What is your diagnosis? Peritoneal fluid from an Arabian horse after colic surgery

A 16-year-old castrated male Arabian horse was presented to the Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital with a 4-hour history of colic. Initial examinations provided strong evidence for small intestinal obstruction. Abdominal surgery revealed a strangulating lipoma, and 25 feet of small intestine were resected. Postoperatively, the horse developed obstructive ileus due to adhesion formation, which required a second laparotomy. During and after surgery, the abdomen was lavaged with sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). One week after the second surgery, evaluation of peritoneal fluid revealed an inflammatory exudate, with many macrophages containing amorphous to granular, pink to magenta phagocytosed material. Extracellular aggregates of the material were also observed. The material was consistent with CMC. To our knowledge, this report is the first to demonstrate the phagocytosis of CMC by peritoneal fluid macrophages.     

Self-oriented regular arrays of carbon nanotubes and their field emission properties

The synthesis of massive arrays of monodispersed carbon nanotubes that are self-oriented on patterned porous silicon and plain silicon substrates is reported. The approach involves chemical vapor deposition, catalytic particle size control by substrate design, nanotube positioning by patterning, and nanotube self-assembly for orientation. The mechanisms of nanotube growth and self-orientation are elucidated. The well-ordered nanotubes can be used as electron field emission arrays. Scaling up of the synthesis process should be entirely compatible with the existing semiconductor processes, and should allow the development of nanotube devices integrated into silicon technology.     

Are the Australian poultry industries vulnerable to large outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza?

Objective   To describe the structure of the Australian poultry industry and discuss the potential for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to spread between Australian poultry farms.
Procedure   High densities of poultry farms, frequent contacts between farms by service providers, the supply of live poultry markets (LPM) and the presence of free-range duck flocks in affected regions have been identified as risk factors for the spread of HPAI between flocks in outbreaks causing the death or destruction of over 1 million poultry overseas. Data on 1,594 commercial Australian chicken meat, chicken egg, duck and turkey farms were collected by a telephone questionnaire of farm managers to assess the risk of a HPAI outbreak in Australia.
Results and Discussion   Five regions of Australia had farm densities comparable to overseas regions that experienced widespread HPAI. Common service providers routinely contacted different classes and types of farms over wide geographic areas. However, no responding farms supplied LPM and the majority of duck farms did not produce free-range ducks.
Conclusion   Outbreaks of HPAI have the potential to cause serious impacts on the Australian poultry industry. The risk posted by LPM and free-range ducks is limited, but the movement of genetic stock and common service providers could spread infection between companies, industries or geographical regions. Biosecurity measures are therefore considered critical to limit the secondary spread of infection should an outbreak occur.     

Growth Promoting Substances in The Developing Fruit of Peach (Prunus Persica L.)

Growth substances extracted from the ovules of developing fruits of July Queen, Halehaven and Fall Late peaches–respectively early, midseason and late-maturing cultivars–were studied. Whole and fractionated extracts were bioassayed, and the growth of the fruit and the development of the seed were examined.

Determination of “total” growth-promoting substances during the development of the fruits resulted in concentration curves that were generally similar from year to year. The seeds of each cultivar, regardless of its season of maturation, produced a first flush of growth substances that seemed to be correlated with either nucellus or endosperm development. The second and major growth substance peak came at the time of rapid embryo growth and maximum endosperm development. At this time fruits of July Queen ripened and abscissed. A third flush of growth substance was detected at the same time in Halehaven and Fall Late seeds, at which time the embryo was essentially complete. The mature fruits of Halehaven then abscissed, but Fall Late fruits remained on the tree for another three or four weeks before maturation and abscission. It was concluded that the concentration of seed growth substances as measured here was not related to the final-flush of growth of peach fruits, or to the abscission of mature fruits.

In dissected ovules of Halehaven peaches the endosperm was the most concentrated source of total growth substances on a dry weight basis but, because of its small size, it contributed less of them on a per-seed basis than did the the integuments at first, and later the embryo. The nucellus was a minor source of growth substances, both on a concentration and on a per-ovule basis. Apparently, the total growth substances that constituted the second and major auxin peak in Halehaven peach ovules came mostly from the integuments, endosperm and embryo, whereas the third peak could be attributed almost entirely to substances from the embryo. These studies of individual ovule tissues were made after that period of development during which the first growth substance peak made its appearance.

Studies of growth substances in the flesh of developing peach fruits revealed only trace amounts with no consistent pattern, although there is some evidence that a true picture may not have been obtained because of interference by inhibitors.

Silica gel partition column chromatography showed the presence of several growth-promoting substances which changed qualitatively and quantitatively during the growing season. One of these was probably indole-3- acetic acid, its identification being based primarily on studies by gas chromatography and spectrophotofluorometry.     

Effect of inoculum density and borate concentration in a stump treatment trial against Heterobasidion annosum

The effectiveness of disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT) as a stump treatment chemical for Sitka spruce in Britain was tested on six occasions by inoculating treated and untreated stumps with basidiospores of Heterobasidion annosum at three concentrations ranging from an average 49 viable spores/ml to 4.9 × 10⁵/ml of water. The extent of colonization of heartwood by H. annosum was measured and, along with the incidence of infected stumps, provided a measure of the combined effects of spore concentration and of the two DOT treatments (15 and 30 g/m²) on the trial results. On untreated stumps, both the incidence of infection and the cross‐sectional area of stump heartwood colonized by the fungus increased with inoculum density. The same effect was evident in treated stumps, but it was reduced by increasing DOT application. Infection was at its lowest in stumps treated with DOT at 30 g/m², being entirely absent from those 60 stumps that were inoculated with the fewest spores. The implications of these findings for the design of trials of control agents that rely on artificial inoculation with H. annosum and for the selection of dose rates to use in harvesting operations are discussed.     

A modified sprayer for use in stump treatment trials to control Heterobasidion annosum

New equipment for use in stump treatment trials against Heterobasidion annosum is described. A knapsack sprayer was modified to apply a measured dose of pesticide evenly over a circular target 270 mm in diameter. Stumps of varying size up to this diameter were treated with known doses of disodium octaborate without the need for measurement.