Traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation in a calf

In a 7-week-old calf neurologic symptoms occurred after an accident in the feeding grid. The calf was alert but in left lateral recumbency. After having been placed on its right side it showed a sideward drift to the left. Following head movement, an asynchronous movement of the eyes could be observed. Lesions of the upper motor neuron system, N. vestibulocochlearis, Nn. oculomotorius, trochlearis and/or abducens as well as N. vagus were suspected. Radiological examination of the occipital region and cervical spine revealed an atlanto-occipital subluxation of the atlas. Based on all these findings, the diagnosis of traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation was made and the calf was euthanized. The pathological findings confirmed this diagnosis.     

Angiotensin-sodium interaction in blood pressure maintenance of renal hypertensive and normotensive rats

A specific inhibitor of angiotensin II was used in rats to investigate whether angiotensin is involved in the maintenance of blood pressure in one-kidney Goldblatt hypertension, in which plasma renin levels are not usually increased. The inhibitor produced marked falls in blood pressure, often down to normal levels in the hypertensive animals only when they were depleted in sodium and not after sodium repletion. Much lesser but still significant falls in blood pressure were also produced in normotensive sodium-depleted rats but not in repleted rats. We conclude that the importance of angiotensin for maintaining blood pressure is largely determined by its relation to available sodium or fluid volume, since the renin component in maintenance of either the hypertensive or the normotensive state could be exposed only by sodium deprivation. Therefore, volume expansion per se or other pressor factors may be involved in maintaining blood pressure of these sodium-replete normotensive or hypertensive animals.     

Shut up or shout loudly: Predation threat and sound production in fishes

Predation is a major ecological constraint shaping behaviour and communication in animals. Several fish species are known to modify their foraging, agonistic and reproductive behaviour in the presence of predators. However, close to nothing is known about how predators affect sound production in fishes. This paper reviews how vocal fish increase their chance of survival by modifying intraspecific acoustic communication and by producing sounds directed towards predators. Field studies showed that toadfish, drums and squirrelfish reduced the number and loudness of calls when dolphin sounds were played back. These studies lack behavioural observations, leaving the question open how individual fish respond to predation threat. Croaking gouramis (Trichopsis vittata, Osphronemidae) reduced acoustic and visual signalling during dyadic contests and refrained from escalated behaviour when detecting a predator in an adjacent tank. This indicates that gouramis increase their vigilance by reducing agonistic behaviour. Vocal fish have been observed to emit sounds when predators approach or when being caught. However, none of the predators (or even conspecifics nearby) responded to these calls. Therefore, the term “predator-related” sound has been introduced in this paper to avoid implying unproven functions (alarm, startling, warning, distress and disturbance). Interestingly, the readiness of numerous taxa (e.g. catfishes) to vocalize when hand-held or netted was frequently exploited to investigate sound production in fish in relation to weight, sex, sonic organs, temperature or phylogeny. Increasing levels of noise in aquatic habitats call for more research on predator–prey interactions because of potential negative effects on detection of sounds produced by predators or prey.     

15N标记氮在盆栽山毛榉中的分配

温室条件下,向盆栽山毛榉幼苗中施加192g.m·^-2^15N示踪物,研究连续两个生长季沉积氮在森林土壤（含森林地被物）、沥出物、以及地上和地下部分生物量的分配。模拟了四种处理（栽培和非栽培）下的NH4^＋和NO3^-沉积情况,每种处理各自标记为^15N-NH4^＋或者^15N-NO3^-。在整个体系中施加15N的总回收率分别是,盆栽处理的^15N-NH4^＋为67.3%～74.9%,非盆栽处理的^15N-NO3^-为85.3%～88.1%。两种^15N示踪物主要沉积在森林土壤（包括森林地被物）中,其中盆栽处理的森里土壤中^15N-NH4^＋为34.6%～33.7%,^15N-NO3^-为13.1%～9.0%,说明异养微生物有很强的固氮作用。森林土壤微生物对^15N-NH4^＋的固定能力比^15N-NO3^-的固定能力强三倍。^15N-NH4^＋的优先异养利用造成土壤中^15N-NH4^＋的沉积量是植物体保存量的两倍 而土壤中^15N-NO3^-的沉积量却低于植物体的。总之,植被-土壤系统中15N-NH4＋的沉积量比^15N-NO3^-的沉积高了60%,说明了沉积氮的形式在森林生态系统中氮保存中的重要性。     

Experimental oral transmission of largemouth bass virus

Largemouth bass virus (LMBV) is a recently discovered iridovirus that causes a fatal disease of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède). Fish can become infected by waterborne LMBV, but oral transmission of this virus has not been demonstrated previously. Largemouth bass were gavaged with guppies, Poecilia reticulata Peters, which had been injected with LMBV, and then sampled periodically during a 7‐week observation period. The dose of LMBV averaged 10^5.6 tissue culture infectious doses – 50% cytopathic endpoint (TCID₅₀) per largemouth bass. Five of 24 largemouth bass exposed to LMBV became infected with the virus, but none of the fish had clinical signs typical of LMBV disease. Virus titres in largemouth bass were highest in swim bladder (10^5.5–9.5 TCID₅₀ g^?1) and were 10^5.2 TCID₅₀ g^?1 or lower in cutaneous mucus, head kidney, trunk kidney, spleen, gonad and intestine. These results indicate that LMBV can be transmitted orally to largemouth bass, but further study is needed to determine the factors affecting pathogenicity of the virus.     

Hypertension of renal origin: evidence for two different mechanisms

Antibody to angiotensin 11, or a specific peptide competitive inhibitor of angiolensin II, was used to investigate the role of the renin-angiotensin system in two types of renal hypertension in rats. The data indicate that angiotensin II is in fact critically involved in the pathogenesis of the form of renal hypertension in which one renal artery is clamped and the contralateral kidney is left in place, but that it probably plays no significant role in the maintenance of experimental renal hypertension in which the opposite kidney has been removed.     

Impact features on Stardust: implications for comet 81P/Wild 2 dust

Particles emanating from comet 81P/Wild 2 collided with the Stardust spacecraft at 6.1 kilometers per second, producing hypervelocity impact features on the collector surfaces that were returned to Earth. The morphologies of these surprisingly diverse features were created by particles varying from dense mineral grains to loosely bound, polymineralic aggregates ranging from tens of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers in size. The cumulative size distribution of Wild 2 dust is shallower than that of comet Halley, yet steeper than that of comet Grigg-Skjellerup.