Brucellosis due to Brucella suis in a swine herd associated with a human clinical case in the State of S?o Paulo, Brazil

Brucella suis has been recognized as the major etiological agent of human brucellosis in areas free from Brucella melitensis infection. However, with changes in swine management, the occurrence of swine brucellosis has decreased as has the human incidence of B. suis infection. A swine brucellosis outbreak within a herd from Jaboticabal (S?o Paulo, Brazil) was detected in July 2006. The herd comprised approximately 300 sows and 1,500 finishing animals. Many sows within this herd experienced abortions, while others exhibited vaginal discharge; three sows suffered posterior paralysis. Among 271 sows, 254 (93.7%) tested positive for brucellosis by complement fixation, and among 62 randomly bled finishing animals, 17 (27.4%) also tested positive. The B. suis biovar 1 was cultured from 14 aborted fetuses and six sows. Brucella was identified using routine methods. Fourteen farm workers were tested using agglutination tests, with three workers showing evidence of Brucella antibody titers. A 39-year-old woman, who worked with maternal pigs and had direct contact with aborted fetuses, presented an agglutinating titer of 480?IU/mL and displayed clinical signs of infection. Our findings suggest that despite a reduction of swine brucellosis throughout Brazil, B. suis infection still occurs, thereby posing a zoonotic risk.     

Phylogeny of five predominant pospiviroid species in Belgium

In Belgium pospiviroids are routinely detected in various hosts. The most frequently found pospiviroids are: Citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), Chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd), Tomato apical stunt viroid (TASVd) and Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid (TCDVd). Apart from the high incidence of pospiviroids in latently-infected ornamentals, viroids have also been found in plants where they cause disease: PSTVd and TCDVd in tomatoes and CSVd in chrysanthemum. In order to gain more epidemiological data on these infections, this study has conducted phylogenetic analyses of Belgian isolates for each of these five pospiviroid species. PSTVd and CEVd-isolates show a clustering depending on host plant identity. This was not observed for TCDVd and TASVd. A very high degree of sequence similarity was noticeable for CSVd-isolates from various hosts. During the past decade, PSTVd and CSVd-infected mother plants have been systematically eradicated in Belgium after positive detection results, also when found in symptomless plants, leading to a decreased trend of these quarantine pests in the past few years. However, other non-quarantine pospiviroid species are still ubiquitously present in many ornamentals. Since these pospiviroids can be equally harmful to crops as the two quarantine pests PSTVd and CSVd, there is still a risk that transmission occurs from symptomless-infected ornamental plants to economically important crops in Belgium such as tomato, pepper and chrysanthemum.     

Recovery and germination of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC seeds after ingestion by goats and cattle

Prosopis juliflora is a perennial shrub introduced in the 1980s to the Baringo District in central Kenya, and became highly invasive starting around the late 1990s. This period coincides with a shift of the composition of ruminant herds from formerly cattle to goats in this area. To assess the possible role of this shift in herd structure on P. juliflora spread, we conducted feeding trials and germination tests to determine the capacity of seeds to survive the passage through the intestinal tract of goats and cattle, comparing germination with chemically scarified and untreated seeds. Recovery of seeds eight days after ingestion was lower from goats (7%) than from cattle (15%) dung. Germination dynamics were similar for seeds that had been manually extracted from pods with those recovered after intestinal passage. Chemically scarified seeds germinated fastest and reached a germination rate of 100% within five days. While no apparent scarification effect was observed, the main contribution of endozoochorous dispersal of Prosopis seeds is their release from the enclosing pod segments, their dispersal away from the mother plant and possibly the provision of nutrients by the dung for their establishment and initial growth.     

Protein adsorption on and swelling of polyelectrolyte brushes: A simultaneous ellipsometry-quartz crystal microbalance study

With a coupled spectroscopic ellipsometry-quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) experimental setup, quantitative information can be obtained about the amount of buffer components (water molecules and ions) coupled to a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brush surface in swelling and protein adsorption processes. PAA Guiselin brushes with more than one anchoring point per single polymer chain were prepared. For the swollen brushes a high amount of buffer was found to be coupled to the brush-solution interface in addition to the content of buffer inside the brush layer. Upon adsorption of bovine serum albumin the further incorporation of buffer molecules into the protein-brush layer was monitored at overall electrostatic attractive conditions [below the protein isolectric poimt (IEP)] and electrostatic repulsive conditions (above the protein IEP), and the shear viscosity of the combined polymer-protein layer was evaluated from QCM-D data. For adsorption at the "wrong side" of the IEP an incorporation of excess buffer molecules was observed, indicating an adjustment of charges in the combined polymer-protein layer. Desorption of protein at pH 7.6 led to a very high stretching of the polymer-protein layer with additional incorporation of high amounts of buffer, reflecting the increase of negative charges on the protein molecules at this elevated pH.     

Measurement of platelet aggregation in ovine blood using a new impedance aggregometer

Background: Whole blood platelet aggregometry (impedance) is an important method to investigate platelet function disorders. Examination of hemostatic function in sheep is important with respect to their role as an animal model of human disease. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate and optimize selected methodological aspects (anticoagulant, agonist concentration) of impedance aggregometry in ovine blood using the new Multiplate 5.0 analyzer. Methods: Blood samples were collected in hirudin anticoagulant from 40 clinically healthy sheep. Samples from selected sheep were collected in citrate, with or without the addition of calcium chloride. The agonists adenosine diphosphate (ADP), collagen, ristocetin, arachidonic acid, and thrombin receptor‐activating peptide (TRAP) were added in several concentrations to induce aggregation. Results: Based on maximum aggregation values and internal precision, no significant difference was found between ADP concentrations of 3–10 μmol/L and collagen concentrations of 3–5 μg/mL (P>.05). The lowest interindividual variation of approximately 3–4‐fold was seen with 4 and 5 μmol/L ADP and 4 and 5 μg/mL collagen. Ristocetin, arachidonic acid, and TRAP did not induce significant aggregation at any concentration. Aggregation results were significantly lower when measured in citrate‐ vs hirudin‐anticoagulated blood, regardless of the presence of calcium chloride. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the multiplate impedance aggregometer is suitable for the measurement of platelet aggregation in sheep using optimal agonist concentrations of 4–5 μmol/L ADP and 4–5 μg/mL collagen. Hirudin‐anticoagulated blood is the preferred sample material.     

Bovine herpesvirus 5 BICP0 complements the bovine herpesvirus 1 homolog

Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) and BoHV-5 are closely related (82% amino acid identity) but differ strongly in neuropathogenesis. The immediate-early gene for BICP0 is less conserved (70% amino acid identity) and may contribute to a dissimilar phenotype. A peculiar difference is a guanosine hexamer in the BICP0-1 gene which aligns with only five guanosines in the BICP0-5 gene and therefore results in a frameshift in the latter open reading frame. Thus, the C-terminal amino acid sequence (residues 643–676 of BICP0-1 vs. 655–720 of BICP0-5) is completely different. We introduced the BICP0-5 frameshift into the BoHV-1 genome cloned as a bacterial artificial chromosome (BoHV-1 BAC) using the Red recombination system with galK selection and counterselection. Transfection of MDBK cells with the resulting BAC produced recombinant virus that replicated like wild type BoHV-1 in vitro. Attempts to exchange the entire BICP0-1 gene by the BoHV-5 homolog using the same approach failed repeatedly. Therefore, we cotransfected purified BICP0⁻/galK⁺-BoHV-1 BAC DNA with a recombination plasmid coding for BICP0-5 with or without a HA tag into MDBK cells. BoHV-1 recombinants expressing the respective proteins were characterized. In vitro, all recombinants grew to similar titers as the parental viruses, which demonstrates that BICP0-5 compensates for the growth defect of BICP0⁻/galK⁺-BoHV-1 and functionally complements BICP0-1 of BoHV-1. We conclude that BICP0 may be suitable to positively select BoHV-1 recombinants with deletions or insertions of additional genes of interest.     

Type-specific reference conditions of fluvial landscapes: A search in the past by 3D-reconstruction

River/floodplain restoration programs are often based on type-specific reference conditions of the respective river section. Most large rivers in the industrialized world are heavily degraded and lack near-natural reference sites. For that reason, historical analyses of the pre-channelization state have been used to define adequate restoration targets at the Austrian Danube section in the Alluvial Zone National Park downstream from Vienna. This study compares new reference data derived from 3D-reconstructions in the form of digital terrain models from two historical Danube river landscapes: the Machland floodplain in 1812 and the former floodplain in Vienna in 1849. The focus is on the original hydrological surface and subsurface connectivity of the river-floodplain systems related to different flow situations. Here, we use water cover, shorelines, depth of the groundwater table and inundation depth as surrogates for measuring connectivity. The results show that the two study sites naturally constituted extreme formations of the Austrian anabranching Danube sections. The Machland section was one of the narrowest floodplains but highly dynamic, and the Vienna/Lobau section was one of the broadest, whereby only the central part close to the main channel originally showed high morphological turnover. The analyses of hydrological surface connectivity relative to total floodplain extension reveal significant differences due to their basic geological and geographical conditions. Despite these basic differences, both study sites – in absolute numbers – showed similar extensions of the water bodies at low and mean flow. The depths of the groundwater table related to mean flow were also comparable. Prior to channelization, the groundwater conditions in both floodplains favored the formation of wet to moist alluvial forest communities.     

Zur Biologie derHoplocampa testudinea Kl

Ohne Zusammenfassung Mit 7 Abbildungen.     

Boron and zinc fertilizer applications are essential in emerging vegetable‐based crop rotations in Nepal

Background : Since recently, the traditional rice–wheat rotation systems in Nepal are subject to drastic changes. Progressing urbanisation and shifting consumer preferences drive a replacement of wheat by high‐value vegetables during the cold dry season, particularly in the peri‐urban fringes, while emerging water shortages prevent permanent soil flooding during the monsoon season, leading to partial substitution of lowland rice by less water‐consuming upland crops. Associated changes in soil aeration status affect soil nutrient availability while particularly vegetables enhance the demand for the critically limiting micronutrients boron (B) and zinc (Zn). Aim : In both rice‐ (anaerobic) and maize‐based (aerobic) systems we assessed the differential response of traditional winter wheat in comparison to cauliflower and tomato to applied B and Zn fertilizers. Methods : Experiments were conducted (1) in a pot trial with two contrasting soil types (Acrisol vs. Fluvisol) and (2) in field validation trials at two contrasting sites (representing lowland vs. mid‐hills) in Nepal. Results : The on‐going shift from flooded rice to aerobic maize during the wet season negatively affected dry matter accumulation and grain yield of the dry season wheat, but not of cauliflower and tomato. While Zn application tended to increase wheat yields under field conditions, B application induced no significant effect, irrespective of the soil or production site. However, low to moderate applications of B (2.0–4.4 kg ha^?1) and Zn (3.3–4.4 kg ha^?1) nearly doubled biomass accumulation and nutrient uptake of vegetables and increased the economic yields of cauliflower and tomato between 8 and > 100%. These responses were generally more pronounced in the Fluvisol than the Acrisol. While overall yields of wheat and temperate vegetables were higher in the cool mid‐hills the relative yield responses to applied B were more pronounced in the lowland than the mid‐hill sites. On average, the partial factor productivities of applied fertilizer were low to moderate in wheat, with 1 and 8 € increase in net revenue per € of investment in B and Zn, respectively. In the vegetables, this partial factor productivity increased to about 4 € €^?1 investment with Zn, and reached about 43 € €^?1 investment in B, irrespective of the production site. Conclusions : While the application of Zn fertilizers can moderately improve the performance of traditional rice–wheat rotations, B and to a lesser extent Zn application become essential and highly profitable when shifting towards vegetable cropping. The demand for B and Zn fertilizers is foreseen to dramatically increase with progressing urbanisation and the associated shifts in production systems of Nepal.