cats and dogs. In addition, the blaZ gene which codes for ??-lactamases production, the erm genes responsible for erythromycin resistance and the tet genes which encode tetracycline resistances, were found to be identical to those observed in humans and other animal staphylococci and demonstrated similar diversity. The study has provided important information about the molecular basis of resistance in beta-lactamase producing staphylococci as well as the molecular epidemiology of MRS of cat and dog origin and identifies the risk of spread of MRS between humans and pets and vice versa. These findings should form part of a larger surveillance study on staphylococci of cat and dog origin for a better understanding of the epidemiology of antibiotic-resistance genes for improved management and control of resistant staphylococci in the community and in health care settings. / PhD Doctorate

Bibliography: leaves 269-297. / xvii, 297, [10] leaves, [31] leaves of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Evaluates the efficacy of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with artifically produced recombinant human 4S (rh4S) in feline mucopolysaccharidosis Type VI (MPS VI) and tests the hypothesis that this form of therapy would reverse or alter the disease course, particularly the bone dysplasia and connective tissue pathologics. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Paediatrics, 1998