Nutritive constituents of Silky fowl eggs: comparison with hen eggs of White Leghorn origin

In the present study, proportional parts, amounts of major constituents, vitamins, minerals and fatty acids composition of Silky fowl eggs were examined compared with those of hen eggs. The ratio of egg yolk weight to whole egg weight of Silky fowl egg was significantly larger than that of egg yolk of hen egg. The amount of cholesterol of Silky fowl eggs were significantly (P < 0.01) less than those of hen eggs. The amount of vitamins (B2, B6, D and E), calcium and potassium in Silky fowl eggs were significantly higher than those of hen eggs. Unsaturated fatty acids in Silky fowl eggs were 62.5% among total fatty acids, the unsaturated fatty acids of hen eggs were 53.9%. Especially, the contents of arachidonic acid, docosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in Silky fowl eggs were significantly larger than in hen eggs.     

Strong antiviral activity of heated and hydrated dolomite--preliminary investigation

Heated and hydrated naturally occurring dolomite showed very strong antiviral activity. Infectivity of avian and human influenza, avian infectious bronchitis (coronavirus), Newcastle disease (paramyxovirus) and avian laryngotracheitis (herpesvirus) viruses dropped at least 1,000 fold following contact with the dolomite for five minutes at 4 degrees C. Dolomite is expected to be useful to inhibit the incidence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.     

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia was diagnosed by postmortem examination of a one-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with four-week history of dyspnea. Cytologic and histologic examination of lung tissues revealed numerous P. carinii trophozoites and cysts, and P. carinii specific DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction. The dog showed hypogammagloblinemia and extremely low levels of serum IgG. It was considered that P. carinii pneumonia in this case was associated with an immunodeficient condition which has already been reported in Miniature Dachshunds.     

Isolation of Olive latent virus 1 from Tulip in Toyama Prefecture

A virus whose coat protein gene had a high sequence homology with the coat protein gene of Olive latent virus 1 was isolated from diseased tulip in Toyama Prefecture. Received 1 June 2001/ Accepted in revised form 1 August 2001     

Cloning of DNA fragments specific to the pathotype and race of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Verticillium dahliae</Emphasis>

Japanese isolates of Verticillium dahliae, a causal agent of wilt disease in many plants, are classifiable into pathotypes based on their pathogenicity. Because these pathotypes are morphologically indistinguishable, establishing a rapid identification method is very important for the control of this pathogen in Japan. For cloning DNA fragments that are useful for identification and specific detection of V. dahliae pathotypes, we performed random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses using various isolates. One polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product, E10-U48, was specific to isolates pathogenic to sweet pepper. The other product, B68-TV, was specific to race 1 of isolates pathogenic to tomato. The specificity of these sequences was confirmed by genomic Southern hybridization. Further analyses revealed that the region peripheral to B68-TV obtained from the genomic DNA library includes the sequence specific to all isolates pathogenic to tomato (races 1 and 2). Moreover, sequence tagged site (STS) primers designed from B68-TV and its peripheral region showed race-specific and pathotype-specific amplification in a PCR assay. The probes and primers obtained in this study are likely to be useful tools for the identification and specific detection of pathotypes and races of V. dahliae. The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under accession number AB095266.     

The effects of within-species and between-species variation in wood density on the photodegradation depth profiles of sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa)

Low density wood is more rapidly eroded than denser wood when exposed to the weather, possibly because it is more susceptible to photodegradation. Fourier transform infrared microscopy was used to examine: (1) the depth of photodegradation in earlywood and latewood of sugi (Japanese cedar) and earlywood of hinoki (Japanese cypress) exposed for up to 1500 h to artificial sunlight emitted by a xenon lamp (375 W/m² within the 300 to 700 nm spectral range); and (2) the relationship between the density of wood tissues and depth of photodegradation. The depth of photodegradation varied between species (sugi and hinoki) as well as within a growth ring (sugi earlywood and latewood), and there was an inversely proportional relationship between depth of photodegradation and wood density. These findings may explain why low density earlywood is more rapidly eroded than latewood during weathering, and more generally, why there is an inverse relationship between the density of wood species and their rate of erosion during artificial and natural weathering. Part of this work was presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Sapporo, August 2004