In this issue – May 2010

Flea-associated infectious agents in cats in Eastern Australia · Complications of barium-impregnated polyethylene spheres · Reproductive efficiency of Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses · GPS tracking collars to monitor horses · Correction of vesicovaginal reflux in mares · Antibodies to Lawsonia intracellularis in Australian pig herds · Mucormycosis in the platypus · Panniculitis from Mycobacterium mageritense in a Tasmanian devil     

IN THIS ISSUE – June 2010

Surveillance for West Nile virus in Australia: role of the little raven · Fertility in mares after surgical correction of rectovaginal fistula · Development of method for serial blood sampling from conscious dogs · Specificity of a commercial snake venom detection kit in dog and cat urine · Femoral component failure in canine cemented total hip replacement · Hepatic myelolipoma incarcerated in a peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia in a cat · Diclofenac sodium and flunixin meglumine with antibacterial treatment of respiratory disease of calves · Lead-free petrol reduces risk of acute lead poisoning in Australian cattle     

Reconstruction of Current Flow and Imaging of Current-Limiting Defects in Polycrystalline Superconducting Films

Magneto-optical imaging was used to visualize the inhomogeneous penetration of magnetic flux into polycrystalline TlBa2Ca2Cu3Ox films with high critical current densities, to reconstruct the local two-dimensional supercurrent flow patterns and to correlate inhomogeneities in this flow with the local crystallographic misorientation. The films have almost perfect c-axis alignment and considerable local a- and b-axis texture because the grains tend to form colonies with only slightly misaligned a and b axes. Current flows freely over these low-angle grain boundaries but is strongly reduced at intermittent colony boundaries of high misorientation. The local (<10-micrometer scale) critical current density Jc varies widely, being up to 10 times as great as the transport Jc (scale of approximately 1 millimeter), which itself varies by a factor of about 5 in different sections of the film. The combined experiments show that the magnitude of the transport Jc is largely determined by a few high-angle boundaries.     

Sequential extraction methods for soil organic nitrogen

(pp. 825–831)
This study was carried out to clarify the effects of soil nitrate before cultivation and amounts of basal-dressed nitrogen on additional N application rate and yields of semi-forced tomato for three years from 1998 to 2000. The amounts and timing of additional N dressing were determined based on diagnosis of petiole sap nitrate. The top-dressing was carried out with a liquid fertilizer when the nitrate concentration of a leaflet's petiole sap of leaf beneath fruit which is 2–4 cm declined below 2000 mg L⁻¹.
For standard yield by the method of fertilizer application based on this condition, no basal-dressed nitrogen was required when soil nitrate before cultivation was 150 mg kg⁻¹ dry soil or higher in the 0–30 cm layer; 38 kg ha⁻¹ of basal-dressed nitrogen, which corresponds to 25% of the standard rate of fertilizer application of Chiba Prefecture, was optimum when soil nitrate before cultivation was 100150 mg kg⁻¹ dry soil; 75 kg ha⁻¹ of basal-dressed nitrogen, which corresponds to 50% of the standard, was optimum when soil nitrate before cultivation was under 100 mg kg⁻¹ dry soil. A standard yield was secured and the rate of nitrogen fertilizer application decreased by 49–76% of the standard by keeping the nitrate concentration of tomato petiole sap between 1000–2000 mg L⁻¹ from early harvest time to topping time under these conditions.     

Review of neurological diseases of ruminant livestock in Australia. VI: postnatal bovine, and ovine and caprine, neurogenetic disorders

This paper, the last in a series of reviews of neurological diseases of ruminants in Australia, discusses a range of neurogenetic disorders of cattle, sheep and goats, including necrotising encephalomyelopathy, glycogen storage disorders, cerebellar abiotrophy and β-mannosidosis. They are categorised by the species and breeds in which they occur.     

In this issue – August 2011

History of veterinary education in Australia · Neurological diseases following bacterial and protozoal infections · Lameness model in sheep · Effects of barefoot trimming · EGFR and HER‐2 as prognostic makers in mammary tumours · Bacteria in semen fractions in dogs     

Neurological diseases of ruminant livestock in Australia. I: general neurological examination, necropsy procedures and neurological manifestations of systemic disease, trauma and neoplasia

Disease surveillance is an integral part of most veterinary practices in Australia. The aim of this series of invited reviews is to facilitate the differential and ultimately definitive diagnosis of some of the previously known, as well as the novel and emerging, neurological disorders of ruminant livestock, which is of particular importance in the surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. General principles of a systematic neurological examination, necropsy procedures and the neurological manifestations of systemic disease, trauma and neoplasia are described here.