Age over 25 years, but not plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone con-cen-tration above the seasonally adjusted reference range is predictive for radio-graphically assessed changes of chronic laminitis in elderly horses.

Endocrinopathic laminitis occurs as a consequence of hormonal derangements like pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). The objective of the present study was to assess the occurrence of radiographic changes associated with chronic laminitis in elderly, clinically sound horses. Fifty-one horses were included in the study.

[Professional entry into equine medicine].

In the present study phone interviews on working hours, salary, professional satisfaction and other topics were carried out with 30 equine veterinarians. None of the participants had more than five years of work experience. The gross annual wages ranged from CHF 36'400 to CHF 91'500.

Fecal strongyle egg counts in horses with suspected pre-clinical pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction before and after treatment with pergolide.

Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) has been associated with diminished immune response in aged horses. This prospective study hypothesised that this may result in increased strongyle egg shedding in affected animals and that horses treated with pergolide would have reduced fecal egg counts (eggs per gram, EPG) compared to placebo-treated animals. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations and EPG were tested in 48 horses.

Short-Term Effect of Different Physical Exercises and Physiotherapy Combinations on Sputum Expectoration, Oxygen Saturation, and Lung Function in Young Patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Purpose: Exercise and chest physiotherapy are integral components of cystic fibrosis (CF) care. We aimed to determine short-term effects of a combined exercise-physiotherapy intervention, using either trampoline or cycle exercises compared to billiard (sham training) on sputum production, oxygen saturation (SaO2) and short-term lung function in participants with CF.

Methods: Twelve 16- to 29-year-old individuals with CF were randomly allocated to all 3 interventions on non-consecutive days of a week with exercise and physiotherapy parts lasting 30 min and breaks of 30 min after each procedure.

Retrospective evaluation of all recorded horse race starts in Switzerland during a four year period focusing on discipline-specific risk factors for clinical events.

Reasons For Performing Study: Racetrack injuries are of welfare concern and the prevention of injuries is an important goal in many racing jurisdictions. Over the years this has led to more detailed recording of clinical events on racecourses. However, risk factor analyses of clinical events at race meetings have not been previously reported for Switzerland.

Clinical pharmacist's role in implementing a smoking cessation intervention in a Swiss regional hospital: an exploratory study.

Background: Smoking cessation represents one of the best means of preventing smoking-related complications. In recent years, a majority of hospitals have implemented smoke-free policies, making support for smoker patients a necessary and indispensable task. The clinical pharmacist is well-positioned to provide this kind of support, given a good understanding of the medical condition and pharmacotherapy of hospitalized patients and the possibility to acquire specific smoking cessation training.

Inheritance of equine sarcoid disease in Franches-Montagnes horses.

The mode of inheritance for susceptibility to equine sarcoid disease (ES) remains unknown. The objectives of this study were to analyse a large sample of the Franches-Montagnes (FM) horse population and investigate the heritability and mode of inheritance for susceptibility to ES. Horses were clinically examined for the presence of sarcoid tumours.

[Usefulness of biomarkers of sepsis in the ICU].

Despite some progress, the mortality of severe sepsis and septic shock remains high. Immunotherapy directed against inflammatory mediators failed, but new treatments more specifically tailored to individual situations are actively investigated. C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) have not demonstrated to be useful for individual prognostic stratification.

The use of the comprehensive International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for low back pain in clinical practice: a reliability study.

Background And Purpose: The comprehensive International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for low back pain (LBP) can be used to describe functioning and the influence of the environment of patients with LBP with a selection of 78 categories, from the ICF components 'body functions', 'body structures', 'activities and participation' and 'environmental factors'. The reliability of the qualifiers' scale of the ICF Core Set for LBP has not yet been studied.

Methods: Reliability study was conducted in three study centres in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Listeria brain abscess, Pneumocystis pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma after temozolomide.

Background: A 55-year-old man with glioblastoma multiforme was treated with continuous, dose-dense temozolomide. This therapy was curtailed after three cycles because of nausea, asthenia, and neuropsychological deterioration. During a subsequent course of radiotherapy, the patient developed fever, headaches, and cutaneous lesions.

Time-resolved monitoring of flash-induced changes of fluorescence quantum yield and decay of delayed light emission in oxygen-evolving photosynthetic organisms.

The present contribution describes a new experimental setup that permits time-resolved monitoring of the rise kinetics of the relative fluorescence yield, Phi(rel)(t), and simultaneously of the decay of delayed light emission, L(t), induced by strong actinic laser flashes. The results obtained by excitation of dark-adapted samples with a train of eight flashes reveal (a) in suspensions of spinach thylakoids, Phi(rel)(t) exhibits a typical period four oscillation that is characteristic for a dependence on the redox states S(i)() of the water oxidizing complex (WOC), (b) the relative extent of the unresolved "instantaneous" rise to the level (100 ns) at 100 ns and the maximum values of Phi(rel)(t) attained at about 45 s after each actinic flash, (45 s) synchronously oscillate and exhibit the largest values at flash nos. 1 and 5 and minima after flash nos.

Delayed fluorescence emitted from light harvesting complex II and photosystem II of higher plants in the 100 ns-5 micros time domain.

This study presents the first report on delayed fluorescence (DF) emitted from spinach thylakoids, D1/D2/Cytb-559 preparations and solubilized light harvesting complex II (LHCII) in the ns time domain after excitation with saturating laser flashes. The use of a new commercially available multichannel plate with rapid gating permitted a sufficient suppression of detector distortions due to the strong prompt fluorescence. The following results were obtained: (a) in dark-adapted thylakoids, the DF amplitudes at 100 ns and 5 micros after each flash of a train of saturating actinic pulses exhibit characteristic period four oscillations of opposite sign: the DF amplitudes at 100 ns oscillate in the same manner as the quantum yield of prompt fluorescence, whereas those at 5 micros resemble the oscillation of the micros kinetics of P680(.

Isolation and characterisation of oxygen evolving thylakoids from the marine prokaryote Prochloron didemni.

The present study describes the first successful attempt to isolate oxygen evolving thylakoids and thylakoid fragments from the marine prokaryote Prochloron didemni, a member of the recently discovered group of prochlorophytes. Oxygen evolving thylakoid membranes and fragments were isolated from seawater suspended cells of Prochloron didemni by passage of the cells through a Yeda press and subsequent differential centrifugation of the broken material. Three fractions were collected at 1000 x g, 5000 x g, and 3000 x g and identified by light microscopy as cells (and their fragments), thylakoids and membrane fragments, respectively.

P680(+)* reduction kinetics and redox transition probability of the water oxidizing complex as a function of pH and H/D isotope exchange in spinach thylakoids.

The rise of fluorescence as an indicator for P680(+)* reduction by YZ and the period-four oscillation of oxygen yield induced by a train of saturating flashes were measured in dark-adapted thylakoids as a function of pH in the absence of exogenous electron acceptors. The results reveal that: (i) the average amplitude of the nanosecond kinetics and the average of the maximum fluorescence attained at 100 micros after the flash in the acidic range decrease with decreasing pH; (ii) the oxygen yield exhibits a pronounced period-four oscillation at pH 6.5 and higher damping at both pH 5.

The role of hydrogen bonds for the multiphasic P680(+)* reduction by YZ in photosystem II with intact oxyen evolution capacity. Analysis of kinetic H/D isotope exchange effects.

The mechanism of multiphasic P680(+)* reduction by YZ has been analyzed by studying H/D isotope exchange effects on flash-induced changes of 830 nm absorption, DeltaA830(t), and normalized fluorescence yield, F(t)/F0, in dark-adapted thylakoids and PS II membrane fragments from spinach. It was found that (a) the characteristic period four oscillations of the normalized components of DeltaA830(t) relaxation and of F(t)/F0 rise in the nanosecond and microsecond time domain are significantly modified when exchangeable protons are replaced by deuterons; (b) in marked contrast to the normalized steady-state extent of the microsecond kinetics of 830 nm absorption changes which increases only slightly due to H/D exchange (about 10%) the Si state-dependent pattern exhibits marked effects that are most pronounced after the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth flashes; (c) regardless of data evaluation by different fit procedures the results lead to a consistent conclusion, that is, the relative extent of the back reaction between P680(+)*QA-* becomes enhanced in samples suspended in D2O; and (d) this enhancement is dependent on the Si state of the WOC and attains maximum values in S2 and S3, most likely due to a retardation of the "35 micros kinetics" of P680(+)* reduction. In an extension of our previous suggestion on the functional role of hydrogen bonding of YZ by a basic group X (Eckert, H.

Residual alkaline phosphatase activity in pasteurized milk heated at various temperatures--measurement with the fluorophos and Scharer rapid phosphatase tests.

Milk containing three levels of milkfat (skim [0.5%], lowfat [2.0%], and whole [3.

On the origin of the '35-mus kinetics' of P680(+.) reduction in photosystem II with an intact water oxidising complex.

The origin of the '35-micros kinetics' of P680(+.) reduction in photosystem II (PS II) with an intact water oxidising complex has been analysed by comparative measurements of laser flash induced changes of the 830-nm absorption and the relative quantum yield of chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence. The latter parameter was monitored at a time resolution of 500 ns by using newly developed home built equipment [Reifarth, F.

Modification of the water oxidizing complex in leaves of the dgd1 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana deficient in the galactolipid digalactosyldiacylglycerol.

The primary biochemical defect in the genetically well characterized dgd1 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana causes a 90% reduction in the relative amount of the galactolipid digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG). To study the effect of this DGDG deficiency on photosystem II (PS II), time-resolved transients of laser-flash-induced changes of the relative fluorescence quantum yield Fvar,rel(t) were measured in whole leaves from wild-type and the dgd1 mutant. The results obtained reveal (i) in untreated leaves the decay kinetics of Fvar, rel(t) reflecting QA.

Survival of Selected Pathogenic Bacteria in White Pickled Cheese Made With Lactic Acid Bacteria or Antimicrobials.

Effect of lactic acid bacteria starter culture, nisin, hydrogen peroxide, or potassium sorbate on Listeria monocytogenes , Staphylococcus aureus , and Salmonella typhimurium in white pickled cheese made from pasteurized milk with 4% salt and preserved in 4% brine solution at 4°C for 60 d was studied. The starter culture inhibited all three pathogens while antimicrobials did not. Beyond day 50 in curd and day 30 in brine solution, L.

Chemical Composition of and Listeria monocytogenes Survival in White Pickled Cheese.

White pickled cheese was made from pasteurized milk with 8% salt and preserved in the whey at 4°C. About 5.0 log CFU/ml cells of Listeria monocytogenes were inoculated into milk, and the survival of the pathogen was studied during the storage period.

Influence of Bovine Lactoferrin on the Growth of Listeria monocytogenes.

The influence of bovine lactoferrin (LF) and Apo-LF on growth of Listeria monocytogenes in Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) 2% fat milk was determined. The effect of LF was dependent upon both the degree of iron saturation and concentration. Before iron removal, LF was found to be approximately 52% saturated with iron; and at 23 and 46 mg/ml LF, minimal growth inhibition of L.