Influence of a sodium formate/formic acid mixture on growth of juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio) fed different fishmeal replacement levels of detoxified Jatropha curcas kernel meal in practical,mixed diets

Intensification of cyprinid production has resulted in substantial increases in aquafeed demand for these species and a requirement for studies on new protein sources. Increased availability of presscakes from biodiesel crops may help to meet this requirement. The suitability of detoxified Jatropha curcas kernel meal (JKM), in combination with a dietary organic acid/salt blend (NDF), was tested in practical diets for juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Four treatment diets contained between 0% and 13.5% fishmeal with the fishmeal protein replaced by JKM (0%, 30%, 70%, and 100%). Four further diets of the same composition but including 0.5% NDF were also prepared, and all diets were fed to carps for eight weeks. There were no statistical differences in growth between diets containing JKM and the control. Furthermore, addition of dietary NDF significantly improved final weights, specific growth rates, feed conversion ratios, and protein efficiency ratios. Body composition analysis showed a significant impact of dietary JKM inclusion on increasing body lipid content. The addition of NDF showed a tendency to lower body lipid content (P = 0.11). JKM is a suitable protein source in diets for carp, and the inclusion of 0.5% of NDF proved to be beneficial.     

Efficacy of ceftiofur hydrochloride sterile suspension administered parenterally for the treatment of acute postpartum metritis in dairy cows

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of ceftiofur hydrochloride sterile suspension administered parenterally for treatment of acute postpartum metritis (APM) in dairy cows. DESIGN: Multilocation, randomized block, field trial. ANIMALS: 406 cows in the first 14 days postpartum. PROCEDURE: Cows with rectal temperatures > or = 39.5 degrees C (103.1 degrees F) without clinical signs of respiratory or gastrointestinal tract disease and with a fetid vaginal discharge were allocated randomly in blocks of 3 to 3 treatment groups: sterile saline (0.9% NaCl) solution administered at a dosage of 2 mL/45.4 kg (2 mL/100 lb), SC or IM, once daily for 5 days (control); or ceftiofur hydrochloride administered at a dosage of 1.1 or 2.2 mg of ceftiofur equivalents (CE)/kg (0.5 or 1 mg/lb, respectively), SC or IM, once daily for 5 days. Cows were evaluated on days 6, 10, and 14, and clinical cure or failure to cure was determined. Clinical cure was defined as no additional antimicrobial treatment administered, rectal temperature < 39.5 degrees C, and absence of a fetid vaginal discharge. RESULTS: On day 14, clinical cure rates were 77%, 65%, and 62% for the 2.2 mg of CE/kg, 1.1 mg of CE/kg, and control groups, respectively. No significant differences were detected in clinical cure rates between control and treatment groups on day 10 or 6. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Ceftiofur hydrochloride administered at a dosage of 2.2 mg of CE/kg, SC or IM, once daily for 5 days was efficacious for treatment of APM in dairy cows.     

Degree of amino acid restrictions during the grower phase and compensatory growth in pigs selected for lean growth efficiency

A total of 32 select line (SL) and 32 control line (CL) Duroc pigs were used in two trials to determine the effect of dietary amino acid contents during the grower (G) phase and selection for lean growth efficiency on growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality. In each trial, pigs weighing 20 kg were assigned to 16 pens with two gilts or two castrated males per pen, and pens were randomly assigned within the genetic line to corn-soybean meal G diets formulated to contain 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, or 11.0 g lysine/kg. After 50 kg, all pigs were fed common finisher 1 (F1) and finisher 2 (F2) diets. Pigs were allowed ad libitum access to feed and water. After the initial statistical analyses, the data sets from the two trials were combined. During the G phase, pigs consumed less feed [linear (Ln), P < 0.001] and more lysine (Ln, P < 0.001), grew faster (Ln, P < 0.05) but utilized feed more and lysine less efficiently (Ln, P < 0.001) for weight gain as the amino acid content of G diets increased. Increasing dietary amino acids resulted in less ultrasound backfat (Ln, P < 0.001) and more serum urea nitrogen [Ln, P < 0.001; quadratic (Qd), P < 0.01] at the end of the G phase. Pigs grew more slowly during the F1 (Ln, P < 0.01 and Qd, P = 0.05) and F2 (Ln, P = 0.07) phases and utilized feed and lysine less efficiently (Ln, P < 0.05) for weight gain during the F1 phase as the amino acid content of G diets increased. The grower diet had no effect on overall weight gain and feed efficiency, carcass traits, or meat quality scores. The efficiency of lysine utilization for overall weight gain (Ln, P < 0.001) and lean accretion (Ln, P < 0.05) improved as the amino acid content of G diets decreased. The SL pigs grew faster (P < 0.05) and had less (P < 0.001) ultrasound backfat throughout the study compared with the CL pigs. The SL pigs had less 10th rib backfat (P < 0.001) and tended to have larger longissimus muscle area (P = 0.09) than the CL pigs, which were reflected in greater rate (P < 0.001) and efficiency (P < 0.05) of lean accretion. Marbling (P < 0.05) and meat color (P = 0.07) scores were lower in the SL pigs. No grower diet x genotype interactions were observed in response criteria of interest. The results indicate that pigs subjected to dietary amino acid restrictions during the G phase (as low as 5.0 g lysine/kg) compensated completely in terms of growth rate and body composition regardless of the genotype. Compensatory growth can have a positive impact not only on the overall efficiency of pig production but also on the environment by reducing excretion of unused nutrients.     

Fear-related behaviour of dogs in veterinary practice

To investigate further the occurrence of fear-related behaviour in dogs in veterinary practice and to evaluate associated factors, 135 dogs were observed under practice conditions within the framework of a standardised test examination and the owners interviewed using a questionnaire. Most dogs exhibited fear reactions, particularly on the examination table, with 78.5% (106/135) categorised as ‘fearful’ based on their behaviour. Unlike weight and castration, age, gender and previous experience were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with fearful behaviour. Male dogs were significantly less ‘fearful’ than females and animals under <2 years were significantly less ‘fearful’ compared with older dogs. Those with only positive previous experiences in veterinary surgeries were significantly less ‘fearful’ than dogs that had a previous negative experience. Fear-related behaviour in veterinary practice is an issue of importance.     

Impacts of Dryland Cropping Systems on Ground Beetle Communities (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the Northern Great Plains

Ground beetles are natural predators of insect pests and small seeds in agroecosystems. In semiarid cropping systems of the Northern Great Plains, there is a lack of knowledge to how ground beetles are affected by diversified cover crop rotations. In a 2-yr study (2018 and 2019), our experiment was a restricted-randomization strip-plot design, comprising summer fallow, an early-season cover crop mixture (five species), and a mid-season cover crop mixture (seven species), with three cover crop termination methods (i.e., herbicide, grazing, and haying). Using pitfall traps, we sampled ground beetles in five 48-h intervals throughout the growing season (n = 135 per year) using growing degree day (GDD) accumulations to better understand changes to ground beetle communities. Data analysis included the use of linear mixed-effects models, perMANOVA, and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations. We did not observe differences among cover crop termination methods; however, activity density in the early-season cover crop mixture decreased and in summer fallow increased throughout the growing season, whereas the mid-season cover crop mixture peaked in the middle of the summer. Ground beetle richness and evenness showed a nonlinear tendency, peaking in the middle of the growing season, with marginal differences between cover crops or fallow after the termination events. Also, differences in ground beetle composition were greatest in the early- and mid-season cover crop mixtures earlier in the growing season. Our study supports the use of cover crop mixtures to enhance ground beetle communities, with potential implications for pest management in dryland cropping systems.     

Effect of Fucoidan on the Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (ΔΨm) of Leukocytes from Patients with Active COVID-19 and Subjects That Recovered from SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Fucoidan is a polysaccharide obtained from marine brown algae, with anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and immune-enhancing properties, thus, fucoidan may be used as an alternative treatment (complementary to prescribed medical therapy) for COVID-19 recovery. This work aimed to determine the ex-vivo effects of treatment with fucoidan (20 µg/mL) on mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm, using a cationic cyanine dye, 3,3′-dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide (DiOC₆(3)) on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (HPBMC) isolated from healthy control (HC) subjects, COVID-19 patients (C-19), and subjects that recently recovered from COVID-19 (R1, 40 ± 13 days after infection). In addition, ex-vivo treatment with fucoidan (20 and 50 µg/mL) was evaluated on ΔΨm loss induced by carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP, 150 µM) in HPBMC isolated from healthy subjects (H) and recovered subjects at 11 months post-COVID-19 (R2, 335 ± 20 days after infection). Data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces HPBMC loss of ΔΨm, even 11 months after infection, however, fucoidan promotes recovery of ΔΨm in PBMCs from COVID-19 recovered subjects. Therefore, fucoidan may be a potential treatment to diminish long-term sequelae from COVID-19, using mitochondria as a therapeutic target for the recovery of cellular homeostasis.     

Specialized receptive fields of the cat's retina

Three new types of receptive field have been found in the cat's retina. The responses of these fields to flashing lights and moving objects suggest that the manner in which they code visual information may be quite different from that of the center-surround fields described in previous studies. These "specialized" fields were all found in the area centralis. A definite functional difference, corresponding to the known anatomical difference, between this region and the rest of the retina, is suggested.     

Structure of the polycrystalline zeolite catalyst IM-5 solved by enhanced charge flipping

Despite substantial advances in crystal structure determination methodology for polycrystalline materials, some problems have remained intractable. A case in point is the zeolite catalyst IM-5, whose structure has eluded determination for almost 10 years. Here we present a charge-flipping structure-solution algorithm, extended to facilitate the combined use of powder diffraction and electron microscopy data. With this algorithm, we have elucidated the complex structure of IM-5, with 24 topologically distinct silicon atoms and an unusual two-dimensional medium-pore channel system. This powerful approach to structure solution can be applied without modification to any type of polycrystalline material (e.g., catalysts, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, complex metal alloys) and is therefore pertinent to a diverse range of scientific disciplines.