Hyperosmolemic changes following experimental ethylene glycol intoxication in dogs

Experimental ethylene glycol toxicosis in dogs produced a marked increase in serum osmolality. By comparing measured and calculated serum osmolality and relating this difference to plasma ethylene glycol, it was determined that ethylene glycol was primarily responsible for the hyperosmolemia. Osmometry may provide a useful adjunct to other diagnostic tests in identifying ethylene glycol intoxicated dogs during the early, most treatable, stage of toxicosis.     

Insecticide resistance in field populations of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in West Africa

BACKGROUND: The tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), has developed a high degree of resistance to several chemical classes of insecticides throughout the world. To evaluate the resistance status in West Africa, eight insecticides from different chemical families were tested using the leaf‐dip method on four field populations collected from cotton in Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso. RESULTS: Some field populations showed a significant loss of susceptibility to pyrethroids such as deltamethrin [resistance ratio (RR) 3–5] and bifenthrin (RR 4–36), to organophosphates (OPs) such as dimethoate (RR 8–15) and chlorpyrifos (RR 5–7) and to neonicotinoids such as acetamiprid (RR 7–8) and thiamethoxam (RR 3–7). Bemisia tabaci was also resistant to pymetrozine (RR 3–18) and to endosulfan (RR 14–30). CONCLUSION: The resistance of B. tabaci to pyrethroids and OPs is certainly due to their systematic use in cotton treatments for more than 30 years. Acetamiprid has been recently introduced for the control of whiteflies. Unfortunately, B. tabaci populations from Burkina Faso seem to be already resistant. Because cross‐resistance between these compounds has never been observed elsewhere, resistance to neonicotinoids could be due to the presence of an invasive B. tabaci biotype recently detected in the region. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Response to partial replacement of yellow corn with potato processing waste as non-traditional source of energy on the productive performance of Ossimi lambs

Twenty-one male growing lambs aged 6 months with an average weight 27.6 ± 0.24 kg were used to determine the effects of partial replacing yellow corn with potato processing waste (PPW) on performance of Ossimi lambs. Animals divided into three equal groups and assigned for control and two experimental diets containing PPW which was replaced from yellow corn at 0% PPW (R₁), 25% PPW (R₂), and 50% PPW (R₃). The results showed that tested rations were almost isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Dietary treatments had no significant effect on feed intake, while water intake insignificantly decreased. Digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein significantly (P < 0.05) improved. However, dietary treatment had no significant effect on crude fiber and nitrogen-free extract digestibilities. Values of total digestible nutrient and digestible crude protein significantly (P < 0.05) increased. Nitrogen retention was positive for all groups. Dietary treatments had no significant effect on ruminal pH but insignificantly decreased ammonia nitrogen (NH₃–N) concentrations. However, total volatile fatty acid concentration was increased. Dietary treatments increased molar proportion of volatile fatty acids. Final weight, body weight gain, and average daily gain were significantly (P < 0.05) decreased, while feed conversion ratio insignificantly decreased. Inclusion of PPW decreased total daily feeding costs of experimental rations. PPW could be used as a source of energy in lamb rations instead of corn grain. Also, PPW can be successfully fed to lamb without any adverse effect on their performance, and it can be an economical substitute for grain.     

m‐carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide improves developmental competence,reduces apoptosis and alters epigenetic status and gene expression pattern in cloned buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) embryos

Incomplete or aberrant reprogramming of nuclear genome is one of the major problems in somatic cell nuclear transfer. In this study, we studied the effect of histone deacetylase inhibitor m‐carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA) on in vitro development of buffalo embryos produced by Hand‐made cloning. Cloned embryos were treated with CBHA (0, 5, 10, 20 or 50 μM) for 10 hr from the start of reconstruction till activation. At 10 μM, but not at other concentrations examined, CBHA increased (p < .05) the blastocyst rate (63.77 ± 3.97% vs 48.63 ± 3.55%) and reduced (p < .05) the apoptotic index of the cloned blastocysts (8.91 ± 1.94 vs 4.36 ± 1.08) compared to untreated controls, to levels similar to those in IVF blastocysts (4.78 ± 0.74). CBHA treatment, at all the concentrations examined, increased (p < .05) the global level of H3K9ac in cloned blastocysts than in untreated controls to that observed in IVF blastocysts. Treatment with CBHA (10 μM) decreased (p < .05) the global level of H3K27me3 in cloned blastocysts than in untreated controls but it was still higher (p < .05) than in IVF blastocysts. CBHA (10 μM) treatment increased (p < .05) the relative expression level of pluripotency‐related genes OCT‐4 and NANOG, and anti‐apoptotic gene BCL‐XL, and decreased (p < .05) that of pro‐apoptotic gene BAX than in untreated controls but did not affect the relative expression level of apoptosis‐related genes p53 and CASPASE3 and epigenetics‐related genes DNMT1, DNMT3a and HDAC1. These results suggest that treatment of cloned embryos with 10 μM CBHA improves the blastocyst rate, reduces the level of apoptosis and alters the epigenetic status and gene expression pattern.     

A rational method for assessing irrigation performance at farm level with the aid of fuzzy set theory

Of the various client groups with interests in irrigation system performance, farmers are probably the least often considered. This is, at least in part, attributable to the profound difficulty encountered in attempting to obtain reliable measurements of performance at farm level in most systems. Yet irrigation systems should be seen as a service to farmers, whose perspective on the utility of the supply is an important component of performance monitoring. Direct measurement at field level is generally not feasible and an alternative approach is proposed utilising fuzzy set theory. The procedure can be seen as a rapid appraisal technique which is also applicable to performance assessment in informal farmer-managed systems. The usefulness of the approach lies in its ability to gather data in imprecise linguistic terms from individual farmers and to aggregate them rationally and objectively.     

Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Embryonic Stem Cell‐Like Cells and Preimplantation Embryos Exhibit Comparable Expression of Pluripotency‐Related Antigens

In this study, inner cell mass (ICM) cells were isolated from in vitro produced buffalo blastocysts and were cultured on mitomycin‐C treated buffalo foetal fibroblast feeder layer for producing embryonic stem (ES) cells. Among different sources (hatched vs expanded blastocysts) or methods (enzymatic vs mechanical), mechanical isolation of ICM from hatched blastocysts resulted in the highest primary colony formation rate and the maximum passage number up to which ES cells survived. Putative ES cells expressed alkaline phosphatase and exhibited a normal karyotype up to passage 7. Putative ES cells and embryos at 2‐ to 4‐cell, 8‐ to 16‐cell, morula and blastocyst stages strongly expressed stage‐specific embryonic antigen (SSEA)‐4 but lacked expressions of SSEA‐1 and SSEA‐3. Putative ES cells also expressed tumour rejection antigen (TRA)‐1‐60, TRA‐1‐81 and Oct4. Whereas in all early embryonic stages, TRA‐1‐60 was observed only in the periplasmic space, and TRA‐1‐81 expression was observed as small spots at a few places inside the embryos, both these markers were expressed by ICM. Oct4 expression, which was observed at all the embryonic stages and also in the trophectoderm, was the strongest in the ICM. Buffalo putative ES cells possess a unique pluripotency‐related surface antigen phenotype, which resembles that of the ICM.     

Estimation of a Finite Population Mean and Total Using Population Ranks of Sample Units

This paper introduces new estimators for population total and mean in a finite population setting, where ranks (or approximate ranks) of population units are available before selecting sample units. The proposed estimators require selecting a simple random sample and identifying the population ranks of sample units. Selection of the sample can be performed with- or without-replacement. The population ranks of the selected units of with-replacement samples are determined among all population units. On the other hand, the ranks of the sample units of without-replacement samples are identified in two different ways: (1) The rank of a sample unit is determined sequentially among the remaining population units after excluding all previously ranked sample units from the population; (2) The ranks are determined among all units in the population. By conditioning on these population ranks, we construct a set of weighted estimators, develop a bootstrap re-sampling procedure to estimate the variances of the estimators, and construct percentile confidence intervals for the population mean and total. We show that the new estimators provide a substantial amount of efficiency gain over their competitors. We apply the proposed estimators to estimate corn production in one of the counties in Ohio.     

Implementing a multi-colour genetic marker analysis technique for embryology education

Embryology belongs to the basic sciences and is usually an integral part of the anatomy. The subject is traditionally taught by visual inspection of embryonic tissue slides stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) to expose the dynamics of tissue histology as development proceeds. While combining in situ hybridization for gene expression analysis and immunostaining for protein expression analysis is an established technique for embryology research, the implementation of this tool in embryology teaching has not been described. The present study was conducted to assess the use of an online multi-colour gene expression analysis technique, alongside histological sections and diagrams, to improve students' understanding of embryology. The participants of this study were bachelor's students of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Khartoum. The method was also evaluated by distributing questionnaire items to Veterinary students via Google forms; subsequently, their responses were analysed qualitatively. The majority of students stated that the new technique was beneficial for their learning of embryology. The multi-colour images proved a more effective means for learning embryology than the traditional H&E image. Results from the students strengthen the belief in applying the multi-colour technique for better embryology course learning.     

Aggressiveness of eight <Emphasis Type="Italic">Didymella rabiei</Emphasis> isolates from domesticated and wild chickpea native to Turkey and Israel,a case study

Ascochyta blight, caused by Didymella rabiei, affects both domesticated chickpea and its congeneric wild relatives. The aim of this study was to compare the aggressiveness of D. rabiei isolates from wild and domesticated Cicer spp. in Turkey and Israel on wild and domesticated hosts from both countries. A total of eight isolates of D. rabiei sampled from C. pinnatifidum, C. judaicum and C. arietinum in Turkey and Israel was tested on two domesticated chickpea cultivars and two wild Cicer accessions from Turkey and Israel. Using cross-inoculation experiments, we compared pathogen aggressiveness across the different pathogen and host origin combinations. Two measures of aggressiveness were used, incubation period and relative area under the disease progress curve. The eight tested isolates infected all of the host plants, but were more aggressive on their original hosts with one exception; Turkish domesticated isolates were less aggressive on their domesticated host in comparison to the aggressiveness of Israeli domesticated isolates on Turkish domesticated chickpea. C. judaicum plants were highly resistant against all of the isolates from different origins except for their own isolates. Regardless of the country of origin, the wild isolates were highly aggressive on domesticated chickpea while the domesticated isolates were less aggressive on the wild hosts compared with the wild isolates. These results suggest that the aggressiveness pattern of D. rabiei on different hosts could have been shaped by adaptation to the distinct ecological niches of wild vs. domesticated chickpea.     

Echinococcosis in sub-Saharan Africa: emerging complexity

Cystic echinococcosis occurs in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa, but the frequency of this zoonosis differs considerably among and within countries. Especially human cases seem to be focally distributed. A number of environmental and behavioural factors partially explain this pattern, i.e. density of livestock, presence of dogs, uncontrolled slaughter, and hygiene. In addition, the various taxa of Echinococcus spp. are known to differ considerably in infectivity to different host species including humans. Genetic characterizations of isolates, which are necessary to evaluate the impact of this factor - so far done in only a few countries - indicate that the diversity of Echinococcus spp. in Sub-Saharan Africa is greater than on any other continent. The very incomplete data which are available show that sympatrical taxa may infect different hosts, others may be geographically restricted, some life cycles involve livestock, others wild animals. Possible implications of this complexity for public health, livestock economy and conservation are briefly discussed.