Proteomic profiles during adventitious rooting of Eucalyptus species relevant to the cellulose industry

New Forests - Adventitious rooting (AR) is an obligatory step for vegetative propagation of commercial woody species. Paper industries have interest in Eucalyptus globulus Labill and its hybrids...     

Macrophakia in three cats

This report describes three cases of bilateral macrophakia in 3-, 5-, and 9-year-old cats, respectively. All cats were presented because of visual deficits. Ophthalmic examination revealed macrophakia (the vitreous was replaced by the lens) and retinal changes (tapetal hyper-reflectivity, attenuation of retinal vessels, and retinal folds) in all cats. In addition, bilateral subconjunctival orbital fat prolapse in one cat and microphthalmos in another cat were present. To confirm the ophthalmologic diagnosis of macrophakia, gross pathology examination in one cat and ultrasound examination in another cat were performed.     

MS based proteomic approaches for analysis of barley malt

In this review, we summarize advances in the proteomic analysis of barley, especially those involving mass spectrometric detection. We focus particularly on monitoring of global protein expression in barley malt and changes in proteins during the technological processing of barley grains.     

Landslide densities associated with rainfall,stand age,and topography on forested landscapes,southwestern Washington,USA

Elevated landslide rates in forested landscapes can adversely impact aquatic habitat and water quality and remove and/or degrade soil resources required for forest regeneration. As a result, understanding the associations between management actions, natural factors, and landslide rates is important information needed for land managers. An unusual and powerful storm in early December, 2007, caused record flooding and thousands of landslides across southwest Washington and northwest Oregon, USA, and provided a rare opportunity to examine the effects of both natural factors and forest management practices on landslide density. Landslide inventory data were collected from both aerial photos and systematic field surveys to provide a broad survey database that was used to develop estimates of landslide density and to examine associations between landslide density, precipitation, topography, and forest stand age across a 152,000 ha forested landscape in the Willapa Hills, Washington. We estimated the probability of detecting landslides on aerial photos for six strata defined by forest stand age and a broad range of rainfall intensity, expressed as percent of the 100-year, 24-h, maximum rainfall. Key findings are that landslide detection probability decreased with increasing stand age, but was similar across rainfall intensities. The overall fraction of field-detected landslides that were not detected on 1:12,000-scale aerial photos was 39%. Very few landslides occurred in the 0–100% of 100-year rainfall category, regardless of stand age or slope gradient class. At higher rainfall intensities, significantly higher landslide densities occurred on steep slopes (>70% gradient) compared to lower gradient slopes, as expected. Above ∼150% of 100-year rainfall, the density of landslides was ∼2–3 times larger in the 0–5 and 6–10 year stand age categories than in the 11–20, 21–30, 31–40, and 41+ categories. The effect of stand age was strongest at the highest rainfall intensities. Our results demonstrate that ground-based landslide inventory data are required in order to correct for detection bias from aerial photos, develop reasonable estimates of landslide density across environmental gradients such as rainfall magnitude and topography, and make unbiased interpretations of relationships between forest management associations and landslide occurrence.     

Pathogenicity of Pasteurella sp. in lumpsuckers (Cyclopterus lumpus L.)

The incidence of disease caused by Pasteurella sp. in farmed lumpsuckers in Norway has been steadily increasing in recent years, causing significant economic losses and fish welfare issues. The disease affects all life stages, both in hatcheries and after release into salmon cages. Therefore, it is important to establish robust challenge models, to be used for vaccine development. Exposure experiments via intramuscular and intraperitoneal injection underlined the high virulence of the bacteria, whereas the cohabitation and bath models allowed the chronic symptoms of the disease to be studied more accurately. Skin lesions and haemorrhage at the base of fins were observed in the more acute cases of the disease. Symptoms including white spots over the skin, especially around the eyes, characterized the chronic cases. The latter were most prominent from the bath challenge model. Histopathology indicated a systemic pattern of disease, whereas qPCR analysis from head kidney showed that bacteria may be present in survivor fish at the end of the challenges. In all the challenge models investigated, Pasteurella sp. was re‐isolated from the fish, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. These findings highlight the importance of screening of lumpsuckers prior to transfer to minimize the risks of carrying over asymptomatic carriers.     

Redeveloped docks as artificial lagoons: The development of brackish-water communities and potential for conservation of lagoonal species

• 1 The use of redeveloped docks for the conservation of lagoonal communities is considered with particular reference to the South Docks in Liverpool.
• 2 Redevelopment of the previously derelict South Docks since 1981 has created a semi-enclosed, brackish body of water by dredging of dock basins that were filled with silt. The development of biological communities on the walls and in the sediments of these docks has been studied.
• 3 A reasonably diverse flora and fauna was established on the walls within approximately six years, but a persistent sediment-dwelling community has not yet developed.
• 4 Over 90 species of macroflora and macrofauna have been recorded from the South Docks to date. Three of these species are considered to be lagoonal specialists.
• 5 Considerations for the management of docks as a resource in the conservation of lagoonal communities are discussed.

     

Susceptibility of sheep to European bat lyssavirus type-1 and -2 infection: a clinical pathogenesis study

European bat lyssaviruses (EBLVs) have been known to cross the species barrier from their native bat host to other terrestrial mammals. In this study, we have confirmed EBLV-1 and EBLV-2 susceptibility in sheep (Ovis ammon) following intracranial and peripheral (intramuscular) inoculation. Notably, mild clinical disease was observed in those exposed to virus via the intramuscular route. Following the intramuscular challenge, 75% of the animals infected with EBLV-1 and 100% of those that were challenged with EBLV-2 developed clinical signs of rabies and then recovered during the 94-day observation period. Disease pathogenesis also varied substantially between the two viruses. Infection with EBLV-1 resulted in peracute clinical signs, which are suggestive of motor neuron involvement. Antibody induction was observed and substantial inflammatrory infiltrate in the brain. In contrast, more antigen was detected in the EBLV-2-infected sheep brains but less inflammatory infiltrate and no virus neutralising antibody was evident. The latter involved a more protracted disease that was behaviour orientated. A high infectious dose was required to establish EBLV infection under experimental conditions (> or =5.0 logs/ml) but the infectious dose in field cases remains unknown. These data confirm that sheep are susceptible to infection with EBLV but that there is variability in pathogenesis including neuroinvasiveness that varies with the route of infection. This study suggests that inter-species animal-to-animal transmission of a bat variant of rabies virus to a terrestrial mammal host may be limited, and may not always result in fatal encephalitis.