The effects of time of sowing and harvest on carrot biochemistry and the resistance of carrots to carrot fly

Two carrot cultivars which represented contrasting levels of resistance to carrot fly, Psila rosae, were grown in a replicated field experiment at Wellesbourne in 1984–85. Seed was sown on five occasions between April and August 1984 and the crop harvested after a minimum growth in the field of 16 wk on seven occasions between August 1984 and February 1985. A highly significant correlation (r = -0.78; P > 0.001) between the levels of carrot fly damage and the concentration of chlorogenic acid in the roots enabled a model to be formulated to predict the relative predisposition to carrot fly larval damage; high levels of chlorogenic acid early in the season predisposed roots to severe attack when they were older.     

Phenolic acids associated with the resistance of lettuce cultivars to the lettuce root aphid

Phenolic acids, particularly caffeoylquinic acids, in lettuce root extracts were analysed by high pressure liquid chromatography (hplc), gas liquid chromatography (glc) and ultra-violet (uv) absorbance to seek a relationship with the resistance of certain lettuce cultivars to lettuce root aphid, Pemphigus bursarius. Although consistent results were obtained by each method, glc estimates of isochlorogenic acid tended to be low and uv estimates high. Hplc results were intermediate and since it was the easiest technique to perform routinely it was preferred. Isochlorogenic acid was the only caffeoylquinic acid detected in quantity and there were greater concentrations in resistant than in susceptible cultivars. Phenylalanine-ammonia lyase (PAL), the first enzyme in the phenyl propanoid pathway, is more active in resistant cultivars. Although these cultivars also had a greater tendency to browning when damaged, it was not due to greater polyphenol oxidase activity but probably to the presence of more isochlorogenic acid substrate. The results were consistent with an association between isochlorogenic acid concentration, PAL activity and resistance to P. bursarius.     

Studies on Endogenous Bacteria in Potato Tubers Infected by Phytophthora erythroseptica Pethybr

Infection of potato tubers by the soft-rotting fungi Phytophthoraerythroseptica and Pythium debaryanum resulted in multiplicationof endogenous tuber bacteria. This effect was not evident afterinfection by dryrotting fungi. Some of the bacteria isolatedproduced pectolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes in vitro andwere themselves capable under certain conditions of degradingtuber tissue.     

The use of zootherapeutics in folk veterinary medicine in the district of Cubati, Paraíba State, Brazil

Background

Viewed through the micro focus of an interpretive lens, medical anthropology remains mystified because interpretivist explanations seriously downplay the given context in which individual health seeking-behaviours occur. This paper draws upon both the interpretivist and political economy perspectives to reflect on the ethno medical practices within the Korean-Australian community in Sydney.

Methods

We draw on research data collected between 1995 and 1997 for an earlier study of the use of biomedical and traditional medicine by Korean-Australians in Sydney. A total of 120 interviews were conducted with a range of participants, including biomedical doctors, traditional health professionals, Korean community leaders and Korean migrants representing a range of socio-economic backgrounds and migration patterns.

Results and Discussion

First, the paper highlights the extent to which the social location of migrants in a host society alters or restructures their initial cultural practices they bring with them. Second, taking hanbang medicine in the Korean-Australian community as an illustrative case, the paper explores the transformation of the dominant biomedicine in Australia as a result of the influx of ethnomedicine in the era of global capitalism and global movement.

Conclusion

In seeking to explain the popularity and supply of alternative health care, it is important to go beyond the culture of each kind of health care itself and to take into consideration the changes occurring at societal, national and global levels as well as consequential individual response to the changes. New social conditions influence the choice of health care methods, including herbal/alternative medicine, health foods and what are often called New Age therapies.     

Bispectral Index Analysis of Opioid Immobilization of Rocky Mountain Elk

Abstract: We immobilized elk with either isoflurane to produce general anesthesia (control), 0.01 mg/kg carfentanil plus 0.1 mg/kg xylazine, or 0.25 mg/kg butorphanol plus 0.4 mg/kg azaperone plus 0.15 mg/kg medetomidine (BAM) and measured the bispectral index (BIS). The carfentanil-xylazine BIS (70.4 + 1.4) and the BAM BIS (60.2 + 1.5) were higher than the control BIS (47.2 + 4.1; P ≤ 0.001). These data indicate that opioids produce neuroleptanalgesia and not general anesthesia or sedation, which explains observed elk responses to these drugs.     

Deviation of eyes and head in acute cerebral stroke

Background  

It is a well-known phenomenon that some patients with acute left or right hemisphere stroke show a deviation of the eyes (Prévost's sign) and head to one side. Here we investigated whether both right- and left-sided brain lesions may cause this deviation. Moreover, we studied the relationship between this phenomenon and spatial neglect. In contrast to previous studies, we determined not only the discrete presence or absence of eye deviation with the naked eye through clinical inspection, but actually measured the extent of horizontal eye-in-head and head-on-trunk deviation. In further contrast, measurements were performed early after stroke onset (1.5 days on average).     

Nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus of pocket gophers, genus Geomys

Using the strictly neutral model as a null hypothesis, we tested for deviations from expected levels of nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus (Adh-1) within and among four species of pocket gophers (Geomys bursarius major, G. knoxjonesi, G. texensis llanensis, and G. attwateri). The complete protein-encoding region was examined, and 10 unique alleles, representing both electromorphic and cryptic alleles, were used to test hypotheses (e.g., the neutral model) concerning the maintenance of genetic variation. Nineteen variable sites were identified among the 10 alleles examined, including 9 segregating sites occurring in synonymous positions and 10 that were nonsynonymous. Several statistical methods, including those that test for within-species variation as well as those that examine variation within and among species, failed to reject the null hypothesis that variation (both within and between species of Geomys) at the Adh locus is consistent with the neutral theory. However, there was significant heterogeneity in the ratio of polymorphism to divergence across the gene, with polymorphisms clustered in the first half of the coding region and fixed differences clustered in the second half of the gene. Two alternative hypotheses are discussed as possible explanations for this heterogeneity: an old balanced polymorphism in the first half of the gene or a recent selective sweep in the second half of the gene.