Veterinary medicine of the GDR in strained relations between technical instructions and political guidelines

The development of Veterinary Medicine in the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany and the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) is sketched in highlights. After the collectivization of agriculture (1960) a centralistically controlled national veterinary system was established. It was suited to the requirements of the industrially organized animal production. The successive classification of socialistic veterinary administration was associated with the following matters: the extension of veterinary subject matters, a vertical division of work with the aid of newly created technical veterinary professions, and a penetration of the profession with political guidelines. As the professional level of the veterinary system in the GDR was relatively high the reflection in retrospective needs to be evaluated in a differentiated way considering the textual and social conditions. In spite of centralism and indoctrination the veterinary system remained professionally autonomous with islands of political independence, which sustained the identity of this profession. The latter formed the base for self renewal of the East German veterinary system at the end of the socialistic area 1989/1990.     

Effect of short‐term fasting and re‐feeding on growth,digestive enzyme activities and antioxidant defence in yellowfin seabream,Acanthopagrus latus (Houttuyn, 1782)

An 80‐day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the influence of different short‐term fasting and re‐feeding strategies on growth and physiological responses in yellowfin seabream, Acanthopagrus latus (2.4 ± 0.2 g) fingerlings. The fish were subjected to four different feeding regimes, and the control group fed four times daily to apparent satiation throughout the whole feeding period, while the other three groups were deprived for 2, 4 and 8 days followed by 8, 16 or 32 days of re‐feeding (F₂R₈, F₄R₁₆ and F₈R₃₂, respectively) in repeated cycles for 80 days. The fish in the control and F₂R₈ groups had the highest and the lowest total length, respectively (p < .05). Moreover, fish exposed to F₄R₁₆ had the highest hepatosomatic indices, while control fish had the lowest hepatosomatic indices (p < .05). Fish in the F₂R₈ group relatively had higher catalase and glutathione‐S‐transferase activities than other groups (p < .05). Furthermore, total protease, α‐amylase and alkaline phosphatase activities in the F₄R₁₆ and F₈R₃₂ were higher than the F₂R₄ and control groups (p < .05). Overall, this study showed that compensatory growth in weight and length and digestive enzyme activities were observed in the F₄R₁₆ and F₈R₃₂; however, the increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the F₈R₃₂ group indicated that oxidative stress remained after 80 days of re‐feeding in the liver.     

Rooting ability of Persian walnut as affected by seedling vigour in response to stool layering

Summary

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is an important nut crop with a “difficult-to-root” characteristic. In this study, the rooting ability of low-vigour and precocious seedlings of 3-year-old Persian walnut was compared with semi-vigorous and high-vigour seedlings using the stool layering method. The results indicated that low-vigour seedlings rooted more (40%) than semi-vigorous (31.42%) and high-vigour (17.14%) seedlings. The average number of roots per shoot (layer) and rooting score (on a scale of 1 – 5) in the low-vigour group were 7.83 and 4.19, respectively, which differed significantly from the high-vigour group. Moreover, most of the high quality adventitious roots formed on low-vigour seedlings appeared to originate from internal tissues compared to the low quality and brittle roots that originated from callus in high-vigour seedlings. Improved rooting of low-vigour seedlings, together with a significant negative correlation between layer size and root number (r = –0.29), reflects substantial structural or hormonal differences among seedlings of different vigour. Approx. 70% of rooted layers survived after transferring to field condition. Our results provide more support for the possibility of vegetative propagation of walnut by conventional stool layering, as well as the selection of easy-to-root, dwarf walnut cultivars or rootstocks on their own roots.     

Maize landraces of the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes region of North America

Thirty-five white maize (Zea mays L.) landraces were obtained by the Indian Agricultural Program of Ontario (IAPO) from native farmers in Ontario and New York State between 1986 and 1989. These landraces probably belong to the racial complex Northern Flints and Flours. The 35 landraces, one experimental population and one control hybrid were evaluated in field experiments at two sites in 1993 and 1994. Data were collected on 24 traits in order to characterize and classify the IAPO landraces. Most quantitative traits examined exhibited considerable variation among the IAPO landraces. Variation was also observed within many of the landraces for ear and cob colour, and for endosperm texture. Most ears had eight rows of kernels, but there was some variation for this among and within landraces. Based on seven traits from the two sites in 1994, the IAPO population was grouped into 10 clusters by centroid clustering analysis. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Human papillomavirus infection in lung vs. oral squamous cell carcinomas: a polymerase chain reaction study

The role of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has been suspected in pathogenesis of various malignancies; however, the available data are not conclusive. This study aimed to determine and compare the frequency of HPV infection in oral and lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) by a sensitive method. Sixty specimens of oral and lung SCC (30 cases each one) were reevaluated in Tabriz Imam Reza Centre in a 24 month period. Following genomic DNA extract, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification was performed in presence of specific MY11 and MY09 primers for HPV infection. Three cervical specimens and a combination of PCR solution lacking DNA plus healthy persons' DNA samples were employed as positive and negative controls, respectively. The oral group was significantly older than the lung group (68.90 vs. 56.67 y, p < 0.001) with more males in the latter (83.3 vs. 60%; p = 0.04). Percentages of HPV infection in the oral and lung groups were comparable (20 vs. 10%, respectively; p = 0.47). Majority of patients with HPV infection were older than 60 years (88.9%) or male (88.9%). In the oral group, all these cases were well differentiated and the majority was of lower lip origin (83.3%). In the lung group, 66.7% of these specimens were moderately differentiated and the origin was bronchus in all cases. In conclusion, the rate of HPV infection in lung and oral SCC samples is rather lower than the previous reports in the literature. This rate is apparently higher in the oral than the lung SCC specimens.     

Pre- and post-McDonald cerclage cervical length, width and funneling rate and their association with duration of pregnancy

Changes of cervical ultrasonographic physical parameters and their association with outcome of cerclage have not been fully elucidated. This study aimed at evaluating association between ultrasonographic physical cervical shapes before and after McDonald cerclage with the length of pregnancy. Cervical length, width and funneling rate were assessed by transvaginal ultrasonography before and after the procedure. Mean pre-cerclage cervical length, width and funneling rate were 29.28 +/- 5.54, 19.92 +/- 10.30 mm and 12.90 +/- 18.87%, respectively. The mean post-cerclage cervical length, diameter and funneling rate were 31.68 +/- 4.21, 9.78 +/- 13.86 and 4.32 +/- 10.89%, respectively (p < 0.001 for all pre- and post-cerclage changes). The mean post-cerclage duration of pregnancy was 19.78 +/- 5.94 weeks. There were significant direct correlations between the pre-and post-cerclage cervical lengths with pregnancy duration (r = 0.24, p = 0.04 and r = 0.44, p < 0.001, respectively). There were significant indirect correlations between the pre- and post-cerclage funneling rate with pregnancy duration (r = -0.30, p = 0.01 and r = -0.20, p = 0.01, respectively). Similar correlations were not significant for the cervical widths. This study showed that the pre- and post-cerclage ultrasonographically determined cervical length and funneling are good predictors of pregnancy duration.     

How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?

Growing global population figures and per-capita incomes imply an increase in food demand and pressure to expand agricultural land. Agricultural expansion into natural ecosystems affects biodiversity and leads to substantial carbon dioxide emissions.Considerable attention has been paid to prospects for increasing food availability, and limiting agricultural expansion, through higher yields on cropland. In contrast, prospects for efficiency improvements in the entire food-chain and dietary changes toward less land-demanding food have not been explored as extensively. In this study, we present model-based scenarios of global agricultural land use in 2030, as a basis for investigating the potential for land-minimized growth of world food supply through: (i) faster growth in feed-to-food efficiency in animal food production; (ii) decreased food wastage; and (iii) dietary changes in favor of vegetable food and less land-demanding meat. The scenarios are based in part on projections of global food agriculture for 2030 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO. The scenario calculations were carried out by means of a physical model of the global food and agriculture system that calculates the land area and crops/pasture production necessary to provide for a given level of food consumption.In the reference scenario - developed to represent the FAO projections - global agricultural area expands from the current 5.1 billion ha to 5.4 billion ha in 2030. In the faster-yet-feasible livestock productivity growth scenario, global agricultural land use decreases to 4.8 billion ha. In a third scenario, combining the higher productivity growth with a substitution of pork and/or poultry for 20% of ruminant meat, land use drops further, to 4.4 billion ha. In a fourth scenario, applied mainly to high-income regions, that assumes a minor transition towards vegetarian food (25% decrease in meat consumption) and a somewhat lower food wastage rate, land use in these regions decreases further, by about 15%.