Temporal changes of soil physical quality under two residue management systems

Although crop residue management is known to affect near‐surface soil physical quality, little is known about the temporal variability of these indicators over short time intervals. This study evaluates the temporal changes of nine indicators of soil physical quality. These are organic carbon content, structural stability index, bulk density, macroporosity, air capacity, relative field capacity, plant available water capacity, Dexter's S‐index and saturated hydraulic conductivity. A second set of soil physical indicators, based on the distribution of soil pore volume, was also evaluated. The indicators were determined in three different times during the growing cycle of winter durum wheat cultivated within a long‐term field research carrying out in Southern Italy and comparing two types of crop residue management, that is, burning (B) and soil incorporation (I). Only the bulk density changed over time for both treatments, although the air capacity also changed for the incorporation of wheat residues. Residual effects of the autumnal soil tillage and soil compaction were a common source of variability, irrespective of which treatment was used. Based on the existing guidelines for evaluating the physical quality of these agricultural soils, optimal or near‐optimal values were detected in about half of the cases under consideration. This suggests that both B and I create sufficiently good conditions for crop growth during the crop cycle. The comparison between observed and optimal soil pore distribution function was always poor. The pore volume distributions showed lower densities of small pores and relatively higher densities of large pores than the proposed optimal distribution. This study also suggests that the considered optimal or references curves probably cannot be applied successfully to a wide range of agricultural soils.     

Descriptive field symbols for inped soil macropores

Abstract

A short hand notation for depicting inped soil macropores is presented. By utilizing symbols for macropore diameter, facial shape, pore length, inped shape and pore orientation; it is possible to quickly portray inped field macropores. Circles, ellipses, and triangles of differing dimensions are used to symbolize round, elliptical, and irregular facial shaped pores of different diameters. The pore length and orientation are symbolized by line length and line direction. The inped shapes (spherical, tubular, and elongated) are respectively represented by one line, two parallel lines, or three parallel lines within or intersecting the pore shape symbols. Field application of this methodology saves time and is valuable when numerous inped pores need to be depicted.     

The use of dialysis cells for investigating pore water composition in wetland substrata,with particular reference to dissolved iron and sulphide

Abstract

Details and some evaluation are given of the use of a dialysis method for sampling pore water from depth in wetland substrata (peats), with particular reference to measurement of concentrations of ion species with stabilities dependent on redox potential. The method is based upon the burial and subsequent retrieval (after equilibration) of cells made from dialysis membrane filled with deionized water. Preliminary results of field investigations of concentrations of dissolved iron and sulphide in the pore water of base‐rich mires, as sampled by this method, are given. Results suggest that the method could have very considerable application and that its potential, and possible problems, deserve further examination.     

野马追克喘散治疗猪呼吸道疾病效果试验

目的：应用野马追克喘散新兽药对呼吸道综合征进行临床疗效试验,为推广野马追克喘散提供科学依据。方法：将自然感染、症状典型、猪呼吸道综合征的140头病猪（杜长大三元杂交）,平均体重20～25kg,随机分为7个组,每组20头,其中第Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ组用野马追克喘散治疗,分别以高、中、低剂量给药;第Ⅳ、Ⅴ组分别用麻杏石甘散、金花平喘散以常规剂量给药;Ⅵ、Ⅶ组以硫酸卡那霉素注射液（0.2mL/kg体重）和泰乐菌素（0.4mL/kg体重）以常规剂量给药。结果：野马追克喘散的治疗效果较麻杏石甘散和金花平喘散治疗效果好,治愈率也达93.3%。结论：野马追克喘散治疗猪气喘咳嗽疗效较高,收效较快,维持时间较长,是较理想的药物。     

An Outbreak of Respiratory Disease Complex in Sheep in Central Ethiopia

An investigation was carried out into an outbreak of respiratory disease complex (RDC) in 3641 Menz and Awassi×Menz cross sheep in Central Ethiopia between 1998 and 1999 by clinical, serological, microbiological, post-mortem and histopathological examinations. The monthly incidence of RDC varied from 2.8% to 4.0% and the prevalence was as high as 17%. The case fatality rate was 18%, despite culling of sick sheep. Over 76% of the morbidity occurred in adults, followed by 19% among weaners. Similarly, 62% of the mortality was in adults. However, 27% of the mortality occurred in lambs despite the low morbidity in the group. Significant breed and age differences were seen in the morbidity and mortality rates (p<0.05). Clinical signs, gross and microscopic lesions and serological and bacteriological examinations showed an interplay of several causes of the RDC, including pestes des petits ruminants (PPR) (72.3%, serologically confirmed), lung worms, maedi-visna, bacterial bronchopneumonia (staphylococcal and streptococcal), enzootic pneumonia and some fungal infections. Cold temperatures, which may be as low as –8.5°C at night, are major predisposing factors along with managemental stresses. Vaccination of animals with a homologous PPR vaccine appeared to decrease dramatically the occurrence of the disease, showing that PPR played an important role in the outbreak. Several of the pathogens do not appear to be individually capable of causing the respiratory disease. Appropriate strategies for the prevention of RDC are suggested.     

Clinical course, diagnostic findings and necropsy diagnosis in dyspneic cats with primary pulmonary parenchymal disease: 15 cats (1996–2002)

Objective: Correlate the necropsy diagnosis with the history, diagnostic findings, and clinical course of dyspneic cats with primary lung parenchymal disease. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Animals: Client‐owned cats over 6 months of age hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with a primary problem of respiratory distress that had pulmonary parenchymal disease on thoracic radiographs, and a complete necropsy. Interventions: None. Measurements and main results: Cats included were assigned into 2 groups based on the pulmonary histopathology: inflammatory (n=8) and neoplastic (n=7) disease. No statistical difference was found between the groups with regard to age, body weight, clinical signs, duration of clinical signs, physical examination findings, thoracic radiography, duration of hospitalization, treatment, and outcome. Cats with neoplasia had a statistically higher mean total white blood cell count (26.60 k/μL±10.41) than those with inflammatory lung disease (11.59 k/μL±4.49; P=0.026). Cats with bacterial or viral pulmonary disease had a significantly shorter median duration of illness (5 days, range 1–7 days) than all other cats (30 days, range 7–365 days; P=0.0042). Ultrasound guided pulmonary fine‐needle aspiration (FNA) provided an accurate diagnosis in 5/5 cases. Conclusions: Forty‐seven percent of cats with pulmonary parenchymal disease had neoplasia. The clinical diagnosis was difficult to obtain ante‐mortem; lung FNA appeared to be the most helpful diagnostic tool in these cases.     

Bacterial infection of the lower respiratory tract in 34 horses

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between the bacteriology and aspects of history, clinical presentation, outcome and pathology of lower respiratory tract disease of 34 horses. PROCEDURE: Detailed aerobic and anaerobic bacteriological investigations were performed on clinical specimens from horses with pneumonia, lung abscessation and necrotic pneumonia with or without pleurisy in an attempt to identify those bacteria that might contribute to the initiation and progression of infection. RESULTS: Bacteria were cultured from 33 of the 34 horses. In ten cases, only aerobic/facultatively anaerobic isolates were cultured while aerobic/facultatively anaerobic bacteria and obligately anaerobic bacteria were isolated in the other 23 cases. Moderate to large numbers of anaerobic bacteria were isolated only when the estimated duration of illness was at least five days. Bacteria were not cultured from 12 of the pleural fluid samples but were always cultured from pulmonary samples (either transtracheal aspirates from live horses or pulmonary lesions at necropsy). Streptococcus equi subsp zooepidemicus was isolated in the three cases where only one bacterial species was cultured. In the other 30 cases, multiple species were isolated. These included most often and in greatest numbers, Streptococcus equi subsp zooepidemicus, Pasteurellaceae, Escherichia coli, anaerobic cocci, Eubacterium fossor, Bacteroides tectum, Prevotella heparinolytica, Fusobacterium spp, and pigmented members of the genera Prevotella and Porphyromonas. Aerobic/facultatively anaerobic organisms were isolated from 97% of horses, while obligately anaerobic organisms were cultured from 68% of horses. CONCLUSION: There was no association between the isolation of any specific bacterium and the outcome of disease. However, obligately anaerobic bacteria (such as anaerobic cocci, Bacteroides tectum, P heparinolytica and Fusobacterium spp) and the facultatively anaerobic species Escherichia coli, were recovered more commonly from horses that died or were euthanased than from those that survived. There was an association between failure of horses to recover from pleuropneumonia and delay in diagnosis and initiation of treatment.     

细胞色素C在生物医学方面的研究进展

综合论述了细胞色素C的研究简史和结构性质,探讨了细胞色素C与细胞线粒体呼吸链、生物进化细胞凋亡的关系,并对细胞色素C的应用前景作了展望。     

褪黑素对内毒素血症山羊肝细胞线粒体呼吸功能的影响

将48只健康山羊随机分为4组：对照组（A组）、内毒素（LPS）组（B组）、内毒素＋褪黑素（LPS＋MT）组（C组）、褪黑素（MT）组（D组）,在处理后第3 h和6 h提取肝细胞线粒体,采用Clark氧电极技术测定线粒体呼吸控制率（RCR）、磷氧比值（P/O）、氧化磷酸化效率（OPR）的变化,探讨了MT对LPS诱导的山羊内毒素血症机体线粒体呼吸功能的影响。结果显示,内毒素组山羊在第3 h和6 h的RCR、P/O、OPR显著低于对照组（P〈0.05）;应用褪黑素后,即内毒素＋褪黑素组第3 h的肝细胞线粒体RCR、P/O、OPR明显升高（P〈0.05）;褪黑素组第3 h的RCR明显高于对照组（P〈0.05）,而褪黑素组第3 h的P/O、OPR与对照组差异不显著（P〉0.05）。证实,山羊内毒素血症时线粒体的呼吸功能明显下降,褪黑素对肝细胞线粒体呼吸功能具有一定的保护作用。