Minimally invasive patent ductus arteriosus occlusion in 5 dogs

OBJECTIVE: To report a technique for minimally invasive occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and outcome in 5 dogs. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical cases. Animals: Five, 4-6-month-old, dogs with PDA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Titanium ligating clips were used for PDA closure in all dogs. Three dogs had video-enhanced mini-thoracotomy PDA occlusion. Two other dogs had thoracoscopic PDA occlusion using a custom-designed thoracoscopy clip applicator. RESULTS: Thoracoscopic PDA occlusion was successful in both dogs in which it was attempted. Complete PDA closure was achieved in 4 dogs. Three months after surgery, the largest dog had residual ductal flow that hemodynamically was insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Although technically demanding, minimally invasive PDA occlusion is a safe and reliable technique in dogs. Preoperative measurement of the diameter of the PDA is crucial to determine if complete closure with metal clips can be achieved. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Minimally invasive PDA occlusion should be considered as an alternative to occlusion via conventional thoracotomy.     

Dielectric properties of copper-ethanolamine treated Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata Hook.)

In order to clarify the interaction between copper and wood substances in wood treated with copper containing water-borne wood preservatives, the dielectric constant ε′ and dielectric loss factor ε″ of untreated wood and wood treated with four concentration levels of copper-ethanolamine (Cu-EA) solutions were determined within a temperature range from –100 to 40°C and a frequency range from 100 to 1 MHz. Three dielectric relaxation processes were observed in the ε″ spectrum; among them R-I is based on the reorientation of methylol groups in the amorphous region of wood cell walls and R-II is related to wood extractives. R-III appeared in Cu-EA treated wood, and its magnitude decreases with the concentration of Cu-EA solutions used in this experiment. This relaxation process was considered to be based on the reorientation of copper-ethanolamine-wood complexes in wood cell walls. At low copper retention, the hydrogen in the complex can form hydrogen bonding with adjacent hydroxyl groups, which results in a strong bonding state between copper and wood; at high copper retention, the numerous copper-ethanolamine complexes not only hinder them from forming hydrogen bonding with adjacent wood molecules due to steric hindrance, but also weaken the interaction between wood molecules themselves, which corresponds to reducing ε″ values of both R-I and R-III processes. The results explain the fact of in-creasing copper leaching in wood treated with high concentration copper-based water-borne preservatives.     

Interactions between a non glycosylated human proline-rich protein and flavan-3-ols are affected by protein concentration and polyphenol/protein ratio

Interactions between salivary proline-rich proteins and tannins are involved in astringency, which is one of the most important organoleptic sensations perceived when drinking wine or tea. This work aimed to study interactions between a recombinant human salivary proline-rich protein, IB-5, and a flavan-3-ol monomer, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). IB-5 presented the characteristics of natively unfolded proteins. Interactions were studied by dynamic light scattering, isothermal titration microcalorimetry, and circular dichroism. The interaction mechanism was dependent on protein concentration. At low concentrations, a three-stage mechanism was evidenced. Saturation of the interaction sites (first stage) was followed by protein aggregation into metastable colloids at higher EGCG/protein ratios (second stage). Further increasing this ratio led to haze formation (third stage). At low ratios, a disorder-to-order transition of IB-5 structure upon binding was evidenced. At high protein concentrations, direct bridging between proteins and EGCG was observed, resulting in significantly lower aggregation and turbidity thresholds.     

Foliar Nitrogen Uptake from Wet Deposition and the Relation with Leaf Wettability and Water Storage Capacity

This study assessed the foliar uptake of ¹⁵N-labelled nitrogen (N) originating from wet deposition along with leaf surface conditions, measured by wettability and water storage capacity. Foliar ¹⁵N uptake was measured on saplings of silver birch, European beech, pedunculate oak and Scots pine and the effect of nitrogen form (NH ₄ ⁺ or NO ₃ ^? ), NH ₄ ⁺ to NO ₃ ^? ratio and leaf phenology on this N uptake was assessed. Next to this, leaf wettability and water storage capacity were determined for each tree species and phenological stage, and the relationship with ¹⁵NH ₄ ⁺ and ¹⁵NO ₃ ^? uptake was examined. Uptake rates were on average five times higher (p?<?0.05) for NH ₄ ⁺ than for NO ₃ ^? and four times higher for deciduous species than for Scots pine. Developing leaves showed lower uptake than fully developed and senescent leaves, but this effect was tree species dependent. The applied NH ₄ ⁺ to NO ₃ ^? ratio did only affect the amount of N uptake by senescent leaves. The negative correlation between measured leaf contact angles and foliar N uptake demonstrates that the observed effects of tree species and phenological stage are related to differences in leaf wettability and not to water storage capacity.     

Participatory plant breeding approach for host plant resistance to bean fly in common bean under semi-arid Kenya conditions

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important legume crop in Kenya. It is cultivated across a wide range of agro-ecologies which include high potential and marginal areas. Eastern Kenya alone, largely semi-arid, accounts for 35% of the country’s total bean production. Bean farmers mainly small-scale have limited access to quality seed, chemical pesticides and fertilizer. Therefore, bean yield under on-farm conditions still remains below 500 kg ha⁻¹ while the potential is about 1,200 kg ha⁻¹ under semi-arid conditions. To asses the farmers’ views on bean varieties and a key insect pest and associated constraints contributing to yield loss, research was undertaken. The research included survey to quantify the yield loss and Participatory Rural Appraisal to determine the level of adoption and criteria for variety choice in semi-arid eastern Kenya (SAEK). The results show that farmers consider drought and insect pest problems as main causes for low yields. The adoption rate for improved varieties is high but self sufficiency in beans stands at 23% in the dry transitional (DT) agro-ecology and at 18% in the dry mid-altitude (DM) agro-ecology, respectively. This could be attributed to low adaptability since most of the improved varieties grown were selected for high potential areas but now found in marginal areas. Drought, earliness, yield stability, and insect pest resistance are the main reasons for choice of varieties by farmers. Bean fly (Ophiomyia sp.) was identified as one of the key crop pests of beans limiting yield. Besides, African bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) and bean aphid (Aphis fabae) were ranked higher. Due to limitations of the conventional breeding approach, a participatory plant breeding approach is suggested so as to provide an opportunity to develop insect pest resistant varieties adapted to the SAEK region.     

Biological performance of a formulation containing water-dispersible copper naphthenate and sodium fluoride against decay fungi

ABSTRACT

Two formulations of wood preservative one containing water-dispersible copper naphthenate (CuN) alone and in combination with sodium fluoride (NaF) were used to treat southern pine sapwood blocks to determine the effect of the addition of sodium fluoride in the QNS on the protection against wood decay fungi using laboratory soil block tests following AWPA (American Wood protection Association) standard E10-16 [American Wood Protection Association AWPA-E10. (2016 American Wood Protection Association. (2016) Standard E10-16 Laboratory Method for Evaluating the Decay Resistance of Wood-Based Materials Against Pure Basidiomycete Cultures: Soil/Block Test. [Google Scholar]) Laboratory Method for Evaluating the Decay Resistance of Wood-based Materials Against Pure Basidiomycete Cultures: Soil/Block Test]. The standard consists in exposing treated blocks to pure monoculture of white rot (Irpex lacteus (FP-105915) and Trametes versicolor (R-105)) and brown rot fungi (Gloeophyllum trabeum (Madison 617) and Postia placenta (Madison 698) during a specific period. The weight loss (WL) in percentage of treated blocks was used as an indicator of the biological performance of treated blocks against basidiomycetes at specific retentions. Minimum WL was obtained with blocks treated with the formulation containing mixture of QNS and sodium fluoride with the retention of 0.29?kg/m³ Cu and 0.51?kg/m³ of fluorine in treated blocks. A copper retention of 1.65?kg/m³ from blocks treated with formulations containing only QNS was needed to obtain similar WL to blocks containing blocks Cu++ and F? (fluorine). The lower Cu retention is attributed to a combination of the presence of the fluorine with some toxic activities against bacteria and decay and the interaction of anions fluorine and ionic Cu (II) in the aqueous treating solutions to form more soluble biological toxic hydrate of copper fluoride ((H₂O Cu (II) F2) in treated blocks compared to copper complexes less biological available in water-dispersible CuN-treated bocks.     

Edge effects on plant diversity in tropical forest ecosystems at Periyar Wildlife sanctuary in the Western Ghats of India

Forest resource conservation has been widely accepted as a key to sustain the local and regional economic development. The forest edges are affected by anthropogenic activities including deforestation, forest fragmentation, selective logging, extraction of non-timber forest products, collection of medicinal plants, recreations, hydroelectric projects and its associated developmental activities, which alter the biodiversity. The present study intends to evaluate the edge effect on vegetation structure and species compositions in the tropical forest ecosystems at Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats. High species richness (number of species) and Shannon’s diversity indices were observed in the site III (completely undisturbed forest) compared to site I (adjacent to the village/ edge of the forest, which is next to the teak plantation, severely disturbed forest) and site II (in between the undisturbed forest and moderately disturbed forest) while density of tree species showed greater value in site II. Single species such as Tectona grandis (IVI of 80) and Terminalia paniculata (IVI of 112) were the dominant tree species in site I and site II, respectively, whereas, in site III Terminalia bellirica, Bishofia javanica and Syzgium gardneri shared the dominance. Perturbation leads to alien plant invasion particularly Lantana camara, Eupatorium odoratum and Ageratum conizoides. Site II is at forest transition level because the site is dominated by both natural species as well as plantation species such as Tectona grandis. This site seems to be a buffer zone on natural forest and plantations. Further studies are required to analyse the real patterns of regeneration and dynamic change due to human impact by long term monitoring with the establishment of permanent plots.     

Surface energy of preservative-treated southern yellow pine (Pinus spp.) by contact angle measurement

In this study, the contact angles of four different reference liquids (including distilled water, diiodomethane, formadide and glycerol) formed on the surfaces of wood, treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) and two other emerging copper-based water-borne systems (commercial names: NW and NS) were measured with sessile drop method. Based on the contact angle data, the surface energy was obtained from the acid-base approach. The total surface energy consisted of Lifshiz-van der Waals parameter and acid-base parameter. Results showed that the NW and CCA treatments made the wood surface more hydrophobic while the NS treatment had the reverse effect on the wood surface mainly owing to the increased penetration of earlywood. By using three liquids, diiodomethane, formamide and distilled water, the total surface energy obtained for untreated earlywood, untreated latewood, CCA-treated earlywood, CCA-treated latewood, NW-treated earlywood, NW-treated latewood, NS-treated earlywood and NS-treated latewood were 43.1, 44.5, 43.4, 45.1, 49.4, 40.6, 46.0 and 40.9 mJ/m², respectively. The surface energy of CCA-treated wood was almost the same as untreated wood. After NW and NS treatments, the surface energy of both earlywood and latewood changed a little. However, the change was not so obvious as to draw any further conclusion concerning the influence of NW and NS treatments on the surface energy of wood. __________ Translated from Journal of Beijing Forestry University, 2006, 28(4): 1–4 [译自: 北京林业大学学报]     

Genetic diversity of seeds from four German Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seed orchards

European Journal of Forest Research - In Germany, Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) is seen as a valuable species for future cultivation in times of climate change. Local seed production...