Phosphorus,soluble carbohydrates and endomycorrhizal infection

The effect of phosphorus supply on concentrations of soluble carbohydrate within roots and on the development of mycorrhizas on subterranean clover was examined in two glasshouse experiments. Where increasing phosphorus supply decreased the percentage of root length converted to mycorrhizas, it also decreased the concentrations of soluble carbohydrates within roots. Shading, defoliation and low root temperatures also decreased both the percentage of root length infected and concentrations of soluble carbohydrate within roots. The percentage of root length infected was closely correlated with concentrations of soluble carbohydrates within roots irrespective of the treatment used to vary these concentrations.Small additions of phosphorus to severely deficient plants increased the percentage root length infected possibly by stimulating the growth of the mycorrhizal fungus.     

Evolutionarily conserved T-cell epitopes on FIV for designing an HIV/AIDS vaccine

This review will discuss the current state of the human HIV-1 vaccine trials including the safety consideration of vaccine composition and difficulties in determining and defining protective immunity and epitopes to HIV-1. Vaccines in animal models of lentivirus infection are compared. In particular, the findings from the prototype FIV vaccine and the HIV-1 protein immunizations studies in cats are discussed, as well as the resulting research regarding a potential HIV-1 vaccine design based on evolutionarily conserved T-cell epitopes.     

Are the Traditional Medical Uses of Muricidae Molluscs Substantiated by Their Pharmacological Properties and Bioactive Compounds?

Marine molluscs from the family Muricidae hold great potential for development as a source of therapeutically useful compounds. Traditionally known for the production of the ancient dye Tyrian purple, these molluscs also form the basis of some rare traditional medicines that have been used for thousands of years. Whilst these traditional and alternative medicines have not been chemically analysed or tested for efficacy in controlled clinical trials, a significant amount of independent research has documented the biological activity of extracts and compounds from these snails. In particular, Muricidae produce a suite of brominated indoles with anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and steroidogenic activity, as well as choline esters with muscle-relaxing and pain relieving properties. These compounds could explain some of the traditional uses in wound healing, stomach pain and menstrual problems. However, the principle source of bioactive compounds is from the hypobranchial gland, whilst the shell and operculum are the main source used in most traditional remedies. Thus further research is required to understand this discrepancy and to optimise a quality controlled natural medicine from Muricidae.     

Influence of dietary protein on the pathophysiology of ovine haemonchosis in Finn Dorset and Scottish Blackface lambs given a single moderate infection

Two experiments were conducted to examine the influence of dietary protein on the pathophysiology of Haemonchus contortus in lambs of two breeds, namely Finn Dorset and Scottish Blackface. Erythrokinetic and metabolic studies using 51Cr-red cells, 59Fe-transferrin and 125I-albumin, and digestive efficiency and nitrogen balance measurements were conducted between four and six weeks after infection. Identical radioisotopic and nutritional studies were also conducted on pair-fed control lambs of both breeds. The results demonstrated that in normal control animals, there were no significant effects of diet or breed on any of the erythrokinetic, metabolic or nutritional parameters, with the possible exception of red cell survival which was considerably longer in the Finn Dorset lambs. However, in the infected animals diet and breed did influence those parameters. The severest effects were seen in the infected Finn Dorset lambs given the low protein diet. These animals had the highest level of abomasal blood loss and this was associated with low red cell volumes and high levels of both albumin catabolism and plasma iron turnover. These animals were also in negative nitrogen balance which was partly accounted for by a significantly greater urinary nitrogen loss compared with their pair-fed controls and partly due to the poorer digestibility of the crude protein fraction of the diet. In contrast, although the infected Scottish Blackface lambs had high levels of blood loss and associated pathophysiological changes, these did not differ between dietary treatments and were similar to the changes in the infected Finn Dorset lambs given the high protein diet.     

Cardiac Biomarkers in Hyperthyroid Cats

Background

Hyperthyroidism has substantial effects on the circulatory system. The cardiac biomarkers NT‐proBNP and troponin I (cTNI) have proven useful in identifying cats with myocardial disease but have not been extensively investigated in hyperthyroidism.

Hypothesis

Plasma NT‐proBNP and cTNI concentrations are higher in cats with primary myocardial disease than in cats with hyperthyroidism and higher in cats with hyperthyroidism than in healthy control cats.

Animals

Twenty‐three hyperthyroid cats, 17 cats with subclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and 19 euthyroid, normotensive healthy cats ≥8 years of age. Fourteen of the hyperthyroid cats were re‐evaluated 3 months after administration of radioiodine (¹³¹I).

Methods

Complete history, physical examination, complete blood count, serum biochemistries, urinalysis, blood pressure measurement, serum T4 concentration, plasma concentrations of NT‐proBNP and cTNI, and echocardiogram were obtained prospectively from each cat.

Results

Hyperthyroid cats and cats with HCM had plasma NT‐proBNP and cTNI concentrations that were significantly higher than those of healthy cats, but there was no significant difference between hyperthyroid cats and cats with HCM with respect to the concentration of either biomarker. In hyperthyroid cats that were re‐evaluated 3 months after ¹³¹I treatment, plasma NT‐proBNP and cTNI concentrations as well as ventricular wall thickness had decreased significantly.

Conclusions and Clinical Importance

Although there may be a role for NT‐proBNP in monitoring the cardiac response to treatment of hyperthyroidism, neither NT‐proBNP nor cTNI distinguish hypertrophy associated with hyperthyroidism from primary HCM. Therefore, the thyroid status of older cats should be ascertained before interpreting NT‐proBNP and cTNI concentrations.     

Bragg diffraction from crystallized ion plasmas

Single crystals of a one-component plasma were observed by optical Bragg diffraction. The plasmas contained 10(5) to 10(6) single-positive beryllium-9 ions (9Be+) at particle densities of 10(8) to 10(9) per cubic centimeter. In approximately spherical plasmas, single body-centered cubic (bcc) crystals or, in some cases, two or more bcc crystals having fixed orientations with respect to each other were observed. In some oblate plasmas, a mixture of bcc and face-centered cubic ordering was seen. Knowledge of the properties of one-component plasma crystals is required for models of white dwarfs and neutron stars, which are believed to contain matter in that form.     

Estimating the mass of asteroid 253 mathilde from tracking data during the NEAR flyby

The terminal navigation of the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft during its close flyby of asteroid 253 Mathilde involved coordinated efforts to determine the heliocentric orbits of the spacecraft and Mathilde and then to determine the relative trajectory of the spacecraft with respect to Mathilde. The gravitational perturbation of Mathilde on the passing spacecraft was apparent in the spacecraft tracking data. As a result of the accurate targeting achieved, these data could be used to determine Mathilde's mass as 1.033 (+/- 0.044) x 10(20) grams. Coupled with a volume estimate provided by the NEAR imaging team, this mass suggests a low bulk density for Mathilde of 1.3 grams per cubic centimeter.     

Phosphorus and the formation of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas

Infection of ryegrass roots by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (v.a.m.) endophytes occurring in an unfertilized virgin soil of low P status was more sensitive to increasing P supply than that by endophytes occurring in an adjacent fertilized agricultural soil.P application to soil depressed mycorrhiza formation in subterranean clover by increasing plant P status and not by direct effects of soil P on v.a.m. endophytes. Localized placements of superphosphate by banding or topdressing did not affect the development of mycorrhizas of roots in the fertilized zones differently from those of roots not in fertilized zones.The amount of infection was not correlated with P concentrations within the plant at harvest. However, the extent of infection could be correlated with P concentrations of roots at early stages of penetration by the fungi. Additionally, the effects of P supply on frequency of penetration by hyphae and subsequent mycorrhiza development closely paralleled effects of P supply on soluble carbohydrate concentrations in roots.