Cytoarchitecture, morphology, and lumbosacral spinal cord projections of the red nucleus in cattle

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the morphology, cytoarchitecture, and lumbosacral spinal cord projections of the red nucleus (RN) in cattle. ANIMALS: 8 healthy Friesian male calves. PROCEDURES: Anesthetized calves underwent a dorsal laminectomy at L5. Eight bilateral injections (lateral to the midline) of the neuronal retrograde fluorescent tracer fast blue (FB) were administered into the exposed lumbosacral portion of the spinal cord. A postsurgical calf survival time of 38 to 55 days was used. Following euthanasia, the midbrain and the L5-S2 spinal cord segments were removed. Nissl's method of staining was applied on paraffin-embedded and frozen sections of the midbrain. RESULTS: The mean length of the RN from the caudal to cranial end ranged from 6,680 to 8,640 microm. The magnocellular and parvicellular components of the RN were intermixed throughout the nucleus, but the former predominate at the caudal portion of the nucleus and the latter at the cranial portion with a gradual transitional zone. The FB-labeled neurons were found along the entire craniocaudal extension of the nucleus, mainly in its ventrolateral part. The number of FB-labeled neurons was determined in 4 calves, ranging from 191 to 1,469 (mean, 465). The mean cross-sectional area of the FB-labeled neurons was approximately 1,680 microm2. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In cattle, small, medium, and large RN neurons, located along the entire craniocaudal extension of the RN, contribute to the rubrospinal tract reaching the L6-S1 spinal cord segments. Thus, in cattle, as has been shown in cats, the RN parvicellular population also projects to the spinal cord.     

Assessing heavy metal contamination in soils of the Zagreb region (Northwest Croatia) using multivariate geostatistics

The assessment of soil contamination and location of pollution sources represent a crucial issue in soil remediation. Topsoil samples were collected in the Zagreb area (Northwest Croatia) and the total contents of trace and major elements were determined. A multivariate geostatistical analysis was used to estimate soil chemical composition variability. Factorial Kriging Analysis (FKA) was used to investigate the scale-dependent correlation structure of some variables by modelling co-regionalization of ten chemical variables, co-kriging specific factors and mapping them. The FKA provided two regionalized factors at different spatial scales of variability: the first factor at shorter range for Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu and Ni indicated different sources of anthropogenic contamination, whereas Ca (mainly loading on the longer range factor) was related to the lithology and parent material composition. The methodology used has proved to be a useful tool to separate geological and anthropogenic causes of variation in soil heavy metal content and to identify common pollution sources.     

Prospective evaluation of techniques for differentiating shoulder pathology as a source of forelimb lameness in medium and large breed dogs

Objective— To assess lameness evaluation, shoulder abduction angles, radiography, and ultrasonography for determining presence, location, and severity of forelimb pathology. Study Design— Prospective cohort study. Animals— Dogs ≥20 kg (n=30). Methods— Each dog was assigned lameness scores. Shoulder abduction angles were determined. Radiographs of shoulders and elbows were subjectively graded for pathology. One investigator unaware of dog history (lameness, radiographic findings) performed ultrasonographic assessment of shoulders with subjective grading of pathology. Another investigator unaware of dog history (lameness, radiographic, ultrasonographic findings) performed arthroscopic assessment of shoulders with subjective grading of pathology. Elbows were disarticulated and evaluated for gross pathology. Histologic pathology scoring of shoulder tissues was performed. Data were compared for differences among groups, sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated. Results— Twenty‐seven forelimbs were considered clinically normal, 26 had shoulder pathology, 5 had elbow pathology, and 2 had pathology of both the shoulder and elbow. Dogs with shoulder pathology were twice as likely to be lame compared with dogs with elbow pathology. Limbs with medial shoulder instability had significantly higher abduction angles than normal limbs and those with elbow pathology. Radiographs were clinically useful for diagnosing elbow, but not shoulder, pathology. Ultrasonography was clinically useful for diagnosing shoulder pathology other than instability. Abduction angles, ultrasonographic evaluation, and arthroscopic assessments had strong, significant correlations with reference standards. Conclusions— Clinically relevant diagnostic techniques yielded characteristic, repeatable differences in objective and subjective assessments for distinguishing presence, location, and severity of forelimb lameness in dogs. Clinical Relevance— The diagnostic approach to forelimb lameness in dogs should include shoulder pathology as a differential with multiple assessments used to determine the clinical cause of lameness.     

Comparative effects of the herbicide dinitro-o-cresol on mitochondrial bioenergetics

The herbicide dinitro-o-cresol (DNOC) was evaluated for its effects on bioenergetic activities of potato tuber mitochondria to elucidate its mechanism of action and to compare its toxicological properties with those of the chemically related uncoupler dinitrophenol (DNP). DNOC acts as a typical uncoupler, similarly to the classical uncouplers DNP and carbonylcyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenyl-hydrazone (FCCP). Low concentrations of DNOC (<100 μM ) maximally stimulate succinate-supported respiration of plant mitochondria, with simultaneous collapse of trans-membrane electrical potential, more efficiently than DNP. The herbicide makes the plant mitochondrial membrane more permeable to protons, acting as a protonophore even in non-energized mitochondria. High concentrations of DNOC (>100 μM ) act also more efficiently than DNP simultaneously as a protonophore and inhibitor of respiration, especially when respiration is supported by substrates that are transported to the matrix. The efficiency of DNOC is decreased with increase of mitochondrial protein, BSA and exogenous orthophosphate. Although similar effects were observed for animal and plant mitochondria, rat-liver mitochondrial respiration was more sensitive to DNOC than plant mitochondria. Furthermore, in the presence of DNOC, liver mitochondria exhibited a higher state 3 respiratory coupling level than potato tuber mitochondria, as a result of a considerable stimulation (60%) of state 3 respiration. In conclusion, DNOC is a more potent mitochondrial uncoupler and respiratory chain inhibitor than DNP, although their chemical structures are very similar. Apparently, the additional methyl group of DNOC increases its efficiency as an uncoupler and as an inhibitor, as compared to DNP. Plant mitochondria were shown to be as useful as animal mitochondria in evaluating the toxicity of these xenobiotics. © 1998 Society of Chemical Industry.     

Effects of travel distance and season of the year on transport‐related mortality in cattle

The number of animals that die during transport to a slaughterhouse or shortly after being delivered to a slaughterhouse may serve as an indicator of animal welfare during transport. The aim of this study was to determine the mortality rate in cattle resulting from transport to slaughter in the Czech Republic in the period from 2009 to 2014, and to investigate the effect of travel distance and season of the year. Transport‐related mortality rates were recorded for all categories of cattle for the following travel distances: up to 50 km, 51–100 km, 101–200 km and over 200 km. Higher mortality rates occurred with shorter travel distances (<50 km and 51–100 km) when compared to longer travel distances (101–200 km and > 200 km), with a significant difference (P < 0.01) between short and long travel distances being found in feeders and dairy cows. Also, the season of the year had a significant impact on the mortality rate among transported cattle. The highest mortality rate in all categories was observed in spring months. The lowest mortality rate was found in autumn months for fat cattle and dairy cows and in winter months for feeders and calves.     

Fine‐scale analysis of heavily invaded Italian freshwater fish assemblages

Inland waters are highly vulnerable to the introduction and spread of non‐native species, due to heavy human use of aquatic ecosystems and the natural linkages among streams and lakes. This is particularly noticeable in freshwater fish communities. To better evaluate how these communities are affected by non‐native species introductions, we conducted a fine‐scale analysis of the changes in Italian freshwater fish assemblages after species introduction. For this analysis, we collected information on fish species present in 44 basins. The present Italian freshwater fish fauna is composed of 48 native and 41 established introduced species, while a further 15 introduced species have been reported but are not yet considered naturalized. The changes in the fish assemblages mostly took place in the past 2 centuries and have increased recently, with nearly 60% of the species introduced in the past 3 decades. The number of species introduced per basin ranged from 0 to 35 (mean 10.85 ± 7.77 species/basin), and in 10 basins the number of species introduced is now equal to or even higher than the number of native species. In the past, introduced species mainly originated from America, but over the past three decades, an increase of introductions from other parts of Europe and Asia has been recorded. Our results show that basins already rich in native species tend to become even richer as a consequence of the establishment of introduced species. This confirms the trend toward a biotic homogenization of ecosystems even at a local scale, due to an increase in the human‐mediated spread of generalist species.     

Integration of optical and analogue sensors for monitoring canopy health and vigour in precision viticulture

Remote-Sensing (RS) is the most widely used technique for crop monitoring in precision viticulture systems. This paper considers the possibility of substituting RS information obtained by various proximal sensing technologies employed directly in vineyards in order to enable a simultaneous evaluation of canopy health and vigour status. To this aim, a mobile lab has been developed. It consists of (a) two GreenSeeker RT100 sensors, a commercial optical device calculating NDVI, and Red/NIR indices in real time; (b) three pairs of ultrasonic sensors to estimate canopy thickness; and (c) a DGPS receiver to geo-reference data collected while travelling in a vineyard. During the 2007–2008 campaign, tests were carried out in a commercial vineyard in order to evaluate the monitoring system performance regarding disease appearance, diffusion, and vegetative development variations due to the normal growing process of vines. Surveys with the mobile lab were conducted in two groups of rows, treated and untreated with agrochemicals, and compared to manual morphological and physiological observations that characterised the phytosanitary status of the canopy. Measurement repeatability was verified; both NDVI values and ultrasonic data showed high repeatability (with r = 0.88 and r = 0.85, respectively). Optical data were processed in order to obtain NDVI maps, which clearly showed differences in canopy vigour evolution in the two examined groups, with low vegetative vigour in areas infected by Plasmopara viticola, as confirmed by manual assessment. Maps of the percentage infection index (I%I) were produced according to pathological manual survey results. The comparison between I%I and NDVI maps qualitatively confirmed the real vine phytosanitary status. Ultrasonically measured canopy thickness (UCT) was calculated and compared to manually measured canopy thickness (MCT) (r = 0.78). UCT and NDVI values were compared in order to identify areas affected by disease among zones presenting critical vegetation conditions.     

Pomological and Nutraceutical Properties in Apricot Fruit: Cultivation Systems and Cold Storage Fruit Management

We have investigated the effect of cultivation systems and fruit post-harvest management on the antioxidant properties of apricot fruits. Trees of five cultivars ‘Tyrinthos’, ‘Cafona’, ‘Bella d’Italia’, ‘Vitillo’ and ‘Pellecchiella’ were cultivated under integrated and organic systems. Fruits were collected at full maturity stage and analyzed either immediately or after storage at 4±0.5 °C and 85% of relative humidity for seven and 14 days. The main pomological traits (weight, colour, flesh firmness, total soluble sugars, titratable acidity) and antioxidant properties were analyzed. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC by TEAC method), total phenols content (TP by Folin-Ciocalteu method) and carotenoid content by HPLC-DAD were monitored. Cultivar characterization by principal component analysis (PCA) indicated a large variability on pomological and antioxidant properties of apricot fruits. ‘Bella d’Italia’ showed better TAC and TP values compared to the other cultivars. ANOVA interactions between cultivar and cultivation system (organic/integrated) were found for the antioxidant properties. These interactions may help to select a set of genotypes with better performances under organic system, which in our study might be indicated in ‘Cafona’ and ‘Bella d’Italia’.