Granulomatous giant cell submandibular sialadenitis in a dog

A 4-month-old dog was presented with a progressive swelling of the submandibular area. The history, course, cytological, and sialographic findings were consistent with an aseptic pyogranulomatous sialadenitis with concurrent duct blockage. This rare entity, responsive to medical treatment, appears to be similar to the granulomatous giant cell sialadenitis of humans.     

Traditional agroforestry systems of multi-crop “milpa” and “chichipera” cactus forest in the arid Tehuacán Valley,Mexico: their management and role in people’s subsistence

Agroforestry systems (AFS) derived from the cactus forest “chichipera” and cultivated with “milpa”, the traditional multi-crop system of maize-beans-squash were studied in the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico. Plant management types practiced by people, role of agricultural and forest resources in households’ subsistence, and consequences of changes in AFS were investigated through ethnobotanical, ecological, and economic approaches. People maintain in this AFS 122 plant species that provide useful products for 14 different purposes. Nearly 90% of useful plants are native to the region, representing 54% of all plant species recorded in the chichipera forest. Management strategies were identified occurring on 63 species at landscape, parcel, and individual plant levels. About 67% of managed plant species are left standing during clearance of vegetation; 35% are transplanted to the parcels’ surrounding area, 32% receive particular protection, and 10 species from other areas are cultivated inside the fields. During years of higher rainfall (~745 mm) AFS supply nearly 75% of the maize grain and 50% of the maize straw used as fodder by households. AFS with intermediate vegetation cover have higher economic value than monocultures and forest. However, plots with low forest cover and monocultures are progressively more common as consequence of socio-cultural processes. Local traditional ecological knowledge and management techniques are crucial for managing resilience of these AFS.     

Perspectives in dryland restoration: approaches for climate change adaptation

Reforestation efforts in dryland ecosystems frequently encounter drought and limited soil productivity, although both factors usually interact synergistically to worsen water stress for outplanted seedlings. Land degradation in drylands (e.g. desertification) usually reduces soil productivity and, especially, soil water availability. In dry sub-humid regions, forest fires constitute a major disturbance affecting ecosystem dynamics and reforestation planning. Climate change projections indicate an increase of drought and more severe fire regime in many dryland regions of the world. In this context, the main target of plantation technology development is to overcome transplant shock and likely adverse periods, and in drylands this is mostly related to water limitations. In this paper, we discuss some selected steps that we consider critical for improving success in outplanting woody plants, both under current and projected climate change conditions including: (1) Plant species selection, (2) Improved nursery techniques, and (3) Improved planting techniques. The number of plant species used in reforestation is increasing rapidly, moving from a reduced set of well-known, easy-to-grow, widely used species, to a large variety of promising native species. Available technologies allow for reintroducing native plants and recovering critical ecosystem functions for many degraded drylands. However, climate change projections introduce large uncertainties about the sustainability of current reforestation practices. To cope with these uncertainties, adaptive restoration approaches are suggested, on the basis of improved plant quality, improved techniques for optimizing rain use efficiency in plantations, and exploring native plant species, including provenances and genotypes, for their resilience to fire and water use efficiency.     

Evaluation of a multi-line broiler chicken population using a single-step genomic evaluation procedure

Effects on prediction of analysing a multi-line chicken population as one line were evaluated. Body weight records were provided by Cobb-Vantress for two lines of broiler chickens. Phenotypic records for 183 695 and 164 149 broilers and genotypic records for 3195 and 3001 broilers were available for each line. Lines were combined to create a multi-line population and analysed using a single-step procedure combining the additive relationship matrix and the genomic relationship matrix (G). G was scaled using allele frequencies from each line, the multi-line population, or 0.5. When allele frequencies were calculated from each line, distributions of diagonal elements were bimodal. When allele frequencies were calculated from the multi-line population, the distribution of diagonal elements had one peak. When allele frequency 0.5 was used, the distribution was bimodal. Genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) were predicted using each allele frequency. GEBVs differed with allele frequency but had ≥ 0.99 correlations with GEBVs predicted with correct allele frequencies. Means of each line and differences in mean between the lines differed based on allele frequencies. Assumed allele frequencies have little impact on ranking within line but larger impact on ranking across lines. G may be used to evaluate multiple populations simultaneously but must be adjusted to obtain properly scaled estimates when population structure is unknown.     

Effect of slime on adherence of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine and ovine mastitis

The interactions between slime, Staphylococcus aureus and ovine mammary gland epithelial cells (MGEC) were studied in vitro. Suspensions of radiolabelled bacteria incubated with slime significantly increased the ability of S. aureus strains to adhere to a filter. When suspensions of radiolabelled bacteria were incubated with MGEC treated with trypsin, the ability of slime to improve S. aureus adherence was also shown, indicating that it was not dependent on cell membrane proteins. The interaction of radiolabelled bacteria with slime prior to the adherence test with MGEC demonstrated that the adherence process requires the interaction between slime and bacteria. This interaction is inhibited by anti-slime antibodies. This study provides evidence that a specific interaction between bacteria coated with slime and MGEC could be a critical part of mammary gland infection.     

Marine Pharmacology in 2009–2011: Marine Compounds with Antibacterial,Antidiabetic, Antifungal,Anti-Inflammatory,Antiprotozoal, Antituberculosis,and Antiviral Activities; Affecting the Immune and Nervous Systems,and other Miscellaneous Mechanisms of Action ?

The peer-reviewed marine pharmacology literature from 2009 to 2011 is presented in this review, following the format used in the 1998–2008 reviews of this series. The pharmacology of structurally-characterized compounds isolated from marine animals, algae, fungi and bacteria is discussed in a comprehensive manner. Antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antituberculosis, and antiviral pharmacological activities were reported for 102 marine natural products. Additionally, 60 marine compounds were observed to affect the immune and nervous system as well as possess antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects. Finally, 68 marine metabolites were shown to interact with a variety of receptors and molecular targets, and thus will probably contribute to multiple pharmacological classes upon further mechanism of action studies. Marine pharmacology during 2009–2011 remained a global enterprise, with researchers from 35 countries, and the United States, contributing to the preclinical pharmacology of 262 marine compounds which are part of the preclinical pharmaceutical pipeline. Continued pharmacological research with marine natural products will contribute to enhance the marine pharmaceutical clinical pipeline, which in 2013 consisted of 17 marine natural products, analogs or derivatives targeting a limited number of disease categories.     

Anti HSV-1 Activity of Halistanol Sulfate and Halistanol Sulfate C Isolated from Brazilian Marine Sponge Petromica citrina (Demospongiae)

The n-butanol fraction (BF) obtained from the crude extract of the marine sponge Petromica citrina, the halistanol-enriched fraction (TSH fraction), and the isolated compounds halistanol sulfate (1) and halistanol sulfate C (2), were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on the replication of the Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1, KOS strain) by the viral plaque number reduction assay. The TSH fraction was the most effective against HSV-1 replication (SI = 15.33), whereas compounds 1 (SI = 2.46) and 2 (SI = 1.95) were less active. The most active fraction and these compounds were also assayed to determine the viral multiplication step(s) upon which they act as well as their potential synergistic effects. The anti-HSV-1 activity detected was mediated by the inhibition of virus attachment and by the penetration into Vero cells, the virucidal effect on virus particles, and by the impairment in levels of ICP27 and gD proteins of HSV-1. In summary, these results suggest that the anti-HSV-1 activity of TSH fraction detected is possibly related to the synergic effects of compounds 1 and 2.     

Post‐grazing cutting management in tall fescue affects the sward structure,forage and liveweight production

Tall fescue is the main perennial grass of the pastures of the temperate region of Argentina. However, after flowering in spring, tall fescue loses productivity and quality. Based on this, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of different post‐grazing mechanical cutting managements on the forage mass, leaf proportion, stocking rate, liveweight gain and liveweight production of tall fescue pastures. The treatments were post‐grazing mechanical cutting at anthesis (FC), post‐grazing mechanical cutting throughout spring and summer (SSC), and no post‐grazing mechanical cutting (NC). The experiment was performed from 2011 to 2014 in Argentina. The greatest and lowest forage mass were determined in September–November and May–September respectively. The leaf proportion of the SSC treatment was greater than that of the NC treatment, except in September–November. NC had higher stocking rate and lower liveweight gain than SSC, and neither NC nor SSC differed from FC. The liveweight production of the treatments was characterized by a trade‐off between stocking rate and liveweight gain. We conclude that FC is an attractive management because, with a single post‐grazing cutting, swards remain productive and leafy.