Sex determination of bovine embryos using H-Y antibodies

6 days old bovine embryos (n = 126) were obtained from 8 superovulated cows or heifers by flushing the uteri and oviducts either non-surgically or after slaughter. Part of the embryos (n = 72) (morula stages) were placed in Ham's F-10 or PBS supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) diluted 1:1 with supernatant from the H-Y antibody producing clone and cultured at 38 degrees C, in 5% CO2/95% air and 100% humidity. Control embryos (n = 54) were cultured in H-Y antibody free medium. After culture the embryos could be separated into a blastocyst--and a morula group. A subsequent colchemid and hypotonic treatment and fixation and Giemsa staining allowed a precise karyotyping, and thus sex determination for 36 H-Y antibody treated embryos and 22 control embryos. The limiting factor for proper karyotyping was lack of metaphases, incomplete methaphases or poor preparation. Among the H-Y antibody treated embryos we found 7 males and 15 females in the blastocyst and 14 males and 0 females in the morula group. A statistical analysis of these proportions led to the conclusion that the H-Y antibody had a significant influence on the sex ratio.     

仔猪副伤寒耐热保护剂活疫苗C500株生产工艺的优化

为优化仔猪副伤寒耐热保护剂活疫苗生产工艺,对细菌生长曲线、耐热保护剂和冻干曲线进行了研究,建立了发酵体积1%、2%和3%的二级种子接种量下分别发酵12 h~20 h的细菌生长曲线,检测3个配苗比例、4种耐热保护剂和3条冻干曲线下成品疫苗的冻干菌存率、活菌存活率和安全性,确定了接种3%二级种子液发酵培养17 h为最佳发酵培养条件,发酵菌数达到428×108CFU/m L;最佳配苗比例为菌液︰耐热保护剂1∶1(V∶V),优化保护剂B作为最佳耐热保护剂,设定冻干程序3#作为最佳冻干曲线。基于此,仔猪副伤寒耐热保护剂活疫苗抗原含量达到40头份/瓶,冻干菌存率和活菌存活率均达到95%以上,大幅度降低了猪体免疫副反应,极大提升了疫苗的产品品质。     

Radiosensitivity and capacity for radiation-induced sublethal damage repair of canine transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) cell lines

Understanding the inherent radiosensitivity and repair capacity of canine transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) can aid in optimizing radiation protocols to treat this disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the parameters surviving fraction at 2 Gy (SF(2) ), α/β ratio and capacity for sublethal damage repair (SLDR) in response to radiation. Dose-response and split-dose studies were performed using the clonogenic assay. The mean SF(2) for three established TCC cell lines was high at 0.61. All the three cell lines exhibited a low to moderate α/β ratio, with the mean being 3.27. Two cell lines exhibited statistically increased survival at 4 and 24 h in the dose-response assay. Overall, our results indicate that the cell lines are moderately radioresistant, have a high repair capacity and behave similarly to a late-responding normal tissue. These findings indicate that the radiation protocols utilizing higher doses with less fractionation may be more effective for treating TCC.     

Risk Factors for Lamb Mortality in Sahelian Sheep on a Breeding Station in Ghana

A retrospective cohort study was designed to examine the effect of sex, season of birth, type and year of birth, and birth weight on lamb mortality. The method used involved analysis of breeding records for Sahelian sheep kept on a breeding station at Pong-Tamale in northern Ghana from 1994 to 2000. The pre-weaning and post-weaning mortalities were 10% (n = 505) and 19% (n = 453), respectively, while the overall mortality from birth up to 12 months of age was 28% (n = 505). Compared to the pre-weaning period, the post-weaning period recorded significantly higher proportions of deaths in male, single-born, lambs born in the rainy or dry seasons, and in lambs with low (<3 kg) or high (> or =3 kg) birth weight. The odds and risks of death for male lambs were about one and a half times those for females at post-weaning. Lambs born in the dry season had significantly higher mortality than those born in the rainy season. Lambs that died by the time of weaning were not significantly different in weight at birth from those that survived. The mean birth and weaning weights of single-born lambs were significantly higher than those for twins. The mean pre-weaning ADG was significantly higher in lambs born as singles compared to that for twins. The season of birth had influence on mean birth weight, with those born in the rainy season having significantly higher weights than those born in the dry season. The year of birth significantly affected birth weight, weaning weight, weight at 12 months and ADG at all stages of the lambs' life. The study concluded that the most significant risk factors for lamb mortality included sex of the lamb, season of birth and birth weight. The last two could be manipulated, to some extent, to reduce lamb mortality.     

油乳剂疫苗中硬脂酸铝含量与油相水相比例关系研究

进行了鸡新城疫、传染性支气管炎、产蛋下降综合征三联油乳剂疫苗生产中降低油相比例的试验.当油乳剂疫苗的油相中硬脂酸铝含量分别为2%、1%、0.5%,对应的油相:水相分别为3:1、2:1和1:1时进行的乳化试验结果表明:随着油相中硬脂酸铝含量降低,油相和水相的比例相应降低,呈正比例关系.当油相中硬脂酸铝含量与油/水比分别为2%和3:1、1%和2:1、0.5%和1:1时,制备的油苗质量均达到了国家标准.     

Successful drug development despite adverse preclinical findings part 1: processes to address issues and most important findings

Unexpected adverse preclinical findings (APFs) are not infrequently encountered during drug development. Such APFs can be functional disturbances such as QT prolongation, morphological toxicity or carcinogenicity. The latter is of particular concern in conjunction with equivocal genotoxicity results. The toxicologic pathologist plays an important role in recognizing these effects, in helping to characterize them, to evaluate their risk for man, and in proposing measures to mitigate the risk particularly in early clinical trials. A careful scientific evaluation is crucial while termination of the development of a potentially useful drug must be avoided. This first part of the review discusses processes to address unexpected APFs and provides an overview over typical APFs in particular classes of drugs. If the mode of action (MoA) by which a drug candidate produces an APF is known, this supports evaluation of its relevance for humans. Tailor-made mechanistic studies, when needed, must be planned carefully to test one or several hypotheses regarding the potential MoA and to provide further data for risk evaluation. Safety considerations are based on exposure at no-observed-adverse-effect levels (NOAEL) of the most sensitive and relevant animal species and guide dose escalation in clinical trials. The availability of early markers of toxicity for monitoring of humans adds further safety to clinical studies. Risk evaluation is concluded by a weight of evidence analysis (WoE) with an array of parameters including drug use, medical need and alternatives on the market. In the second part of this review relevant examples of APFs will be discussed in more detail.     

日粮精粗比对瘤胃内环境及微生物区系影响的研究

瘤胃作为反刍动物体内的饲料加工厂,其内环境稳定和微生物区系的平衡影响着动物对饲料的利用,日粮精粗比的改变影响瘤胃内环境稳态以及微生物区系组成,从而影响反刍动物的生产效率。本文综述了日粮精粗比影响瘤胃pH、NH3-N浓度、VFA浓度和瘤胃微生物区系组成的研究进展,为在生产实践中提高反刍动物生产效率提供理论依据。     

Dominance in domestic dogs revisited: Useful habit and useful construct?

In the last decade, the validity and relevance of the dominance model was regularly put into question regarding relationships between canids like dogs and wolves, and consequently, human–dog relationships as well. The concept underlying this model, scientifically defined as an intervening variable reflecting status difference between individuals, is applicable when formal status signals symbolize the long-term relationship between individuals, resulting in a formalized dominance hierarchy. This article reviews the basics underlying the concept of dominance and reflects on the value and importance of some new quantitative studies on the applicability of the concept of dominance in domestic dogs. The conclusions are, first, that formal dominance is present in the domestic dog, expressed by context-independent unidirectional formal status signals. Consequently, formal dominance (e.g., submission) plays an important role in assessing status in dog–dog relationships. Second, that nonverbal status–related communication in humans resembles that in dogs to a considerable degree, and hence dogs may be well able to interpret this human status–related nonverbal communication from their perspective. Dominance is therefore also likely to play a role in human–dog relationships. Hence, the dominance concept might be useful to explain the development of certain problems in dog–dog and dog–human relationships. However, enforcing a dominant status by a human may entail considerable risks and should therefore be avoided.     

Experimental Study on Shear Strength of High Strength Concrete Columns

On basis of the experiment on sixteen high strength concrete columns, their shear behaviors are analysed. The effects of shear-span ratio and axial compression ratio on failure behavior, cracking shear and shear strength are analysed. The authors have discussed the suitability of the design equations for shear strength in the code. This experimental study on shear strength of high strength concrete frame columns is the first one in this field at home and the results can be served as reference for the code of high strength concrete design.     

草粮轮作与农田生态平衡——兼论 Ladino 白三叶的生态经济效益

利用无性繁殖法定植Ｌａｄｉｎｏ白三叶（Ｔｒｉｆｏｉｕｍｒｅｐｅｎｓ）和雅安逸生白三叶（Ｔ．ｒｅｐｅｎｓ），地上部生物量前者比后者表现出极显著差异；地下部生物量和贮氮量表现为显著差异。后作玉米产量，Ｌａｄｉｎｏ白三叶地为６．２９ｔ／ｈａ大于雅安逸生白三叶地（６．１５ｔ／ｈａ）；农田生态系统里前者表现为正氮平衡，后者表现为负氮平衡，前者土壤固相、液相和气相比为１∶０．５∶０．２５明显优于后者；前者Ｃ／Ｎ比适中，后者Ｃ／Ｎ过窄，其抗性雅安逸生白三叶低于Ｌａｄｉｎｏ白三叶。三种种子直播的豆科牧草的生态经济特性表现为南苜蓿（Ｍｅｄｉｃａｇｏｈｉｓｐｅｄａ）大于苕子（Ｖｉｃｉａｃｏｒａｃｃａ），紫云英（Ａｓｔｒａｇａｌｕｓｓｉｎｉｃｕｓ）则介于两者之间。草粮轮作周期证明，Ｌａｄｉｎｏ白三叶和南苜蓿以及苕子是无性繁殖和有性繁殖的最佳材料，值得广泛推广利用。