Serum chemistry alterations in Alaskan sled dogs during five successive days of prolonged endurance exercise

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of successive days of endurance exercise on select serum chemistry values in conditioned Alaskan sled dogs. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. ANIMALS: 10 conditioned Alaskan sled dogs. PROCEDURES: All dogs ran 160 km/d for 5 consecutive days. Serum was obtained prior to exercise and immediately after each exercise run; all samples were obtained before dogs were fed. Serum electrolyte, mineral, protein, total bilirubin, urea nitrogen, creatinine, and cardiac troponin-I concentrations and serum alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, creatine kinase, and aspartate aminotransferase activities were measured. Data were analyzed by means of analysis of covariance for a randomized complete block design with dog as a blocking variable, time as a covariate, and distance run as the treatment of interest. Least square mean values were compared with values obtained prior to exercise, and linear and quadratic contrasts were examined. RESULTS: Serum globulin concentration was low prior to exercise (mean +/- SD, 2.2 +/- 0.3g/dL) and progressively decreased as exercise continued. Exercise was associated with increases in serum chloride, urea nitrogen, and cardiac troponin-I concentrations and serum alanine aminotransferase, creatine kinase, and aspartate aminotransferase activities and with progressive decreases in serum potassium, total protein, and albumin concentrations. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggested that multiple successive days of endurance exercise resulted in mild aberrations in serum chemistry variables in conditioned sled dogs. Changes likely reflected the metabolic stresses of prolonged endurance exercise as well as dietary composition. Hypoglobulinemia in resting, conditioned sled dogs may reflect the immunosuppressive or catabolic effects of intense endurance training.     

Selecting representative reserve systems in remote areas: A case study in the Nullarbor region, Australia

We present a procedure for the selection of a network of reserves representing the biological diversity of a large and biologically poorly known region. The quantitative analysis gives equal weighting to a wide array of different species: mobile and sessile, long-lived and ephemeral, heterothermic and homeothermic, etc.

Sampling was based on quadrats that were positioned through the region using a stratified random strategy. This provided a presence-absence matrix of the species composition at each quadrat. Numerical pattern analysis was used to identify 14 species assemblages and to re-order the sites and species in the data matrix. The geographic pattern of each assemblage throughout the region was described by contouring assemblage richness, the isolines being the proportion of the number of species in each assemblage. The data matrix was re-examined. Some assemblages exhibit several gradients in species composition. For example, a 0·1 isoline in the east may represent a different 10% of species than a 0·1 isoline in the west. Other assemblages exhibit only a single gradient in species composition.

The results were used to select the optimum positions of reserves needed to represent the compositional diversity of each of the 14 species assemblages.

Limited field checking confirmed the predicted isolines in assemblage compositional richness to a satisfactory extent.     

Nutritional and physiological responses of young growing rats to diets containing raw cowpea seed meal,protein isolate (globulins), or starch

The nutritional and physiological effects of raw cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.) seed meal, protein isolate (globulins), or starch on the metabolism of young growing rats have been evaluated in 14-day trials. Wet and dry weight gain, feed conversion efficiency, and lipid and protein accretion were significantly reduced as a result of inclusion of seed meal, globulins, or starch in the diet, with growth retardation being most marked with the seed meal. The proportional weights of the small intestine and pancreas were increased by meal diets, and serum cholesterol levels were slightly reduced. The globulins and raw starch also increased relative small intestine weights but had no effect on the pancreas or serum constituents. The effects of cowpeas on rats appeared to be due primarily to the combined actions of globulins, resistant starches, protease inhibitors, and possibly fiber and non-starch polysaccharides on intestinal and systemic metabolism.     

Amelioration of a hardsetting Alfisol through deep mouldboard ploughing, gypsum application and double cropping. III. Crop production and profitability

Deep mouldoard ploughing to 0.45 m, gypsum application (5 t ha⁻¹), and double cropping were evaluated, alone and combined, as ameliorants for a hardsetting red-brown earth (Alfisol). The double cropped treatment consisted of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) and a summer forage crop consisting of sudax (Sorghum sudanese) intersown with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). This paper describes the effect of these treatments on crop development, yield, crop-water relations and economic returns. Crop emergence was not affected by any treatment. Mouldboard ploughing significantly increased wheat grain yield from 1.86 to 2.15 t ha⁻¹, in 1984, but not in 1985. Yield was also increased from 5.18 to 5.68 t ha⁻¹ as a result of gypsum addition in 1985—after no significant difference in 1984. Double cropping significantly increased yield (by 0.6 t ha⁻¹) in 1985. Greater increases were obtained with the summer cropping phase where higher evaporative demand during the summer would have aggravated soil structural problems associated with hardsetting. Sudax-cowpea dry matter yields were increased from 13.6 to 17 t ha⁻¹ and from 13.0 to 17.5 t ha⁻¹ during summer 1984–1985 by gypsum and mouldboard ploughing, respectively. The higher yields are attributed to increased water storage and depletion, and reduced soil strength for the mouldboard ploughed and gypsum main treatments. No interactions were found between the main treatments, except at the end of the 1985 winter cropping phase when there was a negative interaction between mouldboard ploughing and gypsum application for dry matter, equivalent root length and yield. The yield increases associated with mouldboard ploughing did not persist beyond the second year of the experiment. Double cropping combined with mouldboard ploughing (Mb+DC) was the most profitable treatment, whereas mouldboard ploughing with gypsum (Mb+G) was the least profitable for the crops grown in this experiment.     

Inhibition of the complement cascade by the major secretory protein of vaccinia virus

The complement system contributes to host defenses against invasion by infectious agents. A 35-kilodalton protein, encoded by vaccinia virus and secreted from infected cells, has sequence similarities to members of a gene family that includes complement control proteins. Biochemical and genetic studies showed that the viral protein binds to derivatives of the fourth component of complement and inhibits the classical complement cascade, suggesting that it serves as a defense molecule to help the virus evade the consequences of complement activation.     

Venus volcanism: initial analysis from magellan data

Magellan images confirm that volcanism is widespread and has been fimdamentally important in the formation and evolution of the crust of Venus. High-resolution imaging data reveal evidence for intrusion (dike formation and cryptodomes) and extrusion (a wide range of lava flows). Also observed are thousands of small shield volcanoes, larger edifices up to several hundred kilometers in diameter, massive outpourings of lavas, and local pyroclastic deposits. Although most features are consistent with basaltic compositions, a number of large pancake-like domes are morphologically similar to rhyolite-dacite domes on Earth. Flows and sinuous channels with lengths of many hundreds of kilometers suggest that extremely high effusion rates or very fluid magmas (perhaps komatiites) may be present. Volcanism is evident in various tectonic settings (coronae, linear extensional and compressional zones, mountain belts, upland rises, highland plateaus, and tesserae). Volcanic resurfacing rates appear to be low (less than 2 Km(3)/yr) but the significance of dike formation and intrusions, and the mode of crustal formation and loss remain to be established.     

Biogeochemistry. Sulfate reducers--dominant players in a low-oxygen world?

Sulfate reducing bacteria can adapt to extreme physical and chemical conditions and play an important role in global geochemical cycles, but their role in the formation of ore deposits has remained controversial. Strong support for such a role is provided by Labrenz et al., who have discovered sulfate-reducing bacteria that can tolerate low levels of oxygen and can precipitate zinc sulfide minerals. The results may have implications for bioremediation and may provide clues to processes that may have been more widespread in the geologic past.     

Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada

Lead, cadmium, and fluoride were determined in 68 samples of market milk and about 115 infant formulas. Mean and median levels (ranges) in ng/g found for cow milk were as follows: lead, 1.12, 1.19 (0.01-2.48); cadmium, 0.10, 0.039 (0.005-0.74); and fluoride, 41, 40 (7-86). In canned, ready-to-use formulas, lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels averaged 37.3, 1.50, and 840 ng/g, respectively. In concentrated liquid formulas, the respective levels were 21, 3.54, and 600 ng/g. In powder formula concentrates, respective levels were 73.7, 6.78, and 1130 ng/g. On the basis of this study and literature data, lead levels in market milk exceeding 5 ng/g appeared to signify contamination of the milk either directly or via the cow. For formulas considered on an as-consumed basis, lead levels exceeding about 10-15 ng/g were attributed to contamination from either the can used to store the formula or the formula ingredients. Infant formulas in lead-free cans contained about 1.7 ng/g of lead on a ready-to-use basis. Milk-based formulas contained about 0.26 ng/g of cadmium on a ready-to-use basis. Soy-based or milk-free formulas contained about 8-15 times more cadmium than did milk-based formulas. Canadian and U.S. ready-to-use formulas contained 900 and 230 ng/g fluoride, respectively, and this difference was attributed to the level of fluoride in the processing water used by the manufacturers.     

Intraruminal controlled release of cyromazine for the prevention of Lucilia cuprina myiasis in sheep

The efficacy of cyromazine, continuously released from intraruminal capsules at dose rates from 0.5 to 2 mg kg-1 d-1, was evaluated against implants of eggs and first instar larvae of Lucilia cuprina on Merino sheep. Estimates from the non-linear relationship between the success of implants and plasma concentrations showed that 95 per cent protection of sheep could be achieved at a mean release rate of 1.39 mg kg-1 d-1 cyromazine which gave rise to a mean plasma concentration of 0.26 mg litre-1. Present formulations allowed protection for about 90 days in a 40 kg sheep. The 'square wave' type of release profile provided negligible suboptimal dosing thus limiting the potential for selection of resistance. Systemic application of cyromazine provides control of covert and overt strike among sheep and could be used in ecologically based strategies for the control of L. cuprina populations.     

Uptake of the systemic fungicide triadimefon by clover and its effect on symbiotic nitrogen fixation

Clover is frequently grown in rotation with cereals in order to increase soil nitrogen. The systemic fungicide triadimefon, widely used against cereal pathogens, is readily taken up from soil by clover and degraded to a single major metabolite. Plant weight and symbiotic nitrogen fixation by Rhizobium trijolii are affected only by concentrations of triadimefon in soil that are much in excess of those likely to be encountered in practice. Triadimefon residues are thus unlikely to affect nitrogen fixation by clover under field conditions.