Mucinous cholangiocarcinoma in a cat

Mucinous cholangiocarcinoma was diagnosed in a 14-year-old, castrated male, domestic shorthaired cat with marked peritoneal effusion. Cytological confirmation of malignancy by fluid analysis and fine-needle, ultrasound-guided aspiration of the liver was followed by histological examination of tissue samples obtained at surgery and necropsy. No observed response followed chemotherapy with doxorubicin and carboplatin. Electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry helped to further characterize this unusual tumor.     

Sensitivity analysis of optimal operation of irrigation supply systems with water quality considerations

A model for optimal operation of water supply/irrigation systems of various water quality sources, with treatment plants, multiple water quality conservative factors, and dilution junctions is presented. The objective function includes water cost at the sources, water conveyance costs which account for the hydraulics of the network indirectly, water treatment cost, and yield reduction costs of irrigated crops due to irrigation with poor quality water. The model can be used for systems with supply by canals as well as pipes, which serve both drinking water demands of urban/rural consumers and field irrigation requirements. The general nonlinear optimization problem has been simplified by decomposing it to a problem with linear constraints and nonlinear objective function. This problem is solved using the projected gradient method. The method is demonstrated for a regional water supply system in southern Israel that contains 39 pipes, 37 nodes, 11 sources, 10 agricultural consumers, and 4 domestic consumers. The optimal operation solution is described by discharge and salinity values for all pipes of the network. Sensitivity of the optimal solution to changes in the parameters is examined. The solution was found to be sensitive to the upper limit on drinking water quality, with total cost being reduced by 5% as the upper limit increases from 260 to 600 mg Cl l^–1. The effect of income from unit crop yield is more pronounced. An increase of income by a factor of 20 results in an increase of the total cost by a factor of 3, thus encouraging more use of fresh water as long as the marginal cost of water supply is smaller than the marginal decrease in yield loss. The effect of conveyance cost becomes more pronounced as its cost increases. An increase by a factor of 100 results in an increase of the total cost by about 14%. The network studied has a long pipe that connects two distinct parts of the network and permits the supply of fresh water from one part to the other. Increasing the maximum permitted discharge in this pipe from 0 to 200 m³ h^–1 reduces the total cost by 11%. Increasing the maximum discharge at one of the sources from 90 to 300 m³ h^–1 reduces the total cost by about 8%.     

Geographical comparison of genetic diversity in Asian landrace wheat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Triticum aestivum</Emphasis> L.) germplasm based on high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits

Glutenin largely determines wheat bread baking quality. As high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS), related to Glu-1 loci, determines wheat flour elasticity, it correlates strongly with bread-making quality. This study was aimed at clarifying genetic variations in bread-making characteristics between East and West Asian wheat landrace germplasms, by investigating HMW-GS allelic composition of 1068 wheat accessions. Herein, the accession number having reported HMW-GS pattern in previous studies was 855. However, the accession number with newly detected HMW-GS patterns was 114. These new HMW-GS patterns were classified into 4 types based on similarity. Eight Korean accessions with these four types were identified. Concerning landrace germplasm nature, 99 accessions showed heterogeneous patterns caused by seed mixture. The Glu-1 loci allelic variation analysis, revealed that the percentages of Glu-A1c (73.6%), Glu-B1b (60.2%), and Glu-D1a (68.5%) were highest at Glu-A1, Glu-B1, and Glu-D1 loci, respectively. The incidence of preferable alleles for bread baking was high in Chinese accessions. In bread-making quality evaluation using Glu-1 score, 24 among 35 accessions with full score were from China. The polymorphic information content index of each origin based on HMW glutenin subunit combination showed that West Asian and neighboring-regional landraces, excluding Afghanistan ones, were more diverse than East Asian landraces excluding Chinese ones. Cluster analysis based on Glu-1 allelic combination showed that many Korean, Japanese, and Afghan accessions were in the same group. However, many Chinese and other West Asian accessions were in the other group despite geographical distance.     

The ghosts of taste: food and the cultural politics of authenticity

We add a political culture dimension to the debate over the politics of food. Central to food politics is the cultural granting of authenticity, experienced through the conjuring of relational presences of authorship. These presences derive from the faces and the places of relationality, what we term the ghosts of taste, by which food narratives articulate claims of the authorship of food by people and environments, and thus claim of authenticity. In this paper, we trace the often-conflicting presences of authenticating ghosts in food along a prominent axis of current debate: the local versus the global. The three cases outlined here—Greek food, Thousand Island dressing, and wild rice—illustrate the recovery and suppression of the lingering spirits of both local and global faces and places in what we taste, and show the mutually interdependent consequence of culture and economics in food politics.     

Simulation of salt and water movement and estimation of water productivity of rice crop irrigated with saline water

The HYDRUS-ID model was experimentally tested for water balance and salt build up in soil under rice crop irrigated with different salinity water (ECiw) of 0.4, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 dS m⁻¹ in micro-lysimeters filled with sandy loam soil. Differences of means between measured (M) and HYDRUS-1D predicted (P) values of bottom flux (Q _o) and leachate EC as tested by paired t test were not found significant at P = 0.05 and a close agreement between RMSE values showed the applicability of the HYDRUS-1D to simulate percolation and salt concentration in the micro-lysimeters under rice crop. Potential ET values of rice as obtained from CROPWAT matched well with model predicted and measured one at all ECiw treatments. The model predicted root water uptake varied from 66.1 to 652.7 mm and the maximum daily salt concentration in the root zone was 0.46, 2.3, 4.5, 6.7, 8.4 and 10.2 me cm⁻³ in 0.4, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 dS m⁻¹ ECiw treatments, respectively. The grain production per unit evapotranspiration ( \textWP_{\textET\texta} {\text{WP}}_{{{\text{ET}}_{\text{a}} }} ) value of 2.56 in ECiw of 0.4 dS m⁻¹ treatment declined to 1.31 with ECiw of 2 dS m⁻¹. The \textWP_{\textET\texta} {\text{WP}}_{{{\text{ET}}_{\text{a}} }} reduced to one-fifth when percolation was included in the productivity determination. Similarly, the water productivity in respect of total dry matter production (TDM) was also reduced in different treatments. Therefore, the model predicted values of water balance can be effectively utilized to calculate the water productivity of rice crop.     

Effect of biofilm on water quality and growth of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Etroplus suratensis</Emphasis> (Bloch, 1790)

An experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of biofilm production in natural and artificial substrates and to study their effect on water quality and growth of Etroplus suratensis. Four different substrates were used for biofilm formation: paddy straw (T1), sugarcane bagasse (T2), polyvinylchloride (PVC) pipe (T3) and plastic sheet (T4). The experiment was carried out in mud-bottomed fibre-reinforced plastic tanks (300 L) in triplicates. About 3000 cm² surface area (600 g) of each substrate was suspended in water supplemented with fertilizers. Only cow dung and urea were applied in control tanks. The tanks were stocked with 25 fishes with average weight of 9.1 ± 0.22 g. The overall mean value of heterotrophic bacteria in substrate was found higher in straw followed by bagasse, plastic and PVC. The dominant genera of bacteria in the substrate were Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Micrococcus in that order of preponderance. The mean phytoplankton and zooplankton density on the substrates were higher in bagasse followed by straw, plastic and PVC. The biofilm developed on the substrate significantly reduced the ammonia nitrogen and nitrite-nitrogen content of water. The growth of fishes was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in substrate-based treatments than that in the control with better results in bagasse followed by straw, plastic and PVC. The conclusions of the present study are that biofilm produced on natural substrates, especially on bagasse, enhanced growth of E. suratensis and reduced the necessity of water exchange during the culture, which certainly decreases the cost of Etroplus production.     

Rapid harvest schedules and fruit removal as non-chemical approaches for managing spotted wing Drosophila

Spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), has caused significant economic losses to small fruit and berry growers throughout the USA and Europe since its invasion. This pest can lay many eggs over its lifetime within ripening and ripe berries, causing yield loss and the risk of fruit contamination. Zero tolerance for this pest has led to increased use of broad-spectrum insecticides to control it, which are costly and pose many other sustainability and pest management concerns. There is an urgent need to evaluate management strategies that can decrease reliance on chemical controls and mitigate economic losses. Over two growing seasons, we compared harvest schedules for their effect on infestation by D. suzukii, revealing that fruit harvested every 1 or 2 days had significantly fewer D. suzukii larvae than a 3-day harvest schedule. Furthermore, we found that yield per unit effort was highest on a 2-day schedule. Sanitation of the crop is another important component of a successful integrated pest management program, and we found that bagging infested waste berries killed 99% of larvae after 32 h, with higher fruit temperatures in clear bags than white or black bags. In combination, these methods can reduce the effects of this invasive pest on raspberry production. This study will provide guidance to growers on culturally based IPM tactics to decrease reliance on chemical management.     

Artificial polyploidy in medicinal plants: Advancement in the last two decades and impending prospects

Medicinal plants are in huge demand since the consumption is widespread and ever-increasing globally. The conventional breeding programs are generally environmental dependent; prone to different biotic and abiotic stresses as well as the secondary metabolite content is too low to harvest. In this context, developing polyploid individuals artificially would be a remarkable approach to increase vigor and attain this objective. Polyploids often exhibit some morphological features that are different or greater in forms than their diploid progenies. Polyploidization can be induced by quite a few antimitotic agents. The most frequently used antimitotic chemicals are colchicine, trifluralin, and oryzalin. The whole method of induced chromosome doubling consists of a series of steps, including an induction phase, regrowth phase, and a confirmation technique to evaluate the rate of achievement. The induction phase depends on different factors, such as explant types, antimitotic agents, its different concentrations, and exposure durations. To evaluate the accomplishment of polyploidization, morphological or anatomical observations are recorded as a rapid method. However, chromosome count and flow cytometry are the most eminent method for absolute confirmation. Despite significant prospects of polyploidization, there has been very little research on medicinal plants. The current review gives an overview of the different parameters of in vitro chromosome doubling, the history of the technique, and progress made over the last two decades.     

Genomic analysis of antifungal metabolite production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas fluorescens</Emphasis> Pf-5

The complete genomic sequences of several Pseudomonas spp. that inhabit the rhizosphere are now available, providing a new opportunity to advance knowledge of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) through genomics. Among these is the biological control bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5. Nearly 6% of the 7.07 Mb genome of Pf-5 is devoted to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, including antibiotics toxic to soilborne fungi and Oomycetes that infect plant roots, and two siderophores involved in iron acquisition. Three orphan gene clusters, for which the encoded natural product was unknown, also were identified in the genome of Pf-5. The product synthesized from one of the orphan gene clusters was identified recently using a new ‘genomisotopic approach’, which employs a combination of genomic sequence analysis and isotope guided fractionation. Application of the genomisotopic approach to one orphan gene cluster in Pf-5 resulted in the discovery of orfamide A, founder of a new group of bioactive cyclic lipopeptides with a putative role in biological control of plant disease.