Described as an affectionate and playful cat, Flossie was born on the streets of England in 1995. Flossie took its place in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-living cat and became immortal. Flossie’s record was confirmed at 26 years 316 days on November 10.

Born and later adopted in a cat colony in Merseyside, England, Flossie lives in Orpington, London, with her current owner, Vicki Green.

Flossie is currently the oldest confirmed cat inside and is at least 120 years old to human age.

Happy new year Flossie…

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Source: Guinness World Records

Toxoplasma, an intracellular parasitic protozoan, is carried globally by a considerable proportion of the human population. So how does Toxoplasma spread within the body or how does it reach the brain?

Studies on how Toxoplasma protozoa spread within the body are continuing. One of them was recently published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe (IF=31.316, JCR Ranking Q1). Researchers shared the question and answer in the title of the article with the scientific world.

Ten Hoeve AL, Braun L, Rodriguez ME, Olivera GC, Bougdour A, Belmudes L, Couté Y, Saeij JPJ, Hakimi MA, Barragan A. The Toxoplasma effector GRA28 promotes parasite dissemination by inducing dendritic cell-like migratory properties in infected macrophages. Cell Host Microbe. 2022 Nov 9;30(11):1570-1588.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.10.001.

It is known that the roles of immune cells in the fight against infections are tightly regulated. It is important to illuminate how Toxoplasma has managed to infect so many human and animal species and spread so efficiently. At this point, Ten Hoeve and his team stated that they had found an answer. The key element of this response was the discovery of a protein. Researchers have identified a protein (GRA28) that Toxoplasma uses to reprogram the immune system.

The study findings indicated that Toxoplasma injects this particular protein into the nucleus of the immune cell, thereby changing the cell’s identity. Thus, it was shown that Toxoplasma tricked the immune cell into being another type of cell, in other words, it changed the gene expression and behavior of the immune cell. This situation was described by researchers as “Toxoplasma transforming immune cells into Trojan horses or wandering zombies that spread the parasite”. The study also highlighted that the parasite is much more targeted in its spread than previously thought.

Briefly about Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasmosis)

The disease caused by toxoplasma is defined as toxoplasmosis and is one of the most common parasitic infections in humans worldwide, perhaps the most common. WHO estimates that at least 30% of the world’s human population are carriers of the parasite.

Domestic cats (not just domestic cats, but all felines) occupy a special place in the life cycle of Toxoplasma: sexual reproduction takes place only in the cat’s gut. Reproduction in other hosts, for example, humans, dogs, or birds, takes place by parasite division. At this point, the one health concept to fight the disease is important. Therefore, veterinarians play an important role in the detection, prevention, and treatment processes of both infected cats and cats in the final host role. This directly affects human health.

Toxoplasma (Toxoplasma gondii) infection is common in cats, but the clinical picture is rare. Up to 50% of cats, especially free-range ones, have antibodies that indicate infection and the presence of cystic stages. Clinical signs usually occur when cats are immunocompromised – in these cases, the cystic stages can be reactivated. Commonly affected organs are the central nervous system, muscles, lungs, and eyes. When cats shed oocysts, they can pose a risk to humans. However, this only happens once in their lifetime, usually for three to ten days after tissue cysts have been ingested.

Toxoplasma is transmitted to humans through food and contact with cats. In nature, the parasite spreads preferentially from rodents to cats, rodents, and the like. The parasites are “dormant” in the rodent’s brain, and when the cat eats the mouse, they multiply in the cat’s gut and are expelled through the feces. The parasite terminates in the vegetation and becomes infected when the rodent eats the vegetation. It is transmitted to humans through the consumption of meat or contact with cats, especially cat feces.

The disease caused by toxoplasmosis is defined as toxoplasmosis. When a person is first infected, they show symptoms similar to a cold or flu. After the initial infection stage, the parasite enters the “sleeping” stage in the brain and begins a chronic, silent infection that can last for decades or a lifetime. Chronic infection usually does not cause symptoms in healthy individuals. However, toxoplasma can cause a life-threatening brain infection (encephalitis) in people with compromised immune systems (HIV, transplant recipients, post-chemotherapy) and can be dangerous to the fetus during pregnancy. Eye infections can occur in healthy individuals.

Our students, who started their veterinary profession training at the Near East University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the fall term of 2022, took their first steps into the profession by wearing their white coats.

In addition to the academic staff of our faculty, the precious families and loved ones of our students participate and showed their interest, which was held with enthusiasm. Thus, our students took an important step towards gaining a sense of belonging in terms of being a member of the Veterinary Medicine family, to be the new veterinarians.

At the ceremony, our dean Prof. Dr. Deniz Seyrek İntaş explained the importance of the white coat, which is the symbol of medicine, with her speech. prof. In his speech, D. Seyrek İntaş said, “The white coat is a symbol of medicine. While some subjects are taught with experiences and proofs, some subjects are expressed with symbols silently. The crescent and star in the Turkish Veterinary Medicine emblem symbolize Turkish Veterinary Medicine, the viper symbolizes health, and the burning torch symbolizes brightness and civilization. White color symbolizes purity and cleanliness perfection. Now, as the veterinarians of the future, you will promise the same purity and cleanliness by wearing your aprons and reading the current version of the Hippocratic oath 2,500 years ago. This apron will always be with you throughout your professional life. I believe that after graduating from Near East University, each of you will be a research-oriented, knowledgeable, confident, and successful physician. Welcome back to our island and our university.”.

After our dean, Melisa Ünal spoke on behalf of our students and said, “On behalf of all my fellow students, I promise that we will lend a helping hand to all animals, become active physicians with the work we will do, and undertake important duties in animal rights.”.

After the speeches, our students were dressed in aprons by our academicians, and we are glad that we were able to share in this joy.

After the process of putting on the aprons of all our students was completed, the professional oath was read and thus the first step into the profession was taken.

We congratulate our students and wish them success.