Caudal anaesthesia of the infraorbital nerve for diagnosis of idiopathic headshaking and caudal compression of the infraorbital nerve for its treatment,in 58 horses

Reasons for performing study: Idiopathic headshaking is often a facial pain syndrome, but a diagnostic protocol has not been described. In a previous study, caudal compression of the infraorbital nerve for treatment offered a fair success rate, but low case numbers and short follow‐up time were limitations. Objectives: To describe a diagnostic protocol for headshaking, examining the role of bilateral local analgesia of the posterior ethmoidal nerve (PET block). To report longer‐term follow‐up after surgery of the original cases and further cases and to determine whether changes to the technique influence success rates and complications. Methods: Records of horses that had undergone PET block and caudal compression surgery at 3 hospitals were reviewed. Modifications to the surgical technique included placing additional coils into the infraorbital canal and/or performing concurrent laser cautery of the nerve. Follow‐up information was obtained by telephone contact with owners. Results: The PET block was performed in 27 horses, with a positive result in 23 of 27 (85%). Surgery was performed in 58 horses. A successful outcome was initially achieved in 35 of 57 (63%) horses, but recurrence occurred between 9 and 30 months later in 9 (26%). Surgery was repeated in 10 of 31 (32%) horses. Final success rate, considering only response to the last performed surgery, was 28 of 57 (49%) horses with median follow‐up time of 18 months (range 2–66 months). Nose‐rubbing was reported post operatively in 30 of 48 (63%) horses. This resolved in all but 4 horses, which were subjected to euthanasia. Response to PET block or change in surgical technique did not appear to influence outcome or complications. Conclusions and potential relevance: The diagnostic protocol described is recommended for the investigation of headshakers. Caudal compression offers the best prognosis for a successful outcome compared with other treatments, for horses in which the only alternative is euthanasia. Surgical treatment of the disorder requires refinement, and the pathogenesis of the disorder requires investigation.     

Influence of arbuscular mycorrhizae on growth, leaf yield and phosphorus uptake in mulberry (Morus alba L.) under rainfed, lateritic soil conditions

 A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal association in mulberry saplings var. S₁, together with two levels of phosphate, on growth characters, leaf yield and phosphorus uptake. The experiment was conducted in the period 1995 to 1997 at the Technical Service Centre, Kashipur, Purulia (West Bengal) under rainfed, lateritic soil conditions. Pooled data analysis revealed that there was no significant variation among the treatments in most of the characters except height of plant and leaf moisture percentage. Plant height in both treatments with Glomus mosseae was significantly less than in the others, while there was significant reduction in moisture percentage in G. fasciculatum with 25 kg of phosphate and G. mosseae with 10 kg of phosphate ha^–1 year^–1 than in other treatments. There was no significant season–treatment effect on any of the parameters. Considering all the quantitative and qualitative characters, G. fasciculatum together with the most economic dose of phosphate showed more promising performance than G. etunicatum and G. mosseae with different doses of phosphate fertilizer. At 80% of the recommended dose of inorganic phosphate fertilizer, Rs 534.0 were earned as net profit. Received: 11 February 1998     

Rapid uplift of the Altiplano revealed through 13C-18O bonds in paleosol carbonates

The elevation of Earth's surface is among the most difficult environmental variables to reconstruct from the geological record. Here we describe an approach to paleoaltimetry based on independent and simultaneous determinations of soil temperatures and the oxygen isotope compositions of soil waters, constrained by measurements of abundances of 13C-18O bonds in soil carbonates. We use this approach to show that the Altiplano plateau in the Bolivian Andes rose at an average rate of 1.03 +/- 0.12 millimeters per year between approximately 10.3 and approximately 6.7 million years ago. This rate is consistent with the removal of dense lower crust and/or lithospheric mantle as the cause of elevation gain.     

Genetic diversity and population structure of Indian soybean [<Emphasis Type="Italic">Glycine max</Emphasis> (L.) Merr.] revealed by simple sequence repeat markers

Genetic diversity in 90 Indian soybean cultivars was assessed using 45 SSR markers distributed on 20 soybean chromosomes. Forty-five SSR markers generated 232 alleles with an average of five alleles/locus. The observed frequencies of the 232 alleles ranged from 0.01 to 0.94 with an average of 0.19. The polymorphic information content (PIC) value of the SSR markers varied from 0.10 to 0.83 with an average of 0.61 and about 71% markers have a PIC value of >0.5. In this study, 54 rare alleles including 19 genotype specific alleles were also identified. The observed hetrozygosity for SSR markers ranged from 0 to 0.11 with a mean of 0.10. Cluster analysis grouped the 90 soybean cultivars into three major clusters and principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) results were similar to those of the cluster analysis. A combination of eight SSR markers successfully differentiated all 90 soybean cultivars. The population structure analysis distributed the 90 soybean genotypes into two populations with mean alpha (α) value of 0.1873. In AMOVA analysis, proportion of variation within population was high (88%), whereas only 12% occurred among populations. In cluster and structure analyses, most of the genotypes with similar pedigree were grouped together. Soybean cultivars DS228, MACS-13, LSb-1, Hardee, Improved Pelican, and Pusa-24 were the six most genetically distinct cultivars identified. The study reported a moderate genetic diversity in Indian soybean cultivars and findings would be useful to the soybean breeders in selecting genetically distinct parents for a soybean improvement program.     

Role of lunar phases,rainfall, and wind in predicting Hilsa shad (Tenualosa ilisha) catch in the northern Bay of Bengal

Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is an important commercial fish in India. This study investigates relationships among Hilsa catch per unit effort (CPUE) and the corresponding lunar phase, rainfall variability, wind vector, and month in the northern Bay of Bengal. Hilsa catch during the monsoon season of three consecutive years (2013–2015) was analyzed by using a Generalized Least Square model with lunar phase and monsoon months (June–September) as categorical variables and wind direction as circular variable. Significantly higher Hilsa catch was observed during the waning crescent and waxing gibbous lunar phases and during easterly winds. There was no significant effect of wind velocity. Daily rainfall was significantly correlated with Hilsa migration toward the estuary. Among the four monsoon months, September exhibited the most positive significant correlation with the Hilsa CPUE. Model predicted CPUE underestimated the actual CPUE in 2016 by 20%.     

Performance evaluation of concurrent rice–fish–prawn culture with and without cull harvesting

This study was carried out in farmers' fields for three experimental culture cycles to evaluate the performance of rice–fish–prawn culture. The treatments carried out were deepwater rice mono‐cropping (R), and rice–fish–prawn culture with cull harvesting (R–FC) and without cull harvesting (R–F). Water pH and total alkalinity were significantly higher (P<0.05) in R–FC than in R–F, while the concentrations of total suspended solids, plankton and chlorophyll a were higher in R–F. Cull harvesting in R–FC had no marked influence on the concentrations of dissolved oxygen, NH₄⁺, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate compared with the R–F treatment. The significantly higher fish and prawn yields (P<0.05) and species‐wise faster individual growth performance in R–FC than in R–F were probably due to periodic cull harvesting, which minimized the competition for food and space as well as physiological stress at reduced density. The paddy yield and percentage increase in paddy yield over rice mono‐crop was significantly higher (P<0.05) in R–FC (25%), followed by R–F (16.9%), probably due to lower chlorophyll a (36.7 mg m^?3) and plankton density (1.4 × 10⁴ L^?1), which minimized the competition for nutrients with rice plants. The highest rice equivalent yield (38.5), output value–cultivation cost ratio (1.56) and enhanced net return (28%) in deepwater rice–fish culture were recorded when cull harvesting was practiced.     

The soil degradation of the herbicide florasulam

The route and rate of degradation of florasulam, a low‐rate triazolopyrimidine sulfonanilide herbicide, was investigated in six soil types under aerobic conditions at 20 or 25 °C. Degradation products were isolated and identified by mass spectroscopy. Florasulam was rapidly degraded by microbial action with an average half‐life of 2.4 days (range 0.7 to 4.5 days). The first step in the degradation pathway involved conversion of the methoxy group on the triazolopyrimidine ring to a hydroxy group to form N‐(2,6‐difluorophenyl)‐8‐fluoro‐5‐hydroxy[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5‐c]pyrimidine‐2‐sulfonamide. This metabolite degraded, with a half‐life of 10 to 61 days, via partial breakdown of the triazolopyrimidine ring to form N‐(2,6‐difluorophenyl)‐5‐aminosulfonyl‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐3‐carboxylic acid. This was followed by cleavage of the sulfonamide bridge to form 5‐(aminosulfonyl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐3‐carboxylic acid. Other degradation processes involved decarboxylation of the carboxylic acid metabolites and mineralisation to form carbon dioxide and non‐extractable residues. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Bioaugmentation in the growth and water quality of livebearing ornamental fishes

Bacillus subtilis isolated from the intestine of Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton) was incorporated into the rearing water of Poecilia reticulata (Peters), Poecilia sphenops (Valenciennes), Xiphophorus helleri (Heckel) and Xiphophorus maculatus (Gunther) at four different concentrations (5 × 10⁸ cells ml⁻¹, 5 × 10⁷ cells ml⁻¹, 5 × 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹ and 5 × 10⁵ cells ml⁻¹) and its effect on fish growth performance and survival, water quality parameters and bacterial population of water were assessed. The results showed that the addition of bacterial cells in the rearing water resulted in greater survival and a faster growth rate and, hence, greater length and weight increments of the livebearers. The use of a bioaugmentor in the rearing water of the livebearing fishes resulted in significantly lower (P < 0.05) concentrations of dissolved organic matter and total ammonium nitrogen. The counts of motile aeromonads and total coliforms recorded in the water of bioaugmented tanks were also lower than that in the control tank. Bioaugmentation between 10⁶ and 10⁸ cells ml⁻¹ in the rearing water is sufficient in establishing a bioaugmentor and the use of a higher concentration of bacterial cells did not always lead to significantly better results.     

Towards Ethically Improved Animal Experimentation in the Study of Animal Reproduction

The ethics of animal-based research is a continuing area of debate, but ethical research protocols do not prevent scientific progress. In this paper, we argue that our current knowledge of the factors that affect reproductive processes provides researchers with a solid foundation upon which they can conduct more ethical research and simultaneously produce data of higher quality. We support this argument by showing how a deep understanding of the genetics, nutrition and temperament of our experimental animals can improve compliance with two of the '3 Rs', reduction and refinement, simply by offering better control over the variance in our experimental model. The outcome is a better experimental design, on both ethical and scientific grounds.