Urinary and Plasma Catecholamines and Metanephrines in Dogs with Pheochromocytoma,Hypercortisolism, Nonadrenal Disease and in Healthy Dogs

Background

Diagnosis of pheochromocytoma (PC) is based on a combination of clinical suspicion, finding an adrenal mass, increased plasma, and urine concentrations of catecholamine metabolites and is finally confirmed with histopathology. In human medicine, it is controversial whether biochemically testing plasma is superior to testing urine.

Objectives

To measure urinary and plasma catecholamines and metanephrines in healthy dogs, dogs with PC, hypercortisolism (HC), and nonadrenal diseases (NAD) and to determine the test with the best diagnostic performance for dogs with PC.

Animals

Seven PC dogs, 10 dogs with HC, 14 dogs with NAD, 10 healthy dogs.

Methods

Prospective diagnostic clinical study. Urine and heparin plasma samples were collected and stored at −80°C before analysis using high‐pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to electrochemical detection or tandem mass spectrometry were performed. Urinary variables were expressed as ratios to urinary creatinine concentration.

Results

Dogs with PC had significantly higher urinary normetanephrine and metanephrine : creatinine ratios and significantly higher plasma‐total and free normetanephrine and plasma‐free metanephrine concentrations compared to the 3 other groups. There were no overlapping results of urinary normetanephrine concentrations between PC and all other groups, and only one PC dog with a plasma normetanephrine concentration in the range of the dogs with HC and NAD disease. Performances of total and free plasma variables were similar. Overlap of epinephrine and norepinephrine results between the groups was large with both urine and plasma.

Conclusion and clinical importance

Measurement of normetanephrine is the preferred biochemical test for PC and urine was superior to plasma.     

Tracer methods to assess nutrient uptake distribution in multistrata agroforestry systems

Separate assessment of nutrient uptake by individual plants in mixed cropping with trees is impossible without tracer techniques. The different ¹⁵N-to-¹⁴N isotope ratio of atmospheric and soil N can be used to study the contribution of biologically fixed N to the nutrition of associated trees. In most cases, the assessment of nutrient uptake distribution is an appropriate way of evaluating how to improve the transfer of biologically fixed N. Radioisotopes (e.g., ³²P), stable isotopes (e.g., ¹⁵N) and rare elements (e.g., Sr) can be used to determine relative root activity distribution by applying the tracer to different soil depths or distances from trees. A broadcast application of the tracer instead of point application makes it possibe to calculate uptake values per unit area. The direct determination of nutrient pathways with such robust experiments offers considerable advantages for improving nutrient use efficiency and complementarity in multistrata agroforestry systems. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nitrogen uptake from 15N-enriched fertilizer by four tree crops in an Amazonian agroforest

Mixed tree cropping systems have been proposed for sustainable nutrient management in the humid tropics. Yet, the nutrient interactions between intercropped trees have not been addressed sufficiently. In the present study we compare the temporal and spatial patterns of the uptake of applied ¹⁵N by four different tree crops in a mixed tree cropping system on a Xanthic Ferralsol in central Amazônia, Brazil, during one year. Most of the N uptake occurred during the first two weeks. Very little N was recovered by peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), more by cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum) and annatto (Bixa orellana) and most by Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). Due to tree pruning the total accumulation of applied ¹⁵N in the above-ground biomass of annatto decreased throughout the year. It remained constant in cupuassu and peach palm and increased in Brazil nut. Brazil nut showed an extensive root activity and took up more fertilizer N applied to neighboring trees than from the one applied under its own canopy in contrast to the other three tree crops. Therefore, trees with wide-spread root systems may not need to receive N fertilizer directly but can take up N applied to other trees in the mixed cropping system. This means that such trees may effectively decrease N leaching when intercropped with trees that have dormant periods or places with low N uptake, but also exert considerable resource competition.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Echinacea alkylamides modulate induced immune responses in T-cells

The effects of Echinacea and several of its phytochemical components on NFkappaB expression by Jurkat cells (a human T-cell line) were investigated in vitro. In the absence of stimulation, Echinacea and its components exerted no significant effect on basal NFkappaB expression levels. In the presence of endotoxin (LPS), NFkappaB expression was decreased. However, this decrease was significantly reversed by treatment with cichoric acid, an Echinacea root extract (prepared from both Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea) and the alkylamide fraction derived from this combination. For the phorbol myristate acetate stimulation of Jurkat cells, effects on NFkappaB expression were mixed. Depending on the concentration, cichoric acid and a 2,4-diene alkylamide significantly induced NFkappaB levels, whereas a 2-ene alkylamide caused a significant inhibition. In contrast, both the Echinacea and the mixed alkylamide fraction exerted no effect. The alkylamide results indicate that the two basic forms of these compounds present in Echinacea may have opposing effects. These opposing effects demonstrate the importance of a knowledge, not only of the phytochemical make-up of a herbal preparation, but also of the actions of each component and the consequences of differing relative amounts in the preparation being investigated.     

Report on a travel to the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 1983 for the collection of indigenous taxa of cultivated plants

Summary The mission was carried out within the Mediterranean Programme of the IBPGR in April/May 1983 with participants from the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Agricultural Research Centre, Tarabulus), the Istituto del Germoplasma, Bari, and the Zentralinstitut für Genetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Gatersleben. In Tripolitania, the Fezzan- and Ghadmis-areas 316 samples, mostly cereals and vegetables, have been collected. In Tripolitania and the Ghadmis-area the land-races have been nearly completely replaced by new varieties. In the Fezzan genetic erosion is in progress. There, several cereal- and vegetable-land-races could still be collected. The land-races may be useful for breeding programmes.

---

Bericht über eine Reise in die Sozialistische Libysche Arabische Volksjamahiriya 1983 zur Sammlung autochthoner Sippen von Kulturpflanzen

Zusammenfassung Die Reise erfolgte im Rahmen des Mediterranean Programme des IBPGR im April/Mai 1983 mit Teilnehmern aus der Sozialistischen Libyschen Arabischen Volksjamahiriya (Agricultural Research Centre, Tarbulus), des Istituto del Germoplasma, Bari, und des Zentralinstituts für Genetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Gatersleben. In Tripolitanien, dem Fezzan und dem Gebiet von Ghadmis wurden 316 Proben, meist von Getrieden und Gemüsen, gesammelt. In Tripolitanien und dem Gebiet von Ghadmis sind die Landsorten fast vollständig von neueren Sorten verdrängt worden. Im Fezzan schreitet die Generosion fort. Hier konnten noch zahlreiche Getreide- und Gemüselandsorten gesammelt werden. Die Landsorten können für Züchtungsprogramme nützlich sein.

---

1983 .

— 1983 . ( .-. ), . , 316 , . . , . .

     

Sulphur speciation and turnover in soils: evidence from sulphur K-edge XANES spectroscopy and isotope dilution studies

Sulphur K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was used to quantify S species in humic substance extracts from ten soils from the UK, China and New Zealand, which differ in land use and agricultural management. XANES spectroscopy showed the presence of most reduced (sulphides, disulphides, thiols and thiophenes), intermediate (sulphoxides and sulphonates) and highly oxidised S (ester sulphates) forms, with the three groups representing 14-32%, 33-50% and 22-53% of the organic S in the humic substance extracts, respectively. Land use had a profound influence on the relative proportions of S species. Well-drained arable soils generally had a higher proportion of organic S present in the most oxidised form than the grassland soils collected nearby, whereas paddy soils showed a more reduced profile due to episodic flooding. In the Broadbalk Classical Experiment at Rothamsted, reversion of an arable system to grassland or woodland in the 1880s resulted in an increase of the most reduced and intermediate S species at the expense of the most oxidised S species. Long-term applications of farmyard manure to an arable plot also shifted S species from the most oxidised to the intermediate and the most reduced species. Sulphur immobilisation and gross mineralisation were determined in seven soils using the ³⁵S isotope dilution method. Gross mineralisation during a 53-day incubation correlated more closely with the amounts of the most reduced and intermediate S species than with the most oxidised S species, suggesting that the former (C-bonded S) were the main source of organic S for mineralisation in the short-term.