Fecal pollution in llobregat river: Interrelationships of viral,bacterial, and physico-chemical parameters

A 19-mo survey of enterovirus in the Llobregat river, located south of Barcelona was conducted. Total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and fecal streptococci counts, as well as several physico-chemical parameters were also measured at two sampling sites. The data show a very high level of fecal and chemical pollution caused by untreated wastewater effluents from several suburbs of Barcelona.     

Double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot analysis used for control of caseous lymphadenitis in goats and sheep.

A double-antibody sandwich ELISA for detection of antibodies directed against the exotoxin of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, the cause of caseous lymphadenitis (CL) in small ruminants, was developed. A concentrated exotoxin was used. For interpretation of ELISA results, these sera were tested: sequentially obtained sera of C pseudotuberculosis-inoculated goats and sheep that were monitored for 68 weeks; sequentially obtained sera from 80 goats of 3 flocks with CL; sera from 652 goats of 7 flocks without CL; sera from 160 sheep of 4 flocks without CL; and 2,265 caprine and 208 ovine sera submitted for diagnostic testing. Data regarding the infection status and history of 10,454 of the 23,302 animals were collected after testing; most of these were goats that had been part of a CL control program. Specificity and sensitivity of the ELISA were nearly 100%. Subsequently, 31,978 animals from which no data on infection status of flocks had been collected were then tested. It was concluded that the ELISA is a useful diagnostic test for CL eradication programs. Sera with doubtful or inconclusive ELISA results were examined by use of immunoblot analysis. Proteins from C pseudotuberculosis culture supernatant were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and blotted onto nitrocellulose. Six proteins with molecular mass of 68, 65, 39, 38, 31, and 29 kDa reacted with sera from goats and sheep with experimentally induced or naturally acquired infection. Immunoblot analysis was valuable in classifying sera with doubtful or inconclusive results by ELISA.     

Comparison of different applications of the sonographic contrast medium Levovist

The influence of the application modes (bolus injection, infusion) of the sonographic signal enhancers Levovist was investigated in a total of 24 dogs. The animals in the bolus group were given 0.2 ml/kg body mass Levovist at a concentration of 300 mg/ml while in the other group the same amount was continuously injected over a time of two minutes. Signal enhancement was measured by an audiodoppler. Contrast duration above six, twelve, 18 and 24 dB and maximum signal enhancement were determined for each application mode. The comparison of these parameters showed that a statistically significant longer contrast duration (significance level p less than 0,05) at 0 and 6 dB can be achieved by continuous injection. Bolus application, on the other hand, resulted in significantly higher maximum contrast enhancement. With time consuming investigations (perfusiondiagnostic, shuntdiagnostic) the contrast effect can be partly extended with continuous injection but the technical requirements are higher and there is the risk that the acoustic properties of the microbubbles are negatively influenced.     

Tillage, cover-crop residue management, and irrigation incorporation impact on fomesafen runoff

Intensive glyphosate use has contributed to the evolution and occurrence of glyphosate-resistant weeds that threaten production of many crops. Sustained use of this highly valued herbicide requires rotation and/or substitution of herbicides with different modes of action. Cotton growers have shown considerable interest in the protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitor, fomesafen. Following registration for cotton in 2008, use has increased rapidly. Environmental fate data in major use areas are needed to appropriately evaluate risks. Field-based rainfall simulation was used to evaluate fomesafen runoff potential with and without irrigation incorporation in a conventional tillage system (CT) and when conservation tillage (CsT) was practiced with and without cover crop residue rolling. Without irrigation incorporation, relatively high runoff, about 5% of applied, was measured from the CT system, indicating that this compound may present a runoff risk. Runoff was reduced by >50% when the herbicide was irrigation incorporated after application or when used with a CsT system. Data indicate that these practices should be implemented whenever possible to reduce fomesafen runoff risk. Results also raised concerns about leaching and potential groundwater contamination and crop injury due to rapid washoff from cover crop residues in CsT systems. Further work is needed to address these concerns.     

Synthesis of allylic trifluoromethyl ketones and their activity as inhibitors of the sex pheromone of the leopard moth, Zeuzera pyrina L. (Lepidoptera: Cossidae)

BACKGROUND: Trifluoromethyl ketones (TFMKs), structurally related to the pheromones, are good inhibitors of pheromone communication in insects. To determine their activity on Zeuzera pyrina L. (Lepidoptera: Cossidae), a polyphagous pest, the authors have prepared two diunsaturated TFMK analogues of the major (3) and the minor (4) pheromone components, and two monounsaturated ones (5, 6). Their biological activity in electroantennogram (EAG), wind tunnel and field tests is presented. RESULTS: The synthetic strategy to obtain the allylic TFMKs 3 and 5 is based on the reactions of diene 10 and 1‐octadecene with trifluoroacetaldehyde ethyl hemiacetal, followed by Dess–Martin oxidation of the resulting homoallylic trifluoromethyl alcohols. In EAG, topical application of analogues 3 and 4 on male antennae significantly reduced the pheromone response. In the wind tunnel, compound 4 reduced the number of contacts with the pheromone source. In the field, traps baited with mixtures of pheromone and inhibitors captured significantly fewer males than the pheromone alone. CONCLUSION: An efficient synthesis of allylic TFMKs is reported, with good overall yield, regiospecificity and diastereoselectivity. These compounds are good inhibitors of the pheromone in electrophysiology, wind tunnel and field tests. The results show the importance of two unsaturations at positions 2 and 13 of the trifluoroacyl group in the structure of the analogues, the latter being critical for inhibitory activity. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Delaying selection for fungicide insensitivity by mixing fungicides at a low and high risk of resistance development: a modeling analysis

This study used mathematical modeling to predict whether mixtures of a high-resistance-risk and a low-risk fungicide delay selection for resistance against the high-risk fungicide. We used the winter wheat and Mycosphaerella graminicola host-pathogen system as an example, with a quinone outside inhibitor fungicide as the high-risk and chlorothalonil as the low-risk fungicide. The usefulness of the mixing strategy was measured as the "effective life": the number of seasons that the disease-induced reduction of the integral of canopy green area index during the yield forming period could be kept <5%. We determined effective lives for strategies in which the dose rate (i) was constant for both the low-risk and high-risk fungicides, (ii) was constant for the low-risk fungicide but could increase for the high-risk fungicide, and (iii) was adjusted for both fungicides but their ratio in the mixture was fixed. The effective life was highest when applying the full label-recommended dose of the low-risk fungicide and adjusting the dose of the high-risk fungicide each season to the level required to maintain effective control. This strategy resulted in a predicted effective life of ≤ 12 years compared with 3 to 4 years when using the high risk fungicide alone.     

An age-dependent association between a leptin C3469T single nucleotide polymorphism and intramuscular fat content in pigs

The objective of this work was to investigate whether the C3469T mutation at exon 3 of the pig leptin (Lep) gene is associated with fatness and if the magnitude and direction of these associations is consistent within age. Repeated measurements on body weight (BW), ultrasonic subcutaneous backfat (SB) and loin-muscle (LT) thickness, and intramuscular fat (IMF) content and composition were taken at 160, 180, 215 and 225 days of age on 162 Duroc barrows previously genotyped for the C3469T mutation. Plasma leptin concentration was determined at 180 days. A total of 505 records of IMF content and composition, which were determined both in live samples of longisimus dorsi muscle (LM) and in carcass samples of LM and gluteus medius muscle, were used in the analyses. The genotypic frequencies associated with the C3469T Lep mutation were 0.76, 0.23, and 0.01 for TT, TC, and CC genotypes, respectively. The effect of the Lep genotypes was assessed using a Bayesian approach based on a polynomial mixed model on age. No evidence was found for an association of the Lep genotypes neither with BW, SB thickness nor with plasma leptin concentration. The posterior mean of the difference TT–TC ranged, for LT, from 0.82 (160 days, posterior probability density (PP)> 0 of 87%) to 1.98 mm (220 days, PP > 0 of 96%) and, for IMF, from 0.96 (160 days, PP > 0 of 84%) to − 1.64 mg/g DM (220 days, PP > 0 of 2%). The results suggest an age-dependent association of the C3469T Lep polymorphism with LT and IMF, which may be useful to explain some controversial results in the literature concerning the association of this polymorphism with IMF content.