Drone Laying Honey Bee Workers in Queen Monitoring Cages

Techniques to monitor honey bee (Apis mellifera) egg production in cages allow researchers to study how different environmental factors contribute to reproduction. However, although the conditions required to facilitate queen egg production in a laboratory setting have been established, limited work has addressed the requirements for stimulating and monitoring worker egg laying. Here, we documented that drone laying workers will lay eggs in Queen Monitoring Cages (QMC), specialized cages designed to facilitate queen egg laying under controlled conditions. Egg production and worker mortality were compared between QMCs containing queens and those containing drone laying workers. High-definition images of the last abdominal segments of living first-instar larvae hatched from worker laid eggs and those putatively laid by queens were qualitatively compared to identify candidate characteristics to determine their sex.     

Effects of dietary vitamin E and fat supplementation in growing-finishing swine fed to a heavy slaughter weight of 150 kg: II. Tissue fatty acid profile,vitamin E concentrations,and antioxidant capacity of plasma and tissue

The study aimed to assess the effects of vitamin E (VE) supplementation and fat source on fatty acid (FA) composition, VE concentrations, and antioxidant capacity in plasma and tissues of pigs fed to a heavy slaughter weight (150 kg). A total of 64 pigs (32 barrows, 32 gilts; 28.41 ± 0.83 kg) were blocked by sex and weight, and randomly assigned to one of eight dietary treatments (n = 8 per treatment) in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement. Fat sources included corn starch (CS), 5% tallow (TW), 5% distiller’s corn oil (DCO), and 5% coconut oil (CN); VE supplementation levels were 11 and 200 ppm. Five-phase diets were formulated to meet requirement estimates of NRC (2012) and fed to pigs for each period of 25 kg from 25 to 150 kg. Increasing VE supplementation level increased C16:1 (P < 0.05) content but decreased C20:0 (P < 0.05) content in backfat and belly fat, while in liver, it increased C17:0 (P < 0.05) but decreased C18:0 (P < 0.05). Compared to the pigs fed the CS diet, the pigs fed the CN diet had greater (P < 0.05) content of total saturated FA, the pigs fed the DCO diet had greater (P < 0.05) content of total polyunsaturated FA content and iodine value, and the pigs fed the TW diet had greater (P < 0.05) content of total monounsaturated FA in backfat, belly fat, and liver. Plasma VE concentrations increased linearly (P < 0.05) with increasing length of feeding but faster (P < 0.05) in the pigs fed the CN and TW diets compared with the CS and DCO diets within the 200 ppm VE level; the pigs fed the DCO diet had the highest plasma VE concentrations (P < 0.05) from Phase 2 to Phase 5 within the 11 ppm VE level. The VE concentrations in liver and loin muscle (P < 0.05) increased with increasing dietary VE level from 11 to 200 ppm, but it was not affected by dietary fat source. There was no effect of VE supplementation and fat source on antioxidant capacity in plasma and liver except that pigs fed the DCO diet had greater liver SOD activity (P < 0.05) than the pigs fed the CN diet. In conclusion, dietary VE supplementation did not affect FA profile in backfat, belly fat, and liver consistently, while dietary FA composition with different fat sources affected much of the FA profile in backfat, belly fat, and liver. The higher level of VE supplementation increased liver and muscle VE concentrations and dietary fat sources affected plasma VE concentrations differently (P < 0.05), wherein the TW and CN diets increased the VE absorption greater than the DCO diet.     

Development of specific PCR primers for identification and detection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phytophthora capsici</Emphasis> Leon

A PCR-based method was developed for the identification and detection of Phytophthora capsici in pepper plants. Three PCR primers (CAPFW, CAPRV1 and CAPRV2) specific for P. capsiciwere designed based on the sequence of its internal transcribed spacer regions. CAPFW/CAPRV1 amplify a 452 bp product from P. capsici DNA whereas CAPFW/CAPRV2 a 595 bp fragment; neither set amplifies DNA from pepper or several fungi pathogenic to pepper. In conventional (single-round) PCR, the limit of detection was 5 pg DNA for both primer sets, whereas in nested PCR the detection limit for both was of 0.5 fg. However, when the dilution series of target DNA were spiked with plant DNA, amplification declined two-fold in both conventional and nested PCR. The CAPFW/CAPRV2 set in conventional PCR was used to detect P. capsici DNA in inoculated plants. Detection occurred as soon as 8h post-inoculation in stem samples from infected but still symptomless plants. The method was also tested to detect fungal DNA in infected soils.     

Ovine luteinizing hormone: isoforms in the pituitary during the follicular and luteal phases of the estrous cycle and during anestrus.

Pituitaries were collected from late follicular phase (n = 5), mid-luteal phase (n = 5), and anestrous ewes (n = 4) to assess changes in intrapituitary LH heterogeneity at selected reproductive states. After homogenization, an aliquot of each pituitary extract was desalted by flow dialysis against water and chromtofocused on a pH 10.5 to 4.0 gradient. Concentrations of LH in pituitary extracts and chromatofocusing fractions were determined by RIA. The LH in pituitary extracts resolved into 13 isoforms during chromatofocusing, which were coded with letters beginning with the most basic isoform. Follicular and mid-luteal phase ewes exhibited similar distributions of intrapituitary LH among its isoforms. Relative to follicular and luteal phase ewes, anestrous ewes had lower percentages of isoforms D and E as well as higher percentages of isoforms G, H, J and K. Isoform F, the predominant molecular form of LH, constituted a similar percentage in all treatment groups (P > .05). Thus, the distribution of intrapituitary LH among its isoforms did not change significantly between the mid-luteal and follicular phases of the estrous cycle, but higher percentages of the weakly basic and acidic forms of LH were present during anestrus. These observations suggest that intrapituitary LH heterogeneity changes minimally throughout the estrous cycle of ewes during the breeding season.     

A spline polynomial model to describe serum IGF-I concentration from birth to slaughter in calves: effects of weaning age,pre-weaning concentrate feeding and breed

The statistical analysis of hormones sampled throughout the production cycle is complicated because factors such as age and weight at the measuring date interfere. Spline curves constructed from pieces of low-degree, random-effects polynomials could be used for a more accurate analysis of data. Concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), weight gain, and concentrate intake of Parda de Montaña (PM) (n = 27) and Pirenaica calves (n = 14) were modeled with a spline model according to age at weaning, pre-weaning concentrate feeding, and breed. At birth, calves were randomly assigned to early weaning (EW) at 90 d or traditional weaning (TW) at 150 d. During lactation, half of PM calves received concentrates (S), whereas the remainder received no concentrates (NS). After weaning, calves received concentrates on an ad libitum basis until they reached a weight of 450 kg. The spline model had better likelihood than a polynomial of 6 degrees or a split-plot model. Serum IGF-1 concentration was greatly affected by age at weaning and pre-weaning concentrate feeding, but not by breed. In NS calves, IGF-1 concentration was greater in EW than in TW calves from 120 to 300 d, irrespective of breed. During lactation, S calves had greater IGF-1 concentration than NS calves. After weaning, EWNS calves reached the IGF-1 concentration of EWS calves after 4 mo on concentrates, whereas TWNS calves attained IGF-1 concentration of TWS calves after only 2 mo, because of their increased concentrate intake relative to TWS calves. Concentration of IGF-1 was positively correlated with the immediate weight gains and intake, but it was not a good predictor of performance in the long term.     

A comparison of three rapid diagnostic methods for the detection of rotavirus infection in calves

Three techniques for the detection of rotavirus in faecal samples from calves with neonatal gastroenteritis were compared. A preliminary study indicated that reverse passive haemagglutination (RPHA) was at least as sensitive as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). These two immunoassays were compared with the detection of viral RNA by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) on 209 field samples. Of the 77 samples in which at least one test gave a positive result, 69 were positive by both RPHA and PAGE, but only 49 were also positive by ELISA, indicating a lower sensitivity for the latter test. The overall agreement between RPHA and PAGE was 96%. The reasons for the discrepancies between the tests are discussed.     

Partial characterization of a Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 immunodominant antigenic determinant recognized by a monoclonal antibody. Legionella specific antigenic determinant

A monoclonal antibody was used to characterize a serogroup 1 specific Legionella pneumophila Philadelphia strain 1 antigenic determinant. A quantitative fluorometric assay was developed to quantitate the antibody sites (2.7 +/- 0.4 X 10(5)) on Legionella bacteria and to determine the physico-chemical parameters of the antibody-antigen interaction (at 4 degrees C: delta G = -10.9 Kcal X mol-1, delta H = 1.7 Kcal X mol-1, delta S = 45 cal X K-1 X mol-1). The same method was used to study the modification or the removal of the antigen by chemical and enzymatic means (trypsin, papain, lysozyme, acetone, chloroform-methanol and Tris-EDTA); only Tris-EDTA extraction resulted in a significant decrease in antibody binding sites. Inhibition studies of the fluorescein-labelled antibody binding were performed with different sugars of which only L-fucosylamine was inhibitory, and with other monoclonal antibodies to Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 in order to compare their fine specificity and affinity. The results indicate that the epitope recognized was an immunodominant carbohydrate including an aminodideoxyhexose and carried by the lipopolysaccharide.