Arbuscular mycorrhiza reduces susceptibility of tomato to Alternaria solani.

Mycorrhiza frequently leads to the control of root pathogens, but appears to have the opposite effect on leaf pathogens. In this study, we studied mycorrhizal effects on the development of early blight in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) caused by the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria solani. Alternaria-induced necrosis and chlorosis of all leaves were studied in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants over time course and at different soil P levels.

Total zinc absorption in young women, but not fractional zinc absorption, differs between vegetarian and meat-based diets with equal phytic acid content.

Zn bioavailability is often lower in vegetarian diets mainly due to low Zn and high phytic acid contents. The objective of the present study was to determine the fractional and total absorption of Zn from a vegetarian diet in comparison with meat diets with equal concentrations of phytic acid. A randomized cross-over design, comprising three whole-day diet periods of 5 d each, with a vegetarian diet or diets containing Polish-produced meat or Danish-produced meat, was conducted.

Porcine cytochrome P450 and metabolism.

The pig and especially the minipig are becoming increasingly used as a test animal both in pharmacological and toxicological testing of new compounds. The minipig is used because of its size, it is easy to handle and less test substrate is required. When using an animal species for testing it is of importance to know if the test animal's posses the same abilities to metabolize drugs as humans.

Phenotypical characterization of intestinal Schistosoma japonicum granulomas in pigs.

The pig has been proposed as a model for human schistosomiasis japonica and the use of this animal model is increasing. The inflammatory response to schistosome infection in the liver and intestine of the pig shows morphological differences, and only the hepatic granulomas have been phenotypically characterized. The aim of the present study was to phenotypically characterize the cellular inflammatory response in the cecum by immunohistochemistry with particular reference to perioval granulomatous reactions in Schistosoma japonicum infected pigs.

Breast feeding and future health.

Purpose Of Review: This review discusses the long-term health effects of breast feeding, based on the most relevant publications from the second half of 2004 and 2005.

Recent Findings: The positive effect of breast feeding on later cognitive function continues to be the most consistent and important effect. Also, breast feeding is likely to protect against some immune-related diseases later in life, such as type 1 diabetes, coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel diseases and perhaps cancer.

Trichuris suis population dynamics following a primary experimental infection.

Trichuris suis population kinetics was studied by experimentally infecting 40 pigs with 5000 T. suis infective eggs. Six pigs were sacrificed every 2 weeks from 1 to 9 weeks post-inoculation (p.

Clonal stability of Pasteurella multocida in free-range layers affected by fowl cholera.

Detailed longitudinal studies of the genetic stability of Pasteurella multocida ssp. multocida, the cause of fowl cholera, have not previously been carried out. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to provide detailed information on the genetic stability and diversity of P.

Controlling ethylene responses in flowers at the receptor level.

For a vast number of ornamental species, blocking the plant's response to ethylene is an efficient strategy to enhance the longevity of the flowers. The most effective ways to conduct such interference will be reviewed in this paper. A large number of chemical compounds have been evaluated for their effects on ethylene production and perception.

A novel type carbohydrate-binding module identified in alpha-glucan, water dikinases is specific for regulated plastidial starch metabolism.

The phosphorylation of the amylopectin fraction of starch catalyzed by the alpha-glucan, water dikinase (GWD, EC 2.7.9.

Biological control of nematode parasites in sheep.

In a world in which sheep producers are facing increasing problems due to the rapid spread of anthelmintic resistance, the battle against gastrointestinal parasitic nematodes is a difficult one. One of the potential new tools for integrated control strategies is biological control by means of the nematode-destroying microfungus Duddingtonia flagrans. This fungus forms sticky traps that catch developing larval stages of parasitic nematodes in the fecal environment.

Helminths of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Denmark.

An epidemiological study of helminths in 1040 red foxes collected from various localities in Denmark during 1997-2002, revealed 21 helminth species at autopsy, including nine nematode species: Capillaria plica (prevalence 80.5%), Capillaria aerophila (74.1%), Crenosoma vulpis (17.

Pharmacokinetics of amoxicillin administered in drinking water to recently weaned 3- to 4-week-old pigs with diarrhea experimentally induced by Escherichia coli O149:F4.

Objective: To measure effects of Escherichia coli O149:F4-induced diarrhea on water consumption and pharmacokinetics of amoxicillin after administration in drinking water.

Animals: 24 recently weaned 24- to 28-day-old crossbred pigs.

Procedure: 10 pigs were inoculated with E.

Zn-porphyrin formation in cured meat products: Effect of added salt and nitrite.

Zn-porphyrin (Zn-pp) was quantified by fluorescence spectroscopy in the cured and dry cured meat products: Parma ham, Iberian ham, dry-cured ham with added nitrite, cooked ham with added nitrite, raw ham meat, raw bacon and Karree-Speck. The highest amount of Zn-pp was found in dry-cured Parma ham and Iberian ham, while the use of nitrite as curing agent was found to inhibit completely the formation of Zn-pp in meat products. A positive correlation between both Zn content and Fe content and the logarithmic transformed Zn-pp content (measured as fluorescence intensity I(fl)) was found for the different cured and dry cured meat products, with correlation coefficients of 0.

Liking and exposure: first, second and tenth time around.

The future liking may be poorly predicted from hedonic ratings in first exposure. The stability of hedonic ratings as a function of differences in number of exposures was studied. 80 subjects (70 females; age=17-59 years, mean=25.

Genome-wide identification of quantitative trait loci in a cross between Hampshire and Landrace I: carcass traits.

We report the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting carcass composition, carcass length, fat deposition and lean meat content using a genome scan across 462 animals from a combined intercross and backcross between Hampshire and Landrace pigs. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression fitting additive and dominance effects. This model was compared with a model including a parent-of-origin effect to spot evidence of imprinting.

pH-dependent structural change of reduced spinach plastocyanin studied by perturbed angular correlation of gamma-rays and dynamic light scattering.

In this study the pH-dependent structural changes of reduced spinach plastocyanin were investigated using perturbed angular correlation (PAC) of gamma-rays and dynamic light scattering (DLS). PAC data of Ag-substituted plastocyanin indicated that the coordinating ligands are two histidine residues (His37, His87) and a cysteine residue (Cys84) in a planar configuration, whereas the methionine (Met92) found perpendicular to this plane is not a coordinating ligand at neutral pH. Two slightly different conformations with differences in the Cys-metal ion-His angles could be observed with PAC spectroscopy.

The electronic structure and spectra of spin-triplet ground state bis(biuretato)cobalt(III) coordination compounds.

The planar coordination compounds of cobalt(III) with bis(biuretato) ligands are highly unusual due to their intermediate spin triplet ground state. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT have been applied in a study of the structure and electronic spectroscopy of this type of coordination compounds. The investigations included prediction and spectroscopic measurements of the absorption and circular dichroism (CD), as well as an experimental study of the magnetic CD.

Molecular evidence for the infection of zoo chimpanzees by pig Ascaris.

We here describe the transmission of the pig roundworm, Ascaris suum to chimpanzees maintained in the Copenhagen Zoo, Denmark. Using a technique for whole genome fingerprinting, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and the technique PCR restricted fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA, the worms from the chimpanzees were compared with Ascaris spp obtained from humans and pigs in order to identify the source of the infection. By the use of different distance and clustering based methods on the AFLP data set the worms from the chimpanzees were assigned to the same cluster as that of the worms from pigs.

Membrane transport of hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) belongs to the reactive oxygen species (ROS), known as oxidants that can react with various cellular targets thereby causing cell damage or even cell death. On the other hand, recent work has demonstrated that H2O2 also functions as a signalling molecule controlling different essential processes in plants and mammals. Because of these opposing functions the cellular level of H2O2 is likely to be subjected to tight regulation via processes involved in production, distribution and removal.

Characterization of canine superficial tumors using gray-scale B mode, color flow mapping, and spectral doppler ultrasonography--a multivariate study.

Superficial tumors are not routinely evaluated by two- or three-dimensional diagnostic imaging methods as part of the staging of canine cancer patients, although superficial tumors are readily imaged by ultrasound. The objectives of this study were to characterize the ultrasonographic patterns of superficial tumors and to evaluate whether ultrasound can help discriminate between benign and malignant tumors in dogs. Superficial tumors (n=132) in 86 dogs were evaluated by B mode, color flow mapping, and spectral Doppler ultrasonography.

Diets rich in conjugated linoleic acid and vaccenic acid have no effect on blood pressure and isobaric arterial elasticity in healthy young men.

The objective of this study was to examine the effect on blood pressure (BP) and isobaric arterial elasticity (AE), as a measure of arterial health, of a commercial mixture of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) and of milk fat produced through livestock feeding to have a high content of vaccenic acid (VA). Healthy young men (n = 60) with a BMI of 22.5 +/- 2 kg/m2 (mean +/- SD) participated in this double-blind, randomized, 5-wk, parallel intervention study.

Evaluation and comparison of two immunoturbidimetric assays for the heterologous determination of porcine serum C-reactive protein.

The objective was first to evaluate the performance (intra- and inter-assay imprecision, inaccuracy, detection limit and overlap performance) of two different commercially available human C-reactive protein (CRP) immunoturbidimetric assays (TIA) applied to porcine serum CRP; and secondly to investigate inter-laboratory discrepancies and the influence of calibration materials when comparing results. The intra-laboratory performance seemed acceptable for clinical purposes for both assays with excellent overlap performance, acceptable detection limits, no significant inaccuracies and low imprecision. Although a significant discrepancy in the measured CRP levels was observed when comparing results, the methods agreed significantly on diagnostic classification, suggesting a low clinical significance.

Changes in the muscle proteome after compensatory growth in pigs.

Sixteen female pigs (Duroc x Landrace x Large White) were divided into 2 groups, which had either free access to the diet (control group) or were feed-restricted from d 28 to 80 and then had free access to the diet (compensatory growth group). The sensory analysis showed that the pigs exhibiting compensatory growth produced meat with increased tenderness compared with control pigs (P < 0.05).

Confinement and clearance of OCT4 in the porcine embryo at stereomicroscopically defined stages around gastrulation.

In the areas of developmental biology and embryonic stem cell research, reliable molecular markers of pluripotency and early lineage commitment are sparse in large animal species. In this study, we present morphological and immunohistochemical findings on the porcine embryo in the period around gastrulation, days 8-17 postinsemination, introducing a stereomicroscopical staging system in this species. In embryos at the expanding hatched blastocyst stage, OCT4 is confined to the inner cell mass.