Free Oestrone in Adipose Tissue and its Relation to Androstenone and Skatole in Entire Male Pigs

Relationship between free oestrone and boar taint compounds in adipose tissue were studied in two groups of entire male pigs of different breeds. Group A consisted of 33 entire crossbred male pigs (dam Yorkshire and sire backcross Yorkshire x Wild Boar, generation seven). Group B consisted of 194 entire male pigs of crossbreeds between Swedish Hampshire (H) and Finnish Landrace (L), LH x H, H x LH, LH x LH (dam x sire). The measurements of free oestrone in adipose tissue were performed with a new method developed and validated in our laboratories. The standard curve was linear for concentrations of free oestrone ranging from 0.13 to 5.10 ng/g. The method exhibited parallelism of results between serial dilutions and a mean recovery of 97 +/- 13.7%. Intra-assay variations for samples with concentrations of free oestrone from 0.67 to 2.08 ng/g were from 9.23 to 11.94%. Inter-assay variations for the samples with concentrations of free oestrone from 0.89 to 2.96 ng/g were from 3.78 to 10.11%. The levels of free oestrone in fat from group A were well correlated with fat levels of androstenone (r = 0.66; p < 0.001) and levels of oestrone sulphate in peripheral plasma collected at the same time as the fat (r = 0.74, p < 0.001). The levels of free oestrone in fat from group B were significantly correlated to fat levels of androstenone (r = 0.68, p < 0.001) and skatole (r = 0.29, p < 0.001). In group B, age-related differences in fat levels of free oestrone, androstenone and skatole were studied. Free oestrone and skatole levels increased simultaneously at the age of 22 week (p < 0.05 for both), and androstenone levels increased at the age of 26 week (p < 0.05). It was suggested that the levels of free oestrone in adipose tissue might be used for the evaluation of hormonal status of male pigs as an alternative to plasma levels of testicular hormones. The levels of free oestrone might be involved in the regulation of skatole levels in fat as indicated by both the simultaneous increases in skatole and free oestrone levels in fat and positive correlation between skatole and free oestrone.     

Cladosporiosis in a tomato clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus).

Infection with Cladosporium sp., a deuteromycete, caused a deep dermal ulcer that extended to bone in a cultured tomato clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus). The infection may have been secondary to immunosuppression resulting from transport or confinement-induced stress or may have resulted from chronic exposure to copper. Reports of fungal infections in tropical marine fish are rare.     

Splenic lymphoma in a short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

A 23-year-old, male short-beaked echidna ( Tachyglossus aculeatus ) housed at a North American zoo was successfully treated for flea-associated anaemia, but subsequently died. Cause of death was presumptive septicaemia secondary to splenic lymphoma. This is only the fifth case of neoplasia reported in this monotreme species, and the first from outside of Australia.     

Robust fitting of fluorescence spectra for pre-symptomatic wheat leaf rust detection with Support Vector Machines

Early recognition of pathogen infection is of great relevance in precision plant protection. Pre-symptomatic disease detection is of particular interest. By use of a laserfluoroscope, UV-light induced fluorescence data were collected from healthy and with leaf rust inoculated wheat leaves of the susceptible cultivar Ritmo 2-4 days after inoculation under controlled conditions. In order to evaluate pathogen impact on fluorescence spectra 215 wavelengths in the range of 370-800 nm were recorded. The medians of fluorescence signatures suggest that inoculated leaves may be separated from healthy ones, but high-frequency oscillations and individual reactions of leaves indicate that separability is difficult to achieve. The misbalance between the high number of measured wavelengths and the low number of training examples induces a high overfitting risk. For a pre-symptomatic pathogen identification a small number of robust features was desired which comprise most of the information relevant for the given classification task. Instead of choosing only the most relevant wavelengths, the coefficients of polynomials fitting the spectra were used for classification. They specify the global curve characteristics. Piecewise fitting by polynomials of fourth order led to high classification accuracy. Support Vector Machines were used for classification. Cross validation demonstrated that the achieved classification accuracy reached 93%. This result could be attained on the second day after inoculation, before any visible symptoms appeared. The described method is of general interest for pre-symptomatic pathogen detection based on fluorescence spectra.     

Rain-induced removal of copper from apple leaves: Influence of rain properties and tank-mix adjuvants on deposit characteristics at the micro scale

Application of copper fungicides is an integrative component in the control of apple scab. As shown in the past, tank-mix adjuvants might reduce the rain-induced removal of active ingredients. The aims of this study were a) to characterize the impact of defined rain amount on the removal of Cu-oxychloride (Cu-Ox) and Cu-hydroxide (Cu-Hyd) from apple seedling leaves, b) to examine the influence of ethoxylated seed oil adjuvants on deposit properties at the micro scale and their possible influence in reducing the fungicide erosion from the leaves, and finally c) to evaluate the influence of previous adjuvant application on the rainfastness of copper ions. Losses of Cu-Hyd and Cu-Ox from seedling leaves exposed to 5 mm heavy rain reached almost 80% of the original Cu load. Wash-off extent of Cu-Ox could be reduced by using the rapeseed oil ethoxylate RSO 5 (47%), the linseed oil ethoxylate LSO 10 (47%), or the soybean oil ethoxylate SBO 10 (40%). However, in case of Cu-Hyd, none of the adjuvants was able to increase the tenacity of the copper on the leaves. Rainfall removed the bulky deposits and induced changes in the typical shape of the crystals. Furthermore, a reorganization of the spatial distribution of the remaining active ingredient (a.i.) was induced, which was very often embedded in a thin layer of adjuvants. In general, the adjuvants had a significant impact on droplet spread, whereas the area effectively covered with the a.i. was affected to a lesser extent. For both Cu-Hyd and Cu-Ox rewetting of the original deposit under controlled conditions resulted in an increased spread area but reduced the area effectively covered with Cu. Our results showed no clear relationship between the area covered by Cu ions and their adhesion to the surface, i.e. rainfastness. Finally, our studies indicated that previous spray treatments might influence the rain-induced removal of copper.     

Synchronous climate changes in antarctica and the north atlantic

Central Greenland ice cores provide evidence of abrupt changes in climate over the past 100,000 years. Many of these changes have also been identified in sedimentary and geochemical signatures in deep-sea sediment cores from the North Atlantic, confirming the link between millennial-scale climate variability and ocean thermohaline circulation. It is shown here that two of the most prominent North Atlantic events-the rapid warming that marks the end of the last glacial period and the Bolling/Allerod-Younger Dryas oscillation-are also recorded in an ice core from Taylor Dome, in the western Ross Sea sector of Antarctica. This result contrasts with evidence from ice cores in other regions of Antarctica, which show an asynchronous response between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.     

Canine mammary mixed tumours: immunohistochemical expressions of EGFR and HER‐2

Background Benign mixed tumours (BMTs) are frequently found in the mammary glands of female dogs, but the factors determining malignant transformation in these tumours are unknown. Objective To evaluate the expression of the oncoproteins, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER‐2) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), in 46 carcinomas in BMTs (CBMTs) and to verify their possible association with the malignancy of the tumours. Methods Immunohistochemical expression was analysed in benign and malignant components separately, and then compared with 74 cases of BMTs. Results Among the CBMTs, positivity for HER‐2 was found in the benign histological component of 4.3% (2/46), in the malignant epithelial non‐invasive component of 14.8% (4/27) and in the malignant invasive epithelial component of 13.6% (6/44) of cases. Two of the 24 (8.3%) BMTs were positive for HER‐2. There was no relationship between HER‐2 and the tumour components. There was no significant difference between BMTs and CBMTs. Positivity for EGFR was found in the benign component of 17.4% (8/46) of the CBMTs, in the malignant epithelial non‐invasive component of 40.7% (11/27%) and in the invasive epithelial malignant component of 45.4% (20/44). EGFR positivity was significantly associated with the invasive component of CBMTs. Conclusion EGFR may contribute to malignant epithelial transformation of BMTs. In contrast, HER‐2 overexpression may not be associated with the acquisition of a malignant epithelial phenotype.