Pancreatitis, gastrointestinal ulceration and haemorrhage and necrotising cystitis following the surgical treatment of degenerative disc disease in a dachshund

A case of pancreatitis with gastrointestinal ulceration and haemorrhage and necrotising cystitis in a five-and-a-half-year-old dachshund bitch which unexpectedly died six days after dorsolateral fenestration was performed for thoracolumbar degenerative disc disease is described.     

Factors affecting oat haploid production following oat × maize hybridization

Doubled haploids (DHs) are becoming increasingly important in crop breeding programmes but methods for producing oat DHs remain inefficient. In this study haploid and DH oat plants were produced using the oat × maize hybridization method. Factors influencing the rate of caryopsis and haploid embryo production including genotype, post‐pollination plant growth regulator application and temperature were investigated. The four growth regulators tested showed significant differences in their capacity to induce caryopsis formation with dicamba producing the highest numbers of caryopses, followed by picloram, 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4‐D) and gibberellic acid (GA₃). No significant differences were observed between these growth regulators for their effect on embryo production. The concentration of dicamba was also important and was found to influence caryopsis but not embryo production, with 50 and 100 mg/l dicamba producing significantly more caryopses than 25 or 5 mg/l. Temperature had a significant impact on both caryopsis and embryo production with the magnitude and direction of response depending on genotype. Rates of haploid embryo production observed were between 0.8% and 6.7% of the pollinated florets. The proportion of haploids, which survived and were successfully doubled with colchicine following transfer to soil was between 72% and 81%.     

Partial resistance to Erysiphe graminis hordei in old European barley varieties

Summary A collection of 133 genotypes consisting mainly of old European barleys and land varieties was assessed for level of partial resistance to barley mildew at the adult plant stage. Identification of any known resistance factors conferring hypersensitive reactions to the mildew races present at various frequencies in N.W. Europe was ensured through seedling tests with an appropriate AO mildew isolate.Thirty-nine varieties with relatively high levels of adult (partial) resistance and lacking known race-specific resistance genes were tested over a period of three years in field disease nurseries. At least thirteen varieties showed significantly less percentage leaf area infected than the control variety Proctor. These constitute a useful reserve of non-hypersensitive resistance, probably under the control of genes with mainly additive effects. In combination, these genes give enhanced levels of resistance, which could be of a more stable nature.     

Variation in the storage proteins of peas in relation to sulphur amino-acid content

Summary A cellulose acetate electrophoretic technique has been used to characterise the storage proteins present in pea seeds in order to try and determine the proportions of proteins present which are enriched in sulphur amino-acids. Some of the eight varieties examined were shown to differ in their proportions of the various storage proteins. When the proteins were separated and estimated quantitatively and also characterised by their sub-unit composition, it was shown that cellulose acetate electrophoresis of crude protein extracts or of whole globulins did not give the degree of resolution required. The procedures which have to be undertaken in order to obtain this information are considered, and the difficulties of incorporating them into a plant breeding programme discussed.     

The dissipation of tebuconazole and propiconazole in boronia (Boronia megastigma Nees)

The broad spectrum, systemic fungicides tebuconazole and propiconazole are used to control rust in boronia (Boronia megastigma Nees). Gas chromatography combined with either a benchtop quadrupole mass spectrometer or a high-resolution mass spectrometer allowed for the monitoring of both pesticides in boronia leaves, flowers, and concrete. Field trials were established at two sites to determine the rate of dissipation of tebuconazole and propiconazole in boronia. At site 1, two application rates of 125 and 250 g active ingredient/hectare (ai/ha) tebuconazole were employed. Treatments were repeated 17 days later. At harvest, 286 days after the final application, tebuconazole was detected at levels of 0.06 +/- 0.05 and 0.5 +/- 0.1 [mg/kg +/- standard error, on a dry matter basis (DMB)] in the leaves collected from plots treated with 125 and 250 g ai/ha of tebuconazole, respectively. The oil produced from the flowers collected at the final harvest had residues of tebuconazole at levels of 0.06 +/- 0.03 and 0.10 +/- 0.08 mg/kg for the 125 and 250 g ai/ha application rates, respectively. Two repeat applications of 125 g ai/ha propiconazole were also used at site 1. Residues of propiconazole were detected at 0.09 +/- 0.03 mg/kg (DMB) 286 days after the final application. At site 2, treatments of 125 g ai/ha of tebuconazole were applied twice. At harvest, 279 days after the final application of tebuconazole, residues were recorded at 0.30 +/- 0.09 mg/kg in the leaves (DMB) while the oil produced had 0.20 +/- 0.07 mg/kg.     

Episodic acidification of freshwater systems in Canada — Physical and geochemical processes

The occurrence of episodic acidification in Canadian streams, lake waters and shallow groundwaters has been reviewed, and the contolling mechanisms identified. ‘Episodes’, which are periods of depressed alkalinity during hydrological events, have been studied mainly in southeastern Canada, and occur at all sites where there is sufficient time resolution of the observations, viz. Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. An ‘alkaline episode’, where acidity decreases during an event, has been reported from one lake in the Canadian Artic. There is a bias towards the examination of episodes stimulated by snowmelt or rain-on-snow, since rainfall-stimulated episodes are poorly documented. Pre-event, rather than event, water dominates runoff during episodes. For this reason, biogeochemical reactions and the hydrological flowpaths in operation through the vadose and saturated zones are the principal controls on the chemical characteristics of episodes. Most episodes are dominated by base cation ‘dilution’ in circumneutral systems, and ‘increase in strong acid anions’ (particularly sulphate) in acidic systems. Episodes dominated by nitrification or organic acids or stimulated by sea salt input are rare or have not been decumented. Direct input of event water may dominate only during particular circumstances at snowmelt. Then, direct chemical inputs from lake ice and lake snow cover may be of importance in some systems.     

Silver and other metals in some aquatic bryophytes from streams in the lead mining district of Mid-Wales,Great Britain

A reconnaissance survey was made of trace metals in surface waters and three aquatic bryophytes (Scapania undulata,Hygrohypnum luridum andPolytrichum commune) in the mid-Wales Ag-Pb mining district. This area is contaminated by heavy metals from past mining. Elevated levels of Ag, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn were found in water and plant tissue. All the plants accumulated Ag and the other metals butScapania appears the most suitable as a plant monitor of Ag-polluted waters.     

The re-expansion and improving status of the silver-spotted skipper butterfly (Hesperia comma) in Britain: a metapopulation success story

Many specialist species are declining as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation, such that conservation actions typically aim to stem rates of decline rather than bring about genuine recovery. Here, we document the recovery of a species from former population refuges. An extensive survey of the entire British range of Hesperia comma, conducted in 2000, recorded over three times the number of tetrads (2 km × 2 km grid squares) occupied in 1982. This was accompanied by a fourfold increase in the number of populations and a 10-fold increase in the habitat area occupied. The improving status of H. comma is the product of good habitat management, recovering rabbit populations and climate warming, which have improved the quality, and increased the availability, of suitable habitat. This has enabled remnant metapopulations to expand, via distance-dependent colonisation, through large networks of habitat. Metapopulation recovery in H. comma demonstrates that landscape-scale conservation can be successful.     

HST and VLT investigations of the fragments of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR)

At least 16 fragments were detected in images of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) taken on 5 August 2000 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and on 6 August with the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Photometric analysis of the fragments indicates that the largest ones have effective spherical diameters of about 100 meters, which implies that the total mass in the observed fragments was about 2 x 10(9) kilograms. The comet's dust tail, which was the most prominent optical feature in August, was produced during a major fragmentation event, whose activity peaked on UT 22.8 +/- 0.2 July 2000. The mass of small particles (diameters less than about 230 micrometers) in the tail was about 4 x 10(8) kilograms, which is comparable to the mass contained in a large fragment and to the total mass lost from water sublimation after 21 July 2000 (about 3 x 10(8) kilograms). HST spectroscopic observations during 5 and 6 July 2000 demonstrate that the nucleus contained little carbon monoxide ice (ratio of carbon monoxide to water is less than or equal to 0.4%), which suggests that this volatile species did not play a role in the fragmentation of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR).