The hen's egg: Shell cracking at impact on a heavy,stiff body and factors that affect it

1. Eggs from hens of three strains were dropped on to a heavy, stiff, smooth, plane body with impact at the equator of the shell; the height of drop, h_c, just sufficient to produce shell failure was measured and the corresponding impact velocity, v_c, calculated.

2. A small but commercially important percentage of the well‐formed eggs of one strain cracked when h_c was as low as 3–3 mm and v_c 250 mm/s.

3. Characteristics of the egg found to affect h_c and v_c included the overall thickness of its shell, thickness of its weak inner shell layer and average shell curvature, all measured at the point of impact, and its weight; its age also had a small effect (additional to that mediated through loss of weight); so did the degree of shell ridging.

4. No effect of shell colour was found.

5. Shell damage was typically a single hair‐crack that ran either round the equator or towards a pole.     

Identification of immunoglobulins associated with complement fixation, agglutination, and low pH buffered antigen tests for brucellosis.

Serums from infected cattle, cattle with persistent postvaccinal antibody, and serologically "positive" noninfected cattle were fractionated into major immunoglobulin classes by diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-cellulose chromatography and by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Each fraction was assayed for anti-Brucella activity by standard tube-agglutination test (STT), buffered tube-agglutination test (BTT), and complement-fixation test (CF). In the serums from experimentally infected cattle, anti-Brucella antibody could be found by all tests in 6 DEAE fractions and in slow, fast, and sediment regions of the density gradient. Serums from cattle with persistent postvaccinal titers had STT activity in all 6 DEAE fractions, BTT activity in 5 fractions, and CF activity in only 1 fraction. The STT and BTT activities were found in the slow and the sediment regions of the gradient, whereas the CF activity was found only in the slow region. Serums from a chronically infected animal had STT and BTT activities in 2 DEAE fractions and CF activity in only 1. The STT, BTT, and CF activities were found in the slow and the sediment regions of the gradient. The principal antibody in serums from noninfected cattle was immunoglobulin M, which had all of the CF activity and most of the STT and BTT activities. Low levels of STT and BTT activities were found in 3 other DEAE fractions. Only STT and BTT activities were found in the fast and the sediment regions of the gradient.     

A simple method for isolating leucocytes from bovine blood and their separation into lymphocyte and granulocyte fractions.

A method for the separation of leucocytes from bovine blood and its separation into lymphocyte and granulocyte fractions is described. The method, involving flash lysis of the erythrocyte population, was found to yield large numbers of viable cells suitable for maintenance in tissue culture medium and hence of value in immunological studies.     

Mercury residues in breast muscle of wild ducks, 1970-71.

Samples of breast muscle from 327 ducks collected from October 1970 to March 1971 in the conterminous United States were analyzed for total mercury by flameless atomic absorption spectrometry. Mercury levels for the entire collection ranged from less than 0.01 to 3.91 ppm wet weight with a median of 0.10 ppm. Twenty-five ducks had levels equalling or exceeding the 0.5 ppm guideline for fish and shellfish established by the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Dabbling ducks, which are shallow-water feeders and mostly vegetarian in fall, winter, and spring, usually had lower levels than diving and sea ducks. Levels were generally higher in ducks collected in areas where environmental mercury levels were known to be greater than in ducks from nonsuspect areas. Despite the mobility of the ducks, levels seemed more closely linked to local environmental contamination than to various factors associated with large geographic areas.     

Residues of methoxychlor and other chlorinated hydrocarbons in water, sand, and selected fauna following injections of methoxychlor black fly larvicide into the Saskatchewan River, 1972.

In May 1972, 0.309 ppm methoxychlor black fly larvicide was applied in a single test on the North Saskatchewan River. Eight to nine days later residues of 0.05-0.10 ppm methoxychlor occurred in sand 21-22 km downstream from the point of injection. Methoxychlor was not detected in water, insect larvae, shellfish, or muscle tissues of three fish species on the same sampling date. Perhaps because of relatively high oil content in goldeye fish, methoxychlor residues in muscle tissues were 1.0-1.5 ppm in 8 percent of those sampled, 0.21-0.99 in 21 percent, and 0.02-0.20 in 37 percent. In 34 percent of the goldeye fish no residues were detected. Goldeye and other fish collected before or 17 weeks after this injection did not contain detectable levels of methoxychlor. River water in two samples of the injected slug of water collected 6.5 km downstream from the point of injection contained 0.14 and 0.16 ppm methoxychlor. The suspended solids filtered from these sample contained 40 and 47 percent of this methoxychlor (437 and 892 ppm, respectively). Thus methoxychlor may act selectively against filter-feeding species, especially black fly larvae.     

Hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (HEV) infections in swine. Serologic indication for infectional occurrence in Denmark]

In 1956 a disease of nursing pigs previously unreported in Denmark, was observed in several swine herds. The disease syndrome appeared identical with that later described by Roe and Alexander in 1958 and by S. F. Cartwright and M. Lucas in 1968. Since 1956 there have been no reports of such outbreaks in Danish herds. To investigate whether the virus is still present, a survey was carried out to detect neutralizing antibodies in sera from a number of boars using a micro technique. In 144 sera from Jutland 12% had titers ranging from 10 to 32 ND-50, 22% from 32 to 90, 37% from 90 to 256, 14% from 256 to 724 and 3% above 724 ND-50 with a total of 86% positive. Of 174 sera from the rest of the country 16% had titers ranging from 10 to 32 ND-50, 18% from 32 to 90, 28% from 90 to 256, 13% from 256 to 724 and 3% exceeding 724 ND-50 with a total of 79% positive.     

Studies on pentagastrin-induced hypocalcaemia in lactating cows.

During recent years it has been evident that a number of gastrointestinal hormones are potent calcitonin secretagogues, and it has been suggested that a gastrointestinal-thyroid C cell system exists as a part of post prandial calcium homeostasis. In the present study the hypocalcaemic effect of pentagastrin, a synthetic peptide with gastrin effects, was studied in lactating cows. Intravenous infusion of pentagastrin caused marked hypocalcaemia and hypophosphataemia in the cows. Thyroidectomy completely abolished the hypocalcaemic and hypophosphataemic effects of the peptide. The results thus suggested that the effects of the peptide were due to release of endogenous calcitonin.