Reference values for cortisol, T4 and T-uptake in different horse groups using the fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA)

Reference values for Cortisol, T4 and T-Uptake, determined with the Fluorescence-Polarization-Immunoassays (FPIAs) in blood-plasma of different horse groups were established. The highest Cortisol values were measured in blood samples from thoroughbred racehorses and riding horses taken between 7 and 8 a.m. (181 +/- 37 and 268 +/- 43 nmol/l), the lowest gained between 5 and 6 p.m. (69 +/- 45 and 85 +/- 32 nmol/l respectively). Peak values for T4 in riding horses were found in blood samples collected between 1 and 2 p.m. (28.2 +/- 5.7 nmol/l) followed by the samples taken at 5-6 p.m. and 7-8 a.m. T-Uptake values did not show a diurnal variation. Values of thoroughbred racehorses were much lower than in thoroughbred broodmares and riding horses (0.11 +/- 0.03, 0.18 +/- 0.03 and 0.24 +/- 0.05 units). The blood samples collected on 5 successive days showed significant variations for Cortisol. T4-values were stable whilst T-Uptake had small variations.     

Trend analysis of Trichinella in a red fox population from a low endemic area using a validated artificial digestion and sequential sieving technique

Freezing of fox carcasses to minimize professional hazard of infection with Echinococcus multilocularis is recommended in endemic areas, but this could influence the detection of Trichinella larvae in the same host species. A method based on artificial digestion of frozen fox muscle, combined with larva isolation by a sequential sieving method (SSM), was validated using naturally infected foxes from Latvia. The validated SSM was used to detect dead Trichinella muscle larvae (ML) in frozen muscle samples of 369 red foxes from the Netherlands, of which one fox was positive (0.067 larvae per gram). This result was compared with historical Trichinella findings in Dutch red foxes. Molecular analysis using 5S PCR showed that both T. britovi and T. nativa were present in the Latvian foxes, without mixed infections. Of 96 non-frozen T. britovi ML, 94% was successfully sequenced, whereas this was the case for only 8.3% of 72 frozen T. britovi ML. The single Trichinella sp. larva that was recovered from the positive Dutch fox did not yield PCR product, probably due to severe freeze-damage. In conclusion, the SSM presented in this study is a fast and effective method to detect dead Trichinella larvae in frozen meat. We showed that the Trichinella prevalence in Dutch red fox was 0.27% (95% CI 0.065-1.5%), in contrast to 3.9% in the same study area fifteen years ago. Moreover, this study demonstrated that the efficacy of 5S PCR for identification of Trichinella britovi single larvae from frozen meat is not more than 8.3%.     

Dynamic plant uptake model applied for drip irrigation of an insecticide to pepper fruit plants

BACKGROUND: Drip application of insecticides is an effective way to deliver the chemical to the plant that avoids off‐site movement via spray drift and minimizes applicator exposure. The aim of this paper is to present a cascade model for the uptake of pesticide into plants following drip irrigation, its application for a soil‐applied insecticide and a sensitivity analysis of the model parameters. RESULTS: The model predicted the measured increase and decline of residues following two soil applications of an insecticide to peppers, with an absolute error between model and measurement ranging from 0.002 to 0.034 mg kg fw^?1. Maximum measured concentrations in pepper fruit were approximately 0.22 mg kg fw^?1. Temperature was the most sensitive component for predicting the peak and final concentration in pepper fruit, through its influence on soil and plant degradation rates. CONCLUSION: Repeated simulations of pulse inputs with the cascade model adequately describe soil pesticide applications to an actual cropped system and reasonably mimic it. The model has the potential to be used for the optimization of practical features, such as application rates and waiting times between applications and before harvest, through the integrated accounting of soil, plant and environmental influences. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Texas entry-year agriculture teachers' perceptions, practices, and preparation regarding safety and health in agricultural education

The purpose of this study was to gather benchmark data for the assessment of the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding agricultural safety issues and curricula held by Texas agricultural teachers with less than two full years of teaching experience (entry-year teachers). Seventy-four of 118 well-distributed teachers responded to this survey. Researchers concluded that more females were entering a traditionally male-dominated field. Overall, teachers addressed safety within units of instruction rather than as separate units. The most useful forms of new teaching resources that this group of teachers would like to see produced were safety videos and study guides, and class demonstration/simulation activities. There was a significant difference in rankings between teachers less than 26 years old and teachers more than 26 years old regarding the usefulness of transparencies as a new teaching resource (F = 5.00, p = 0.0268). Few teachers were currently CPR and first aid certified, even though most had received training and completed a general safety and/or health related course while in college. Teachers generally agreed philosophically with most practices and exhibited personal beliefs consistent with proper safety preparedness and practice in agricultural settings. However, many of these teachers failed to practice what was expected of safe tractor operators, such as wearing safety belts and allowing younger drivers to operate the equipment.     

Liming and reacidification reactions of a forest lake ecosystem,lake Lysevatten,in SW Sweden

Long-term monitoring, 1973 to 1987, of reactions to liming and reacidification of a forest lake ecosystem near the Swedish west coast is reported in this study. Treatment of Lake Lysevatten with a slag product of limestone in 1974 resulted in neutralization and a positive alkalinity. Prolonged dissolution proceeded for about 7 yr whereby 86% dissolved. During 1984–86 Lake Lysevatten approached maximum reacidification with high Al concentrations and an affected biota. Asellus aquaticus L. decreased and dominance within chironomid groups approached preliming conditions. However, the most obvious biological change was the development of the filamentous algal genus Mougeotia and increased growth of Sphagnum. Populations of both plants increased notably when pH declined to about 5. Our study suggests that extensive reacidification (pH < 6.0) of limed lakes should be avoided by successive treatments to prevent development of destabilized lake ecosystems.     

Phenylbutazone inhibition of equine platelet function.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs impair platelet aggregation and secretion in man, pigs, and rabbits and inhibit platelet thromboxane/prostaglandin synthesis. The present investigation studied the effects of phenylbutazone on platelet aggregation and bleeding times in the horse. Aggregation responses to adenosine diphosphate and collagen were markedly impaired 15 minutes and 2 hours after treatment, but 4 hours after treatment, platelet responses approximated those prior to treatment. The in vivo effect of phenylbutazone correlated with its plasma concentrations. Phenylbutazone, like aspirin, appeared to exert its effect by inhibiting thromboxane/prostaglandin synthesis, because thrombin-induced malondialdehyde formation was inhibited. However, unlike aspirin, free arachidonate-induced malondialdehyde synthesis was reduced but not eliminated, which suggested that phenylbutazone may have more than one site of action. Although collagen-induced platelet aggregation was impaired, a response was still present, and bleeding times were not altered by phenylbutazone treatment. To account for these findings, it is proposed that equine platelets can respond to collagen by thromboxane/prostaglandin independent pathways. The physiologic and pathophysiologic importance of these findings is discussed.     

Genotyping of Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. synoviae by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis and digitalized Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and M. synoviae (MS) are the cause of considerable economic losses in the poultry industry. Molecular differentiation of avian Mycoplasma strains may be helpful in tracing infections and in the evaluation of implemented intervention strategies. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) has shown to be a powerful typing technique but the application for poultry Mycoplasma strains is very limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility and discriminatory power of AFLP HindIII/HhaI and AFLP BglII/Mfel for the inter- and intraspecies differentiation of avian mycoplasmas and to compare these test characteristics with digitalized Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. The reproducibility of RAPD, AFLP HindIII/HhaI and AFLP BglII/Mfel was 50-100, 97-98 and 86-99%, respectively. RAPD and both AFLP enzyme combinations were able to differentiate between five avian Mycoplasma species. For AFLP, five MG and four MS clusters could be identified. The phylogenetic tree for both enzyme combinations was comparable. For RAPD, four MG clusters could be identified. For MS, however, due to the poor reproducibility of the RAPD technique, no clear genogroups could be identified. On basis of the results of this study it can be concluded that AFLP is a powerful technique for the genotyping of avian mycoplasmas and that, although AFLP HindIII/HhaI generated patterns with less fragments, the final results showed homologous results.     

Vergleichende Untersuchungen an verschiedenen Backkürbissorten und ihre diätetische Bewertung

Zusammenfassung Die Verfasser prüften die organoleptischen Eigenschaften 14 verschiedener Kürbissorten, die Zusammensetzung von rohem und gebackenem Backkürbis sowie die biologische Wertigkeit seines Carotingehaltes. Die Durchschnittswerte der untersuchten Inhaltsstoffe sind die folgenden: Trockensubstanz 20%, Asche 1,47%, Refraktion 12,5%, Roheiweiß 1,54%, C-Vitamin 29,6 mg%, Carotin 3,8 mg%. Unter diesen machen sie auf den C-Vitamin- und Carotingehalt aufmerksam und bezeichnen Backkürbis auf Grund dieser letzteren Inhaltstoffe als wichtige Vitaminquelle im Winter.Bei den gebräuchlichen Backverfahren erfolgt bei 20–30% Gewichtsverlust ein durchschnittlich 62%-iger, auf den Trockensubstanzgehalt berechneter Verlust an C-Vitamin und ein etwa 55%-iger an Carotin. Nach Tierversuchen ist Backkürbis eine der besten A-Provitaminquellen, da bei mit Backkürbis ernährten Ratten der A-Vitamingehalt der Leber um 62% höher ist als bei den mit identischen Mengen Carotin enthaltenden gelben Rüben gefütterten Tieren.

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Summary The organoleptic properties of 14 various types of pumpkins, the chemical composition of raw and baked samples, and the biological value of their carotene content were investigated by the authors.The mean values of the results were as follows: dry matter content 20%, ash content 1.47%, refraction value 12.5%, crude protein content 1.54%, ascorbic acid content 29.6 mg%, carotene content 3.8 mg%. The authors point to the importance of the content of ascorbic acid and of carotene, on the basis of which baked pumpkins can be classified as an important winter source of vitamins.With the conventional baking technique, considering a mean weight loss of 20–30%, the losses of ascorbic acid and carotene, respectively, range 62 and 55%, in respect to dry matter content.According to animal tests, baked pumpkins are one of the best sources of provitamin A, as the content of vitamin A of the liver of rats consuming baked pumpkins was higher by 62% than the liver of rats fed with carrots containing equal amounts of carotene.

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mit 2 Fig.     

Diätetische Bewertung verschiedener in Ungarn angebauter Zucker- und Wassermelonensorten

Zusammenfassung Bei 7 der Sortenprüfung unterzogenen Zuckermelonen- und 6 Wassermelonensorten untersuchten Verfasser die Verteilung im Zucker- und Säuregehalt sowie den Gehalt an Vitamin C und Carotin.Beim gesamten Untersuchungsmaterial wurde die quantitative und qualitative Verteilung der Kohlenhydrate und Säuren bestimmt.Den Untersuchungsergebnissen gemäß erhöht sich bei Zuckermelonen der Saccharosegehalt, bei Wassermelonen der Fructosegehalt in Richtung des Fruchtinneren, wo auch sowohl bei Zucker-, wie bei Wassermelonen die meiste Säure nachweisbar ist.Auf Grund des Gehaltes an Kohlenhydraten, Säure, Vitamin C und Carotin wurden die verschiedenen Melonensorten auch diätetisch bewertet.

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Summary Seven types of sugar melon and 6 types of water melon applied in selection experiments in Hungary were examined by the authors as regards sugar content, nature and quantity of acids, further the contents of ascorbic acid and carotene.The nature and quantity of sugars and acids were determined in the flesh and in the peels of all types examined.According to the analytical results, the content of sucrose of sugar melons increases when nearing the centre whilst in the case of water melons, the content of fructose becomes higher in the central portion.The content of acid showed maximum values in the centre with both sugar and water melons.The examined types of melons were also evaluated from a biological aspect, considering the contents of sugar, acid, ascorbic acid and carotene.

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mit 2 Fig.