Demographic survey of private veterinary practices in western Canada

A workforce survey of private veterinary practices in western Canada was conducted in 2020. Data were obtained on 526 practices (response rate = 39.5%) and 1445 individual veterinary practitioners. Overall, 68.4% of practitioners identified as female, with 4 times as many females as males comprising the youngest age cohorts (26 to 35 y) of the profession. The majority of practices (67.9%) were companion animal, followed by mixed animal (21.9%) and food animal (10.2%). Most females (77.2%) and males (57.8%) were engaged in companion animal practice, whereas 23.5% of males and 6.0% of females were food animal practitioners. During an average work week, practitioners devoted 77.4% of practice time to small animals, 15.1% to food animals, and 7.5% to equine animals. A greater proportion of males (75.2%) versus females (63.2%) worked on a full-time equivalent basis (P < 0.001). Whereas males were 1.7 times (95% CI = 1.3 to 2.3; P < 0.001) more likely to be practice owners than females, 54.5% of females were owners. Practice ownership was lower than in previous surveys, a trend that may have long-term implications with respect to the corporatization of the veterinary profession.     

Reproductive dominance of pasture trees in a fragmented tropical forest mosaic

Tropical forest fragmentation threatens biodiversity, yet basic information on population responses for major groups such as plants is lacking. Hypervariable genetic markers were used to reconstruct a population-level pedigree in fragmented tropical forest for the tree Symphonia globulifera. Though seedlings occurred only in remnant forest, the pedigree showed that most seedlings had been produced by sequentially fewer adults in pasture, creating a genetic bottleneck. The pedigree also implicated shifts in the foraging of animals that disperse pollen and seed in a secondary constriction of the bottleneck. These results suggest that tropical conservation strategies should anticipate complex, cryptic responses to fragmentation.     

Experimental demonstration of guiding and bending of electromagnetic waves in a photonic crystal

The routing and interconnection of optical signals through narrow channels and around sharp corners are important for large-scale all-optical circuit applications. A recent computational result suggests that photonic crystals may offer a novel way of achieving this goal by providing a mechanism for guiding light that is fundamentally different from traditional index guiding. Waveguiding in a photonic crystal and near 100 percent transmission of electromagnetic waves around sharp 90 degree corners were observed experimentally. Bending radii were made smaller than one wavelength.     

Evidence for extreme climatic warmth from late cretaceous arctic vertebrates

A Late Cretaceous (92 to 86 million years ago) vertebrate assemblage from the high Canadian Arctic (Axel Heiberg Island) implies that polar climates were warm (mean annual temperature exceeding 14 degreesC) rather than near freezing. The assemblage includes large (2.4 meters long) champsosaurs, which are extinct crocodilelike reptiles. Magmatism at six large igneous provinces at this time suggests that volcanic carbon dioxide emissions helped cause the global warmth.     

A comparison of the interferon gamma assay with the absorbed ELISA for the diagnosis of Johne''s disease in cattle

Two interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) assays, the IFN-gamma enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and the IFN-gamma bioassay and an absorbed ELISA were used to screen 6 cattle herds for Johne's disease. Each herd had a history of Johne's disease but the majority of infected animals did not show clinical signs. The disease status of the cattle, which were removed from the herds, was confirmed by bacteriological culture of faeces or histopathological examination and culture of tissues collected at necropsy. The sensitivities of the IFN-gamma assays and the absorbed ELISA were determined using test results from infected animals. The sensitivity of the IFN-gamma EIA in detecting subclinical (71.8 to 93.3%) and clinical animals (100%) was not significantly different. However, the IFN-gamma bioassay and the absorbed ELISA were more sensitive in detecting cattle with advanced infections (80%) than those that were subclinically affected (16.7 to 33.3%).     

大豆遗传资源保护的法律法规及其可专利性

大豆起源于中国,中国是世界上大豆遗传资源最为丰富的国家,也曾经是世界上最主要的大豆生产国和出口国。半个多世纪以来,科学技术的进步带动了一些美洲国家大豆产业的迅猛发展,中国的大豆生产量由世界首位降到美国、巴西之后,从大豆出口国变为大豆净进口国,大豆成为中国农产品贸易中最令国际社会关心的贸易作物。随着农业生物技术的快速发展,知识产权保护的法律法规的国际化,尤其是我国加入WTO以后,大豆研究、开发、生产领域遇到了来自比其他作物前所未有的挑战。作为我国最重要的植物蛋白、食用油及动物饲料来源的大豆作物,有效地利用有关的法律法规保护我国大豆种质资源及新品种已经迫在眉睫。本文着重介绍了与大豆遗传资源、新品种保护相关的我国法律法规,进行了大豆保护的可专利性分析,并对大豆研发过程中的知识产权保护问题作了初步探讨,以促进对大豆新品种的申请保护,提高我国应对来自国外竞争的抗衡能力。     

Water supply and growing season influence glucosinolate concentration and composition in turnip root (Brassica rapa ssp. rapifera L.)

The overall objective of this study was to determine whether growing season, water supply, and their interaction influence glucosinolate (GSL) concentration and composition in turnip roots (Brassica rapa ssp. rapifera L.). Field experiments on a loamy soil in Großbeeren, Germany, were conducted in the spring‐summer (SS), summer‐autumn (SA), and autumn‐winter (AW) growing seasons. Each experiment included three water‐supply treatments with 25%, 50%, and 75% of available soil water (ASW) as lower thresholds. We found that the total GSL concentration in turnip roots was 1774–3221 μmol (kg fresh matter [FM])^–1 and the dominant GSL was aromatic gluconasturtiin (GST) with concentrations of 1004–1628 μmol (kg FM)^–1 in turnip roots. Total, aliphatic, and some specific individual GSLs in turnip roots were significantly influenced by water supply, growing season, and their interaction, due to the variations of the root sulfur (S) concentration, climatic conditions, or both. The influence of water supply on GSL concentration was modified by growing season, which in turn influenced S concentration in turnips. In the SS season, the 25%‐ASW water treatment enhanced concentrations of total GSLs by 52% and 47%, aliphatic GSLs by 60% and 131%, and aromatic GSLs by 47% and 21% when compared to the 50%‐ and 75%‐ASW water treatments, respectively. No reduction of root yield was observed, although the shoot yield was reduced by limited water supply. In SA and AW, total GSL concentration did not change under different water‐supply levels, but concentration of individual aliphatic and indole GSLs did. Based on these results, growers can adjust their irrigation and S‐fertilization practices to growing season in order to optimize turnip quality in terms of GSL concentration and composition, while still obtaining higher root yield and enabling better resource utilization.