Itokawa dust particles: a direct link between S-type asteroids and ordinary chondrites

The Hayabusa spacecraft successfully recovered dust particles from the surface of near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Synchrotron-radiation x-ray diffraction and transmission and scanning electron microscope analyses indicate that the mineralogy and mineral chemistry of the Itokawa dust particles are identical to those of thermally metamorphosed LL chondrites, consistent with spectroscopic observations made from Earth and by the Hayabusa spacecraft. Our results directly demonstrate that ordinary chondrites, the most abundant meteorites found on Earth, come from S-type asteroids. Mineral chemistry indicates that the majority of regolith surface particles suffered long-term thermal annealing and subsequent impact shock, suggesting that Itokawa is an asteroid made of reassembled pieces of the interior portions of a once larger asteroid.     

Tolerance to sheep red cells: breakage with thymocytes and horse red cells

Mice rendered tolerant to sheep red cells and then given normal thymocytes, made no antibody when immunized with these cells. When immunized with horse red blood cells, however, they made significant amounts of noncross-reacting antibody to sheep red blood cells. This suggests that antibody-making precursor cells (B cells) which are nontolerant but nonactivatable by specific antigen, may exist in tolerant hosts.     

Histopathological changes in the pancreas due to decreased pancreatic blood flow in a canine tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy model

In dogs, pancreatic acinar cell injury is thought to be caused by decreased pancreatic blood flow due to heart failure. In previous our report, it demonstrated that decreased heart function causes a significant decrease in pancreatic blood flow in heart failure dog model caused by rapid ventricular pacing (RVP). However, the types of histopathological changes remain unclear. We aimed to verify the types of histopathological changes occurring in the pancreatic tissue due to decreased heart function. After RVP for 4 weeks, atrophy of pancreatic acinar cells, characterized by a decrease in zymogen granules, was observed in all areas of the pancreas. In conclusion, the result of this study suggests that attention should be paid to ischemia/hypoperfusion injury in the pancreas.     

Immune response during the onset of coliform mastitis in dairy cows vaccinated with STARTVAC®

The immune response during the onset of coliform mastitis in vaccinated cows was investigated by measuring lactoferrin (LF), interleukin-8 ( IL-8), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) concentrations and somatic cell counts in 28 milk samples at the onset of acute coliform mastitis (ACM) and 73 milk samples at the onset of peracute coliform mastitis (PCM). Vaccinated ACM, unvaccinated ACM, and vaccinated PCM showed significantly higher values for LF and IL-1β levels than unvaccinated PCM (p < .01). The IL-8 concentration was lower in vaccinated PCM than in unvaccinated PCM (p < .05). There was no significant difference in somatic cell counts for each parameter. There were no significant differences in the parameters between vaccinated and unvaccinated ACM cows, or vaccinated ACM and PCM cows. From the above results, it is suggested that mastitis vaccination improved the early immune response, particularly at the onset of PCM, and played a large role in host defense against the initial infection.     

Effects of the supplementation of a calcium soap containing medium-chain fatty acids on the fecal microbiota of pigs,lactating cows,and calves

Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) have antialgal, antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoan, and antiviral activities. However, antibacterial activities of MCFAs in the hindgut of pigs and cattle are still unknown. We report the effects of the supplementation of MCFAs on fecal bacteria of pigs, lactating cows, and Japanese Black calves. Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., eaeA(+) Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni, and Clostridium perfringens in the feces of animals were quantified by real-time PCR assay. There was no significant increase or decrease in Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. in the three animals. In the pig feces, eaeA(+) E. coli was reduced to less than a third in the treatment group (P < 0.01). C. jejuni in the pig feces was also significantly less in the treatment group compared with the control (P < 0.01). In the lactating cow, eaeA(+) E. coli was reduced to one fifth of that in the control (P < 0.01). Salmonella spp. was halved in calf feces (P < 0.01). Thus, a reduction in Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria was observed. In conclusion, supplementation of a MCFA calcium soap in the diet would be beneficial to growing pigs, lactating cow, and calves by reducing pathogenic bacteria.     

Effects of soybean meal supplementation on ruminal kinetics of feed particle size reduction and passage in dairy cows fed rice straw

Six ruminal-cannulated nonlactating Holstein Friesian cows (mean body weight:660 ± 42.9 kg) were used to investigate the effect of soybean meal (SBM) supplementation on voluntary rice straw (RS) intake, feed particle size reduction, and passage kinetics in the rumen. They were allocated to two dietary treatments: RS alone or RS supplemented with SBM. Voluntary dry matter intake of RS and total tract fiber digestibility was increased by SBM supplementation (p < 0.05). Supplementation with SBM decreased rumination time per dietary dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDFom) intake (p < 0.01). Particle size distribution in the rumen and total ruminal NDFom digesta weights were not affected by SBM supplementation. However, the disappearance rates of total digesta and large and small particles from the rumen were increased by SBM supplementation (p < 0.01). Moreover, SBM supplementation increased the rate of size reduction in ruminal particles (p < 0.05). In situ disappearance of DM and NDFom of RS in the rumen was greater in SBM-supplemented cows than in nonsupplemented cows (p < 0.05). This study clearly showed that increased ruminal RS particle size reduction, passage, and fermentation due to SBM supplementation accelerated the RS particle clearance from the rumen and resulted in increased voluntary RS intake of dairy cows.     

Identification of flavone C-glycosides including a new flavonoid chromophore from barley leaves (Hordeum vulgare L.) by improved NMR techniques

Six flavone C-glycosides were isolated from young leaves of barley. One of the C-glucosides has a new type of nucleus, a 2',4',5,5', 7-penta-OH-substituted flavone bearing a 6-C-beta-D-glucoside, which has apparently never been isolated before. One mono- and two di-C-glycosyl flavones were isolated for the first time from barley and identified as isoscoparin 7-O-beta-D-glucoside, carlinoside, and shaftoside, respectively. Other flavones were 7-O-beta-D-glucosides of isoorientin and isovitexin. The known problematic NMR structure elucidation of C-glycosyl flavonoids has been solved by using both a temperature close to the freezing point of the solvent (22.5 degrees C in DMSO-d(6)) and a high temperature (70, 90 degrees C) for comparison during NMR measurements. Structural determination of all the compounds was achieved by employing 1D and 2D NMR techniques.