COMPARISON OF LUNG ATTENUATION AND HETEROGENEITY BETWEEN CATS WITH EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED ALLERGIC ASTHMA,NATURALLY OCCURRING ASTHMA AND NORMAL CATS

Airway remodeling is a prominent feature of feline allergic asthma but requires biopsy for characterization. Computed tomography (CT) has appeal as a minimally invasive diagnostic test. The purpose of this prospective case–control study was to compare indices of airway remodeling between cats with experimentally induced, spontaneous asthma and healthy unaffected cats using CT. We hypothesized that experimental and spontaneous feline asthma would have similar CT airway remodeling characteristics and that these would be significantly different in healthy cats. Experimentally induced asthmatic research cats (n = 5), spontaneously asthmatic pet cats (n = 6), and healthy research cats (n = 5) were scanned unrestrained using a 64‐detector row CT scanner. Inspiratory breath‐hold CT scans were also performed in experimentally induced asthmatic and healthy cats. Mean ± extent variation of lung attenuation for each cat was determined using an airway inspector software program and CT images were scored for lung heterogeneity by a board‐certified veterinary radiologist who was unaware of cat group status. Groups were compared using one‐way ANOVA (unrestrained scans) and the Student's t‐test (anesthetized scans) with significance defined as P < 0.10. Experimentally asthmatic and spontaneously asthmatic cats had significantly (P = 0.028 and P = 0.073, respectively) increased lung attenuation compared to healthy cats. Heterogeneity scores were higher in experimentally induced asthmatic cat than in healthy cats. Objective quantification of lung heterogeneity and lung volume did not differ among the three groups (P = 0.311, P = 0.181, respectively). Findings supported our hypothesis. Inspiratory breath‐hold anesthetized CT scans facilitated discrimination between asthmatic and healthy cats in comparison to unrestrained CT scans.     

Increased snow depth affects microbial activity and nitrogen mineralization in two Arctic tundra communities

Microbial activity in Arctic tundra ecosystems continues through the winter and is an important component of the annual C budget. This activity is sensitive to climatic variation, particularly snow depth because that regulates soil temperature. The influence of winter conditions on soil N cycling is poorly understood. In this study, we used intact core incubations sampled periodically through the winter and following growing season to measure net N mineralization and nitrification in dry heath and in moist tussock tundra under ambient and experimentally increased snow depths (by use of a snowfence). In dry heath, we sampled soils under Dryas octopetela or Arctostaphylos alpine, while in tussock tundra, we sampled Eriophorum vaginatum tussocks and Sphagnum dominated areas between tussocks. Our objectives were to: (1) examine how different winter snow regimes influenced year-round N dynamics in the two tundra types, and (2) evaluate how these responses are affected by dominant species present in each system. In tussock tundra, soils with increased winter snow cover had high net N mineralization rates during the fall and winter, followed by immobilization during thaw. In contrast, N mineralization only occurred during the autumn in soils with ambient snow cover. During the growing season when N immobilization dominated in areas with ambient snow cover, soils with increased winter snow cover had positive net mineralization and nitrification rates. In dry heath tundra, soils with increased snow depth had high late winter net N mineralization rates, but these rates were: (a) comparable to early winter rates in soils under Arctostaphylos plants with ambient snow cover; (b) greater in soils under Arctostaphylos plants than in soils under Dryas plants; and (c) less than the rates found in tussock tundra. Our findings suggest under ambient snow conditions, low soil temperatures limit soil N mineralization, but that deeper snow conditions with the associated warmer winter soil temperatures dramatically increase over-winter N mineralization and thereby alter the amount and timing of plant-available N in tundra ecosystems.     

The distribution of nitrogen species in polluted Onondaga Lake,N.Y., U.S.A.

The temporal and vertical distributions of four N species, N0₃ ^?, NO₂ ^?, total ammonia (T-NH₃), and free ammonia (NH₃), are documented for Onondaga Lake, an urban, polluted, hypereutrophic, dimictic, lake that receives a very high load of T-NH₃. Nitrate and NO₂ ^? were lost rapidly from the hypolimnion, and T-NH₃ accumulated to high concentrations (maximum > 10 mgN L^?1), after the onset of anoxia, consistent with the lake's high level of productivity. The concentrations of T-NH₃, NH₃ and N0₃ ^? that were maintained in the epilimnion (average concentrations at a depth of 1 m of 2.81, 0.16 and 0.91 mgN L^?1, respectively), and concentrations of N0₂ ^? that developed in the epilimnion (maximum of 0.48 mgN L^?1), were high in comparison to levels reported in the literature. These elevated concentrations are largely a result of the extremely high loads of T-NH₃, and its precursors, received by the lake. Water quality problems in the lake related to the prevailing high concentrations of N species include potential toxicity effects and severe lake-wide oxygen depletion during fall turnover.     

Effect of soybean lipoxygenase on volatile generation and inhibition of Aspergillus flavus mycelial growth

Volatiles generated from lipoxygenase (LOX) normal and LOX deficient soybean (Glycine max) varieties with and without added lipase inhibited Aspergillus flavus mycelial growth and aflatoxin production. Soybean volatiles were analyzed using a solid phase microextraction (SPME) method combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Twenty-one compounds, including 11 aldehydes, three alcohols, four ketones, one furan, one alkane, and one alkene were detected in the LOX normal soybean line. However, only nine volatile compounds were observed in the LOX deficient soybean variety. The antifungal aldehydes hexanal and (E)-2-hexenal were observed in both LOX normal and LOX deficient lines and were detected at significantly higher amounts in soybean homogenate with added lipase. These aldehydes may be formed through alternate pathways, other than the LOX pathway, and may account for the inhibition of A. flavus growth observed. Other volatiles detected, particularly the ketones and alcohols, may contribute to the antifungal activity observed in both LOX normal and LOX deficient soybean lines. These results suggest that other factors, other than LOX activity, may better explain why soybeans are generally not as severely affected by A. flavus and aflatoxin contamination as other oilseed crops.     

Modeling patch occupancy: Relative performance of ecologically scaled landscape indices

In fragmented landscapes, the likelihood that a species occupies a particular habitat patch is thought to be a function of both patch area and patch isolation. Ecologically scaled landscape indices (ESLIs) combine a species’ ecological profile, i.e., area requirements and dispersal ability, with indices of patch area and connectivity. Since their introduction, ESLIs for area have been modified to incorporate patch quality. ESLIs for connectivity have been modified to incorporate niche breadth, which may influence a species’ ease in crossing the non-habitat matrix between patches. We evaluated the ability of 4 ESLIs, the original and modified indices of area and connectivity, to explain patterns in patch occupancy of 5 forest rodents. Occupancy of eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsconicus), fox squirrels (Sciurus niger), white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), and eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) was modeled at 471 sites in 35 landscapes sampled from the upper Wabash River basin in Indiana. Models containing ESLIs received support for gray squirrels, red squirrels, and chipmunks. Modified ESLIs were important in models for red squirrels. However, none of the models demonstrated high predictive ability. Incorporating habitat quality and using surrogate measures of dispersal can have important effects on model results. Additionally, different responses of species to area, isolation, and habitat quality suggest that generalizing patterns of metapopulation dynamics was not justified, even across closely related species.     

High-throughput retrotransposon-based fluorescent markers: improved information content and allele discrimination

Background  

Dense genetic maps, together with the efficiency and accuracy of their construction, are integral to genetic studies and marker assisted selection for plant breeding. High-throughput multiplex markers that are robust and reproducible can contribute to both efficiency and accuracy. Multiplex markers are often dominant and so have low information content, this coupled with the pressure to find alternatives to radio-labelling, has led us to adapt the SSAP (sequence specific amplified polymorphism) marker method from a ³³P labelling procedure to fluorescently tagged markers analysed from an automated ABI 3730 xl platform. This method is illustrated for multiplexed SSAP markers based on retrotransposon insertions of pea and is applicable for the rapid and efficient generation of markers from genomes where repetitive element sequence information is available for primer design. We cross-reference SSAP markers previously generated using the ³³P manual PAGE system to fluorescent peaks, and use these high-throughput fluorescent SSAP markers for further genetic studies in Pisum.     

A sequential multi-level framework to improve habitat suitability modelling

Landscape Ecology - Habitat suitability models (HSM) can improve our understanding of a species’ ecology and are valuable tools for informing landscape-scale decisions. We can increase HSM...     

Global consequences of land use

Land use has generally been considered a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a force of global importance. Worldwide changes to forests, farmlands, waterways, and air are being driven by the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter to more than six billion people. Global croplands, pastures, plantations, and urban areas have expanded in recent decades, accompanied by large increases in energy, water, and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable losses of biodiversity. Such changes in land use have enabled humans to appropriate an increasing share of the planet's resources, but they also potentially undermine the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production, maintain freshwater and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate infectious diseases. We face the challenge of managing trade-offs between immediate human needs and maintaining the capacity of the biosphere to provide goods and services in the long term.     

Evaluating the microbial effects of stocking freshwater snails (Physa gyrina) in water reuse systems culturing rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

A study was conducted to analyze the effects of snails (Physa gyrina) on biofilm, bacterial abundance, off-flavor-producing bacteria, and off-flavor compounds in reuse aquaculture systems culturing rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Eight experimental-scale systems were used, including four with and without snails. Mean heterotrophic bacteria counts in water were lower (P < 0.05) in systems with snails. Submerged surfaces of sumps containing snails were nearly biofilm-free, while sumps without snails were coated with biofilm. Geosmin levels in trout fillets from snail-stocked systems were generally lower but not statistically different from the controls. Rainbow trout health and performance was not affected by snail presence.