Comparison of whole blood and plasma colloid osmotic pressure in healthy dogs

Objective – To determine the difference between colloid osmotic pressure (COP) values determined from plasma versus those determined from whole blood. Design – Prospective observational study. Settings – University veterinary teaching hospital. Animals – Fifty‐three healthy dogs. Interventions – None. Measurements and Main Results – Whole blood and plasma COP, CBC, plasma biochemistry. In all dogs, plasma COP values were significantly lower (P=0.02) than whole blood COP, with a mean of difference of 0.5 mm Hg. The mean and median whole blood COP was 21.75 and 21.4 mm Hg, respectively, with a range of 17.9–27.1 mm Hg. The mean and median plasma COP was 21.2 and 20.9 mm Hg with a range of 16.7–28.9 mm Hg. Conclusions – While significant difference exists between plasma and whole blood COP, the individual values are within expected reference intervals for dogs (21–25 mm Hg). Using either sample appears to provide the same information in clinically healthy dog; however, it is recommended that clinicians utilize the same sample type for comparison in an individual patient.     

Clinical management of a western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) with a cardiac resynchronization therapy device

A 24-yr-old, male western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) was diagnosed with congestive heart failure using transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiology. New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III was assigned to the severity of the condition. Over 16 mo, this progressed to NYHA Class IV despite increasing medical therapy. Repeated evaluations suggested that implantation of a cardiac resynchronization therapy device with a defibrillator (CRT-D) could benefit this animal based on clinical signs and underlying evidence of dyssynchrony and suspected fibrotic myocardial disease. Surgical implantation of leads into the right atrium, right ventricle, and left ventricle was accomplished. The CRT-D device was placed under the thoracic pectoral muscles during an initial surgical procedure. Improvement in the gorilla's clinical condition after implantation of the CRT-D device was immediate and dramatic. Subsequent scanning of the device was accomplished through operant conditioning. The data from these device interrogations included stored and real-time cardiac data, which were used to minimize recognized environmental stressors and change device settings. Over 4 yr, case management was critical to successful device use in treatment of the clinical disease. This involved medications, training for device interrogation, exercise to increase activity and improve body condition, and phlebotomy attempts. Dietary management was necessary to manipulate caloric and sodium intake and encourage medication compliance. Cardiac resynchronization therapy device implantation, although requiring specialized equipment and surgical skill, appears to be a viable option for treatment of fibrosing cardiomyopathy with systolic dysfunction in gorillas refractory to medical management. In addition to treatment, this device provides cardiovascular data at rest that could allow for early diagnosis and treatment of gorillas with this and other cardiac conditions in the future. This describes the comprehensive medical, husbandry, and training techniques necessary to successfully manage this intense clinical case in conjunction with intracardiac device therapy.     

Effect of host and inoculum patterns on take-all disease of wheat incidence,severity and disease gradient

The importance of the spatial aspect of epidemics has been recognized from the outset of plant disease epidemiology. The objective of this study was to determine if the host spatial structure influenced the spatio-temporal development of take-all disease of wheat, depending on the inoculum spatial structure. Three sowing patterns of wheat (broadcast sowing, line sowing and sowing in hills) and three patterns of inoculum (uniform, aggregated and natural infestation) were tested in a field experiment, repeated over 2 years. Disease (severity, root disease incidence, plant disease incidence and, when applicable, line and hill incidences) was assessed seven times during the course of each season and the spatial pattern was characterized with incidence-incidence relationships. In the naturally infested plots, disease levels at all measurement scales were significantly higher in plots sown in hills, compared to plots sown in line, which were in turn significantly more diseased than plots with broadcast sowing. Disease aggregation within roots and plants was stronger in line and hill sowing than in broadcast sowing. Analysis of the disease gradient in the artificially infested plots showed that the disease intensified (local increase of disease level) more than it extensified (spatial spread of the disease), the effect of the introduced inoculum was reduced by 95% at a distance of 15 cm away from the point of infestation. Yield was not significantly affected by sowing pattern or artificial infestation.     

Inhibition of cancer cell proliferation in vitro by fruit and berry extracts and correlations with antioxidant levels

The effects of 10 different extracts of fruits and berries on cell proliferation of colon cancer cells HT29 and breast cancer cells MCF-7 were investigated. The fruits and berries used were rosehips, blueberries, black currant, black chokeberries, apple, sea buckthorn, plum, lingonberries, cherries, and raspberries. The extracts decreased the proliferation of both colon cancer cells HT29 and breast cancer cells MCF-7, and the effect was concentration dependent. The inhibition effect for the highest concentration of the extracts varied 2-3-fold among the species, and it was in the ranges of 46-74% (average = 62%) for the HT29 cells and 24-68% (average = 52%) for the MCF-7 cells. There were great differences in the content of the analyzed antioxidants in the extracts. The level of the vitamin C content varied almost 100-fold, and the content of total carotenoids varied almost 150-fold among the species. Also in the composition and content of flavonols, hydroxycinnamic acids, anthocyanins, and phenolics were found great differences among the 10 species. The inhibition of cancer cell proliferation seen in these experiments correlated with levels of some carotenoids and with vitamin C levels, present at levels that can be found in human tissues. The same inhibition of cell proliferation could not be found by ascorbate standard alone. This correlation might indicate a synergistic effect of vitamin C and other substances. In MCF-7 cells, the anthocyanins may contribute to the inhibition of proliferation.     

Growth responses of maize,soybean, and tomato to sulphur dioxide and ozone exposure patterns utilizing an incomplete block factorial experimental design

Maize (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max L.), and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants were grown in a controlled environment and exposed for 6 hr daily for 7 days to O₃ at 0.15 μL L^?1 and/or SO₂ at 0.30 μL L^?1 (daily exposures). Some plants exposed daily to O₃ were also exposed to SO₂ for 6 hr on the first, third, fifth, or seventh day of O₃ exposure (variable exposures) and some plants exposed daily to SO₂ were treated similarly with O₃ to determine the growth effects of O₃ or S0₂ pre- and/or post-treatments on S0₂ and O₃ mixture response. Growth sensitivity to 6 hr S0₂ or 6 hr O₃ treatments was generally affected by the previous history of O₃ or SO₂ exposure, respectively. Species differed in the number of days of O₃ or SO₂ treatments required to elicit maximum sensitivity to a single 6 hr O₃ and SO₂ treatment. Linear contrasts compared variable with daily exposures for the S0₂ and O₃ regimes. Plants exposed to the gas mixture for a single day (variable exposures) tended to be smaller than those exposed to the gas mixture daily, with the exception of soybean exposed to SO₂ during daily O₃. The six treatments were carried out in eight exposure chambers, as a partially balanced incomplete block design in blocks of four due to separate environmental control of the exposure facilities. The partially balanced incomplete block design proved to be about 2.6 times as efficient as a complete block design. The inclusion of covariates further increased precision.     

Antioxidants, low molecular weight carbohydrates, and total antioxidant capacity in strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa): effects of cultivar, ripening, and storage

Four cultivars of strawberries (Senga Sengana, BFr77111, Elsanta, and Honeoye) were studied for their content of antioxidants, total antioxidant capacity, and low molecular weight carbohydrates in relation to harvest year, ripening stage, and cold storage. For ascorbic acid, chlorogenic acid, ellagic acid, and total antioxidative capacity, measured in both water-soluble and water-insoluble extracts, there was a 2-5-fold variation among cultivars. Unripe berries contained lower concentrations of chlorogenic acid and p-coumaric acid and also quercetin and kaempferol compared with riper berries. During cold storage for up to 3 days, relatively few changes in the concentration of the different antioxidants occurred. The concentrations of several investigated parameters were interrelated, for example, for ascorbic acid and water-soluble antioxidant capacity and for ellagic acid and water-insoluble antioxidant capacity. The dominating sugars in strawberries were fructose and glucose, but considerable amounts of sucrose were also present, and their contents varied among cultivars, giving a predicted glycemic index of approximately 81. Verbascose, raffinose, and stachyose were found in only minor amounts. The study shows that the concentration of a number of bioactive compounds in strawberries varied according to cultivar, ripening stage, and storage. This information should make it possible to select strawberries with an optimal content of bioactive compounds.     

Food sovereignty in US food movements: radical visions and neoliberal constraints

Although the concept of food sovereignty is rooted in International Peasant Movements across the global south, activists have recently called for the adoption of this framework among low-income communities of color in the urban United States. This paper investigates on-the-ground processes through which food sovereignty articulates with the work of food justice and community food security activists in Oakland, California, and Seattle, Washington. In Oakland, we analyze a farmers market that seeks to connect black farmers to low-income consumers. In Seattle, we attend to the experiences of displaced immigrant farmers from Latin America and their efforts to address their food needs following migration. In both cases, we find that US based projects were constrained by broader forces of neoliberalism that remained unrecognized by local activists. In Oakland, despite a desire to create a local food system led by marginalized African Americans, emphasis on providing green jobs in agriculture led activists to take a market-based approach that kept local food out of the economic grasp of food-insecure neighborhood residents. In Seattle, the marginalization of the immense agroecological knowledge of Latino/an immigrant farmers rendered local food projects less inclusive and capable of transformative change. Taken together, these very different cases suggest that a shift towards food sovereignty necessitates a broad acknowledgement of and resistance to neoliberalism.     

Is crop N demand more closely related to dry matter accumulation or leaf area expansion during vegetative growth?

The critical crop nitrogen uptake is defined as the minimum nitrogen uptake necessary to achieve maximum biomass accumulation (W). Across a range of crops, the critical N uptake is related to W by a power function with a coefficient less than unity that suggests crop N uptake is co-regulated by both soil N supply and biomass accumulation. However, crop N demand is also often linearly related to the expansion of the leaf area index (LAI) during the vegetative growth period. This suggests that crop N demand could be also linked with LAI extension. In this paper, we develop theory to combine these two concepts within a common framework. The aim of this paper is to determine whether generic relationships between N uptake, biomass accumulation, and LAI expansion could be identified that would be robust across both species and environment types. To that end, we used the framework to analyze data on a range of species, including C₃ and C₄ ones and mono- and di-cotyledonous crops. All crops were grown in either temperate or tropical and subtropical environments without limitations on N supply. The relationship between N uptake and biomass was more robust, across environment types, than the relationship of LAI with biomass. In general, C₃ species had a higher N uptake per unit biomass than C₄ species, whereas dicotyledonous species tended to have higher LAI per unit biomass than monocotyledonous ones. Species differences in N uptake per unit biomass were partly associated with differences in LAI and N-partitioning. Consequently the critical leaf-N uptake per unit LAI (specific leaf nitrogen, SLN) was relatively constant across species at 1.8–2.0 g m⁻², a value that was close to published data on the critical SLN of new leaves at the top of the canopy. Our results indicate that critical N uptake curves as a function of biomass accumulation may provide a robust platform for simulating N uptake of a species. However, if crop simulation models are to capture the genotypic and environmental control of crop N dynamics in a physiologically functional manner, plant growth has to be considered as the sum of a metabolic (e.g. leaves) and a structural (e.g. stems) compartment, each with its own demand for metabolic and structural N.     

Effects of field and landscape variables on crop colonization and biological control of the cabbage root fly Delia radicum

Agriculture intensification has deeply modified agroecosystems from field to landscape scales. To achieve successful pest control using natural enemies, understanding species interactions over all scales remains a challenge. Using the cabbage root fly as a model, we studied whether field and landscape characteristics influenced colonization and infestation of broccoli fields by the pest and its control by natural enemies. We also determined whether species of different trophic level or host specialization would respond to environmental characteristics at the same spatial extent. During a multiple-species and multiple-spatial extent study in northwestern France, we recorded pest colonization and infestation in 68 fields, collected associated natural enemies and assessed crop damages. In each field, we considered management practices and characterized the surrounding landscape in 50–500 m-wide buffers. Our main findings are that Delia radicum and its main natural enemies respond to both field and landscape characteristics. Semi-natural areas supported both crop colonization by pests and natural enemy action. The pest and its enemies differed in their responses to field or landscape variables. Landscape elements such as field banks favored the movement of the pest while impeding the movement of some natural enemies. Pest pressure did not increase with the neighboring density of Brassica crops. The presence of natural enemies did not reduce crop damage but reduced pest emerging rates. Finally, specialist parasitoids responded to the landscape at larger spatial extents than generalists. These results outline the complexity of improving pest control through landscape management.