Systemic View on Heading and Overwintering: Are They Always Opposed?

The study investigated the cultivars of non‐obligatorily requiring vernalization plant Festulolium braunii and assessed the influence of non‐hardy reproductive and hardy vegetative structures on overwintering effect. The study was conducted taking into account systemic relations between these types of structures. The results show the cultivars differ according to the percentage of headed and overwintered plants, when the cultivars with the most abundant heading – ‘Felopa’ and ‘Sulino’ – are also better at overwintering. The positive correlation between heading and overwintering characteristics was also observed, what seemed to be a rather new finding. It can be explained by systemic effect: non‐hardy later reproductive structures induce the post‐generative regrowth of vegetative shoots, which during shorter days halt development and become potentially hardy. More detailed interpretation is also provided including discussion of causal mechanisms of the detected phenomenon. The authors suppose that these mechanisms constitute a survival strategy for such perennial plants. The observed late heading which represents reproductive structures could be applied in plant breeding as a marker of winter‐hardiness among perennial grass plants which non‐obligatorily demand vernalization.     

The effects of applied crop residues on losses of Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn in run-off from a soil prone to crusting

Tillage practices may reduce the organic matter content in near-surface soil horizons causing crust formation. Surface conditions may cause an increase in surface run-off, thus enhancing contaminant transfer of heavy metals or an acceleration in nutrient loss. This study examines the effect of applying crop residues to the surface of tilled soils on heavy metal losses by run-off. Losses in iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) were analysed. Run-off and sediment yield were measured on 1 m² plots using a rainfall simulator with a constant 65 mm/h intensity. Four successive rainfall applications were performed, the first three at 25 mm each and the last at 65 mm. Added corn straw varied between 0 and 4 t/ha in the five studied treatments. After 140 mm cumulative rainfall, total heavy metal losses were as follows: Fe from 137 to 950 mg/L, Mn from 2.3 to 12.83 mg/L, Cu from 0.09 to 0.72 mg/L and Zn from 0.31 to 2.46 mg/L. Dissolved fractions were as follows: Fe from 0.014 to 0.229 mg/L, Mn from 0.034 to 1.45 mg/L, Cu from 0.002 to 0.013 mg/L and Zn from 0.02 to 0.12 mg/L. Total concentrations of the studied elements decreased exponentially due to the effect of corn straw on soil loss. However, dissolved contents of Fe and Cu scarcely varied. Significant positive linear correlations were observed between total heavy metal content and soil and sediment loss by run-off. It is concluded that the addition of straw to a soil of low fertility prevents heavy metal loss.     

Determination of styrene content in Gorgonzola PDO cheese by headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) and gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS)

Control of the composition of products that are intended for use as packaging material is essential, particularly when these products come into direct contact with food. It is well known that plastics are not inert and that their residual monomers, starting substances, and additives are able to migrate into the food they contact. Among plastics, styrene is a common compound found in many plastic containers that can also be produced by the oxidation of Penicillium roqueforti used in gorgonzola Protected Denomination of Origin cheese manufacturing. Therefore, solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was applied in the present work to determine the styrene content in packaged and unpackaged gorgonzola cheese samples to understand styrene migration phenomena from plastic containers.

     

Cancer antigen 15/3: possible diagnostic use in veterinary clinical oncology. Preliminary study

The cancer antigen 15/3 is a mucin that is associated with the cell membrane, encoded by the MUC1 gene, and recognized by the monoclonal-clone DF3 antibody. The latter antigen was discovered to be specific for both the identification of human mammary neoplasia and during patient follow-up evaluations. The aim of this study is to report and compare the results of the application of direct chemiluminescence in canine blood sera and the kit utilized in human medicine for the determination of Ca 15/3 to verify the diagnostic efficiency of the kit in cases presenting mammary tumors. Specifically, CA 15/3 has proven to be measurable in all samples assayed to distinguish clinically healthy subjects from those with mammary neoplasia.

     

The pathogenicity of rabbit coccidium Eimeria coecicola Cheissin, 1947

The pathogenicity of Eimeria coecicola for rabbits has been demonstrated in our experiments. The animals suffered from prolonged affection of appendix lasting at least 20 days. Pathological changes appeared with the development of merogony since day 4 post infection (DPI) and were characterized by an inflammatory infiltration and abundant pyogenic component in lamina propria, swelling and coalescence of upper parts of appendix mucosa above atrophied domes, where spaces filled with stagnating inflammatory exudate, endogenic stages of coccidia, and desquamated epithelia are formed. The alteration of the epithelium and exposure of the appendix lamina propria occur in relation with the gametogony in the period of about 10 DPI. Since 8 DPI, the epithelium of the infected endogenic stages of coccidia becomes hyperplastic, proliferates into lamina propria and is subjected to necrosis. Groups of immature oocysts and their fragments remain in lamina propria and are resorbed, at least for 10 days, by granulomatous inflammatory structures with abundant multinucleate cells of the type of foreign body cells.     

Chaetotaxy of cercariae of Opisthioglyphe ranae (Fr?lich, 1791) (Trematoda: Plagiorchidae)

A detailed observation of the sensory apparatus of Opisthioglyphe ranae (Fr?lich, 1791) cercariae was carried out. The species was determined on the basis of an experimental study of the life cycle and morphology of sporocysts, cercariae, metacercariae, and adults. In contrast to other species of the family Plagiorchidae, no papillae were present in the positions CId1, CId2, CII0, CII3 and CII4. Papillae with markedly ventral situation on the postacetabular zone were found very rarely. Some of the cercariae possessed ventral papillae variously distributed in the preacetabular zone. A comparative analysis of the chaetotaxy revealed that the cercaria studied by us was very similar to Cercaria 4 of Richard, 1971, with the exception of the number of acetabular papillae and some groups of ventral papillae. Compared to the cercaria of O. ranae studied by Dobrovolskiy (1965). AID papillae and a part of ventral papillae were distributed differently. The chaetotaxy was identical with that of experimentally obtained cercariae of O. ranae from L. stagnalis and of cercariae of the same species obtained from Bulgaria.     

The pathogenicity of Cryptosporidium parvum Tyzzer, 1912 and C. Baileyi Current, Upton et Haynes, 1986 for chickens

Clinical symptoms and pathological-morphological changes in the respiratory tract of chickens inoculated with Cryptosporidium parvum were described for the first time and compared with those induced by Cryptosporidium baileyi. Intratracheal inoculation with these two species caused symptoms of a respiratory tract disease in all chicken, but a disease of the digestive tract or death did not occur in any case. Pathological and morphological changes were observed only in the respiratory system and were characterized by petechiae in the mucous of larynx, trachea, primary bronchi and in the wall of air sacs in chickens infected with C. parvum, or by diffuse hyperaemia of respiratory tract mucosa in chickens infected with C. baileyi. The pathological-histological changes, which were characterized by affections of various degrees in epithelial cells, mucous glands, and lamina propria mucosae, were more pronounced in the chickens infected with C. parvum.