Utilization of Soluble Canola Protein Concentrate as an Attractant Enhances Production Performance of Sunshine Bass Fed Reduced Fish Meal,Plant‐Based Diets

Soluble canola protein concentrate (SCPC) is rich in glutamic acid and may act as a feed attractant to improve feed acceptance and production performance of fish fed plant‐based diets. In the first experiment, attractant properties of SCPC were evaluated by comparing production performance of sunshine bass, Morone chrysops × Morone saxatilis, fed reduced fish meal (FM) diets supplemented with 1% SCPC or a betaine‐based feed attractant. In the second experiment, production performance of fish was compared after feeding reduced FM diets with or without SCPC. Following the first experiment, production performance was similar among fish fed attractants, but at 0% FM weight gain and survival were significantly lower compared to the 30% FM control treatment regardless of attractant inclusion. According to broken‐line analysis of data from the second experiment, the critical breakpoints in dietary FM inclusion rates needed to achieve maximal weight gain were similar regardless of SCPC. However, weight gain observed among fish fed SCPC was significantly greater than fish not fed SCPC. Including FM in plant‐based sunshine bass diets at rates >10–13% dry matter did not improve weight gain, and weight gain is optimized when a feed attractant/palatant such as SCPC is included in these plant‐based diets.     

Outplanting Wyoming Big Sagebrush Following Wildfire: Stock Performance and Economics

Finding ecologically and economically effective ways to establish matrix species is often critical for restoration success. Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis) historically dominated large areas of western North America, but has been extirpated from many areas by large wildfires; its re-establishment in these areas often requires active management. We evaluated the performance (survival, health) and economic costs of container and bare-root stock based on operational plantings of more than 1.5 million seedlings across 2 200 ha, and compared our plantings with 30 other plantings in which sagebrush survival was tracked for up to 5 yr. Plantings occurred between 2001 and 2007, and included 12 combinations of stock type, planting amendment, and planting year. We monitored 10 500 plants for up to 8 yr after planting. Survival to Year 3 averaged 21% and was higher for container stock (30%) than bare-root stock (17%). Survival did not differ among container-stock plantings, whereas survival of bare-root stock was sometimes enhanced by a hydrogel dip before planting, but not by mycorrhizal amendments. Most mortality occurred during the first year after planting; this period is the greatest barrier to establishment of sagebrush stock. The proportion of healthy stock in Year 1 was positively related to subsequent survival to Year 3. Costs were minimized, and survival maximized, by planting container stock or bare-root stock with a hydrogel dip. Our results indicate that outplanting is an ecologically and economically effective way of establishing Wyoming big sagebrush. However, statistical analyses were limited by the fact that data about initial variables (stock quality, site conditions, weather) were often unrecorded and by the lack of a replicated experimental design. Sharing consistent data and using an experimental approach would help land managers and restoration practitioners maximize the success of outplanting efforts.     

Unbekannte Wege der Termiten-Einschleppung

Zusammenfassung Einleitend wird ein Verzeichnis von Termitenarten tropischer Länder gegeben, welche nach Europa verschleppt wurden, aber hier im Freiland nicht lebensfähig sind. Zootermopsis angusticollis (Hagen) aus dem westlichen Nordamerika, eine Feuchtholztermite, wurde in frisch importierten Stammabschnitten 1955 in England in Douglasie, 1956 in Hamburg in Lawsonzypresse gefunden. —Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), die in Hamburg eingebürgerte Gelbfußtermite, konnte in Mannheim in zahlreichen Kolonien in den äußeren Borkenschichten vonPinus echinata-Stammabschnitten festgestellt werden. Die betreffenden Hölzer waren am 29. Nov. 1956 in Norfolk, Virginia, verladen worden und am 4. Jan. 1957 angekommen. In Mannheim wurde der Einschleppungsweg bis zu seinem Endpunkte sichtbar: Durch das Wegbringen der abgeschälten Borke als Brennstoff in die Wohnhäuser, ist eine direkte Einpflanzung des Schädlings denkbar. —Im mittleren Rheingebiete muß die Gelbfußtermite, an geheimgehaltenem Orte eingebürgert sein.Die nachgewiesenen neuen Termitenpunkte, umspannnend den weiten Landraum Mittelrhein-Hallein-Berlin-Hamburg, sind eine ernste, kein optimistisches Zuwarten rechtfertigende Warnung, wie drohend in Wirklichkeit die wirtschaftliche Gefahr der Ausbreitung dieses Schädlings in Mitteleuropa geworden ist, der angesiedelt, seiner Bekämpfung fast unüberwindliche Schwierigkeiten entgegensetzt. Die Erwartung, nur warme Landschaften seien der Einbürgerung zugänglich, wird entkräftet durch den im Nordalpenzuge gelegenen volksstarken Halleiner Fundpunkt. Einen weiteren neuen Zug bringt die EntdeckungSchmidt's in das gängige Bild, daß die Gelbfußtermite zu einer primären Schadtätigkeit in Sträuchern und Bäumen befähigt ist, in einer Art, die vielleicht sogar im Walde von Bedeutung werden könnte.     

Die Wirkungsbreite des Ausstoβreflexes bei Borkenkäfernreflexes bei Borkenkäfern

Summary The thrust out-reflex of the back beetles is useful to the breeding galleries of bore-meal and other substances. The beetles also avert with this reflex other insects, who try to invade the breeding galleries. Then the bark beetle thrust out its abdomen and often that means the ruin of the beetle. The enemy — f. i.Thanasimus formicarius L. — has the opportunity to kill the bark beetle when he reaches its abdomen.     

A common genetic variant is associated with adult and childhood obesity

Obesity is a heritable trait and a risk factor for many common diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. We used a dense whole-genome scan of DNA samples from the Framingham Heart Study participants to identify a common genetic variant near the INSIG2 gene associated with obesity. We have replicated the finding in four separate samples composed of individuals of Western European ancestry, African Americans, and children. The obesity-predisposing genotype is present in 10% of individuals. Our study suggests that common genetic polymorphisms are important determinants of obesity.     

Comparative genomic analyses of the Taylorellae

Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is an important venereal disease of horses that is of concern to the thoroughbred industry. Taylorella equigenitalis is a causative agent of CEM but very little is known about it or its close relative Taylorella asinigenitalis. To reveal novel information about Taylorella biology, comparative genomic analyses were undertaken. Whole genome sequencing was performed for the T. equigenitalis type strain, NCTC11184. Draft genome sequences were produced for a second T. equigenitalis strain and for a strain of T. asinigenitalis. These genome sequences were analysed and compared to each other and the recently released genome sequence of T. equigenitalis MCE9. These analyses revealed that T. equigenitalis strains appear to be very similar to each other with relatively little strain-specific DNA content. A number of genes were identified that encode putative toxins and adhesins that are possibly involved in infection. Analysis of T. asinigenitalis revealed that it has a very similar gene repertoire to that of T. equigenitalis but shares surprisingly little DNA sequence identity with it. The generation of genome sequence information greatly increases knowledge of these poorly characterised bacteria and greatly facilitates study of them.     

Neurotoxic effects of ivermectin administration in genetically engineered mice with targeted insertion of the mutated canine ABCB1 gene

Objective-To develop in genetically engineered mice an alternative screening method for evaluation of P-glycoprotein substrate toxicosis in ivermectin-sensitive Collies. Animals-14 wild-type C57BL/6J mice (controls) and 21 genetically engineered mice in which the abcb1a and abcb1b genes were disrupted and the mutated canine ABCB1 gene was inserted. Procedures-Mice were allocated to receive 10 mg of ivermectin/kg via SC injection (n = 30) or a vehicle-only formulation of propylene glycol and glycerol formal (5). Each was observed for clinical signs of toxic effects from 0 to 7 hours following drug administration. Results-After ivermectin administration, considerable differences were observed in drug sensitivity between the 2 types of mice. The genetically engineered mice with the mutated canine ABCB1 gene had signs of severe sensitivity to ivermectin, characterized by progressive lethargy, ataxia, and tremors, whereas the wild-type control mice developed no remarkable effects related to the ivermectin. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-The ivermectin sensitivity modeled in the transgenic mice closely resembled the lethargy, stupor, disorientation, and loss of coordination observed in ivermectin-sensitive Collies with the ABCB1-1Δ mutation. As such, the model has the potential to facilitate toxicity assessments of certain drugs for dogs that are P-glycoprotein substrates, and it may serve to reduce the use of dogs in avermectin derivative safety studies that are part of the new animal drug approval process.