Bladder Eversion Caused by Chronic Cystitis in an Arabian Racehorse: A Case Report

Bladder eversion is a rare condition and may occur in mares as a result of excessive straining during pregnancy or in the postpartum period. In the present case, bladder eversion was caused by chronic cystitis in a nonpregnant mare. An Arabian racehorse (mare, 3 years old) was admitted to The Racehorse Hospital of the Turkish Jockey Club with a history of lumbar pain, excessive straining, and frequently assuming the urination position. Physical examination revealed the presence of tenesmus, stranguria, passing of small amounts of urine, and a visible mucosal structure at the ventral vulvar commissure during tenesmus. Laboratory findings revealed leucocytosis, increased urine pH, proteinuria, pyuria, and hematuria. Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus and Escherichia coli were isolated and identified in urine culture. Transrectal ultrasonography revealed thickening of the bladder wall and prolapse of the bladder corpus into the bladder. In the cystoscopic examination, performed following bladder reduction, severe hyperemia, erosion, and ulcers were determined in the bladder mucosa. Chronic cystitis was treated using antibiotics, based on urine culture test results, together with steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Twenty-four hours after the start of treatment, the severity of straining was observed to have decreased, ceasing completely on Day 4, and the bladder returned to its normal position.     

Screw-nail withdrawal and bonding strength of paulownia (Paulownia tomentosa Steud.) wood

The effects of screw type, moisture content, and grain direction on the screw and nail withdrawal strength and bonding strength were investigated for paulownia (Paulownia tomentosa Steud.) wood grown in Turkey. The withdrawal strength was carried out according to the ASTM-D 143 and ASTM-D 1761 and Turkish Standard 6094 in three directions (tangential, radial, and longitudinal) on 60 samples. The moisture content of half of the samples was 12 % and that of the other half 28 %.The experiment of bonding strength (BS EN 205) was applied to both sanded surfaces jointed by poly-vinly acetate and Desmodur-VTKA adhesives. Results of the tests indicate that, the withdrawal strength values at 12 % moisture content were higher than the 28 % for screws whereas the withdrawal strength for 28 % moisture content was higher than 12 % for nails. The maximum withdrawal strength value was found in the chipboard screw. In the case of directions, the withdrawal strength values of radial direction were found to be higher than the others for all parameters. The lowest withdrawal strength values were found in the longitudinal directions for both nails and screws. For adhesive types, the highest bonding strength of D-VTKA was found to be 5.64 N mm^?2 and it was higher than the bonding strength with PVAc (5.33 N mm^?2). However, there were no significant statistical differences between the two adhesive types. The results show that paulownia wood can be used for different purposes such as house construction, roof systems, and box cases as it possesses enough strength.     

Determination of Heat Requirements and Effective Heat Summations of Some Pomegranate Cultivars Grown in Southern Anatolia

Temperature (high and low) is one of the most limiting environmental factors for growth and production of fruits in different parts of the world. For temperate-zone fruit species, a certain total heat requirements are needed in order to obtain ripe fruits. The aim of this study was to determine heat requirements of three commercial pomegranate cultivars (‘Suruc’, ‘Katirbasi’ and ‘Hicaznar’) grown in Southern Anatolia region. The cultivars showed a narrower range of heat requirements for flowering (growing degree hours, GDH), i.e. ‘Suruc’ (25,000), ‘Katirbasi’ (25,270), ‘Hicaznar’ (28,000) and a wide range of heat requirements for fruit ripening, i.e. ‘Suruc’ (73,670), ‘Katirbasi’ (74,105) and ‘Hicaznar’ (88,052) GDH. Under the Sanliurfa province conditions, two years average of effective heat summation requirement from bud swelling to 50 % flowering stage for ‘Suruc’, ‘Katirbasi’ and ‘Hicaznar’ cultivars are calculated as 643, 655 and 718 growing degree days (GDD) and from bud swelling to harvest are 2734, 2802 and 3289 GDD. It can be concluded that the effective heat summation of Sanliurfa province is enough for commercial growing for all pomegranate cultivars.     

Determination of genetic diversity in european cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus L.) genotypes based on morphological,phytochemical and ISSR markers

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - Turkey has a high diversity of native and commercially grown plants. European cranberrybush, a fruit species grown commercially in the country, is of interest...     

Simple sequence repeats as useful resources to study transcribed genes of cotton

Microsatellites or Simple Sequence Repeats(SSRs) are informative molecular genetic markers in many crop species. SSRs are PCR-based, highly polymorphic, abundant, widely distributed throughout the genome and inherited in a co-dominant manner in most cases. Here we describe the presence of SSRs in cDNAs of cotton. Thirty one SSR primer pairs of 220 (∼14%) tested led to PCR amplification of discrete fragments using cotton leaf cDNA as template. Sequence analysis showed 25% of 24randomly selected cDNA clones amplified with different SSR primer pairs contained repeat motifs. We further showed that sequences from the SSR-containing cDNAs were conserved across G. barbadense and G. hirsutum, revealing the importance of the SSR markers for comparative mapping of transcribed genes. Data mining for plant SSR-ESTs from the publicly available databases identified SSRs motifs in many plant species,including cotton, in a range of 1.1 to4.8% of the submitted ESTs for a given species. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Chemical Investigation of Water Resources Around the Yatagan Thermal Power Plant of Turkey

In this work, trace metals such as Hg, Pb, As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in underground water samples obtained from three wells, an ash-pond and drinking water located near the Yatagan Thermal Power Plant were measured. As, Hg, Cu and Zn contents of the underground water were lower than those reported in the EEC (European Economic Community) and WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines. In contrast, the levels of Fe, Pb, Cd and Mn in some groundwater samples were higher than EEC and WHO guideline values. The trace metal concentrations in coal ash-pond water were observed to be lower than water quality standards with the exception of Pb. The obtained results indicated that the trace metal concentration in the sampled drinking water site did not exceed WHO limits.     

Removal of Phosphate from Waste Waters by Adsorption

In this study, the adsorption of phosphate on gas concrete from aqueous solutions has been studied as functions of temperature, mixing rates and suspension pH. Over 99% of phosphate removal was found. The chemical composition of the gas concrete has been defined by X-ray analysis. Experimental data was fitted to the Langmuir equation in order to Langmuir coefficients. After calculating Langmuir coefficients, adsorption free energy (Δ G ⁰ _ads.) has been determined. In order to gather information about adsorption mechanism, electrophoretic mobilites of particles were measured at various pHs by using Zeta meter 3.0+. It has been found that the adsorption is driven by the interactions between the ionizations of CaO and Al₂O₃ and the formation of AlPO₄. According to the BET (N₂) measurements, the specific surface area of gas concrete was found as 22 m²g^-1. The surface area after adsorption has been found as 17 m²g^-1. The surface area covered by adsorbate has been found as 5.23 m²g^-1 by usinga_s = n^s _m. a_m. N_A. These two areas determined by BET and Langmuir model were close to each other (BET: 22 m²g^-1–17 m²g^-1).     

Single and double inoculation with Azospirillum/Trichoderma: the effects on dry bean and wheat

A plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (Azospirillum brasilense Sp7) and a bio-control fungus, which can solubilize insoluble phosphorus (Trichoderma harzianum Rifai 1295-22), were evaluated for their single and combined effects on dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in soil. A pot experiment with bean and a field experiment with both bean and wheat were established. In contrast to single inoculation of Trichoderma, the single inoculation of Azospirillum and the double inoculation did not significantly (P >0.05) increase nodule numbers and nodule mass at 45 days after planting in pot grown beans. However, the Azospirillum inoculation with supplementary phosphorus significantly (P <0.05) increased nodule mass. There were no significant (P >0.05) differences among the inoculation treatments for plant dry weight, total plant nitrogen, and total plant phosphorus at 45 days after planting in both pot and field experiments with bean. However, the combined inoculation and rock phosphate application at 1 Mg ha^–1 significantly (P <0.05) increased bean seed yield, total seed nitrogen and phosphorus in the bean field trial. This treatment more than doubled the mentioned properties compared to the control. The microbial inoculations, with the exception of the combined inoculation, significantly (P <0.05) increased total seed nitrogen, but never affected seed yield in the wheat field trial (P >0.05). The combined inoculation improves many plant and yield parameters and, therefore, has some advantages over single inoculation provided that rock phosphate was supplied at an amount not exceeding 1 Mg ha^–1. Higher rock phosphate application rates decreased many plant and yield parameters in our study.This work was carried out at Gaziosmanpaa University, Tokat, Turkey.     

Potential use of rare earth oxides as tracers of organic matter in grassland

Tracing organic matter (OM) in soil is challenging, because runoff and leaching processes are interrelated and have multiple sources. Therefore, multiple tracers with low background concentrations such as rare earth element oxides (REOs) are necessary to delineate the origin of sources of the organic materials in groundwater, rivers or in catchments. The main objective of this study was to examine the potential use of REOs as a tracer in various forms of OM (1) whole slurry, (2) solid, and (3) liquid phase of cattle slurry after mechanical separation. A laboratory experiment was carried out using five REOs (La, Gd, Sm, Pr, and Nd oxides) mixed directly into soil or mixed with various fractions of cattle slurry and then applied to the soil surface. In the additional grassland experiment, Gd oxide was spiked with soil and cattle slurry and then applied to the soil surface. The mineral N in the liquid phase (urine) of the slurry in the grassland experiment was labelled with ¹⁵N urea (16 atom%). In the laboratory experiment, results showed that the five REOs concentration of soil in 0–1 cm soil section after the rainfall simulation was still up to 20 times more than the background values. In 1–2 cm soil section, the concentration of only Gd (two fold higher) and La oxides (50% higher) were significantly higher than the soil background values. Therefore, we hypothesized that Gd and La oxides were associated also with relatively finer organic particles in slurry, thus 1–2 cm soil section were enriched with these oxides. The five REOs concentration below 2 cm soil depth were similar to the background values in all treatments. In line with the laboratory experiment, Gd concentrations in the deeper soil layers (2–4 and 4–8 cm) in the grassland experiment were not significantly affected by any treatment. Both in grassland and laboratory experiment, solid phase of the slurry (dung) was collected from the soil surface after rainfall simulation. Here, about 56% of REOs were measured on the solid phase of the slurry which indicates the strong binding potential of REOs on slurry OM. The present novel study, where REO tagged slurry was uniquely tested to study geochemical cycle of organic fertilizers, clearly highlighted the potential for their use as multiple‐tracers of (animal derived‐) OM in agricultural soils.