The Screening of River Water for Immunotoxicity Using an In Vitro Whole Blood Culture Assay

The acquired immunity consists of two pathways namely the humoral immunity that defends the host against extracellular pathogens such as bacteria and the cell-mediated immunity that defends the host against intracellular pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and viruses and also against cancers. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of river water collected from pristine and contaminated sites along the Eerste River, South Africa on inflammation, humoral and acquired immune pathways. Hydrophobic extracts were prepared from water collected at contaminated and pristine sites. Inflammatory activity was determined by measuring interleukin (IL)-6 levels synthesized by whole blood after incubation with the extracts. For determining the effects on acquired immunity, phytohemagglutinin stimulated whole blood from healthy volunteers was incubated with extracts. The effect on humoral immunity was determined using IL-10 as biomarker, while interferon-gamma was used as biomarker for cell-mediated immunity. The results obtained show that water from the sites downstream from human activity induced IL-6, a biomarker of inflammation. Extracts collected from a site downstream from an informal housing settlement suppressed biomarkers of both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Water from sites impacted by human activity can potentially suppress the acquired immune system and this can pose a health risk to people using this water source. Studies must be done to investigate the long-term effects of the contaminated water on animals in vivo.     

Performance of an elite,hybrid family of a northern × southern highbush cross (‘Draper’ × ‘Jewel’)

A family of the cross of the northern highbush blueberry ‘Draper’?×?the southern highbush ‘Jewel’ (D?×?J) was propagated and phenotyped for plant size, yield, rate of flower, bud, and fruit development, leafing ability, winter hardiness, and fruit quality for 2 years in the field in Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Michigan (MI), and Oregon (OR). In addition, a controlled greenhouse study was conducted on these progenies to estimate their chilling requirements. Significant levels of genotypic variability were observed for all the traits and the majority showed significant location and genotype?×?environmental interactions. Most of these traits were normally distributed across genotypes. There were many more flower buds per cane in GA than FL and OR, and many more vegetative buds broke in OR than in the southeastern states. Most of the various yield and growth traits were significantly correlated, except for flower buds per cane with plant height and width, and strength of leafing with plant width and flower buds/cane. Plants in OR developed much more slowly than those in FL and GA. There was a significant G?×?E effect on days to early green tip, floral bud break, and full bloom. Significant correlations were observed between all the developmental rates except between floral bud break and the days to full flowering and first blue fruit. Most individuals were severely damaged by winter cold in MI, although a few showed good tolerance. Significant location effects were observed for pH, titratable acidity (TA), soluble solids (SS), and SS/TA. Fruit in FL were a little softer and had higher SS/TA ratios than those in GA. There were significant interactions between genotype and environment for all the fruit quality traits except for fruit scar, firmness, anthocyanin content (ACY), and % juice. Fruit scar had a significant positive relationship with firmness and a significant negative relationship with flavor. Fruit color was significantly associated positively with soluble solids and ACY. Firmer fruit had significantly lower levels of ACYs. Fruit pH showed significant positive correlations with TA, TA/SS, and % juice, and significant negative relationship with SS and ACY. TA was significantly associated negatively with TA/SS and positively with ACY and % juice. TA/SS and ACY were positively correlated significantly with % juice. Two or three individuals were identified at each location that had high yields, were very early or late ripening and had excellent overall fruit quality. There were significant levels of genotypic, environmental (chilling hours) and G?×?E interaction among vegetative and floral buds for numbers of buds per shoot, percentage that developed and their developmental rate. The chilling requirement of highbush blueberry appears to be regulated polygenically as the D?×?J family segregated normally. On average, genotypes did more poorly at 250 and 350 chilling hours than the other chilling treatments.     

Rundschau

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

In memoriam Prof. Dr. Oldwig Jancke

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Evaluation of atropine, glucagon, and metoclopramide for facilitation of endoscopic intubation of the duodenum in dogs.

Modification of gastroduodenal motility has been proposed to aid endoscopic examination of the duodenum in dogs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of the following pharmacologic agents for facilitation of endoscopic intubation of the duodenum in 6 clinically normal dogs: metoclopramide HCl (0.2 mg/kg of body weight), atropine sulfate (0.045 mg/kg), glucagon (0.06 mg/kg), and isotonic saline solution. In a randomized, blinded, crossover design, the ease of endoscopic duodenal intubation was qualitatively scored by 3 endoscopists (in random order), using the following scale: 1 - immediate entry; 2 - rapid entry--moderate manipulation; 3 - difficult entry--multiple attempts; and 4 - no entry after 2 minutes [corrected]. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental and maintained with halothane. The 4 agents were diluted to a fixed volume and randomly administered. Duodenal intubation was attempted 2 minutes after IV injection of 1 of the agents. Four endoscopic procedures (1 for each agent) were performed on each dog with a minimum of 5 days between each procedure. In this study, no agent facilitated endoscopic duodenal intubation at the dose used. Instead, atropine and metoclopramide made duodenal intubation significantly more difficult, compared with use of saline solution. Difference between intubation after administration of glucagon and saline solution was not seen. On the basis of our findings, the use of these agents for facilitating endoscopic duodenal intubation is not recommended. In addition, in this study, we found that experience in endoscopic intubation is an important factor in determining the ease of duodenal intubation.     

Familial motor neuron disease in Rottweiler dogs: neuropathologic studies

Two 6-week-old female Rottweiler littermates were evaluated for regurgitation, diminished growth, progressive ataxia, and pelvic limb weakness. Clinical examination indicated a progressive, diffuse, lower motor neuron disorder and megaesophagus. The pups were killed at 6 and 8 weeks of age. Lesions included central chromatolysis and swelling of the perikarya in many large motor neurons in the ventral gray matter of the spinal cord. Some involvement of red, oculomotor, trigeminal motor, and ambiguus nuclei of the brainstem was noted. Ultrastructurally, chromatolytic neurons had excess neurofilaments, and an increase in and enlargement of Golgi complexes. Wallerian-like degeneration was prominent in neuropil of spinal cord and in peripheral nerve. Clinical, histological, and ultrastructural findings were consistent with a progressive motor neuron disease.