Immune response of pregnant cows to bovine rotavirus immunization

Fifteen pregnant Holstein cows were freely assigned to 3 experimental groups (5 cows in each group). Cows in group I were inoculated IM and intramammarily (IMm) with Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) tissue culture-propagated modified-live Nebraska calf diarrhea bovine rotavirus with added adjuvant (OARDC vaccine-immunized cows). Group II cows were given IM injections of a commercial modified-live rotavirus-coronavirus vaccine (commercial vaccine-immunized cows), and the remaining 5 cows were noninoculated controls (group III). Rotavirus antibody in colostrum and milk was mainly associated with immunoglobulin (Ig)G1, and less so with IgG2, IgA, and IgM, as analyzed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using monospecific anti-bovine IgG1, IgG2, IgM, and IgA sera. In serum, the rotavirus antibody was distributed almost equally between IgG1 and IgG2. The same relationships appeared in both immunized and nonvaccinated cows. All OARDC vaccine-injected cows had virus-neutralization (VN) and ELISA IgG1 rotavirus antibody titers in serum and mammary secretions at significantly increased levels (at least 100-fold; P less than 0.05) compared with the titers in groups II (commercial vaccine-immunized cows) and III (controls). Serum, colostrum, and milk antibody titers from these latter 2 groups did not differ statistically. The ELISA IgG2, IgA, and IgM rotavirus antibody titers also were significantly greater in mammary secretions from OARDC vaccine-immunized cows than in groups II and III cows. There was a high correlation between ELISA IgG1 and VN rotavirus antibody titers for all samples tested (r = 0.97, P less than 0.001), but ELISA IgG1 antibody titers were consistently higher than VN titers. The ELISA IgG1 and VN antibody titers of milk samples collected from cows 30 days after parturition were higher from the OARDC vaccine-immunized cows (ELISA IgG1, geometric mean titer (GMT) = 3,511; VN GMT = 1,689) than were titers from the group II cows (ELISA IgG1 GMT = 39; VN GMT = 33) or group III cows (ELISA IgG1 GMT = 21; VN GMT = 19). These results indicate that IM plus IMm immunization of pregnant cows, using modified-live bovine rotavirus with added adjuvant, may significantly enhance serum, colostrum, and milk rotavirus antibody titers, whereas IM vaccinal inoculation of pregnant cows with a commercial modified-live rotavirus-coronavirus vaccine may not.     

Performance of various grapefruit (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Citrus paradisi</Emphasis> Macf.) and pummelo (<Emphasis Type="Italic">C. maxima</Emphasis> Merr.) cultivars under the dry tropic conditions of Mexico

Grapefruit growers in the tropics require information about existing and new citrus cultivars with high productivity potential. The objective of this study was to determine the growth, yield, and fruit quality performance of seven pigmented and four white grapefruit cultivars under the dry tropic conditions of Colima, Mexico. The trees were budded on sour orange (Citrus aurantium L.) rootstock and planted at a distance of 8 × 4 m. ‘Oroblanco’ and ‘Marsh Gardner’ white-fleshed grapefruit cultivars and ‘Chandler’, a pink-fleshed pummelo, were the largest trees with the greatest height (5.0–5.6 m), canopy diameter (6.2–6.3 m), trunk diameter (21.9–23.3 cm), and canopy volume (109–123 m³). Lower height (4.3–4.8 m) and canopy volume (73–96 m³), but with similar canopy diameter to the previously mentioned cultivars, were recorded for the remaining pigmented cultivars. ‘Chandler’ pummelo and four pigmented grapefruit cultivars (‘Shambar’, ‘Río Red’, ‘Ray Ruby’, and ‘Redblush #3’) had yearly productions of 34.8, 34.9, 34.1, 32.7, and 30.6 ton ha⁻¹, respectively. The most productive white grapefruit cultivar was ‘Marsh Gardner’ (30.5 ton ha⁻¹). Grapefruit cultivars having the largest fruit size showed a higher inverse relationship between fruit weight and yield than those with small fruit. Most genotypes had higher values of fruit weight, juice content, and maturity index than those required by the local market. The most promising grapefruit cultivars based on their acceptable growth, yield superior to 30 ton ha⁻¹, and acceptable fruit color were ‘Río Red’, ‘Shambar’, ‘Ray Ruby’, and ‘Redblush #3’.     

An evaluation of an oral formulation of moxidectin against selected anthelmintic-resistant and -susceptible strains of nematodes in lambs

The efficacy of an oral formulation of the newly developed parasiticide, moxidectin, was tested against benzimidazole-resistant Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, and Nematodirus spathiger, levamisole-resistant Ostertagia circumcincta, and susceptible Cooperia curticei infections in weaned lambs. Thirty-two lambs were experimentally infected with mixed doses of the above strains of nematodes. They were allocated into four treatment groups by stratified randomisation using liveweights and faecal egg counts 28 days later. One group received moxidectin at 0.2 mg/kg liveweight, one group oxfendazole at 4.5 mg/kg liveweight, one group levamisole at 7.5 mg/kg liveweight and the last group remained untreated as the control. Worm burdens in the lambs at slaughter 10 days after oral treatment confirmed the resistance status of the nematode strains used, and showed that moxidectin had a greater than 99.9% efficacy (p<0.01) against all of them. No adverse effects due to treatment with moxidectin were observed in any of the animals.     

Calcium, diet and fracture risk: a prospective study of 1898 incident fractures among 34 696 British women and men

OBJECTIVE: The risk factors for fractures are incompletely understood. An outstanding question concerns the optimal amount of dietary calcium needed to minimise the risk of fracture. DESIGN: We examined the associations of dietary calcium and other nutrients with self-reported fracture risk in a prospective cohort study. Nutrient intakes were estimated using a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire administered at recruitment. SETTING: The UK. Participants: A total of 26 749 women and 7947 men aged 20-89 years. RESULTS: Over an average of 5.2 years of follow-up, 1555 women and 343 men reported one or more fractures, 72% of these resulting from a fall. Among women, fracture risk was higher at lower calcium intakes, with a relative risk of 1.75 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33-2.29) among women with a calcium intake of < 525 mg day- 1 compared with women with a calcium intake of at least 1200 mg day- 1 (test for linear trend, P < 0.001). The association of dietary calcium with fracture risk was stronger among women aged under 50 years at recruitment than among women aged 50 and above. Dietary calcium intake was not associated with fracture risk in men. Fracture risk was not related to the dietary intake of any other nutrient examined. CONCLUSION: In this population, women with a low dietary calcium intake had an increased risk of bone fracture, and this association was more marked among younger women than among older women.     

Finding niches for whole-farm design models – contradictio in terminis?

Whole-farm design models quantitatively analyze the effects of a variety of potential changes at the farm system level. Science-driven technical information is confronted with value-driven objectives of farmers or other social groupings under explicit assumptions with respect to exogenous variables that are important drivers of agricultural systems (e.g., market conditions). Hence, farm design is an outcome of objective specification and the potential of a system. In recent publications, whole-farm design modelling has been proposed to enhance (farm) innovation processes. A number of operational modelling tools now offers the opportunity to assess the true potential of whole-farm design modelling to enhance innovation. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is not trivial to find niches for the application of goal-based farm models. Model outcomes appeared not to match questions of farm managers monitoring and learning from their own and other farmers’ practices. However, our research indicates that whole-farm design modelling possesses the capabilities to make a valuable contribution to reframing. Reframing is the phenomenon that people feel an urge to discuss and reconsider current objectives and perspectives on a problem. Reframing might take place in a situation (i) of mutually felt dependency between stakeholders, (ii) in which there is sufficient pressure and urgency for stakeholders to explore new problem definitions and make progress. Furthermore, our research suggests that the way the researcher enters a likely niche to introduce a model and/or his or her position in this niche may have significant implications for the potential of models to enhance an innovation process. Therefore, we hypothesize that the chances of capitalizing on modelling expertise are likely to be higher when researchers with such expertise are a logical and more or less permanent component of ongoing trajectories than when these researchers come from outside to purposefully search for a niche.     

水杨酸对黄花梨采后衰老和膜脂过氧化的影响

黄花梨果实采后用浓度为0.1 g/L,0.3 g/L的水杨酸(SA)溶液浸泡20 m in后,在(25±1)℃的贮藏条件下,研究了水杨酸处理对黄花梨果实采后衰老和膜脂过氧化的影响。结果表明,与以清水为对照相比,0.1 g/L SA处理能抑制SOD,CAT,POD活性的下降,降低果肉组织的相对电导率和MDA积累量,从而延缓了果实的成熟衰老;而0.3 g/L SA处理无明显影响。