Maturation of functional antibody affinity in animals immunised with synthetic foot-and-mouth disease virus.

A good correlation exists between specific neutralising antibody titre and protection against challenge with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) in infected or virus-vaccinated cattle, but not in the case of animals immunised with synthetic FMDV peptides. Therefore, mechanisms other than simple neutralisation are likely to be important in vivo. Antibody affinity may influence the protective capacity of sera from immunised animals and experiments were carried out to measure the functional affinity for synthetic FMDV peptide of sera from guinea pigs and cattle given various synthetic vaccines. In guinea pigs given a single dose of synthetic vaccine, antibody affinity increased with time after immunisation. In cattle, however, administration of a second dose of peptide 21 days after the first markedly retarded the process of affinity maturation. For guinea pig sera of equivalent neutralising activity, those of higher functional affinity had higher protective indices than those of lower functional affinity. Knowledge of the importance of antibody affinity in protection against FMD is important for an improved understanding of the mechanisms of protection and for the design of novel vaccines.     

安普霉素对仔猪内分泌的调控作用及血液生化指示的影响

采用单因子试验设计 ,28日龄大长北三元杂交断奶仔猪72头随机分为3组 ,研究饲料中添加不同剂量的安普霉素 (0、20、90mg/kg)对仔猪内分泌的调控作用及血液生化指标的影响。试验期为4周。结果表明 :仔猪日粮中添加90mg/kg的安普霉素可促进机体与生长有关的内分泌活动 ,提高内源激素 (生长激素、胰岛素、甲状腺激素T3)水平 (P<0.05),从而促进肌肉蛋白沉积 ;并具有显著降低血液中氨、尿素氮含量和提高血糖水平的作用 (P<0.05) ,表明安普霉素对仔猪具有增加氮沉积 ,促进蛋白质合成、抑制蛋白质分解的作用     

金霉素与赖氨酸和蛋氨酸交互作用研究

采用3×2×2因子饲养试验和2×2×2因子代谢试验,研究金霉素与赖氨酸和蛋氨酸的交互作用对肉仔鸡生产性能的影响,及金霉素对两种氨基酸代谢的影响。金霉素在饲料中添加150 mg/kg时,对0-3周肉仔鸡具有显著的促生长作用（P<0.01）;并显著提高肉仔鸡的饲料采食量和饲料转化率（P<0.01）,促进氮沉积（P<0.01）。对4-6周肉仔鸡的生产性能无显著影响（P>0.05）;金霉素、赖氨酸和蛋氨酸存在显著的互作关系（P<0.05）。金霉素的促生长效果受饲料中赖氨酸和蛋氨酸含量的影响,当日粮中赖氨酸水平为1.3％,蛋氨酸水平为0.6％时,肉仔鸡的生长性能最高。金霉素对赖氨酸的利用率没有显著影响（P>0.05）,对蛋氨酸和胱氨酸的表观利用率具有显著抑制作用（P<0.05）。研究结果表明持续低剂量金霉素与蛋氨酸和赖氨酸具有交互作用,这种互作关系影响彼此对肉仔鸡生产性能的作用效果,金霉素具有提高肉仔鸡赖氨酸需要量的作用。     

Sentinel practice-based survey of the management and health of horses in northern Britain.

Details of the management, feeding, level of activity and routine health care of horses in Scotland and the five northernmost counties in England were recorded through a stratified random sample of horse owners who had responded to a previous survey. Sixty-eight per cent of the horses were kept where their owners resided, and 32 per cent were kept away from the owner's home. More than 99 per cent were turned out to grazing for at least part of the year and 81 per cent were stabled for at least part of the time, most commonly bedded on straw (50 per cent) or shavings (34 per cent). Hay was fed to 87 per cent, sugar beet pulp to 64 per cent and commercially prepared concentrate mixes to 60 per cent of the horses. Hacking was the most popular activity (52 per cent of horses) followed by riding/pony club events (28 per cent) and showing (21 per cent). The majority of the horses were involved in more than one activity. There were an estimated 0.88 veterinary visits per horse per year and 29 per cent of the horses were reported to suffer from at least one permanent or recurrent health disorder. The median annual numbers of administrations of vaccines (influenza and tetanus) and anthelmintics were one and seven respectively per horse, and each horse was shod a median seven times. There were significant differences in the management of horses kept in different types of premises and in areas of different human population density.     

The use of the plasma chemistry unit as an aid to the scanning electron microscope study of avian egg‐shell structure

1. In order to study the mammillary layer of the avian egg shell by scanning electron microscopy, it is necessary to separate the outer shell membrane from the calcified shell.

2. Chemical methods of effecting membrane removal are difficult to standardise due to variations in the strength of the membrane‐shell bond.

3. The use of reactive gas plasma provides an alternative, more efficient method for removing membranes without the risk of damage to underlying crystalline structures.     

Effects of Confluent, Roscovitine Treatment and Serum Starvation on the Cell-cycle Synchronization of Bovine Foetal Fibroblasts

The present study was designed to examine the effects of cell-cycle synchronization protocols, such as confluent, roscovitine treatment and serum starvation, in bovine foetal fibroblasts on synchronization accuracy at G0/G1, viability, apoptosis, necrosis and ploidy for use as a nuclei donor. The cells in 5-10 passages were randomly allocated into three treated groups. Cells were cultured either in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) + 10% foetal bovine serum (FBS) until 90% confluent (group 1, confluent), in DMEM + 10% FBS + 30 microM roscovitine for 12 h (group 2, roscovitine), or in DMEM + 0.5% FBS for 5 days (group 3, serum starvation). Most of the cells (>80%) in all groups were arrested at the G0/G1 stage. Although the rates did not differ, cells in group 1 showed an increased cell population arrested at the G0/G1 phase. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher rates of apoptosis occurred in group 3 than in group 1 and 2 (10% vs 6% and 6%, respectively). No differences in chromosomal abnormality were observed among groups. However, by increasing the number of cell culture passages up to 15, significantly (p < 0.05) higher chromosomal abnormality was observed than in 5 and 10 passages (39% vs 28% and 23%, respectively) in group 1. The results clearly indicated that bovine foetal fibroblasts could be effectively synchronized at G0/G1 stages by all the three different treatments, confluent, roscovitine and serum starvation. However, cells in confluent showed reduced apoptosis and necrosis when they underwent 5-10 passages, exhibiting increased percentage of cells with stable chromosome diversity. Hence, cells in confluent merit further studies before they could be used as nuclear donors.     

Phylogeny of the frosty pod rot pathogen of cocoa

Morphological, cytological and molecular evidence is presented which confirms that the frosty pod rot pathogen of cocoa, formerly classified as the mitosporic fungus Moniliophthora roreri (Deuteromycota), belongs to the hymenomycetous genus Crinipellis (Basidiomycota) and that two varieties should now be recognized: Crinipellis roreri var. roreri and the new variety C. roreri var. gileri . The latter was collected on Theobroma gileri , an endemic tree of submontane forests in north-west Ecuador, and can be distinguished from Ecuadorian and Peruvian isolates from cocoa ( T. cacao ) on the basis of spore morphology, incompatibility and nucleotide sequence data. As with var. roreri , meiosis is shown to occur within the dispersive and infective spore stage of var. gileri and these meiospores are interpreted to represent a much modified probasidium. In addition, in a field inoculation experiment, an isolate from T. gileri proved to be noninfective to cocoa pods when compared with positive control strains isolated from T. cacao in western Ecuador and T. bicolor in eastern Ecuador. It is concluded that var. gileri is the vestigial progenitor of the frosty pod rot pathogen of cocoa, with a host range and distribution restricted to T. gileri in the mesic forests of north-west South America.