Physiological responses of young cross‐bred calves immediately after long‐haul road transportation and after one week of habituation

We investigated 10 suckling cross‐bred calves (Japanese Black (Wagyu) × Holstein) and collected data on the physiological stress responses of the young calves to long‐haul road transportation. All calves were male and 21–47 days of age. The calves were obtained at a livestock market and were transported from the market to the university in a commercial livestock vehicle. The total haul distance and time were 306.9 km and 7 h, respectively. The calves were deprived of food and water during transportation. Blood samples, electrocardiograms, and rectal temperatures were collected immediately after transportation and after one week of habituation at the university. Serum pH was significantly lower (P < 0.01), while serum triiodothyronine, aspartate aminotransferase, non‐esterified fatty acids (all P < 0.05), and heart rate (P < 0.01) were significantly higher immediately after transportation. The concentrations of blood lactic acid (P = 0.08) and serum alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.06) tended to be higher after transportation. These physiological responses suggest that the stress caused by long‐haul transportation causes significant effects on liver function in young calves.     

Spontaneous Cardiac Hypertrophy in a Crl:CD(SD) Rat

Cardiac hypertrophy was observed in a 9-week-old Crl:CD(SD) rat that died unexpectedly. The animal was allocated to the control group of a toxicity study, and no abnormalities in its general conditions, body weight or food intake were observed. Necropsy revealed an increase in heart weight. Gross examination indicated cardiac enlargement with thickening of the right and left ventricular walls. Histopathological examination revealed hypertrophy of the cardiomyocytes in the right and left ventricular walls and the interventricular septum. Electron microscopic examination indicated bizarre nuclei and accumulation of an increased number of various sizes of mitochondria in the perinuclear region of the hypertrophied myocytes. Hypertrophied myocytes connected by intensely folded intercalated disks were also observed. Based on these findings, the animal was diagnosed with cardiac hypertrophy. This is the first case report of cardiac hypertrophy in this strain.     

Chemical and mineralogical studies of volcanic ashes

The relationships between rock types and mineralogical properties of volcanic ashes were investigated using many volcanic ash samples from different volcanoes.

The heavy mineral fraction was dominated by two pyroxenes and ferromagnetic minerals In almost all the felsic and Intermediate volcanic ashes. Therefore, It was difficult to determine the rock types of felsic and intermediate volcanic ashes according to their heavy mineral composition. It was assumed that the presence of a large quantity of hornblende was related to the origins of the volcanic ashes. On the other hand, the predominant mineral in the heavy mineral fraction of mafic volcanic ashes was volcanic glass (refractive index about 1.59), followed by olivine.

The refractive indices (γ) of plagioclases and orthopyroxenes were 1.553–1,570 and 1.703–1.715 in the felsic volcanic ashes, 1.558–1.580 and 1.705–1,715 in the intermediate ashes, and 1.565–1.576 and 1.697–1.705 in the mafic ashes, respectively. These results indicate the difficulty of determining the rock types of volcanic ashes according to the optical properties of these minerals.     

Nitrogen-Fixing Microorganisms in Paddy Soils: VIII

In the previous paper (1), we reported that the ability of the nitrogen fixation in the mixed culture of Rhodopseudomonas capsulatus either with non-nitrogen-fixing bacteria Propionibacterium, or with nitrogen-fixing bacteria Azotobacter vinelandii, was superior to that in the separate culture of each. Because of reason dedused from past experiments, we have proposed a hypothesis on substrate cycle. In this research, we performed the study of the following two directions: firstly, on the nitrogen fixation in the mixed culture of R. capsulatus with anaerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria Clostridium butyricum and secondly, on the consumption of glucose used as the substrate and on the production of volatile acids in the mixed culture of R. capsulatus either with Az. vinelandii, or with Cl. butyricum.     

Clay minerals and base status of strongly acid soils

In Japan, as the climate is temperate and humid, almost all soils show acid reaction. Especially, a good many strongly acid soils were reported in the survey of reclaimed lands (1, 2). The great majority of strongly acid soils are mineral soils derived from Tertiary or Diluvial sediments.     

Mechanism of inhibitory effect of allophane and montmorillonite on some enzymes

It is well established that the presence of clay in an enzyme-substrate system may reduce the activity of enzymes (1-3,5,6,8,11-14). This inhibition by the clay would be principally caused by the adsorption of enzyme and/or substrate on the clay particle. In the previous papers (1–3), the activity of some enzymes was found to be inhibited in various degrees by clays. The enzyme appears to be adsorbed on the clay particle in various ways according to the nature of adsorbate as well as adsorbent. This suggests that the enzyme is adsorbed by the clay so as not to combine with the substrate, or that the adsorbed enzyme molecule has a configuration different from that of a free enzyme molecule, reducing the activity of the enzyme.