Randomised double-blind, positive-controlled trial to assess the efficacy of glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate for the treatment of dogs with osteoarthritis

Thirty-five dogs were included in a randomised, double-blind, positive controlled, multi-centre trial to assess the efficacy of an orally-administered glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate (Glu/CS) combination for the treatment of confirmed osteoarthritis of hips or elbows. Carprofen was used as a positive control. Dogs were re-examined on days 14, 42 and 70 after initiation of treatment. Medication was then withdrawn and dogs were re-assessed on day 98. Response to treatment was based on subjective evaluation by participating veterinarians who recorded their findings at each visit. Dogs treated with Glu/CS showed statistically significant improvements in scores for pain, weight-bearing and severity of the condition by day 70 (P<0.001). Onset of significant response was slower for Glu/CS than for carprofen-treated dogs. The results show that Glu/CS has a positive clinical effect in dogs with osteoarthritis.     

Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia associated with angiostrongylus vasorum infection in a Jack Russell terrier

A twenty-month-old Jack Russell terrier was presented with a four-day history of thrombocytopenia, echymotic inguinal haemorrhages, coughing and reduced exercise tolerance. Clinical examination revealed several petechial haemorrhages on the gingivae and small echymotic haemorrhages in the inguinal region, along with mild bilateral epistaxis. Haematology confirmed a platelet count of 1.0 × 10/L. Thoracic radiographs revealed a wide-spread mixed alveolar-interstitial lung pattern, apparent throughout the entire lungfield, but particularly marked within the left lung lobes. A presumptive diagnosis of immune-mediated thrombocytopenia was made and the dog was treated with vincristine and immunosuppressive doses of prednisolone. Initially anaemia developed following gastrointestinal haemorrhage; however, after symptomatic treatment the dog showed a marked clinical improvement. Evaluation for an underlying cause of the disease revealed Angiostrongylus vasorum L1 larvae on faecal analysis and treatment with fenbendazole was commenced. The dog made a full clinical recovery with all treatment was withdrawn within five weeks of diagnosis. This is the second report of immune-mediated thrombocytopenia associated with Angiostrongylus vasorum infection and it is the first to be successfully managed. The report highlights that Angiostrongylus vasorum should be considered in young dogs presented with thrombocytopenia.     

灌溉农田水汽氢氧同位素组成特征研究初探

灌溉农田生态系统水汽变化能够直接反映其耗水状况。本研究应用基于高频实时气态稳定同位素分析仪的箱式法测定水汽氢氧同位素特征, 结合涡度相关技术所测定的农田水汽通量结果, 探讨不同高度大气水汽在不同时段的稳定同位素组成特征。研究结果表明: 对于不同的时间尺度, 生态系统边界层水汽稳定同位素组成在连续几天内的变化有波动, 日变化比较稳定, 小时尺度波动很小; 水汽稳定同位素的大气背景组成特征表现为日尺度上的组成变化呈稳步富集趋势, 小时尺度上几乎无变化。蒸散水汽重同位素特征随时间推移富集明显, 午夜蒸发和蒸腾水汽同位素组成特征相似, 清晨蒸腾水汽比蒸发水汽轻, 午间蒸腾水汽比蒸发水汽重。对于不同高度的水汽来说, 玻璃箱内蒸散水汽稳定同位素组成要比生态系统边界层2 m 处水汽高。建立了土壤蒸发和植物蒸腾稳定同位素变化特征与蒸散过程的线性关系, 相关系数达到0.87。     

Linkages beyond borders: targeting spatial processes in fragmented urban landscapes

Management of ecosystems often focuses on specific species chosen for their habitat demand, public appeal, or levels of threat. We propose a complementary framework for choosing focal species, the mobile link concept, which allows managers to focus on spatial processes and deal with multi-scale ecological dynamics. Spatial processes are important for three reasons: maintenance, re-organization, and restoration of ecological values. We illustrate the framework with a case study of the Eurasian Jay, a mobile link species of importance for the oak forest regeneration in the Stockholm National Urban Park, Sweden, and its surroundings. The case study concludes with a conceptual model for how the framework can be applied in management. The model is based on a review of published data complemented with a seed predation experiment and mapping of Jay territories to reduce the risk of applying non-urban site-specific information in an urban setting. Our case study shows that the mobile link approach has several advantages: (1) Reducing the vulnerability of ecological functions to disturbances and fluctuations in resources allocated to management, (2) Reducing management costs by maintaining natural processes, and (3) Maintaining gene flow and genetic diversity at a landscape level. We argue that management that includes mobile link organisms is an important step towards the prevention of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss in increasingly fragmented landscapes. Identifying and managing mobile links is a way to align management with the ecologically relevant scales in any landscape.     

Optimization of the under-agarose assay of porcine neutrophil migration

Important procedural factors in the under-agarose assay for porcine neutrophil migration were identified, and optimal conditions were established. Three factors were tested: the concentration of zymosan-activated serum inoculated into the outer well; the number of neutrophils inoculated into the center well; and the time of incubation of the agarose plates. All factors had a significant (P less than 0.0001, 0.0001, and 0.01, respectively) effect on the chemotactic index of porcine neutrophils. The optimal combination of these 3 factors was undiluted zymosan-activated serum as the chemoattractant, 8 X 10(5) neutrophils inoculated into the center well, and 5 hours of incubation. The assay was validated, using standard conditions, and the data were used to predict the number of pigs and/or repetitive assays needed to identify differences among experimental groups.     

Phenotyping a diversity panel of quinoa using UAV-retrieved leaf area index,SPAD-based chlorophyll and a random forest approach

Given its high nutritional value and capacity to grow in harsh environments, quinoa has significant potential to address a range of food security concerns. Monitoring the development of phenotypic traits during field trials can provide insights into the varieties best suited to specific environmental conditions and management strategies. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a promising means for phenotyping and offer the potential for new insights into relative plant performance. During a field trial exploring 141 quinoa accessions, a UAV-based multispectral camera was deployed to retrieve leaf area index (LAI) and SPAD-based chlorophyll across 378 control and 378 saline-irrigated plots using a random forest regression approach based on both individual spectral bands and 25 different vegetation indices (VIs) derived from the multispectral imagery. Results show that most VIs had stronger correlation with the LAI and SPAD-based chlorophyll measurements than individual bands. VIs including the red-edge band had high importance in SPAD-based chlorophyll predictions, while VIs including the near infrared band (but not the red-edge band) improved LAI prediction models. When applied to individual treatments (i.e. control or saline), the models trained using all data (i.e. both control and saline data) achieved high mapping accuracies for LAI (R²?=?0.977–0.980, RMSE?=?0.119–0.167) and SPAD-based chlorophyll (R²?=?0.983–0.986, RMSE?=?2.535–2.861). Overall, the study demonstrated that UAV-based remote sensing is not only useful for retrieving important phenotypic traits of quinoa, but that machine learning models trained on all available measurements can provide robust predictions for abiotic stress experiments.

     

Earth-Based Observations of the Galileo Probe Entry Site

Earth-based observations of Jupiter indicate that the Galileo probe probably entered Jupiter's atmosphere just inside a region that has less cloud cover and drier conditions than more than 99 percent of the rest of the planet. The visual appearance of the clouds at the site was generally dark at longer wavelengths. The tropospheric and stratospheric temperature fields have a strong longitudinal wave structure that is expected to manifest itself in the vertical temperature profile.     

Energy extraction and use in a nomadic pastoral ecosystem

An analysis of annual energy flows in an arid tropical ecosystem inhabited by nomadic pastoralists provides insight into a subsistence life-style that has persisted in droughted environments for hundreds to thousands of years. Although a large fraction of the total energy consumed by the Ngisonyoka of Kenya followed a single pathway from plant to animal to human, they also harvested solar energy from a relatively diverse assemblage of energy flow channels. Energy utilization and conversion efficiencies were generally low, as the system is maintenance-rather than production-oriented. Energy flow to maintenance must be relatively high to support biotic responses that enable tolerance of abiotic variability and to stabilize energy flow under the stress of severe droughts. Energy utilization by the Ngisonyoka is therefore consistent with ecological patterns that promote rather than diminish ecological stability under stress.