Prevalence of incidental humeral intracondylar fissures in brachycephalic breed dogs in CT studies

Humeral intracondylar fissures (HIF) have been predominantly reported in spaniel breeds and proposed to be possible risk factors for humeral condyle fractures (HCF). We hypothesized that the prevalence of incidental HIF in French Bulldogs may be greater than that of other brachycephalic breeds. A retrospective, observational, prevalence study was performed using CT examinations of French bulldogs and other brachycephalic breed dogs presenting for an unrelated condition. Two European College of Veterinary Diagnostic and Imaging-certified radiologists reviewed the images of the humeral condyles of these dogs. A classification system was devised to grade the findings. We considered a Score 1 to be normal, Score 2 to have centralised sclerosis, Score 3 to have a partial fissure and Score 4 to have a complete fissure. A total of 228 elbows were reviewed from 122 dogs. Of this population, 145 elbows were from French Bulldogs, 54 were from Pugs, and the remainder were from a mix of other brachycephalic breeds. The prevalence of HIF (score 3 or 4) in elbows of the French bulldog, pug and other breed groups was 6.9% (CI 2.8–11%), 5.6% (CI 0–11.7%), and 3.4% (CI 0–10.15%), respectively. At a dog level, the prevalence of HIF (score 3 or 4 present in at least one elbow) was found to be 11.8% (CI 4.6–19%) in French Bulldogs, 11.1% (CI 0–22.9%) in Pugs, and 5.26% (CI 0–15%) in the other breed group. There was no significant difference between the breed groups. The inter-reviewer reliability for CT scoring of HIF based on Cohen's weighted kappa was low at 0.19.     

A generic model of thinning and stand density effects on forest growth, mortality and net increment

? For assessing forest thinning effects at large (i.e. continental) scale, data scarcity and technical limitations prevent the application of localized or individual-based thinning models.

? Here we present a simple general framework to analyze and predict the effects of thinning on growth and mortality, including the following stand density development. The effects are modeled in relative terms so that the model can be parameterized based on any thinning experiment that includes an unthinned control, regardless of site conditions and stand age.

? The model was tested against observed thinning effects on growth and mortality from five temperate and boreal species (all species pooled r ² = 0.51). It predicted a maximum increase in net stem biomass increment of 16% and a reduction in density-related mortality of 75% compared to un-thinned conditions at stand densities of around 70% of the maximum (increment optimal density).

? A sensitivity analysis revealed overlapping ranges of near optimal density (net increment within 95% of optimal) among all tested species, suggesting that one thinning scenario can be used for many species. The simple and general formulation of thinning effects based on only five parameters allows easy integration with a wide range of generic forest growth models.

     

Some perspectives on the paper industry's use of waste paper

The paper industry has traditionally sought fibrous resources from trees, wood residues and waste paper. Emphasis is shifting back to waste paper after 30 yr of relative decline in recycling. Management of fiber resources by major timber holding companies is being expanded to include waste paper. In the next decade the structure of the paper industry will reflect a residuals based process technology relating to both city and forest. Recovery of waste paper can be feasible with source separation or dry separation technology. The outlook for recycling more old newspapers, old corrugated containers and mixed papers from office buildings is very good. Waste paper use in the U.S.A. will double between 1972 and 1985 from 13 million tons to 26 million tons. In addition, a world fiber supply shortage will stimulate further recovery and export of waste fibers. The energy content of paper is about 7500 Btu lb^?1, not much below that of Wyoming coal. Recovery of the energy content of paper is an integral part of current efforts to convert mixed wastes to fuel or steam. By 1990 about 50 % of the waste paper generated will be usefully recovered - about 30 % will be recycled, or exported and 20 % will be burned for its energy content.     

Cultivation and nitrogen requirements for continuous winter barley on a gleysol and a cambisol

Long- and short-term direct-drilling and seed broadcasting plus rotovation were examined as possible quick and cheap alternatives to conventional mouldboard ploughing and drilling. The experiment was the continuation of an existing long-term tillage experiment for spring barley. The conventional ploughing and long-term direct-drilling treatments continued on the same plots. The broadcasting and the short-term direct-drilling treatments were applied to previously chisel-ploughed and deep mouldboard-ploughed treatments, respectively. Autumn nitrogen treatments of 30 or 60 kg ha⁻¹ and spring nitrogen treatments of 150 or 225 kg ha⁻¹ were applied. The experiment is located on a cambisol (15% clay in topsoil) and on a gleysol (17% clay in topsoil) in south-east Scotland. Straw was removed by baling and the stubble remained when the treatments were applied.

Long-term direct-drilling yielded most over the 3 years of the experiment and was particularly successful after the unusually wet autumn and winter of the third season. Short-term direct-drilling was the lowest yielding treatment in the first season only. The success of the long-term direct-drilling treatment was associated with the development of a stable, protective surface tilth as a result of organic-matter accumulation. This was associated with some soil structural improvement deeper in the profile in the long-term direct-drilled gleysol as shown by measurements of air permeability. Crop performance apparently was not related to soil compactness or cone resistance. The relatively high rates of nitrogen applied, both autumn and spring, gave worthwhile crop responses except for the third season, when the crop lodged. Short-term direct-drilling, broadcasting with rotovation and ploughing with drilling gave similar average yields on the gleysol, but on the cambisol broadcasting with rotovation outyielded the other two treatments by an average of 0.3 t ha⁻¹.     

Validation of a multiplex PCR assay to detect Babesia spp. and Anaplasma marginale in cattle in Uruguay in the absence of a gold standard test

Detection of bovine Babesia spp. and Anaplasma marginale is based on the reading of Giemsa-stained blood or organ smears, which can have low sensitivity. Our aim was to improve the detection of bovine Babesia spp. and A. marginale by validating a multiplex PCR (mPCR). We used 466 samples of blood and/or organs of animals with signs and presumptive autopsy findings of babesiosis or anaplasmosis. The primers in our mPCR amplified the rap-1a gene region of Babesia bovis and B. bigemina, and the msp-5 region of A. marginale. We used a Bayesian model with a non-informative priori distribution for the prevalence estimate and informative priori distribution for estimation of sensitivity and specificity. The sensitivity and specificity for smear detection of Babesia spp. were 68.6% and 99.1%, and for A. marginale 85.6% and 98.8%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for mPCR detection for Babesia spp. were 94.2% and 97.1%, and for A. marginale 95.2% and 92.7%, respectively. Our mPCR had good accuracy in detecting Babesia spp. and A. marginale, and would be a reliable test for veterinarians to choose the correct treatment for each agent.     

Combining endophytic fungi and bacteria for the biocontrol of Radopholus similis (Cobb) Thorne and for effects on plant growth

Eight endophytic fungal and bacterial isolates with antagonistic activity against Radopholus similis were evaluated in vivo for their individual and combined effects on biocontrol of R. similis and on the growth of “Grand Naine” cultivar banana plantlets in the greenhouse. Penetration efficiency (PE) of R. similis was between 3 and 21% in 29 biological agents (BAs) treatments, less than the 29% of the nematode-alone control (p ≤ 0.0001); 24 of the BAs treatments did not differ from the PE of 5% for a nematicide control. Twenty nine BAs treatments exhibited antagonistic activity against nematodes which reduced final population levels between 18 and 93%, relative to those on nematode-alone control plants (p ≤ 0.0001), and 14 BAs treatments were statistically similar to the nematicide treatment (88% reduction). Twenty four BAs treatments had increments of plant root biomass ranging from 20 to 58%, greater than the control plants; 37% of the treatments with single and combined BAs inoculations had root length increments ranging from 29 to 54% compared with control and chemical treatment. The nematicide, Terbufos 10GR, did not affect plant growth.