The Role of Estrogens in the Pathogenesis of Canine Hip Dysplasia. Metabolism of Exogenous Estrogens

Abstract— —Urinary estradiol-17β was measured by gas chromatography in each of 22 normal or dysplastic dogs that had received intramuscular injections of estradiol. Measurable quantities of estradiol-17β were not found in urine from these dogs prior to administration of the exogenous hormone. The level of urinary estradiol-17β was lower in normal dogs than in dysplastic dogs after injection of the hormone. Larger quantities of the hormone occurred in the urine of older dogs of dysplastic lineage after estradiol-17 β injection. These results indicate dogs with hereditary hip dysplasia have a lower than normal capacity to metabolize biologically-active estradiol. Résumé— —L'estradiol-17β urinaire a été mésuré par gas-chromatographie dans chaque des 22 chiens normaux ou dysplastiques qui ont roçu des injections intramusculaires d'estradiol. Des quantités mesurables d'estradiol-17β n'ont pas été trouvées dans Purine de ces chiens avant 1'administration de hormone exogéne. Le niveau d'estradiol-17β urinaire était plus bas chez les chiens normaux que chez les chiens dysplastiques, après l'injection de l'hormone. Des quantités plus grandes de hormone ont ete trouvées dans l'urine des chiens plus âgés du groupe dysplastique, après l'injection d'estradiol— 17β. Les résultats indiquent que les chiens avec dysplasie héréditaire de la hanche ont une capacité moindre que la mornale de métaboliser l'estradiol biologiquement active. Zusammenfassung— —Oestradiol-17β im Urin wurde mittels Gas-Chromotagraphie in 22 normalen odcr dysplastischen Hunden gemessen, die intramuskulaere Injektionen von Oestradiol erhalten hatten. Messbare Mengen von Oestradiol-17β wurden im Urin dieser Hundc vor der Verabreichung des exogenen Hormons nicht gefunden. Der Oestradiol-17β-Spiegel im Urin war in normalen Hunden niedriger als in dysplastischen Hunden nach der Hormon-Injektion. Groessere Hormonmengen kamen im Urin von aelteren Hunden von dysplastischer Abstammung nach Oestradiol-17β-Injektion vor. Diese Resultate zeigen, dass Hunde mit hereditaerer Hueften-Dysplasie eine niedriger als normale Faehigkeit haben, biologisch aktives Oestradiol zu metabolisieren.     

Predicting Wheat Quality Characteristics and Functionality Using Near‐Infrared Spectroscopy

The accuracy of using near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for predicting 186 grain, milling, flour, dough, and breadmaking quality parameters of 100 hard red winter (HRW) and 98 hard red spring (HRS) wheat and flour samples was evaluated. NIRS shows the potential for predicting protein content, moisture content, and flour color b* values with accuracies suitable for process control (R² > 0.97). Many other parameters were predicted with accuracies suitable for rough screening including test weight, average single kernel diameter and moisture content, SDS sedimentation volume, color a* values, total gluten content, mixograph, farinograph, and alveograph parameters, loaf volume, specific loaf volume, baking water absorption and mix time, gliadin and glutenin content, flour particle size, and the percentage of dark hard and vitreous kernels. Similar results were seen when analyzing data from either HRW or HRS wheat, and when predicting quality using spectra from either grain or flour. However, many attributes were correlated to protein content and this relationship influenced classification accuracies. When the influence of protein content was removed from the analyses, the only factors that could be predicted by NIRS with R² > 0.70 were moisture content, test weight, flour color, free lipids, flour particle size, and the percentage of dark hard and vitreous kernels. Thus, NIRS can be used to predict many grain quality and functionality traits, but mainly because of the high correlations of these traits to protein content.     

Polarized electron probes of magnetic surfaces

The magnetic properties of surfaces are now being explored with electron spectroscopies that use electron spin polarization techniques. The increased activity in surface magnetic measurements with polarized electron beams is spurred by new scientific and technological challenges and is made feasible by recent advances in the technology of sources and detectors of polarized electrons. The ability to grow thin films and to engineer artificial structures permits new phenomena to be investigated at magnetic surfaces and interfaces. For such investigations, spin-polarized electron techniques-such as polarized electron scattering, polarized photoemission, polarized Auger spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis-have been and will probably continue to be used to great advantage.     

Ethnicity: An important consideration in Indonesian agriculture

This paper has two purposes: To report the findings of a study of ethnic differences in cognition in a rural West Sumatran area; and to demonstrate the importance of ethnicity—in at least some contexts—for tailoring agricultural research to farmers' needs. A cognitive mapping technique, called a Galileo, was used to measure people's views of soil and its relation to people among three Indonesian ethnic groups living in the same area. Findings from participant observation and from collaborative agricultural fieldwork with farmers of all three ethnic groups are used to evaluate and interpret the Galileo results.Carol J. Pierce Colfer is currently Associate Professor at Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman. She is an anthropologist who served first as the farming systems researcher, and later as Team Leader of the Tropsoils-Indonesia project in Sitiung, with the University of Hawaii.Barbara Newton is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii, West Oahu. She has had extensive experience with Galileo research and analysis.