Animals ; Materia Medica ; Rats ; Turtles

Chinese soft-shelled turtles (Trionyx sinens) in culture farms using an artificial warming system in Zhejiang, China, often show typical signs of white-spot disease such as white spots on their bodies, skin lesions, anorexia and eventually death. The sick turtles were mostly 5~80 g in weight. A suspected fungal pathogen was isolated from the sick turtles and verified as Paecilomyces lilacinus by sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of its ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Detailed morphological examinations were also conducted to confirm the white-spot disease.
Animals ; Paecilomyces ; isolation & purification ; Turtles ; microbiology

The space-time acupuncture is a new needling method, summarized by professor on the base of the inheritance of four time-acupuncture method in ancient time and the absorption of the European medical culture idea, aiming to the application of the combination of time acupoints and space acupoints. Through constructing the internal and external field, the field effect of human body self-healing function is mobilized. The space-time acupuncture of the eightfold method of the sacred tortoise is one of the four methods, on the base of the acquired eight diagrams and the night numbers of diagrams, and in match with the eight confluent points. It is a special structure of "number, diagram and acupoint". The authors explain systematically the space-time acupuncture of the eightfold method of the sacred tortoise in the aspects of the opening of time acupoints and composition of space acupoints as well as the characteristics of its clinical operation so as to elaborate the essential composition and the feature of clinical application of such method. Moreover, professor 's innovation is introduced besides inheriting the ancient experience and the theoretic connotation is explored on the spatial acupoint corresponding to the time acupuncture of ancient eightfold method of the sacred tortoise.
Acupuncture ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Humans ; Meridians ; Turtles

Pet turtles are known as a source of Salmonella infection to humans when handled in captivity. Thirty four turtles purchased from pet shops and online markets in Korea were examined to determine whether the turtles and their environment were contaminated with Salmonella spp. Salmonella spp. were isolated from fecal samples of 17 turtles. These isolates were identified as S. enterica through 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The isolation rate of Salmonella spp. from the soil and water samples increased over time. We concluded that a high percentage of turtles being sold in pet shops were infected with Salmonella spp., and their environments tend to become contaminated over time unless they are maintained properly. These results indicate that pet turtles could be a potential risk of salmonellosis in Korea.
Genes, rRNA ; Humans ; Korea ; Prevalence* ; Salmonella Infections ; Salmonella* ; Soil ; Turtles* ; Water

Nontyphoidal Salmonella are gram negative bacilli organism, which may induce systemic infection such as febrile enteritis, bacteremia, and osteomyelitis. Main route of infection is known as food but also possible through reptile, amphibian, and fish raised as pets in the house. There is no known cases report of Salmonella infection through pets in Korea and also rare in the overseas. We report 2 patients who visited Severance children's hospital with chief complaint of fever and diagnosed as nontyphoidal salmonellosis. Each case had a history of raising turtle or tropical fish with possibility of Salmonella infection through these pets. Increasing incidence of raising pet reptile and fish lately, contact precaution and proper prevention and control of Salmonella infection of these pets especially in children under 5 years old are necessary due to higher risk of serious complications of salmonellosis.
Amphibians ; Bacteremia ; Child ; Enteritis ; Fever ; Fishes ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Osteomyelitis ; Reptiles ; Salmonella ; Salmonella Infections ; Turtles

Turtle-borne Salmonella enterica owns significance as a leading cause in human salmonellosis. The current study aimed to determine the quinolone susceptibility and the genetic characteristics of 21 strains of S. enterica subsp. enterica isolated from pet turtles. Susceptibility of four antimicrobials including nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin was examined in disk diffusion and MIC tests where the majority of the isolates were susceptible to all tested quinolones. In genetic characterization, none of the isolates were positive for qnr or aac(6')-Ib genes and no any target site mutations could be detected in gyrA, gyrB, and parC quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR). In addition, neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree derived using gyrA gene sequences exhibited two distinct clads comprising; first, current study isolates, and second, quinolone-resistant isolates of human and animal origin. All results suggest that studied strains of S. enterica subsp. enterica isolated from pet turtles are susceptible to quinolones and genetically more conserved with regards to gyrA gene region.
Animals ; Ciprofloxacin ; Diffusion ; Humans ; Levofloxacin ; Nalidixic Acid ; Ofloxacin ; Quinolones ; Salmonella enterica* ; Salmonella Infections ; Salmonella* ; Trees ; Turtles*

OBJECTIVEStudies on the substance with nourishment Yin for a reasonable and rational auality appraise for turtleback.

METHODTo separate by chromatography and identifying with MS, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR.

RESULTTwo compounds were separated and identified as hexadecanoyl cholesterol ester and cholesterol.

CONCLUSIONThe two compounds are isolated from turtleback for the first time.

OBJECTIVETo observe effects of moxibustion according to opening points on time in eight methods of intelligent turtle on aging and the mechanism.

METHODSHealthy and adult guinea pigs were randomly divided into 5 groups, a prevention group of kidney-yang deficiency model with eight method of intelligent turtle (group I), a prevention group of kidney-yang deficiency model (group II) with moxibustion at Mingmen (GV 4), a group of treatment group of kidney-yang deficiency model with eight methods of intelligent turtle (group III), a treatment group of kidney-yang deficiency model (group IV) with moxibustion at Mingmen (GV 4) and a control group of kidney-yang deficiency. Effects of moxibustion according to opening on time in eight methods of intelligent turtle and moxibustion at Mingmen (GV 4) on superoxide dismulase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) level were compared.

RESULTSAfter modeling, no signs of kidney-yang deficiency and no significant changes of SOD and MDA were found in group I and II; but obvious symptoms of kidney-yang deficiency and decrease of SOD (P < 0.01) and increase of MDA (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) were found in group III, IV and V; after treatment, in the group III); the symptoms of kidney-yang deficiency basically disappeared, SOD increased (P < 0.01) and MDA decreased (P < 0.01), with no significant differences as compared with those before modeling (P > 0.05); in the group N, the symptoms of kidney-yang deficiency significantly improved and SOD increased (P < 0.05) with difference as compared with those before modeling (P < 0.05), and MDA decreased (P < 0.05), but with no significant difference compared with that before modeling (P > 0.05); the symptoms of kidney-yang deficiency, SOD and MDA did not significantly change in group V (P > 0. 05).

CONCLUSIONBoth moxibustion according to opening points on time in eight methods of intelligent turtle and moxibustion at Mingmen (GV 4) can effectively regulate free radical metabolism and have obvious action of preventing and treating kidney-yang deficiency in the model guinea pigs, and the therapeutic action of moxibustion according to opening points on time in eight methods of intelligent turtle is better than that of moxibustion at Mingmen (GV 4).

Our research sought to characterize the phylogeny of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from pet Chinese stripe-necked turtles (Ocadia sinensis) to better understand its evolutionary relation to other isolates and increase understanding of a potential zoonotic pathogen transmitted through direct contact with pet turtles. Thirty-one Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were obtained from both immature and adult turtles sold in pet shops in Korea. To characterize the phylogenic position of Chinese stripe-necked turtle-borne P. aeruginosa relative to other strains, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis was performed due to the accessibility and breadth of MLST databases. Seven housekeeping genes (acsA, aroE, guaA, mutL, nuoD, ppsA, and trpE) were sequenced and the results were compared with data from the MLST database. The genes were further used for phylogenetic analysis of P. aeruginosa using concatenated gene fragments. Both rooted and unrooted phylogenetic trees were generated. Eleven distinct sequence types were present within the isolates among which seven were new. Expanding an unrooted phylogenetic tree to include P. aeruginosa MLST sequences isolated from various other geographic locations and sources revealed a divergent cluster containing the majority of isolates obtained from turtles. This suggests that P. aeruginosa strains particularly well-adapted for inhabiting turtles occupy a distinct phylogenetic position.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Genes, Essential ; Geographic Locations ; Humans ; Korea ; Multilocus Sequence Typing* ; Phylogeny ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa* ; Pseudomonas* ; Trees ; Turtles*

The effects of ration level and feeding frequency on digestibility in juvenile soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, were investigated. Four ration levels 1.5%, 2.5%, 4.0% and satiation (6.0% BW/d) were used. Apparent digestibility (AD) of dry matter (DMAD), protein (PAD) and protein real digestibility (PRD) were significantly affected by ration level, but not by feeding frequency when the ration level was similar. However, the feeding frequency affected the AD, DMAD, PAD and PRD significantly when the turtles were fed to satiation. The relationship between fecal protein content (Y) and protein intake (X) can be expressed as a quadric equation: Y=-0.1742+0.1476X-0.0003X(2) (r(2)=0.876, n=27, F=93.92, P<0.01).
Animal Feed ; analysis ; classification ; Animals ; Digestion ; physiology ; Feeding Behavior ; physiology ; Food Analysis ; Food Deprivation ; physiology ; Periodicity ; Turtles ; physiology