Expression of chicken LEAP-2 in the reproductive organs and embryos and in response to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmonella enterica</Emphasis> infection

In recent years host antimicrobial peptides and proteins have been recognised as key mediators of the innate immune response in many vertebrate species, providing the first line of defense against potential pathogens. In chickens a number of cationic antimicrobial peptides have been recently identified. However, although these peptides have been studied extensively in the avian gastrointestinal tract, little is known about their function in the chicken reproductive organs and embryos. Chicken Liver Expressed Antimicrobial Peptide-2 (cLEAP-2) has been previously reported to function in protecting birds against microbial attack. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of cLEAP-2 gene in the chicken reproductive organs, as well as in chicken embryos during embryonic development, and to determine whether cLEAP-2 expression in the chicken reproductive organs was constitutive or induced as a response to Salmonella enteritidis infection. RNA was extracted from ovary, oviduct, testis and epididymis of sexually mature healthy and Salmonella infected birds, as well as from chicken embryos until day ten of embryonic development. Expression analysis data revealed that cLEAP-2 was expressed in the chicken ovary, testis and epididymis as well as in embryos during early embryonic development. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that cLEAP-2 expression was constitutive in the chicken epididymis, but was significantly up regulated in the chicken gonads, following Salmonella infection. In addition, expression of cLEAP-2 during chicken embryogenesis appeared to be developmentally regulated. These data provide evidence to suggest a key role of cLEAP-2 in the protection of the chicken reproductive organs and the developing embryos from Salmonella colonization.     

Leptospirosis as the most frequent infectious disease impairing productivity in small ruminants in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil

Despite the importance of small ruminants breeding in developing countries, milk/meat productivity remains unsatisfactory. Infectious diseases, such as leptospirosis, brucellosis, and small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLVs), contribute to this scenario. The objective of the present study was to determine the role of each of these diseases in the productivity of small ruminants breeding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In goats, 343 samples were tested for leptospirosis, 560 for Brucella abortus, and 506 for caprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE), whereas in sheep, 308 samples were tested for leptospirosis, 319 for B. abortus, 374 for Brucella ovis, and 278 for Maedi-Visna (MV). Regarding leptospirosis, 25.9% of goats and 47.4% sheep were seroreactive, with serovar Hardjo the most prevalent in both species. Anti-B. abortus agglutinins were found in 0.7% of all samples, exclusively in goats. In relation to SRLVs, 8.6% of goats and 3.2% of sheep samples were positive for CAE and MV, respectively. Leptospirosis was the major infectious problem in the small ruminants sampled and may contribute to impaired productivity of these animals.     

Survey of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sarcocystis</Emphasis> infection in slaughtered cattle in Kerman,Iran

The parasite of genus Sarcocystis is one of the most commonly found parasite in domestic animals worldwide. Some species of Sarcocystis cause important economic loss when causing clinical and sub clinical disease. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Sarcocystis in slaughtered Cattle in Kerman, Iran. The prevalence of Sarcocystis spp. infection was investigated in 480 cattle, slaughtered from May 2005 to February 2006 in the Kerman, Iran using naked eye examination for macroscopic Sarcocysts, and peptic digestion, muscle squash, squeezing methods for microscopic types. Muscles from heart, tongue, and esophagus, cervical and abdominal muscles of 480 slaughtered cattle were examined for Sarcocystis cysts. The prevalence of microscopic Sarcocystis cysts in cattle was detected in 100% and there was no macroscopic cyst in examined cattle.     

Trends in calving ages and calving intervals for Iranian Holsteins in Fars province,southern Iran

Purpose  

To determine trends in calving ages and calving interval as measures of reproductive performance in Iranian Holsteins in Fars province, southern Iran during 2000–2005.     

Factors affecting the adoption of agroforestry practices by farmers in Cameroon

This paper presents empirical evidence on the impact of socio-economic factors on the adoption of agroforestry practices in Cameroon. The analysis uses primary farm-level data collected from June to December 1996. Three major provinces of the country were covered, namely Centre, Southwest and Northwest Several agroforestry technologies have been promoted among farmers in the zone, including alley farming, improved fallow, live fencing, cut-and-carry fodder and apiculture. The status of adoption of each agroforestry practice is described and factors that affect adoption identified. These are gender of farmer, household family size, level of education, farmer’s experience, membership within farmers’ associations, contact with research and extension, security of land tenure, agroecological zone, distance of the village from nearest town, village accessibility and income from livestock. Research findings indicate that since factors affecting farmers’ adoption of agroforestry practices differ across techniques, generalisation is to be avoided.     

Laboratory characterization of firebrands involved in spot fires

• Introduction  

Wildfires are considered the most important disturbance in the Mediterranean Basin, and some are propagated over long distances due to lift-off and ignition of firebrands.     

Leaching characteristics of homologues of benzalkonium chloride from wood treated with ammoniacal copper quaternary wood preservative

In Japan, ammoniacal copper quaternary wood preservatives type-1 (ACQ-1), which contains copper and benzalkonium chloride as its active ingredients, is among the most widely used wood preservatives in the pressure treatment of wood. Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) in commercial ACQ-1 products mainly comprises C12 and C14 homologues. In the present study, the leaching characteristics of these BAC homologues were investigated using the heartwood and sapwood portions of Japanese cedar, Japanese larch, and Sakhalin fir treated with ACQ-1 and 1% monoethanolamine (MEA) solution containing equimolar amounts of homologues. Distilled water (DW) and artificial seawater (SW) were used as leaching media. Consequently, it was observed that the leaching rate of the C12 homologue tended to be higher than that of the C14 homologue in DW. The leaching of C12 homologues was accelerated by using SW, resulting in a significantly higher leaching rate than the C14 homologue using SW. It was thought that the difference in the hydrophobicities based on alkyl chain lengths resulted in these phenomena. However, when the heartwood portion of Japanese larch was treated with the homologues in MEA, the leaching rate of the C14 homologue was significantly higher than that of the C12 homologue.     

Phoma stem canker (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Leptosphaeria maculans/L. biglobosa</Emphasis>) of oilseed rape (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica napus</Emphasis>): is the G<Subscript>2</Subscript> Disease Index a good indicator of the distribution of observed canker severities?

Several disease indices (DI) have been proposed to assess the severity of phoma stem canker at late growth stages. The DI commonly used in France (called G₂ DI) consists of integrating the distribution of the proportions of plants observed within six canker severity classes into a single index. This index uses arbitrarily chosen coefficients associated to each class of canker severity. A given value of this DI can therefore be obtained with different distributions among the canker severity classes. Consequently, it is important to assess to what extent the G₂ DI is representative of the distribution of plants in canker severity classes. We show in this study that the G₂ DI is a good indicator of the distribution of the observed canker severities, using a dataset from different years, sites and cultivars; this illustrates the robustness of the G₂ DI.     

Effect of Spirulina fusiformis on cyclophosphamide and mitomycin-C induced genotoxicity and oxidative stress in mice

Spirulina fusiformis was tested for its possible in vivo protective effects against cyclophosphamide (CP) and mitomycin-C (MMC) induced genotoxicity and oxidative stress in mice. Pre-treatment with S. fusiformis (250, 500 and 1000 mg kg(-1), p.o., daily for 5 days) significantly reduced the chromosomal damage and lipid peroxidation with concomitant changes in antioxidants and detoxification systems. All the three tested doses were effective in exerting a protective effect against CP and MMC.