In vitro susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from cows with subclinical mastitis to different antimicrobial agents.

Sensitivity to commercial teat dips (nonoxinol-9 iodine complex and chlorhexidine digluconate) of 56 Staphylococcus (S.) aureus strains isolated from quarter milk samples of various German dairy herds treated with different teat dipping schemes was investigated in this study. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined using a broth macrodilution method according to the German Veterinary Association guidelines.

REP-PCR tracking of the origin and spread of airborne Staphylococcus aureus in and around chicken house.

Unlabelled: Staphylococcus aureus was used as an indicator to study the origin and spread of microbial aerosol in and around chicken houses. Air samples indoor, upwind (10 and 50 m), and downwind (10, 50, 100, 200, and 400 m) of four chicken houses were collected using Andersen-6 stages sampler. The concentrations of S.

Source identification of airborne Escherichia coli of swine house surroundings using ERIC-PCR and REP-PCR.

Evidence is mounting that microorganisms originating from livestock impact the air quality of the animal houses themselves and the public in the surrounding neighborhoods. The aim of this study was to develop efficient bacterial source tracking capabilities to identify sources of Escherichia coli aerosol pollution caused by pigs. Airborne E.

Clostridium perfringens toxin types from freshwater fishes in one water reservoir of Shandong Province of China, determined by PCR.

Four hundred and twenty intestinal content samples (not including intestinal tissues) of freshwater fishes (60 silver carps, 100 carps, 100 crucian carps, 60 catfishes and 100 zaieuws) caught from one water reservoir were examined bacteriologically for the occurrence of C. perfringens. Isolates were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for genes encoding the four lethal toxins (alpha, beta, epsilon and iota) for classification into toxin types and for genes encoding enterotoxin and the novel beta2 toxin for further subclassification.

Simultaneous detection of airborne aflatoxin, ochratoxin and zearalenone in a poultry house by immunoaffinity clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography.

An AOZ method, based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), was optimized on HPLC condition such as mobile phase and wavelength to simultaneously quantify six kinds of mycotoxins [four aflatoxins (AFs), ochratoxin A (OTA) and zearalenone (ZEA)]. Conditions for immunoaffinity clean-up, HPLC and photo-derivatization were optimized in this study and successfully applied in assessment of airborne mycotoxins from a poultry house in Dalian, China. Fifty-two air samples were collected with AGI-30 air samplers using pure water as collection media.

[Biodegradation of estrogens in stream water].

Estrogens of human and animal origin that reach the aquatic environment may enter human or animal organism and act as endocrine disruptors.To investigate the persistency of estrogens in laboratory experiments, estrone respectively 17beta-estradiol were added to stream water sampled from river Spree in Berlin. The concentration of estrone and 17beta-estradiol was quantified using enzyme-immuno-assay.

[Analysis of the influence of temperature on the stability of sex steroids in cow feces].

Up to the present natural and synthetic steroids have only rarely been considered a cause of disturbances of sexual behavior and anomalies of sex organs. The increasing environmental contamination with chemicals showing estrogenic effects underlines the importance of further investigations in that matter. Therefore, the concentrations of estrogens and progesterone in the faeces of cattle were examined over a 13 weeks period.

[Experimental investigations into the effect of Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens on the steroid estrone].

Together with the faecal and the urinary discharge of animals and humans natural and synthetic estrogenes are excreted into the environment. About their degradation in the environment only few facts are known. Their reduction is probably of microbial enzymatical nature.

[Experimental investigations on the effect of Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens on the steroid 4-pregnen-20beta-ol-3-one].

In the context of investigations about the stability of sexual steroids, which are excreted from animals to the environment, it was checked whether microorganisms of the intestinal microflora influence the degradation of these compounds. The germs used were Escherichia coli or Clostridium perfringens. The hormone investigated was the 4-pregnene-20 beta-ol-3-one (20 beta P4).

[Continuing studies on the stability of sex steroids in the feces of cows over 12 weeks].

In recent years an increasing number of reports were published indicating disturbances in the reproduction and sexual development in human beings and animals. These findings are seen in correlation with the increasing contamination of the environment with xenoestrogens. The importance of natural sexual steroids as a cause for this situation was poorly taken into account in the past.

[Air transportation of day-old chicks with regard to animal welfare].

The transportation of chicks by aircraft increased in the last years greatly. High losses occurred frequently. A very important reason is water and food deprivation for too long a time between hatching and the arrival at the consignee.

[Neural regulation of food absorption--review].

The periodical food intake (discrete meals) demands a control system, which includes signals for hunger and satiety. Satiety and hunger change with the absorptive and postabsorptive state of the delivery of nutrients to the organism. The brain areas involved in the regulation of food intake receive informations from three sources: periphery, environment and memory.

[Interaction between the central nervous system and the immune system--review].

Results of research within the last years suggest that although the immune system has an autonomous regulation, it is nevertheless subject to control and regulation by the central nervous system. Likewise the central nervous system receives many informations from the immune system. There is a complete regulatory circle between both systems.

[Complications of acupuncture (author's transl)].

During acupuncture in the chest region a right-sided pneumothorax developed in a 53-year-old woman which necessitated emergency admission to hospital. A reinflation of the lung could be achieved with two Bülau drains. The increasing frequency of acupuncture must remind one of the feasibility of lesions of internal organs including those of the abdomen.