Effects of lauryl sulphate on egg‐shell quality in laying hens

1. The effect of feeding the detergent, sodium lauryl sulphate at concentrations up to 10 g/kg diet on egg‐shell quality was examined in laying hens at 24, 36 and 48 weeks of age.

2. Lauryl sulphate at 2.5 g/kg or more in the diet significantly increased shell breaking strength, shell thickness and shell weight at 24 and 36 weeks. In 48‐week‐old hens only shell breaking strength was increased significantly. Egg production and egg weight were not affected significantly by lauryl sulphate.

3. Lauryl sulphate might increase these measures of quality by increasing shell deposition and/or shell elasticity.     

Small intestinal carcinoma in cattle

The pathology of carcinoma of the small intestine in six adult cattle is described. The lesions were similar to those of carcinoma of the small intestine of sheep although a slightly less fibrous stroma and a greater tendency to metastasise was observed. Initial findings suggest the disease resembles small-intestinal carcinoma of sheep and cola-rectal carcinomas of man in having a higher prevalence in New Zealand than most other countries. This highlights the need to investigate common environmental factors which may be responsible for the induction and promotion of these tumours in both grazing ruminants and man.     

Diagnostic value of intestinal alkaline phosphatase in horse serum

Antiserum directed against equine intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) was produced in rabbits and used to develop a sensitive and quantitative assay for the detection of intestinal ALP in equine serum. This assay was then used to measure the half-life of intravenously injected intestinal ALP and to determine if the intestinal ALP was present in normal horse sera, sera from horses presented for lesions not involving the gastrointestinal tract and sera from horses presented with lesions involving the gastrointestinal tract. The results suggest that intestinal ALP is not likely to appear in equine serum even when gastrointestinal disease is present and, therefore, appears to be of no diagnostic value.     

Equine herpesvirus abortion in Australia 1977 to 1982

Until 1977 no case of abortion caused by equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1) had been recorded in Australia although the virus, called equine rhinopneumonitis virus, had been known to have been present at least since 1962. Outbreaks of EHV1 abortion occurred in New South Wales in 1977 and in 1981. Sporadic cases of EHV1 abortion had been confirmed in some parts of Australia each year since 1975. It was concluded that an abortigenic subtype of EHV1 had been introduced to Australia in 1977 and that the previously endemic respiratory subtype occasionally caused abortion. Virus isolation in a variety of cell cultures and histopathological examination of tissue were shown to be satisfactory methods of diagnosis of EHV1 abortion. Lung proved to be the specimen of choice. Slight serological differences between "abortigenic" and "respiratory" subtypes of EHV1 were found in cross neutralisation tests. A serological survey of 219 Sydney horses of various ages revealed that most yearlings had already acquired neutralising antibody to both subtypes.     

Further characterization of dandelion yellow mosaic virus from lettuce and dandelion

A damaging virus isolated in the Netherlands from lettuce was studied and compared with a virus isolated from dandelion orginating from Czechoslovakia. It was found to biologically resemble dandelion yellow mosaic virus incompletely described from dandelion and lettuce in Great Britain (Kassanis, 1944, 1947) and from dandelion in Germany (Hein, 1963). Mechanical transmission was greatly improved by buffer solution and transmission byMyzus persicae seemed to be in the non-persistent manner. Longevity in vitro of the virus hardly exceeded one day. Thermal inactivation was between 60 and 65 °C and the dilution end-point was between 10 000 and 100 000. It was still infectious in leaf material dried and stored over CaCl₂ at 4 °C for 6 1/2 years. The virus was isolated and purified with difficulty and was found to consist of one type of spherical particle of ca 30 nm diameter, with a sedimentation coefficient of 159 S, a buoyant density of 1.42 g.cm^?3 and an A₂₆₀/A₂₈₀ ratio of 1.67. An antiserum was prepared with a titre of 256 in the agar double-diffusion test. The virus could be identified in crude extracts from lettuce andChenopodium amaranticolor by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), but not by agar double diffusion. It could only be visualized in crude sap in the electron microscope after trapping of virus particles on antiserum-coated grids. The virus cannot yet be assigned to any known virus group. It is of potential economic importance to lettuce because of its occurrence in widely differing regions in Europe, its aggressiveness and virulence on 22 out of 23 lettuce cultivars tested (and on endive) and its pathogenicity toLactuca genotypes which are resistant to lettuce mosaic virus and other important pathogens of lettuce. ‘Laibacher Eis’ was the only cultivar showing some tolerance.     

Synthetic pyrethroids and avermectin for controlling the grapevine pestsLobesia botrana,Cryptoblabes gnidiella andDrosophila melanogaster

Field treatments in a vineyard with 0.015 or 0.01% a.i. of cypermethrin, fenvalerate, fenpropathrin or AC-222,705 were more efficient in controlling the grape-berry moth (Lobesia botrana Schiff.) and the honeydew moth (Cryptoblabes gnidiella Mill.) than four standard treatments consisting of two with 0.05% a.i. fenitrothion and two with 0.075% a.i. diazinon. In pyrethroid-treated plots, infestation at the end of the trials ranged between 2.5 and 12%, compared with 21% in the standard treatment plots and 34% in the untreated plots. Cypermethrin, fenpropathrin and AC-222,705 exhibited similar field activity, while that of fenvalerate was somewhat lower. Under laboratory conditions, cypermethrin at 0.005 and 0.01% a.i. was significantly more potent than fenvalerate, fenpropathrin and AC-222,705; at a higher concentration, 0.015% a.i., all pyrethroids were highly active, with mortality ranging between 75 and 95%. Under laboratory conditions the vinegar fly (Drosophila melanogaster Meig.) was in general more susceptible to pyrethroids than was the grape-berry moth. Cypermethrin and AC-222,705 at 0.005% a.i. and avermectin at 0.0035% a.i. were potent compounds against the vinegar fly and more active than fenvalerate and fenpropathrin.     

The genetic control of antibody formation

Studies of the molecular biology of lymphoid cells have markedly increased our understanding of how millions of different antibodies can be synthesized by a single animal. To date, the most detailed understanding has been achieved for the mouse, primarily because of the relatively greater experimental availability of this species. These studies, as well as those involving other species, have shown that the complete genes for antibody polypeptide chains are assembled from disparate genetic elements which are originally widely separated in the genome. The assembly process itself, together with the coding information present in the germ line genetic elements, contributes to the diversity of structure (and thus combining specificities) shown by mature antibody molecules. Specifically, the diversity of structure characteristic of antibody variable regions is due to three distinct mechanisms: innate variability of germ line genes; mismatching of individual gene segments during their somatic rearrangement leading to junctional diversity; and somatic mutation in variable region genetic material during or after the rearrangement. These processes lead to the wide array of combining specificities that permit the humoral immune system of a mature animal to interact with essentially any non-self antigen which it encounters. Complex genetic rearrangements are also responsible for the class switching phenomenon long known to be characteristic of the humoral immune response. A form of homologous recombination between constant region genes, possibly mediated by specific "switching" enzymes, is now believed to be involved in this phenomenon. It is also currently believed that the restriction of gene rearrangement processes to one of the two possible chromosomes of a diploid pair in each cell is responsible for the phenomenon of allelic exclusion that has long been associated with the normal functioning of mammalian B-cells.