Chronic granulomatous pneumonia and lung rupture secondary to aspiration of activated charcoal in a French Bulldog

A 4‐year‐old, spayed female French Bulldog was presented for respiratory distress and suspected aspiration pneumonia after oral administration of activated charcoal for possible ingestion of a suspected toxic dose of trazodone. The patient had a moderate volume of pleural effusion, which contained free and intracellular black particulate matter consistent with charcoal. Due to presumed charcoal aspiration with subsequent lung rupture, the right middle and right caudal lung lobes were surgically removed. Histology revealed abundant black debris consistent with charcoal and severe granulomatous inflammation. Based on the clinical, gross, and histologic findings, a diagnosis of severe, chronic, locally extensive, aspiration pneumonia and lung rupture with secondary pleuritis and mediastinitis due to charcoal aspiration was made. Aspiration pneumonia is the main complication of activated charcoal administration, which can incite extensive, granulomatous inflammation in the respiratory tract. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report describing the cytologic and histologic findings associated with inadvertent charcoal aspiration in a veterinary species.     

Western blot detection of PrP Sc in archived paraffin-embedded brainstem from scrapie-affected sheep

Scrapie is a naturally occurring fatal neurodegenerative disease of adult sheep and goats, one of a group of mammalian diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) or prion diseases. Immunoassays that identify disease-associated prion protein (PrP Sc) are integral to the diagnosis of scrapie and other prion diseases. Results obtained by either immunohistochemistry (IHC) or Western blot (WB) assay are generally adequate for the definitive diagnosis. Approved or accepted methods for WB diagnosis of TSEs requires the use of fresh or frozen nonfixed tissue samples, whereas formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue is required for the localization of PrP Sc by IHC. Because disparate processing methods are used for these accepted diagnostic techniques, separate tissue samples are collected from the same animal. Occasions arise in which there is either insufficient quantity of tissue available to complete analysis by both techniques or initial tissue processing is incompatible with one of the assays. Also, results between the assays may differ because of the vagaries of sampling, especially in case material that contains moderate-to-low levels of PrP Sc. The present article describes a method to conduct a WB assay from the same paraffin-embedded brainstem sample used for the IHC diagnosis of experimentally induced sheep scrapie.     

Listeria associated mural and valvular endocarditis in an alpaca

An alpaca presented for emergency evaluation of respiratory distress. Physical examination revealed weakness, pyrexia, and a grade V/VI left apical holosystolic murmur. Initial thoracic examination and radiographs were consistent with left sided congestive heart failure. Blood cultures, echocardiographic evaluation, and necropsy findings established a diagnosis of bacterial endocarditis associated with a Listeria monocytogenes infection. Left ventricular endocarditis is uncommon in ruminants, and to the authors' knowledge there are no other reports of L. monocytogenes being the causative agent in an alpaca.     

Development and evaluation of a high-throughput,low-cost genotyping platform based on oligonucleotide microarrays in rice

Background  

We report the development of a microarray platform for rapid and cost-effective genetic mapping, and its evaluation using rice as a model. In contrast to methods employing whole-genome tiling microarrays for genotyping, our method is based on low-cost spotted microarray production, focusing only on known polymorphic features.     

Facilitation of an Exotic Grass Through Nitrogen Enrichment by an Exotic Legume

Invasive species control requires understanding the mechanisms behind their establishment and their interactions with other species. One potential ecosystem alteration influencing the establishment and spread of invasive species is anthropogenic nitrogen enrichment, from sources like introduced or invasive nitrogen (N)-fixing legumes, which can alter competition between native, non-native, and invasive plants. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and N-fixing yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) are exotic to the Great Plains and are currently invading and degrading native rangelands by altering ecosystem processes and displacing native plants. Therefore, we investigated how N enrichment from yellow sweet clover affects the aboveground biomass production of Kentucky bluegrass and western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), a native cool-season grass, the ranges of which overlap in the northern Great Plains. In a controlled greenhouse environment, we conditioned experimental pots by growing yellow sweet clover and terminating each plant after 8 wk. Conditioned soils contained ≈ 340% more plant-available N than untreated soils 2 wk after yellow sweet clover death. We then grew Kentucky bluegrass and western wheatgrass transplant seedlings in interspecific and intraspecific pairs in pots conditioned either with or without yellow sweet clover for 12 wk. Aboveground biomass production of both Kentucky bluegrass and western wheatgrass grown in interspecific and intraspecific pairs increased in conditioned soils. However, when grown together in conditioned pots, the increase in Kentucky bluegrass biomass relative to untreated pots (520%) was double that of the increase in western wheatgrass biomass (260%). Our results reveal that Kentucky bluegrass can use increased soil N to produce proportionally more aboveground biomass than western wheatgrass, a native grass competitor. Thus, our results suggest yellow sweet clover and other sources of N enrichment may facilitate the invasion of Kentucky bluegrass.     

Women‘s land rights in Gambian irrigated rice schemes: Constraints and opportunities

This paper discusses the significance of gender-based conflicts for thefailure of Gambian irrigated rice projects. In particular, it illustrateshow resource control of a gendered crop, rice, shifts from females to maleswith the development of pump-irrigated rice projects. Irrigation imposes aradically different labor regime on household producers, demanding thatthey intensify labor for year-round cultivation. Yet, the Gambian farmingsystem evolved for a five month agricultural calendar, in which women wereaccorded specific land and labor rights. The need to restructure familylabor, specifically skilled female labor, to meet the cultivation demandsof pump irrigation is crucial for understanding the pattern of gender-basedconflicts in Gambian rice schemes. The case study illustrates thatirrigation involves more than technology transfer. Appropriate irrigationdemands sensitivity to the social structure of household production systems. The paper concludes by emphasizing the centrality of gender issuesfor improving food security in sub-Saharan Africa.