Opto-electronic counters for postlarvae and juveniles of Machrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man); design and tests of Type A counter

Postlarvae or juveniles of Macrobrachium rosenbergii produced in Mauritius are sold at unit price to prawn farmers and are counted individually by hand. This process is time consuming, labour intensive, subject to error and may stress the juveniles; safe rapid electronic counting would be highly advantageous.The design of the hydraulic component of a successful counter prototype, Type A, is described. The counter has 10 parallel channels through which juveniles are carried in a water current. The detection of juveniles passing through these channels can be done photo-electrically. The counter accepts juveniles up to 15 mm in length (eye orbit to tip telson) and has the significant advantage that it can be constructed using only simple hand tools.Survival and growth rate tests, and microscopic examination for damage to appendages of juveniles were done on machine counted and hand counted juveniles. There was no reduction of growth or survival caused by passage through the counter by comparison with the hand counting method, and it is concluded that the counter is not detrimental to juvenile prawns.About 70% of all juveniles tested showed highly variable amounts of damage. The great majority of this damage appears to originate in the hatchery tanks, prior to the experimental treatments. Only in the case of antennules could the use of the counter be shown to increase damage significantly, i.e. from 25% to 38%, but this has no detectable effect on subsequent survival or growth.This appears to be the first counter made specifically for counting macroscopic crustacean juveniles, and via suitable scaling, adaptation to counting other species of crustaceans, fish larvae, etc., should be possible.     

Toxoplasmosis in two cats with inflammatory intestinal disease

Lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis, a chronic inflammatory intestinal disease, was diagnosed in 2 cats. In 1 cat, recurrence of clinical signs after initiating treatment was attributed to relapse of the inflammatory intestinal disease, but was found to be attributable to relapsing toxoplasmosis secondary to immunosuppressive drug therapy. Treatment with clindamycin resolved the recurrent toxoplasmosis. In the second cat, clinical signs of toxoplasmosis did not develop, but serologic testing yielded evidence of active toxoplasmosis. Treatment with clindamycin caused the titers to decrease. Relapsing toxoplasmosis may be responsible for apparent resistance to treatment in cats for inflammatory intestinal disease being treated with immunosuppressive drugs.     

In vitro activity of danofloxacin, tylosin and oxytetracycline against mycoplasmas of veterinary importance

The activities of danofloxacin, a novel fluoroquinolone, and two other antimicrobials were determined in vitro against field isolates of seven Mycoplasma species of veterinary importance isolated from cattle, swine and poultry in five European countries. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of danofloxacin, tylosin and oxytetracycline were determined against a total of 68 isolates. Danofloxacin showed excellent activity against isolates of all Mycoplasma species (range 0·008 to 0·5 μg ml⁻¹), but in some isolates there was evidence of reduced sensitivity to tylosin (range 0·008 to 2·0 μg ml⁻¹) and oxytetracycline (range 0·008 to over 16·0 μg ml⁻¹). Danofloxacin was more active than other antimicrobials against, M hyopneumoniae, M dispar and M bovigenitalium, and showed activity similar to that of tylosin against M bovis and M gallisepticum. Tylosin was the most active against M synoviae and M hyosynoviae. Generally, oxytetracycline showed the poorest activity, but was superior to tylosin against M bovigenitalium. A second (final) MIC reading was taken for all isolates 14 or 21 days after the initial reading, and MIC values rose during that time. However, the increase seen in danofloxacin values (typically one to two dilutions) was less than that seen for tylosin and oxytetracycline. It is concluded that danofloxacin is highly active in vitro against all of the Mycoplasma species tested, and thus shows great potential for the treatment of respiratory and other infections caused by Mycoplasma species in cattle, pigs and poultry.     

Characterization and quantitative assessment of interspecific and intraspecific penetration of below-ground vegetation by cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv.) rhizomes

Cogongrass ( Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv.), an invasive C4 perennial grass, negatively influences native plant communities by forming dense monotypic stands that alter ecosystem properties and lower local species diversity. A hypothesized mechanism by which cogongrass achieves competitive dominance is a novel use of below-ground vegetative disturbance of neighboring vegetation (i.e. puncturing). However, very little empirical evidence is found in the peer-reviewed literature to quantify this phenomenon, much less establish it as a true form of competitive interaction. The present field study was conducted to quantify the occurrence of rhizome-mediated, below-ground vegetative penetration, both interspecifically and intraspecifically, document how this phenomenon is influenced by spatial location relative to the cogongrass stand, and determine the role that above-ground and below-ground biomass might have in the process. Analyses of 100 sod samples indicated that rhizome-mediated, below-ground vegetative penetration is a much larger intraspecific phenomenon than an interspecific one. The data also strongly suggested spatial location as a significant factor, with most penetrations occurring in the interior of a cogongrass stand as opposed to the advancing border. Significant correlations between rhizome-mediated, below-ground vegetative penetration and above-ground cogongrass biomass were found in the overall plot analysis and most strongly in the advancing border of the cogongrass stands.     

Diverse <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fusarium solani</Emphasis> isolates colonise agricultural environments in Ethiopia

Fusarium solani is a fungal pathogen that infects many different genera of plants. It represents one of the two Fusarium spp. commonly isolated from agricultural soils and plant tissues in Ethiopia. To determine the diversity of F. solani in Ethiopia, we studied 43 isolates using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and nucleotide sequences of the Translation Elongation Factor 1α (TEF-1α) and β-tubulin genes. TEF-1α sequences from GenBank, representing previously described species and clades of the F. solani-Haematonectria haematococca complex, were also included for comparative purposes. Phylogenetic analyses of the TEF-1α data separated the isolates into three groups corresponding with the three previously described clades (Clades 1–3) for this fungus. The Ethiopian isolates aggregated into one group corresponding to Clade 3. TEF-1α, β-tubulin and AFLPs further separated the Ethiopian isolates into a number of clusters and apparently novel phylogenetic lineages. Although the biological and ecological significance of these lineages and clusters is unclear, our data show that the Ethiopian agricultural environment is rich in species and lineages of the F. solani-H. haematococca complex.     

Two European oyster (Ostrea edulis) mortalities associated with an abnormal haemocytic condition

Regularly occurring mortalities of the flat oyster, Ostrea edulis L., on two sites, one in Galicia, Spain, and one in Yugoslavia, are reported. The oysters involved showed an apparent neoplastic condition of the haemocytes. No pathogen has been detected and the possible involvement of adverse water quality is suggested.     

Experimental pneumonia in rabbits inoculated with strains of Pasteurella multocida.

Domestic rabbits were inoculated with either a 3:A or 3:D serotype of Pasteurella multocida by aerosol, intravenous, or intratracheal inoculation. Different colony forming units of P. multocida were used. Animals which died or were killed after the 14 day observation period were examined macroscopically and microscopically for lesions in the lower respiratory tract. Pneumonic lesions were most consistently produced in rabbits inoculated intratracheally with serotype 3:A. Pulmonary and pleural lesions were observed in some animals inoculated intravenously with serotype 3:A. Lesions were minimal in rabbits inoculated with serotype 3:D. Of the three routes of inoculation evaluated, the intratracheal route appeared to be the best method to produce Pasteurella-associated lesions in the lower respiratory tract.     

Prevalences of feline leukaemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus infections in cats in Sydney

Objective To determine prevalences of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infections in ‘healthy’ cats that, through acute misadventure or other circumstance, were presented to veterinary practitioners. Prevalences of FeLV and FIV in this population were compared to those in a population of predominantly sick cats. Design and procedures Serum specimens were obtained over a 2-year period from 200 cats oldeer than 1 year of age presented to veterinary clinics for routine procedures, including cat fight injuries or abscesses, vehicular trauma, neutering, dental scaling, vaccination, grooming or boarding. An additional 894 sera were obtained over approximately the same period from specimens submitted by veterinarians to a private clinical pathology laboratory, mainly from sick cats suspected of having immune dysfunction, but including some sera from healthy cats being screened prior to FeLV vaccination. FIV antibody and FeLV antigen were detected in samples using commercial enzyme immunoassays. Results Amongst 200 ‘healthy’ cats, the prevalence of FeLV infection was 0 to 2%, and the prevalence of FIV was 6.5 to 7.5%, depending on the stringency of the criteria used to define positivity. FIV infection was significantly more prevalent in cats which resided in an inner city environment (P = 0.013). Of the 894 serum specimens submitted to the laboratory by practitioners, 11/761 (1.4%) were FeLV positive, while 148/711 (20.8%) were FIV positive. The prevalence of FIV was significantly higher in these predominantly ‘sick’ cats than in cats seen for routine veterinary procedures (P < 0.00001), while there was no difference in the prevalence of FeLV (P = 0.75) Conclusions The prevalence of FeLV and FIV in healthy cats may have been substantially overestimated in some previous Australian surveys. FeLV infection would appear to be a rare cause of disease in Australian cats. The higher prevalence of FIV positivity in sick as opposed to healthy cats infers that FIV infection contributes to the development of disease.     

Fission track ages and ages of deposition of deep-sea microtektites

The Australasian and Ivory Coast deep-sea microtektites have fission track ages of 0.71 and 1.09 million years, respectively. These ages are in good agreement with the ages of deposition of the microtektites determined from paleomagnetic data. Both the fission track ages and ages of deposition of the microtektites agree with the potassium/ argon and fission track ages of tektites from the respective tektite strewn fields.