Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., Verocytotoxic Escherichia coli,and Antibiotic Resistance in Indicator Organisms in Wild Cervids

Faecal samples were collected, as part of the National Health Surveillance Program for Cervids (HOP) in Norway, from wild red deer, roe deer, moose and reindeer during ordinary hunting seasons from 2001 to 2003. Samples from a total of 618 animals were examined for verocytotoxic E. coli (VTEC); 611 animals for Salmonella and 324 animals for Campylobacter. A total of 50 samples were cultivated from each cervid species in order to isolate the indicator bacterial species E. coli and Enterococcus faecalis/E. faecium for antibiotic resistance pattern studies. Salmonella and the potentially human pathogenic verocytotoxic E. coli were not isolated, while Campylobacter jejuni jejuni was found in one roe deer sample only. Antibiotic resistance was found in 13 (7.3%) of the 179 E. coli isolates tested, eight of these being resistant against one type of antibiotic only. The proportion of resistant E. coli isolates was higher in wild reindeer (24%) than in the other cervids (2.2%). E. faecalis or E. faecium were isolated from 19 of the samples, none of these being reindeer. All the strains isolated were resistant against one (84%) or more (16%) antibiotics. A total of 14 E. faecalis-strains were resistant to virginiamycin only. The results indicate that the cervid species studied do not constitute an important infectious reservoir for either the human pathogens or the antibiotic resistant microorganisms included in the study.     

From regionally predictable to locally complex population structure in a freshwater top predator: river systems are not always the unit of connectivity in Northern Pike Esox lucius

Contemporary genetic diversity is the product of both historical and contemporary forces, such as climatic and geological processes affecting range distribution and continuously moulded by evolutionary forces selection, gene flow and genetic drift. Predatory freshwater fishes, such as Northern Pike Esox lucius, commonly exhibit small population sizes, and several local populations are considered endangered. Pike inhabit diverse habitat types, including lakes, rivers and brackish marine waters, thus spanning from small isolated patches to large open marine systems. However, pike population structure from local to regional scales is relatively poorly described, in spite of its significance to developing conservation measures. We analysed microsatellite variation in a total of 1185 North European pike from 46 samples collected across both local and regional scales, as well as over time, to address two overarching questions: Is pike population structure associated with local and/or regional connectivity patterns, and which factors likely have the main influence on the contemporary distribution of genetic diversity? To answer this, we combined estimators of population diversity and structure to assess evidence of whether populations within (i) habitats, (ii) drainage systems and (iii) geographical regions are closer related than among these ranges, and whether patterns are temporally stable. Contrasting previous predictions that genetic drift obscures signals of postglacial colonisation history, we identified clear regional differences in population genetic signatures, suggesting a major effect of drainage divides on colonisation history and connectivity. However, several populations deviated from the general pattern, showing that local processes may be complex and need to be examined case‐by‐case.     

Loser cows in Danish dairy herds: definition, prevalence and consequences

During the last few years, many Danish dairy farmers have expressed increasing concerns regarding a group of cows, which we have chosen to term ‘loser cows’. Until now, a loser cow has not been described scientifically. We defined a loser cow on the basis of a clinical examination of the cow. A total of 15,151 clinical examinations were made on 6,451 individual cows from 39 randomly selected, large Danish dairy herds with loose-housing systems using a clinical protocol. Scores for the clinical signs lameness, body condition, hock lesions, other cutaneous lesions, vaginal discharge, condition of hair coat and general condition were converted into a loser cow score. Cows with a loser cow score of 8 or more were classified as loser cows. The overall prevalence of loser cows was 2.15%, 4.50% and 2.98% during the first, second and third round of herd visits, respectively.

The associations between the loser cow state and milk production, mortality, morbidity, culling and workload for the farmer were evaluated using data from herd visits and from the Danish Cattle Database and a number of different statistical techniques. It was concluded that the loser cow state has significant negative consequences for both the farmer and the cow. On average, loser cows yielded 0.61 to 2.24 kg energy corrected milk less per day than non-loser cows depending on parity. Hazard ratio for death or euthanasia was 5.69 for loser cows compared to non-loser cows. Incidence rate ratio for disease treatments was 0.69 for non-loser cows compared to loser cows. Loser cows were often culled in an ‘unfavourable’ way and generally caused extra workload for the farmer.

A simplified version of the loser cow score was evaluated and is recommended for future research and use in practice.     

Design of the Virtual Instrument of Frequency/Amplitude Sweep

In this paper the inevitable trend of constructing open ecosystem in modern settlement environment was discussed through the history of the settlement environment and the characters of modern settlement environment.The ecological crisis,change of the modern life and the citizens' needs and the ecological system character show,that it is important for sustainable development of the settlement environment to construct open ecosystem.The construction of modern habitation and the city room embodies the concept of open ecosystem.Then,in construction and research of modern settlement,the ecological viewpoint and method should be applied.     

Tissue Culture and Rapid Propagation of Actinidia chinensis

It has been briefly studied and reported that Actinidia chinensis , one of economic woody plants, has been bred with the method of plant tissue culture. Aim at the shortage of traditional plant tissue culture ways which ignored the refinement and transplant of test-tube seedling, it strengthen the study to breeding and management of Actinidia chinensis seedlings before they grow up and become mature seedlings. Through our explore, the transplant survive rate of tissue-culture seedlings attain to about 85%.This study is the improvement to traditional breeding seedling means and it is helpful to the rapid propagation of those economic woody plants.     

Micro-scaled high-throughput digestion of plant tissue samples for multi-elemental analysis

Background  

Quantitative multi-elemental analysis by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry depends on a complete digestion of solid samples. However, fast and thorough sample digestion is a challenging analytical task which constitutes a bottleneck in modern multi-elemental analysis. Additional obstacles may be that sample quantities are limited and elemental concentrations low. In such cases, digestion in small volumes with minimum dilution and contamination is required in order to obtain high accuracy data.     

浙江引种沾化冬枣设施栽培技术初探

沾化冬枣在我国南方栽培一直存在坐果难、落果严重、收益较差的严重问题。本文总结了浙江义乌密植矮化设施栽培沾化冬枣技术,其株行距为1.5 m×2 m,树高2 m左右,大棚单栋宽8 m,肩高3.5 m,棚顶高5 m,于2月中旬扣棚。在40%枣花盛开时环剥主枝,喷施0.01%浓度的赤霉素催花保果,并根据树势、座果能力和座果量进行疏果。施用商品有机肥（N+P2O5+K2O≧5.0%,有机质≧45.0%）做基肥,在清明后和6月底至7月初分别施用1次大量元素水溶肥（14-6-40+TE高钾型）。清明节前后枣树萌芽展叶前用石硫合剂清园,生长季综合防控病虫害。进行生草栽培,割草肥土。枣苗定植3年后亩产鲜枣达1600.8千克,比露天栽培增长42.86%。与露天栽培相比,裂果率降低85.23个百分点,扣除成本,露天栽培亩收益2460.56元,大棚栽培亩收益13560.74元,亩收益增长451.12倍。本文技术为沾化冬枣在我国南方的推广提供了成功示范。     

福州国家森林公园人工群落结构与物种多样性

以福州国家森林公园主要人工群落为研究对象 ,分析了人工群落结构与物种多样性 .对不同地段的 3种人工群落类型样地材料分析表明 ,群落垂直结构较复杂 ,可分为乔木层、灌木层、草本层 ,人工模拟生态系统森林群落有数量较多的层间植物 ;植物物种多样性指数较高     

The need for built-in validation of surveillance data so that changes in diagnostic performance of post-mortem meat inspection can be detected

Time trends in animal-disease surveillance often are evaluated on the basis of crude estimates of apparent prevalence. In addition to possible changes in the true prevalence of the condition, changes in apparent prevalence over time might reflect changes in sensitivity and/or specificity of the diagnostic classification used. To illustrate this, comparative post-mortem meat inspection data from four Danish slaughter plants sampled in 1993-1994 and 1997-1998 were used to obtain latent-class model estimates of the sensitivity and specificity of traditional and extended post-mortem meat inspection of visceral and parietal chronic pleuritis (CP), respectively.True prevalence of CP was estimated for each study period and slaughter plant by latent-class models. Estimated sensitivities of traditional post-mortem meat (TPM) inspection ranged from 28.8 to 61.4% (1993-1994) and 39.2 to 87.3% (1997-1998). An increase in sensitivity with time was seen for all slaughter plants. Estimated sensitivities of extended post-mortem meat (EPM) inspection ranged from 85.7 to 94.8% (1993-1994) and 73.8 to 93.0% (1997-1998). All estimated specificities were >93.3%.The possible association of the estimated true prevalence of CP with time (1993-1994 versus 1997-1998) was investigated with a logistic-regression model with random effects. A slight, but non-significant decrease in the odds of CP from 1994 to 1998 was found (odds ratio=0.9).In this and similar situations, one should consider conducting ongoing double-classification of samples of units followed by statistical estimation of true prevalences, sensitivities and specificities, so that decisions can be based on such estimates rather than on crude apparent prevalences.     

Quantification of bioavailable chlortetracycline in pig feces using a bacterial whole-cell biosensor

Bacterial whole-cell biosensors were used to measure the concentration of chlortetracycline (CTC) in the feces of pigs. In this study, the Escherichia coli biosensor used has a detection limit of 0.03 mg/kg CTC in pig feces. The tetracycline concentration was correlated with the appearance and maintenance of fecal coliform bacteria resistant to tetracycline. Initially, large quantities of water-extractable CTC were excreted from the pigs and measurable amounts were detected even at 30 days after treatment cessation. This led to a sharp rise in the number of tetracycline resistant coliform bacteria in the feces, to within the same order of magnitude as the total coliform count. The high level of tetracycline resistance was maintained in spite of the declining concentration of tetracycline.