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Scents emitted from excretions provide important information about the owner. Volatile compounds with higher levels in a species and/or sex, or that vary among individuals could be odor cues for species and/or sex, or individual recognition. However, such compounds have been identified in only a few vertebrate species. In domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus), it is known that unburied cat feces are territorial markers asserting the border of their home range, but little was known which fecal compounds are scent cues for species, sex, and individual recognition in cats. In the present study, we demonstrated the chemical basis for species, sex, and individual recognition using feces of cats. For males, major contents were fatty acids and 3-mercapto-3-methyl-1-butanol (MMB), a derivative of the unusual amino acid, felinine. MMB emission levels from feces had sex-based differences (male > female) and dynamic temporal changes during aging. Cats distinguished fecal odors with and without MMB, and different fatty acid compositions among individuals. No cat-specific compound, such as MMB, was detectable from their anal odor emitting fatty acids. We concluded that fecal MMB is a male sex recognition pheromone in cats and also provides a temporal trace of the owner. After sensing MMB, they may distinguish individual differences of conspecific feces with variable subsets of fatty acids. In contrast to scent marks, since cats can obtain species information from visual cues before sniffing conspecific anal odors, they may use their efforts to distinguish individual differences of anal odors during sniffing.

We isolated Burkholderia sp. AIU M5M02, which accumulates poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] homopolymer in a nitrogen-limiting mineral salt medium containing mannitol as a sole carbon source, from a marine environment. When the isolated strain was cultured in a nitrogen-limiting mineral salt medium (pH 5.0) containing 10% (v/v) mannitol as a sole carbon source for 4 days, P(3HB) content and P(3HB) productivity reached 40 weight percent and 1.5 g/l, respectively. Thus, we demonstrated that Burkholderia sp. AIU M5M02 can be utilized for P(3HB) production from mannitol, which is a major sugar in seaweed. Furthermore, the isolate utilized not only mannitol but also gluconic acid, glycerol, starch, and sugars such as fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose, and xylose to produce P(3HB). Based on these results, we expect to be able to apply Burkholderia sp. AIU M5M02 to the production of P(3HB) from other raw materials with low environmental loads.

The article Olfactory discrimination of anal sac secretions in the domestic cat and the chemical profiles of the volatile compounds, written by Tamako Miyazaki, Takashi Nishimura, Tetsuro Yamashita and Masao Miyazaki was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 16 November, 2017 without open access.

We evaluated the usefulness of eptazocine hydrobromide as an adjuvant in patients receiving antipsychotics for long periods. Patients anesthetized with enflurane alone (enflurane group, n = 11), were compared with those anesthetized with enflurane and eptazocine hydrobromide 1 mg.kg(-1) (eptazocine group, n = 10). The mean daily dose of the antipsychotics, converted into the amount of chlorpromazine, was 345 mg in the eptazocine group and 366 mg in the enflurane group. The duration of antipsychotic medication was 14 years in the eptazocine group and 17 years in the enflurane group. The maintenance concentration of enflurane was 0.37% in the eptazocine group and 0.67% in the enflurane group, being significantly lower in the former group. The interval between the termination of operation and removal of the endotracheal tube was slightly shorter in the eptazocine group. The discriminant function of circulatory stability obtained from the measurement of systolic blood pressure and heart rate during anesthesia in the eptazocine group was 481, being significantly lower than 539 in the enflurane group. Both absolute and relative instabilities of systolic blood pressure and heart rate were slightly smaller in the eptazocine group. No side effects associated with eptazocine hydrobromide administration were observed. These results suggest the safety and usefulness of this analgesic in the anesthetic management of patients receiving long-term antipsychotic medication.

Prostaglandin E(1)-induced hypotension (25% reduction from the preadministration level in mean arterial pressure) was applied to thirteen patients. Eight patients among them were operated in the supine position (group I) and other five in the prone position (group II). The maintenance dose of PGE(1) was considerably lower in group II than in group I (0.067 micro g.kg(-1).min(-1) vs. 0.119 micro g.kg(-1).min(-1)). In group I, there was a significant increase in CI, with a significant decrease in SVRI and PVRI during PGE(1)-induced hypotension. Such a high dose of PGE(1) (0.119 micro g.kg(-1).min(-1)) was considered to have a direct dilating action on the systemic resistance bed as well as on the pulmonary vasculature. It was considered that the suppression of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction could be a mechanism to increase venous admixture during PGE(1)-induced hypotension. In group II, there was no significant increase in CI, and no significant decrease in SVRI and PVRI. PGE(1)-induced hypotension can be safely applied to the anesthetized patients, but we should be careful to apply it to the patients in the prone position, because lower dose of PGE(1) can induce severe hypotension, which is not accompanied by the increase in CI as occurres in the patients in the supine position.