Walking in STEP: Lessons for linking spatial prioritisations to implementation strategies

Spatial prioritisations are increasingly being undertaken to allocate the investment of limited conservation resources. These techniques are highly effective at identifying where important areas for conservation are located, but of limited use for deciding how implementation of conservation action should be undertaken. Conservation planning should be a collaborative social process, and necessitates that spatial prioritisations be complemented with an implementation strategy. We undertook a conservation planning initiative in the Subtropical Thicket biome in South Africa, complementing a spatial prioritisation with an implementation strategy. Believing strongly in the importance of developing a ‘safe-fail’ culture in conservation, we detail our activities and document our successes and failures. We synthesize lessons from our experience of collaboratively developing an implementation strategy with stakeholders, so as to ensure it effectively complements a spatial prioritisation.     

Influence of genotype and yield and composition of milk on interval to first postpartum ovulation in milked beef and dairy cows.

Our objectives were to investigate the effects of genotype, yield and composition of milk, and changes in BW and body condition on the initiation of cyclic ovarian activity in nonsuckled beef and dairy cows milked twice daily. Nulliparous heifers were selected from three breeds, 12 Angus, 13 Simmentals, and 26 Holsteins, based on their EBV for milk yield. Cows were machine-milked twice daily, and daily milk yield was recorded; composite samples of milk were collected twice weekly for analyses of milk components. Blood was collected from all cows thrice weekly for 75 d postpartum, and concentrations of progesterone in serum measured by RIA were used to estimate day of first postpartum ovulation. Holstein cows produced more (P less than .05) milk (unadjusted or 3.5% fat-corrected) than Angus or Simmental cows during the first 30 d of lactation. Holstein cows had higher (P less than .01) peak yield of milk than Simmental and Angus cows. Days to peak milk yield were similar for Simmental and Holstein cows, and both were more (P less than .05) than those for Angus cows. Percentages of fat, protein, and total solids in milk were highest (P less than .05) for Simmental cows, whereas milk of Holstein cows had the highest (P less than .05) percentage of lactose and lowest (P less than .05) concentration of somatic cells. Average BW at ovulation differed (P less than .05) among breeds. Estimated daily changes in BW from calving to first ovulation were different (P less than .05) for Holstein and Simmental cows but were similar to those of Angus cows.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Flea market finds and global exports: Four multistate outbreaks of human Salmonella infections linked to small turtles,United States—2015

Zoonotic transmission of Salmonella infections causes an estimated 11% of salmonellosis annually in the United States. This report describes the epidemiologic, traceback and laboratory investigations conducted in the United States as part of four multistate outbreaks of Salmonella infections linked to small turtles. Salmonella isolates indistinguishable from the outbreak strains were isolated from a total of 143 ill people in the United States, pet turtles, and pond water samples collected from turtle farm A, as well as ill people from Chile and Luxembourg. Almost half (45%) of infections occurred in children aged <5 years, underscoring the importance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation to keep pet turtles and other reptiles out of homes and childcare settings with young children. Although only 43% of the ill people who reported turtle exposure provided purchase information, most small turtles were purchased from flea markets or street vendors, which made it difficult to locate the vendor, trace the turtles to a farm of origin, provide education and enforce the United States federal ban on the sale and distribution of small turtles. These outbreaks highlight the importance of improving public awareness and education about the risk of Salmonella from small turtles not only in the United States but also worldwide.     

Monitoring of total type ii pyrethroid pesticides in citrus oils and water by converting to a common product 3-phenoxybenzoic acid

Pyrethroids are a class of insecticides that are becoming increasingly popular in agricultural and home use applications. Sensitive assays for pyrethroid insecticides in complex matrices are difficult with both instrumental and immunochemical methods. Environmental analysis of the pyrethroids by immunoassay requires either knowing which pyrethroids contaminate the source or the use of nonspecific antibodies with cross-reactivities to a class of compounds. We describe an alternative method that converts the type II pyrethroids to a common chemical product, 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), prior to analysis. This method is much more sensitive than detecting the parent compound, and it is much easier to detect a single compound rather than an entire class of compounds. This is useful in screening for pyrethroids as a class or in situations where a single type of pyrethroid is used. We demonstrated this technique in both citrus oils and environmental water samples with conversion rates of the pyrethroid to 3-PBA that range from 45 to 75% and methods that require no extraction steps for either the immunoassay or the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) techniques. Limits of detection for this technique applied to orange oil are 5 nM, 2 μM, and 0.8 μM when detected by LC-MS/MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and immunoassay, respectively. The limit of detection for pyrethroids in water when detected by immunoassay was 2 nM.     

Evaluation of chiral alpha-cyanoesters as general fluorescent substrates for screening enantioselective esterases

Esterases play a crucial role in industrial chemical synthesis, maintaining normal physiological metabolism and detoxifying exogenous ester-containing toxicants. To meet the rapidly increasing industrial need for all kinds of esterases, especially enantioselective esterases used to generate highly pure chiral compounds, general substrates are necessary for rapid screening, monitoring, purification, and characterization. In this study, general fluorescent substrates including phenolic derivatives and alpha-cyanoesters were evaluated for sensitivity in detecting esterases in buffer systems. Results with two different esterases and different incubation times suggested that the alpha-cyanoesters examined were significantly more sensitive at detecting esterases than the corresponding tested phenolic derivatives. More importantly, alpha-cyanoesters, containing a secondary alcohol, possess at least one chiral center; thus, they are tools to screen for enantioselective hydrolysis. Results indicated that the enantioselectivity of esterases toward general alpha-cyanoesters strongly depended on the esterase and the substrate, but the majority of esterases examined preferred S-isomers to their corresponding R-enantiomers. Most appealing was the very high enantioselectivity displayed in cytosolic esterases of the house fly. The potential utility of such esterases is discussed. In addition, the use of alpha-cyanoesters as chiral fluorescent substrates was demonstrated for monitoring in enantioselective esterases.     

耕作方式与施肥对旱农区粮饲兼用玉米耗水特性和干物质积累的影响

采用大田试验,在全膜双垄沟播技术的基础上,比较研究了4种耕作方式(T1:传统翻耕,T2:旋耕,T3:深松耕,T4:免耕)搭配2种施氮水平(N2:施纯氮200 kg·hm~(-2),N3:施纯氮300 kg·hm~(-2))下对玉米耗水特性和干物质积累的影响。结果表明:与施氮量相比,耕作方式对耗水量和土壤贮水消耗量影响显著;深松耕降低了玉米播种至拔节期的阶段耗水量,提高了拔节至灌浆期的耗水量及其占总耗水量的比例;播种至拔节期深松耕较传统翻耕0~30 cm土层的贮水消耗量减少了35.3%,拔节至开花期和开花至灌浆期,30~110 cm土层贮水消耗量增加了54.2%和20.5%;玉米不同生育时期各器官的干物质积累量都表现为深松耕+施纯氮300 kg·hm~(-2)最高,是生物产量和籽粒产量最高的处理,深松耕+施纯氮300 kg·hm~(-2)和深松耕+施纯氮200 kg·hm~(-2)处理间差异不显著;免耕+施纯氮200 kg·hm~(-2)处理的水分利用效率最高,与深松耕+施纯氮300 kg·hm~(-2)处理相比差异不显著。在综合考虑高产以及对水分和肥料的高效利用的条件下,基于全膜双垄沟播技术,深松耕+施纯氮200 kg·hm~(-2)是陇中旱农区适宜的生产方式。     

种植模式对旱地玉米光合特性和产量的影响

为进一步优化陇中半干旱区玉米高产栽培技术,提高有限水土资源利用效率,2014—2015年采用田间试验,研究了玉米马铃薯间作和单作下全膜沟垄作、全膜平作和露地平作对玉米抽雄期光合速率(Pn)、蒸腾速率(Tr)、气孔导度(Gs)、胞间CO_2浓度(Ci)及子粒产量的影响。结果表明:(1)不同种植模式下玉米抽雄期叶片Pn和Tr的日变化均呈先升后降的单峰曲线,峰值出现在中午12∶00左右,全膜沟垄作高于平作和露地,间作高于单作;全膜沟垄作玉米间作马铃薯下的玉米Pn、Tr和Gs均最高。(2)全膜沟垄作、全膜平作和露地平作的玉米间作马铃薯,土地当量比(LER)均大于1,以全膜沟垄作玉米间作马铃薯优势最为突出,其间作下玉米子粒产量为5 451.35kg·hm~(-2),较露地间作提高了66.00%,特别是在降水量偏少的年份,增产效果更明显。因此,在陇中雨养农业区进一步提高玉米产量和水土资源利用效率,引入间作是可行的,全膜沟垄作玉米间作马铃薯是较佳的种植模式。     

Phytoestrogen content of foods of animal origin: dairy products, eggs, meat, fish, and seafood

Dietary phytoestrogens may be involved in the occurrence of chronic diseases. Reliable information on the phytoestrogen content in foods is required to assess dietary exposure and disease risk in epidemiological studies. However, existing analyses have focused on only one class of these compounds in plant-based foods, and there is only little information on foods of animal origin, leading to an underestimation of intake. This is the first comprehensive study of phytoestrogen content in animal food. We have determined the phytoestrogen content (isoflavones: biochanin A, daidzein, formononetin, genistein, and glycitein; lignans: secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol; coumestrol; equol; enterolactone; and enterodiol) in 115 foods of animal origin (including milk and milk-products, eggs, meat, fish, and seafood) and vegetarian substitutes using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with (13)C-labeled internal standards. Phytoestrogens were detected in all foods analyzed; the average content was 20 microg/100 g of wet weight (isoflavones, 6 microg/100 g; lignans, 6 microg/100 g; equol, 3 microg/100 g; and enterolignans, 6 microg/100 g). In infant soy formula, 19 221 microg/100 g phytoestrogens were detected (compared to 59 microg/100 g in non-soy formula). Our study shows that all foods analyzed contained phytoestrogens and most foods (except for fish, seafood, and butter) contained mammalian phytoestrogens (enterolignans and equol). This is the first comprehensive study of phytoestrogen content of foods of animal origin and will allow for a more accurate estimation of exposure to dietary phytoestrogens.