Ultrasonographic findings of an ovarian abscess in a cow

Ultrasonographic examination was carried out in a cow with an ovarian abscess. Real time ultrasound scanning using a 7.5 MHz linear probe per rectum revealed an active left ovary with follicles of up to 11 mm in diameter and an enlarged right ovary measuring 6 x 6 cm, with a mass of 4 x 3 cm. The mass had varied echotexture, a thick hyperechoic boundary and a hypoechoic centre with echoic foci. It was tentatively diagnosed as an ovarian tumour or abscess. After ovariectomy, grossly the right ovary measured 6 x 6 x 5 cm and on cutting cheesy pus oozed out. The abscess was completely localised within the ovary, 4 cm in diameter and encapsulated thickly. On bacteriological examination Staphylococcus spp. was isolated. This is a rare case of ovarian abscess.     

Restriction of Starch Granule Swelling by Iodine During Heating

Differences in the degree of starch granule swelling and granule morphology are shown as a function of iodine concentration during heating. The observations reveal a restriction and delay in wheat and corn starch swelling in presence of iodine (0.02%) and a lack of swelling at higher iodine concentration (0.2%). The presence of iodine during heating did not influence waxy corn starch granule swelling, even at the higher concentration. A delay in the increase in paste viscosity during heating was observed, and gel formation was precluded after cooling at the higher iodine concentration. Waxy corn starch pastes formed a weak gel even at the higher iodine concentration. Spectrophotometric analyses showed that polymers leach into the solution when heated in the presence of 0.02% iodine, while no leaching was observed at 0.2% iodine concentration. Furthermore, the length and the amount of polymers leaching from normal corn were different from that observed for wheat starch. Thermal analyses reveal a shift in the onset of gelatinization temperature and an increase in the enthalpy in the amylose‐lipid region of the endotherm. While the iodine‐polymer complex did not appear to exhibit an endotherm during heating, the granules exhibited a diffused polarized cross, suggesting the presence of an ordered complex.     

Organic-acid-producing,phytate-mineralizing rhizobacteria and their effect on growth of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan)

Phytates represent a significant pool of organic phosphorus (Po) that is largely unavailable to plants. This study deals with phytate-mineralizing (PM), organic-acid-producing (OAP) rhizobacterial isolates, their characterization and their effect on plant growth. Their genetic diversity was assessed by 16S rRNA amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) and selected isolates were identified by partial sequencing of 16S rRNA gene. Na-phytate and Po rich poultry farm manure (PFM) used as sources of phosphorus in semi-solid-agar (SSA) medium and soil respectively, for plant inoculation studies, where Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea) used as plant. Of thirty-nine rhizobacterial isolates, nineteen were proficient at releasing phosphate (Pi) (up to 85 μg/ml) from sparingly soluble calcium (Ca)-phytate and concomitantly decreasing the pH of minimal medium with 100 mM glucose from 8.0 to below 5. When the medium contained glycerol in place of glucose, Ca-phytate remained undissolved with no significant Pi released and no decline in pH. Genetic diversity of phytate-mineralizing (PM) rhizobacterial isolates suggests that the isolates mainly fall in two populations: acid-producing (AP) population (mainly represented by members of Enterobacteriaceae) and non-AP population. OAP-PM rhizobacterial isolates were identified as Citrobacter, Pantoea, Klebsiella and Enterobacter species. Organic acids (OAs) secreted by PM isolates were detected by HPLC, showed secretion of gluconic and acetic acids. Importance of OAs in Ca-phytate dephosphorylation was demonstrated in vitro using A. ficuum phytase. Gluconate and acetate additions enhanced phytase catalyzed dephosphorylation of Ca-phytate in vitro. Sonicated cell lysates of isolates showed significant Pi release from Ca-phytate compared to whole cells, indicating inaccessibility of Ca-phytate due to poor solubility. Selected isolates showed that they possess cell-associated acid phytase and modulators of phytase activity suggested that the enzymes are histidine acid phosphatase (HAP) type of phytase. OAP-PM isolates PP1 and DHRSS showed significant increase in dry shoot/root ratio and P content of shoot in Na-phytate containing semi-solid agar (SSA) medium, but isolate DHRSS did not increase dry shoot/root ratio in soil experiments containing poultry farm manure as source of P, although it significantly increased shoot P content of plants. The inoculation of isolates enhanced the shoot P content and dry shoot/root ratio, but did not increase the dry weight in SSA medium. It may be concluded that some OAP-PM rhizobacterial isolates that release P from Ca-phytate show increase in shoot P content in phytate containing SSA medium and in soils.     

卫星数据主成分分析估计娑罗双树生物量

Spatio-temporal assessment of the above ground biomass (AGB) is a cumbersome task due to the difficulties associated with the measurement of different tree parameters such as girth at breast height and height of trees. The present research was conducted in the campus of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, India, which is predominantly covered by Sal (Shorea robusta C. F. Gaertn). Two methods of regression analysis was employed to determine the potential of remote sensing parameters with the AGB measured in the field such as linear regression analysis between the AGB and the individual bands, principal components (PCs) of the bands, vegetation indices (VI), and the PCs of the VIs respectively and multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis between the AGB and all the variables in each category of data. From the linear regression analysis, it was found that only the NDVI exhibited regression coefficient value above 0.80 with the remaining parameters showing very low values. On the other hand, the MLR based analysis revealed significantly improved results as evidenced by the occurrence of very high correlation coefficient values of greater than 0.90 determined between the computed AGB from the MLR equations and field-estimated AGB thereby ascertaining their superiority in providing reliable estimates of AGB. The highest correlation coefficient of 0.99 is found with the MLR involving PCs of VIs.     

Syneresis of vitreous by carbon dioxide laser radiation

In carbon dioxide laser surgery of the vitreous a process of vaporization has been advocated. In this report syneresis, a thermal liquefaction of gel, is shown to be over ten times more efficient on an energy basis than vaporization. Syneresis of vitreous is experimentally shown to be a first-order kinetic process with an activation energy of 41 +/- 0.5 kilocalories per mole. A theory of laser surgery in which this figure is used agrees closely with results from laser experiments on human eye-bank vitreous. The syneresis of vitreous by carbon dioxide laser radiation could lead to a more delicate form of ocular microsurgery, and application to other biological systems may be possible.     

Insertion mutagenesis of embryonal carcinoma cells by retroviruses

Mutagenesis was studied in cultured F9 embryonal carcinoma cells infected with a variant of Moloney murine leukemia virus. Proviral insertion induced the inactivation of the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase locus, and the virus was used to isolate the mutated genes rapidly. Mutagenesis by these methods may be useful for the genetic dissection of the various mammalian cell phenotypes.     

Modulating sphingolipid biosynthetic pathway rescues photoreceptor degeneration

Mutations in proteins of the Drosophila phototransduction cascade, a prototypic guanine nucleotide-binding protein-coupled receptor signaling system, lead to retinal degeneration and have been used as models to understand human degenerative disorders. Here, modulating the sphingolipid biosynthetic pathway rescued retinal degeneration in Drosophila mutants. Targeted expression of Drosophila neutral ceramidase rescued retinal degeneration in arrestin and phospholipase C mutants. Decreasing flux through the de novo sphingolipid biosynthetic pathway also suppressed degeneration in these mutants. Both genetic backgrounds modulated the endocytic machinery because they suppressed defects in a dynamin mutant. Suppression of degeneration in arrestin mutant flies expressing ceramidase correlated with a decrease in ceramide levels. Thus, enzymes of sphingolipid metabolism may be suitable targets in the therapeutic management of retinal degeneration.     

Adaptive recognition by nucleic acid aptamers

Nucleic acid molecules play crucial roles in diverse biological processes including the storage, transport, processing, and expression of the genetic information. Nucleic acid aptamers are selected in vitro from libraries containing random sequences of up to a few hundred nucleotides. Selection is based on the ability to bind ligand molecules with high affinity and specificity. Three-dimensional structures have been determined at high resolution for a number of aptamers in complex with their cognate ligands. Structures of aptamer complexes reveal the key molecular interactions conferring specificity to the aptamer-ligand association, including the precise stacking of flat moieties, specific hydrogen bonding, and molecular shape complementarity. These basic principles of discriminatory molecular interactions in aptamer complexes parallel recognition events central to many cellular processes involving nucleic acids.