The appearance and development of buds on leaf cuttings of Begonia × hiemalis in long and short days

Bud initiation in leaf cuttings of Rieger begonia ‘Schwabenland Red’ was not affected by daylength. Approximately 30 buds per cutting were observed 13 weeks after insertion. Of these, an average of 8.2 developed into fully grown shoots in long days as opposed to 1.9 in short days. Competition between buds was apparent in both treatments, its effect being greatest on buds with fewer than 4 leaf primordia.     

Co-culture of ovine ova with oviductal cells in medium 199

Three experiments were conducted to test the suitability of medium 199 supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (M199FCS) as a medium for co-culture of one-cell sheep ova with sheep oviductal cells. In Exp. 1, ova were co-cultured for 5 d in 5 ml of M199FCS or in Ham's F10 medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (F10FCS). Co-culture did not increase the number of cleavages at the end of 5 d of culture, but M199FCS supported more cleavages than did F10FCS (P = .016). In Exp. 2, ova were cultured for 1 to 3 d in M199FCS alone or on oviductal, uterine or kidney cell monolayers from ewes 2 d postestrus and transferred to recipients from which they were recovered at 8 d postestrus. Co-culture with oviductal cells improved (P less than .001) the cleavage index of recovered embryos compared with culture in medium alone or co-culture with other cell types. In Exp. 3, monolayers of oviductal cells from ewes 2 d postestrus and from luteal-phase ewes were cultured as in Exp. 2. No difference was observed between the two sources of oviductal cells for their ability to support in vitro development of one-cell sheep eggs for 1 or 2 d. These studies suggest that M199FCS may be a good medium to use in an oviductal cell co-culture system for one-cell sheep ova. Results further suggest that specific secretions of oviductal cells may be important for early embryo development in vivo.     

Sensitivities of three county health department surveillance systems for child-related dog bites: 261 cases (2000)

OBJECTIVES: To determine incidence of child-related dog bites and sensitivities of 3 county health department dog-bite surveillance systems. DESIGN: Retrospective study. STUDY POPULATION: Child-related dog-bite data obtained from surveillance systems of 3 counties in Georgia in the year 2000. PROCEDURE: To characterize the sensitivity of health department dog-bite surveillance systems, 9 other potential sources of dog-bite records that matched records by victim name, age, gender, and incident date were evaluated. The number of reported bites and the most productive sources for identifying additional cases were determined. The Chandra Sekar-Deming capture-recapture method was used to estimate the number of unreported bites, and estimates of dog-bite incidence rates were made. RESULTS: 40, 36, and 185 dog bites were reported in the 3 counties, respectively. Capture-recapture calculations estimated an additional 9, 5, and 128 dog bites in these counties, respectively. Local health departments recorded 45.5% to 82.5% of dog bites. Local hospital emergency departments, police departments, and a rabies-testing laboratory received additional reports. Among these data sources, local hospital emergency department records were the best source for identifying additional cases. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Dog bites are a preventable cause of childhood injuries, and surveillance is a critical tool for tracking childhood dog bites in the community. Counties should use combined data from local health departments, local hospital emergency departments, and police departments to implement or revise dog-bite prevention programs.