Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibody in wild macropods

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to measure total antibody to Toxoplasma gondii in serum samples from macropods. The validity of the assay was established by comparing parasite isolation in mice for 17 Tasmanian pademelons (Thylogale billardierii) and 17 Bennett's wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus). The ELISA was then used to detect antibody against T. gondii in serum from 236 macropods, collected from 21 locations in Tasmania, including Flinders Island. Antibody against T. gondii was detected in 20 animals (15 T. billardierii and 5 M. rufogriseus). There was a significant (p less than 0.01) difference in possession of T. gondii antibodies between adult (greater than or equal to 1 year of age) Tasmanian pademelons and Bennett's wallabies.     

Labor Environment and the Location of Electrical Machinery Employment in the US. South

This study focuses on the location of electrical machinery manufacturing in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama (with special attention given to the first three states), and the degree to which this industry is associated with labor environments attractive to firms in the late stage of the product cycle. Labor-environment variables were selected from published sources and then collapsed into principal components. County-level component scores were then correlated with selected electrical machinery employment variables. The analysis suggests that, with the possible exception of electronic components manufacturing, there has been no widespread locational response by electrical machinery manufacturing in these states to labor environments attractive to firms in the late stage of the product cycle.     

Vitamin D-dependent rickets in a Saint Bernard dog

Rickets diagnosed in a 12-week-old female St Bernard was attributed to an inborn error in vitamin D metabolism. Radiographically the physes were enlarged radially and axially, and metaphyseal bone adjacent to the physes was widened and cup-shaped. Serum biochemical abnormalities were hypocalcaemia, hypomagnesaemia, and hyperparathyroidism. Treatment was given with dihydrotachysterol, a synthetic sterol that is metabolised to a pharmacologically active analogue of 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol by the liver. This resolved the rachitic skeletal lesions completely in six weeks, as assessed radiographically, and maintained the serum calcium at the lower end of the normal range.     

Pathological findings in the bulbourethral glands of bulls

The bulbourethral glands of 323 Bos indicus or B. indicus crossbred bulls more than 1 1/2 years old were examined in an abattoir study. Bulbourethral adenitis was diagnosed grossly and confirmed by histological examination in 4 (1.2%). Unilateral chronic interstitial inflammation was seen in 2 cases; one of these was associated with a degenerative-type seminal vesiculitis. In the others adenitis was bilateral; in one case it was associated with a concretion and foreign (plant) material in the principal duct of the left bulbourethral gland; in the other bilateral case, numerous calculi were present and microscopically, a chronic active and diffuse inflammation was observed. Chemical analysis of the calculi showed calcium oxalate and tricalcium phosphate to be the most important components. Corynebacterium spp was isolated from the lesion with multiple calculi but attempts to isolate Chlamydia spp, Mycoplasma spp and Brucella abortus from the 4 adenitis cases were unsuccessful. Congenital abnormalities such as glandular fusion (2.2%) or unilateral aplasia (0.6%) were also observed. Cysts were the most common finding (19.2%), and duct dilation was frequent (7.1%). The significance of these findings in relation to fertility is considered.