Colour‐Doppler ultrasound imaging as a laparoscopy substitute to count corpora lutea in superovulated sheep

This study evaluated colour‐Doppler ultrasound imaging (UI) as a substitute for laparoscopy to count the corpora lutea (CL) in superovulated sheep. Twenty‐five Santa Ines ewes were superovulated three times at 21‐day intervals. Corpora lutea were counted by colour‐Doppler UI (CL_DOPPLER) 6 days after each superovulation and confirmed by laparoscopy (CL_LAP) 12 hr later. The mean number of CL was similar for both techniques (2.1 ± 2.5 vs. 2.1 ± 2.7 for CL_DOPPLER and CL_LAP, respectively) with a significant positive correlation (r = .94; r²=.89). Colour‐Doppler UI effectively evaluated the ovarian response in superovulated ewes and efficiently identified animals that did not respond to superovulation.     

Hierarchically ordered oxides

Porous silica, niobia, and titania with three-dimensional structures patterned over multiple length scales were prepared by combining micromolding, polystyrene sphere templating, and cooperative assembly of inorganic sol-gel species with amphiphilic triblock copolymers. The resulting materials show hierarchical ordering over several discrete and tunable length scales ranging from 10 nanometers to several micrometers. The respective ordered structures can be independently modified by choosing different mold patterns, latex spheres, and block copolymers. The examples presented demonstrate the compositional and structural diversities that are possible with this simple approach.     

Organ- and season-dependent variation in the essential oil composition of Salvia officinalis L. cultivated at two different sites.

More than 50 compounds were identified in essential oils from stems and leaves of Salvia officinalis L. plants harvested in July, in Arouca, in northern Portugal. About 40 of those compounds were also present in flower essential oils, collected from the same plants. alpha-Thujone was the major compound, representing about 55, 30, and 18% of the essential oils from stems, leaves, and flowers, respectively. Significant percentage variations in the main compound classes of the essential oils from shoots sampled over the year were recorded at two different sites in northern Portugal. From December to April, oxygenated monoterpenes (MO) decreased from approximately 67-72% to values of 42-43% of the essential oils. During the same time interval, the percentage of monoterpene hydrocarbons (MH) rose from 8-11% to 17-22%. At both sites, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (SH) rose from approximately 7% in February to 19-22% in April, decreasing thereafter to approximately 9% in July. Oxygenated sesquiterpenes (SO) increased from a minimum of approximately 5% in July to a maximum of 8-11% in February, decreasing thereafter. The compounds that mostly accounted for the essential oil composition variation were alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, and camphene, as MH; alpha-thujone and camphor, as MO; alpha-humulene and beta-caryophyllene, as SH; and viridiflorol, as SO.     

Bone Morphogenetic Protein‐6 (BMP‐6) Stimulates the Antrum Formation by the Regulation of its Signalling Pathway in Caprine Pre‐antral Follicles Cultured In Vitro

BMP‐6 has been found to be important to ovarian cells and oocyte, as well as to uterus. Thus, this study investigated the effect of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP‐6) and recombinant follicle‐stimulating hormone (rFSH) alone or in combination on the in vitro culture (IVC) of isolated caprine secondary follicles (Experiment 1) and the mRNA levels for BMP receptors/Smad signalling pathway (BMPR1A, BMPR2, SMAD1, SMAD4, SMAD5, SMAD6, SMAD7 and SMAD8) in vivo and in vitro using BMP‐6 (Experiment 2). Secondary follicles were cultured in αMEM⁺ alone (control medium) or supplemented with BMP‐6 at 1 or 10 ng/ml and rFSH alone or the combination of both BMP‐6 concentrations and rFSH. The results from Experiment 1 showed that the antrum formation rate was higher in the BMP‐6 at 1 ng/ml (p < 0.05) than in MEM. In Experiment 2, the mRNA expression for BMPR2, SMAD1, SMAD5 and SMAD6 was detected in non‐cultured control and after in vitro culture (MEM and 1 ng/ml BMP‐6); while the expression of SMAD7 and SMAD8 mRNA was only detected after IVC, SMAD4 was only detected in the BMP‐6 at 1 ng/ml treatment. In conclusion, the low BMP‐6 concentration positively influenced antrum formation and ensured normal mRNA expression for BMP receptor and Smads after IVC of caprine secondary follicles.     

Self-Assembly of Mesoscale Objects into Ordered Two-Dimensional Arrays

Regular arrays of topologically complex, millimeter-scale objects were prepared by self-assembly, with the shapes of the assembling objects and the wettability of their surfaces determining the structure of the arrays. The system was composed of solid objects floating at the interface between perfluorodecalin and water and interacting by lateral capillary forces; patterning of the wettability of the surfaces of the objects directs these forces. Self-assembly results from minimization of the interfacial free energy of the liquid-liquid interface. Calculations suggest that this strategy for self-assembly can be applied to objects on a micrometer scale.     

Design and fabrication of topologically complex, three-dimensional microstructures

Two concepts for use in the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) microstructures with complex topologies are described. Both routes begin with a two-dimensional (2D) pattern and transform it into a 3D microstructure. The concepts are illustrated by use of soft lithographic techniques to transfer 2D patterns to cylindrical (pseudo-3D) substrates. Subsequent steps-application of uniaxial strain, connection of patterns on intersecting surfaces-transform these patterns into free-standing, 3D, noncylindrically symmetrical microstructures. Microelectrodeposition provides an additive method that strengthens thin metal designs produced by patterning, welds nonconnected structures, and enables the high-strain deformations required in one method to be carried out successfully.     

Canine leishmaniasis chemotherapy: dog's clinical condition and risk of Leishmania transmission

The aim of this study was to investigate whether treatment against canine leishmaniasis reduced the presence of Leishmania in the healthy skin of dogs, affecting the capacity of parasite transmission. A total of 37 dogs from an endemic region of leishmaniasis were studied. Thirteen symptomatic animals revealed parasites in the bone marrow and eight had also in the skin. Five of the 22 dogs that had been treated with meglumine antimoniate alone, meglumine antimoniate or trifluralin followed by allopurinol or just with allopurinol had the parasite in bone marrow but none showed Leishmania in the skin. One dog that was treated only with aminosidine was polisymptomatic and had parasites in bone marrow and skin. The different treatments used in this study did not completely eliminate the parasite allowing relapses to occur when the treatment is discontinued, but the use of meglumine antimoniate or allopurinol, alone or combined may improve dogs clinical condition and reduce or eliminate the parasite from the skin decreasing the probability of Leishmania transmission.     

Hydrogen-Bond Breaking and Proton Exchange in Collisions of Gaseous Formic Acid with Liquid Sulfuric Acid

Gas-liquid scattering experiments provide direct observations of the fate of hydrogen-bonding molecules striking the surfaces of acidic liquids. Collisions of gaseous formic acid with concentrated sulfuric acid show that impinging monomers (HCOOH and DCOOD) scatter inelastically from the interface or become trapped by surface H2SO4. Most trapped DCOOD molecules undergo proton exchange before desorbing from the acid, indicating that gas-surface accommodation almost always leads to reaction with H2SO4 molecules. This proton transfer is not inhibited by dimerization of the formic acid: The dimers readily undergo intramolecular hydrogen bond cleavage and D-H exchange before desorbing from the acid.     

The serological responses of chickens to mass vaccination with a live V4 Newcastle disease virus vaccine in the field and in the laboratory 1. Meat chickens

Meat chickens on commercial broiler farms were vaccinated once at 1 to 15 days of age with a live V4 Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine administered by drinking water, aerosol or coarse spray. Hatchmates were housed and similarly vaccinated in laboratory isolation pens. Samples of birds were bled at weekly to fortnightly intervals and the serums tested for haemagglutination inhibiting antibody to NDV. Log2 mean titres of up to 6.26, and assumed protection levels (based on the percentage of birds with log2 titres of 4 or greater) of up to 89%, were obtained in field trials within 4 weeks of vaccination. Differences were observed between the results obtained from parallel field and laboratory trials. The presence of maternal NDV antibody reduced the response to vaccination. The results show that this V4 vaccine can produce an adequate serological response following mass administration to Australian meat chickens housed under commercial conditions.