Viability of Extended Goat Semen Stored at Refrigerated Condition

Due to the small volume of goat semen ejaculate, just a few doses of goat semen were produced when the sperm concentration is 100 × 10^/mL. The study was aimed to determine the viability of extended goat semen at refrigerated condition at 5 ℃ using varying sperm concentrations and evaluated if sperm concentration lower than 100 × 10^6/mL would affect the motility, viability and sperm morphology at refrigerated condition. Using an artificial vagina, ejaculated goat semen was collected from goat semen donor aged 1.5 year. Physical evaluation of the collected semen showed an average volume of 0.54 mL, mean pH of 6.8 and a milky white color with thick consistency indicative of high concentration. Fresh goat semen had an initial average of 76% with an average initial sperm concentration of 128 × 10^/mL. The semen was divided into four treatments： sperm concentration of 100× 10^/mL, 75 × 10^/mL, 50 × 10^/mL and 25 × 10^/mL, and were stored at 5 ℃ for a period of 10 d. The semen evaluation was performed for each of the four treatments every other day. Results showed that the sperm concentration of spermatozoa affected the duration of storage based on the sperm motility percentage, viability and morphology of spermatozoa. The extended goat semen with sperm concentration of 25 and 50 million sperm/mL is optimal for storage within 6 d that gave satisfactory percentage motile, viable and morphologically normal spermatozoa.     

Application of high-temperature gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to the investigation of glycosidically bound components related to cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale L. Var. Nanum) volatiles

Free and bound volatile components of a Brazilian cashew apple variety (Anacardium occidentale L. var. nanum) were obtained by simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) and XAD-2 adsorption. According to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses and retention indices, 62 free volatile constituents were characterized and quantified. They were esters (40%), terpenes (20%), hydrocarbons (14%), fatty acids (9%), aldehydes (8%), alcohols (3%), lactones (3%), ketones (1%), phenols (1%), and norisoprenoids (1%). The glycosidically bound volatile precursors were analyzed by high-temperature GC-MS, after room temperature silylation. Several conjugated alcohols and cinnamic acids were detected and reported as cashew apple glycosyl constituents for the first time.     

Rapid screening of polar compounds in Brazilian propolis by high-temperature high-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Methanol extracts of propolis from six different places, five in Rio de Janeiro state and one in S?o Paulo state, both in the Southeast of Brazil, were investigated using high-temperature high-resolution gas chromatography (HT-HRGC) and HT-HRGC-mass spectometry. The main purpose of the study was to establish the applicability of HT-HRGC as an analytical method for systematic studies of polar propolis fractions. Several compounds, including carbohydrates, phenolic acid derivatives, and high molecular weight compounds (e.g., wax esters of long chain fatty alcohols) could be readily characterized in the crude extracts by HT-HRGC-MS. HT-HRGC and HT-HRGC-MS were shown to be quick and informative tools for rapid analysis of crude polar extracts without cleanup.     

"Coulomb Staircase" at Room Temperature in a Self-Assembled Molecular Nanostructure

Double-ended aryl dithiols [alpha,alpha'-xylyldithiol (XYL) and 4,4'-biphenyldithiol] formed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold(111) substrates and were used to tether nanometer-sized gold clusters deposited from a cluster beam. An ultrahigh-vacuum scanning tunneling microscope was used to image these nanostructures and to measure their current-voltage characteristics as a function of the separation between the probe tip and the metal cluster. At room temperature, when the tip was positioned over a cluster bonded to the XYL SAM, the current-voltage data showed "Coulomb staircase" behavior. These data are in good agreement with semiclassical predictions for correlated single-electron tunneling and permit estimation of the electrical resistance of a single XYL molecule (approximately18 ± 12 megohms).     

Phenolic constituents and antioxidant properties of Xanthosoma violaceum leaves

An extract of Xanthosoma violaceum leaves was subjected to a polyphenol profile determination, including total polyphenols, and antioxidant activity evaluation. Analysis of the extract resulted in the isolation of a new flavone C-glycoside, apigenin 6-C-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-8-C-beta-D-apiofuranoside (1), as well as known flavone C-glycosides, including vitexin (2), isovitexin (3), isovitexin 4'-O-rhamnopyranoside (4), apigenin 6-C-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside] (5), and apigenin 6,8-diC-beta-D-glucopyranoside (6). The antioxidant activity of the extract was assessed by means of two different in vitro tests: bleaching of the stable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH test) and peroxidation induced by the water-soluble radical initiator 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) hydrochloride, on mixed dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine/linoleic acid unilamellar vesicles (LP-LUV test). In both tests used, the extract and a fraction II showed a significant antioxidant/free-radical scavenging effect (fraction II, EC(50) = 11.6 microg/mL) in comparison to alpha-tocopherol (EC(50) = 10.1 microg/mL).     

Linalool from Lippia alba: study of the reproducibility of the essential oil profile and the enantiomeric purity

A new chemotype of the aromatic Verbenaceae species Lippia alba Mill. N. E. Br. from southeastern Brazil has recently been shown to have a high content of linalool in the leaf essential oil. Vegetative propagation of this chemotype was conducted at six different locations in Brazil, and the variation of the content and the optical purity of linalool in the oils were verified. Yields (0.6-0.9%, hydrodistillation), chemical composition, linalool content, and optical purity of the oils from all the plants were compared, using GC-FID, GC-MS, chiral chromatography, and retention index calculation. No plant exceeded the matrix in linalool content (46.5 to 90.7%), and the chemical profile of the oils was the same for all the samples. Purification of linalool to a content close to 100% was effected by vacuum distillation of the crude oil. Chiral analysis showed exclusively the presence of S-linalool in all the crude oils and in the distilled samples.     

Experimental acute canine monocytic ehrlichiosis: clinicopathological and immunopathological findings

Clinical signs, humoral and cellular immune responses, and microscopic and gross tissue alterations resulting from acute experimental Ehrlichia canis infection in dogs were studied. Four dogs were inoculated with E. canis and four were used as uninfected controls. After a 10-14-day incubation period, infected dogs developed pyrexia up to 41 degrees C for 6-8 days. Antibody titers to E. canis antigen were demonstrable in all inoculated dogs at 30 days post-infection. Necropsy of infected animals revealed pale mucous membranes, generalized lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, edema and ascites. Microcopically, the main lesions were: lymphoreticular hyperplasia in cortical areas of lymph nodes and spleenic white pulp, periportal accumulation of mononuclear cells and centrolobular fatty degeneration of the liver. Kidneys presented with glomerulonephritis characterized by interstitial mononuclear infiltration. Immunophenotyping of lymphocytes from lymph nodes and spleen sections displayed alterations in IgG, IgM, CD3+ and CD8+ cells population in infected dogs.     

Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococci on a farm: staff can harbour MRS when animals do not

The aim of this work was to establish the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococci (MRS) in the animals and staff of a teaching and research farm. Samples of dairy cattle (36), beef cattle (26), sheep (19), horses (21), pigs (23), goats (23) and humans (13) were collected and screened for the presence of MRS. The detection of mecA gene was performed by PCR to determine the resistance of the samples to methicillin. Antimicrobial-resistance testing to penicillin, meropenem, ceftriaxone, cephalothin, oxacillin, levofloxacin, enrofloxacin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, clindamycin, erytromycin, linezolid, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, tetracycline, doxycycline and vancomycin was performed on the mecA+ isolates. From the 161 samples, four methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci (MRCoNS) were isolated from human beings (31%), whereas none was isolated from animals (0%). No methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were isolated. All of the MRCoNS isolates from this work presented different antimicrobial resistance patterns. MRCoNS may be present in humans associated with animals while not present in the animals. Selective pressure outside of the farm and a lack of MRCoNS transmission between humans and animals may be responsible for this lack of correlation.     

Longevity of Mycobacterium bovis in brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) carcasses,and contact rates between possums and carcasses

Abstract

AIM: To determine, for a variety of environmental conditions, how long Mycobacterium bovis might remain viable inside the carcass of a brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) that died of bovine tuberculosis (Tb), and to measure the rate of contact between free-ranging possums and possum carcasses.

METHODS: Lesions of M. bovis were simulated by inoculating excised spleens weighing 0.5–1 g with 0.2 mL liquid culture containing approximately 5 x 10⁷ cfu M. bovis/mL. Simulated lesions were inserted into possum carcasses (n=48) at the peripheral lymph nodes. Carcasses were placed in the field at two sites (a tussock grassland and a podocarp-broadleaved forest site) and in two seasons (summer and winter) for up to 62 days. Survival rates of M. bovis were estimated by sampling the simulated lesions over time, and culturing the recovered lesion to determine if any viable M. bovis bacteria were present.

The time taken for a free-ranging possum to first encounter a dead possum in its home range was estimated by live-trapping possums and fitting them with proximity loggers (n=13). A ‘contact’ was recorded if these possums came within 40–50 cm of proximity loggers fitted to possum carcasses.

RESULTS: There were strong seasonal and site effects in the survival rate of M. bovis in possum carcasses. In the grassland habitat, no viable bacilli were cultured from any carcass after 3 days in summer, whereas in winter all samples were culture-positive for the first 20 days, and some were still positive after 27 days. The survival rates for forest habitat were intermediate between the results for grassland, and there were no culture-positive carcasses after 9 days in summer or 27 days in winter.

In summer, infected carcasses (n=6) were first encountered by possums a mean 1.9 (range 0.4–6.7) days after placement.

CONCLUSIONS: Possum carcasses were contacted by free-ranging possums within the period that viable M. bovis were shown to survive in a carcass. The risk of such infection is likely to be most significant in winter or in areas with microhabitats where the survival of M. bovis is high. However, the generally low survival rate of M. bovis in possum carcasses and the low frequency of possum-to-carcass contacts indicate this route of transmission alone could not maintain Tb in a possum population.     

A Case of Successful Pregnancy in a Ewe with Uterus Didelphys

Uterus didelphys is a rare congenital abnormality of the reproductive tract. Although it occurs in various species, there are no published reports describing pregnancy outcome in association with this abnormality. Herein we describe a case of successful unilateral singleton pregnancy in a ewe incidentally found to have uterus didelphys during the course of a biomedical research study. The pregnancy was established using assisted reproductive techniques and interrupted in late gestation, at which point the abnormality was identified. Serial ultrasound assessment of foetal biometry revealed a normal foetal growth trajectory. Despite a 45% reduction in placentome number, total placentome weight was near normal secondary to compensatory placentome growth and development. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed report of normal foetal growth in an animal with uterus didelphys and illustrates the ability of the ovine placenta to adapt to a reduced number of placentomes and maintain foetal nutrient supply.