Comparative efficacy of diminazene diaceturate and diminazene aceturate for the treatment of babesiosis in horses

The present work was conducted to study the comparative efficacy of two anti-protozoan (babesicidal) drugs on the recovery and health of horses. A total of 80 horses, showing typical clinical symptoms of the disease, were selected for this study; the presence of babesiosis was confirmed through blood smear examination. These animals were divided into two groups i.e. A and B. Horses of Group A, were treated with diminazene diaceturate, while horses of Group B were treated with diminazene aceturate. Efficacy of the drugs was determined by the reversal of clinical signs and a negative blood smear examination. The efficacy of diminazene diaceturate was demonstrated to be 80% while diminazene aceturate was found to have 90% efficacy against babesiosis.     

Antibacterial activity of Parmelia kamstchandalis

The ethanol extract of P. kamstchandalis as well as ethyl haematommate, ethyl-2,4-dihydroxy-6-methylbenzoate and methyl-β-orsellinate isolated from it exhibited varying degrees of antibacterial activity.     

Fishery subsidies: the interaction between science and policy

Fisheries Science - Fisheries subsidies have attracted considerable attention worldwide since the 1990s. The World Trade Organization (WTO), among others, started to strengthen its disciplines in...     

Industry-funded fishing license reduction good for both profits and conservation

For many commercial fisheries, reductions in fishing effort would likely result in higher long-term catches and improved incomes per fisherman. But fishing licenses are perceived as though they were property rights, which can imply relatively high costs for publicly funded buyback programmes to reduce fishing effort. Instead of the public buying out fishing licenses, it can make good business sense for license holders to expect the public to pay for protection against new licenses, and to proceed under this protection to finance buybacks of licenses themselves. The short-run costs of such an investment are outweighed by long-term gains in annual incomes and the transfer value of licenses at the time of individual retirement, especially in fisheries that are severely overfished.     

Flood control,drainage and irrigation projects in Bangladesh and their impact on soils: an empirical study

The combination of a rising population and increased food demand has placed tremendous pressure on the land resources of Bangladesh. These pressures are exacerbated by the annual wet-season floods which frequently devastate much of the agricultural land. Successive governments have therefore sought international aid to assist in the development of flood control measures. Of particular importance are 14 major schemes which aim to provide protection from 20–25 year return floods by the construction of earth-embanked enclosures. There is no doubt that these schemes have been very successful in protecting valuable agricultural areas from floods and hence increasing agricultural production. There is, however, growing evidence from a range of sources for long-term deterioration in soil fertility within the project areas. The study reported here is the first to systematically examine the changes taking place in soil properties following the establishment of a flood control, drainage and irrigation project. Comparison of two soil series, sampled from within and without the project area, demonstrate that within six years of project establishment, significant adverse changes have occurred in several soil properties; these include increasing acidity and a decline in available nutrients. The changes are attributable to a combination of poor management strategies and the absence of the annual flood input of silt. As Bangladesh cannot afford any decline in agricultural output, it is vital to establish whether adverse changes recorded here are occurring in other projects. This can be achieved by the establishment of a nationwide programme of soil fertility monitoring. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antibodies to prion and Acinetobacter peptide sequences in bovine spongiform encephalopathy

An amino acid sequence homology has been identified between the bovine prion sequence (RPVDQ) and the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus enzyme, uridine-diphosphate-N-acetyl glucosamine-1-carboxy-vinyl-transferase which also contains (RPVDQ). Class-specific IgA, IgG and IgM antibodies against synthetic peptides containing the structurally related sequences present in bovine prion and A. calcoaceticus were measured in 189 bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) positive cattle, 127 BSE negative cattle and 87 healthy control animals using an ELISA technique. Class-specific IgA, IgG and IgM antibodies against the structurally related synthetic peptides were significantly elevated in BSE positive cattle when compared to BSE negative cattle (P < 0.001) and healthy control animals (P < 0.001). These autoantibodies may have a role in the pathogenesis of BSE.     

Experimental study and numerical simulation of denitrification in saturated porous media

The effect of denitrification on the behavior of nitrate in saturated sandy soil was studied in the laboratory and the results were compared with the temporal and spatial concentration of nitrate in nonreactive (without denitrification) and reactive (with denitrification) cases. A laboratory model was fabricated to study steady one-dimensional flow and to transport nitrate with or without denitrification. Denitrification at various rates has been simulated with varied C∶N ratios and detention time. Retardation constant, dispersivity, and degradation constants have been computed using existing analytical models supporting adsorption and zero and/or first order production or decay. It was found that such analytical models can be used to fit the concentration of nitrate in saturated porous media for a C∶N ratio between 2 and 5.