The common carp <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyprinus carpio</Emphasis> in Croatia (Danube and Adriatic basins): a historical review

This review provides the first historical account of the ecology and biology of common carp Cyprinus carpio in the Danube and Adriatic basins of Croatia, and emphasises the species’ economic relevance and management implications. As a semi-native species that is native to the Danube but translocated across the Adriatic Basin, carp plays an important role for aquaculture, recreational and artisanal fisheries. However, original strains have now disappeared, and because of genetic pollution in inland waters there is an increasing demand for restoring populations of the now rare and threatened wild carp, making conservation measures a priority. Translocations of carp across water bodies of the Adriatic Basin mostly for food supply did not prove successful in the long term, as the resulting ecological impacts may have been higher than the expected economic advantages. Measures for the prevention of further (uncontrolled) carp re-stocking are therefore necessary and this will require closer collaboration between scientists and environmental managers.     

Neosporosis with cerebellar involvement in an adult dog

A case of an adult dog with multifocal, progressive neurological signs caused by Neospora caninum is reported. Pathological studies showed cerebellar lesions due to the parasite, which was also present in other parts of the nervous system and muscle. Cerebellar atrophy related to Neospora infection has been rarely reported in veterinary medicine, and has been shown to affect ruminants and dogs. The cerebellar involvement and the age of the present dog make this case uncommon.     

Characterization of the first Bartonella henselae strain isolated from a cat in Italy

Bartonella henselae has been identified and characterized for the first time in Italy. A strain, designed Pavia-1, was isolated from the blood of a cat whose owner developed cat scratch disease (CSD). Pavia-1 and two American B. henselae strains (Houston-1, ATCC 49882, type I and strain 269608, UC Davis, type II) were compared by whole-cell fatty analysis (CFA), sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) for protein profiles, Western immunoblotting (WB) for reactivity with polyclonal antibodies, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), type-specific 16S rRNA PCRs, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Bartonella clarridgeiae (ATCC 51734) was also included for comparison. Pavia-1 was identified as a B. henselae type I. PFGE allowed differentiation between B. clarridgeiae and B. henselae and furthermore, between all the B. henselae strains. The fingerprints of PFGE observed for Pavia-1 were distinct from those of B. henselae type II and also of Houston-1, suggesting that the two type I strains derived from two different clones. These results show the capability of B. henselae to develop genotypic variability between genetically related strains.     

Adaptation and evaluation of a rapid test for the diagnosis of sheep scrapie in samples of rectal mucosa.

In recent publications, it was shown that disease-associated prion protein (PrP(d)) accumulates in the lymphoid tissue of the rectal mucosa of a high proportion of scrapie-infected sheep at clinical and preclinical stages, regardless of several host factors; PrP(d) can also be detected in biopsy specimens of rectal mucosa, with an increased probability proportional to age or incubation period and with an efficiency almost identical to that of tonsil biopsies. Rectal biopsies have the advantages of providing higher numbers of lymphoid follicles and of being simpler to perform, which makes them suitable for scrapie screening in the field. In biopsy samples, PrP(d) could be demonstrated by immunohistochemical (IHC) and Western immunoblotting methods, and the purpose of the present study was to optimize and evaluate a "rapid test" for the diagnosis of scrapie in rectal biopsy samples. The HerdChek CWD (chronic wasting disease) antigen EIA (enzyme immunoassay) test was chosen and, once optimized, provided specificity and sensitivity figures of 99.2% and 93.5%, respectively, compared with IHC results in the same samples obtained at a postmortem. The sensitivity of the assay increased from 82.1%, when a single rectal mucosa sample was tested to 99.4% for those sheep in which 3 or more samples were analyzed. Similarly, sensitivity values of the HerdChek CWD antigen EIA test on biopsy samples increased from 95% to 100% for sheep subjected to 1 or 2 sequential biopsies 4 months apart, respectively. Thus, a preclinical diagnosis of scrapie in live sheep can be achieved by a combination of a simple sampling procedure, which can be repeated several times with no detrimental effect for the animals, and a rapid and efficient laboratory method.     

Canopy transpiration of a Pinus canariensis forest at the tree line: implications for its distribution under predicted climate warming

Canopy transpiration (E _c) of a 50-year-old Pinus canariensis Chr. Sm. Ex DC. stand at tree line in Tenerife, Canary Islands, was estimated continuously throughout a year from March 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009, by means of xylem sap flow measurements. E _c varied markedly throughout the entire year generally following the seasonal trends in soil water availability and varied between 0.89 mm day^?1 under the conditions of non-limiting soil water availability and close to zero under soil drought. This is because canopy conductance declined significantly with increasing evaporative demand and thus significantly reduced tree water loss, and this decrease was more pronounced during the soil drought. Total annual E _c was 79.6 mm, which is significantly below the values estimated for other Mediterranean forest ecosystems and even 70 % lower than the value estimated for a P. canariensis forest at 1,650 m a.s.l. where the soil water content was higher than at the tree line site. Therefore, these results highlighted the importance of drought stress in tree line ecotone and should be taken more into account in semiarid tree lines.