Neue Giraffenhaltung im Opel-Zoo Kronberg.

The „Africa Savanna“- exhibit is described. The biggest investment of the Opel-Zoo in recent years was opened for the public on the 50th anniversary of the so-called Georg von Opel - Freigehege für Tierforschung on September 16th, 2006. The developed area covers about 22500 m² and includes in addition to the animal related buildings, a new restaurant, a new main entrance and a new administration building. The mostly moated outside exhibit of about 10000 m² is dominated by artificial baobab tree. A waterhole of 200 m² separates the exhibit from the restaurant. Due to fairly long winters the inside area for the giraffes is rather large, so they can be kept as a herd, even when they must stay inside. Visitors can enter a small area of the giraffe house and may watch the animals through glass. The off-exhibit area for the zebras, gnus and impalas has 18 equal stables of 10 m² each. Five introduction pens connect the new animal house with the outside exhibit.This article also informs about the giraffe keeping history at Kronberg since 1961 and tells about the experiences made with the new development during the first year of use.     

Neue Giraffenhaltung im Opel-Zoo Kronberg.

The „Africa Savanna“– exhibit is described. The biggest investment of the Opel-Zoo in recent years was opened for the public on the 50th anniversary of the so-called Georg von Opel – Freigehege für Tierforschung on September 16th, 2006. The developed area covers about 22500 m² and includes in addition to the animal related buildings, a new restaurant, a new main entrance and a new administration building. The mostly moated outside exhibit of about 10000 m² is dominated by artificial baobab tree. A waterhole of 200 m² separates the exhibit from the restaurant. Due to fairly long winters the inside area for the giraffes is rather large, so they can be kept as a herd, even when they must stay inside. Visitors can enter a small area of the giraffe house and may watch the animals through glass. The off-exhibit area for the zebras, gnus and impalas has 18 equal stables of 10 m² each. Five introduction pens connect the new animal house with the outside exhibit.This article also informs about the giraffe keeping history at Kronberg since 1961 and tells about the experiences made with the new development during the first year of use.     

Welfare of organic laying hens kept at different indoor stocking densities in a multi-tier aviary system. I: egg laying,and use of veranda and outdoor area

Multi-tier aviary systems are becoming more common in organic egg production. The area on the tiers can be included in the net area available to the hens (also referred to as usable area) when calculating maximum indoor stocking densities in organic systems within the EU. In this article, results on egg production, laying behaviour and use of veranda and outdoor area are reported for organic laying hens housed in a multi-tier system with permanent access to a veranda and kept at stocking densities (D) of 6, 9 and 12 hens/m² available floor area, with concomitant increases in the number of hens per trough, drinker, perch and nest space. In a fourth treatment, access to the top tier was blocked reducing vertical, trough and perch access at the lowest stocking density (treatment D6x). In all other aspects than stocking density, the experiment followed the EU regulations on the keeping of organic laying hens. Laying percentage was significantly lower (P<0.05) in D12 compared with the other stocking densities (90.6% v. 94.3% (±0.7)), most likely due to the concomitant reduction in nest space and drinker availability per hen. No systematic effects of density were found on other laying variables (egg weight, eggs laid outside nests, aviary side preferences). Number of hens using the veranda increased with stocking density. Hens primarily used the range near the house (within 50 m) and hens kept at the lowest stocking density and the smallest group size appeared to use the outdoor area more extensively, based on an assessment of vegetation cover (P<0.05). For the measures reported here, the welfare consequences of increased stocking density were assessed to be minor; additional results are reported in the associated article (Steenfeldt and Nielsen, 2015).     

Financial Costs of Conserving Captive-bred Wild Birds

This communication presents and discusses the financial costs recorded by a small Brazilian aviary in which a few captive-bred wild bird species have been kept. The highest expenses were associated with the birds’ diet, accounting for at least 60% of total costs. Among insectivorous-frugivorous birds, this figure was 88%. The most expensive food item was live food. Although initial costs for enclosures may be considerable, their durability means expenditures can be spread over time, mitigating their impact. Approximately 30% of the total costs for keeping the largest species studied here were linked to a spacious outdoor planted aviary. Quail from this flock required additional sanitary expenditure (i.e. 14% of the total) for controlling a previous parasitic infection. Total annual maintenance costs amounted to USD 298.00, USD 211.00 and USD 116.00 for each Pekin robin (Leiothrix lutea Scopoli, 1786), Livingstone's turaco (Tauraco livingstonii Gray, 1864), and Valley quail (Callipepla californica Shaw, 1798), respectively.     

Does Rearing Laying Hens in Aviaries Adversely Affect Long-Term Welfare following Transfer to Furnished Cages?

This study tests the hypothesis that hens that are reared in aviaries but produce in furnished cages experience poorer welfare in production than hens reared in caged systems. This hypothesis is based on the suggestion that the spatial restriction associated with the transfer from aviaries to cages results in frustration or stress for the aviary reared birds. To assess the difference in welfare between aviary and cage reared hens in production, non-beak trimmed white leghorn birds from both rearing backgrounds were filmed at a commercial farm that used furnished cage housing. The videos were taken at 19 and 21 weeks of age, following the birds'' transition to the production environment at 16 weeks. Videos were analysed in terms of the performance of aversion-related behaviour in undisturbed birds, comfort behaviour in undisturbed birds, and alert behaviour directed to a novel object in the home cage. A decrease in the performance of the former behaviour and increase in the performance of the latter two behaviours indicates improved welfare. The results showed that aviary reared birds performed more alert behaviour near to the object than did cage reared birds at 19 but not at 21 weeks of age (P = 0.03). Blood glucose concentrations did not differ between the treatments (P>0.10). There was a significant difference in mortality between treatments (P = 0.000), with more death in aviary reared birds (5.52%) compared to cage birds (2.48%). The higher mortality of aviary-reared birds indicates a negative effect of aviary rearing on bird welfare, whereas the higher duration of alert behavior suggests a positive effect of aviary rearing.     

Female proximity stimulates development of male competition in juvenile brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater

We investigated how individual variation in social behaviour among group members interacts to affect social structure and development of reproductive skills. We randomly assigned juvenile male and juvenile and adult female cowbirds to four aviaries and observed patterns of singing and social assortment in each. Although social composition of each aviary was the same, juvenile males in one aviary engaged in more intra- and intersexual affiliation and singing interactions. We designed a series of rotations of individuals among the aviaries to determine which individual traits were responsible for the observed group differences. First, we rotated groups of three males from a less interactive aviary into a more interactive aviary, replacing interactive males. Within 4 days, the rotated males changed their behaviour to match the aviary into which they had been moved (i.e. interactive males became less interactive and vice versa). Next, we rotated juvenile females through the aviaries. After this rotation, the behaviour of the juvenile females remained the same, but the behaviour of the resident males changed, becoming like the males in the females' former aviaries (i.e. when juvenile females were moved from an interactive aviary into a noninteractive aviary, the males in the new aviary became more interactive and vice versa). Across the aviaries, the amount of female-male associations correlated positively with male-male competition. During the breeding season, males that had experienced more competition over the year received more copulations than males that had experienced little competition. Furthermore, more eggs were produced in aviaries containing competitive males than in aviaries containing less competitive males. Past work has shown that females can influence male vocal development; here we show that they can also influence male social development. Copyright 2003 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.      

Optimal activity and thermostability of xylose reductase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Debaryomyces hansenii</Emphasis> UFV-170

Xylose reductase (XR) is the enzyme that catalyzes the first step of xylose metabolism. Although XRs from various yeasts have been characterized, little is known about this enzyme in Debaryomyces hansenii. In the present study, response surface analysis was used to determine the optimal conditions for D. hansenii UFV-170 XR activity. The influence of pH and temperature, ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 and from 25 to 55°C, respectively, was evaluated by a 2² central composite design face-centered. The F-test (ANOVA) and the Student’s t test were performed to evaluate the statistical significance of the model and the regression coefficients, respectively. The NADPH-dependent XR activity varied from 0.502 to 2.53 U mL⁻¹, corresponding to 0.07–0.352 U mg⁻¹, whereas the NADH-dependent one was almost negligible. The model predicted with satisfactory correlation (R ² = 0.940) maximum volumetric activity of 2.27 U mL⁻¹ and specific activity of 0.300 U mg⁻¹ at pH 5.3 and 39°C, which were fairly confirmed by additional tests performed under these conditions. The enzyme proved very stable at low temperature (4°C), keeping its activity almost entirely after 360 min, which corresponded to the half-time at 39°C. On the other hand, at temperatures ≥50°C it was lost almost completely after only 20 min.     

Structural Characterization of Monosialo-, Disialo- and Trisialo-gangliosides by Negative Ion AP-MALDI-QIT-TOF Mass Spectrometry with MS<Superscript>n</Superscript> Switching

The atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP-MALDI) is a quite convenient soft ionization for biomolecules, keeping analytes atmospheric conditions instead of high vacuum conditions. In this study, an AP-MALDI ion source has been coupled to a quadrupole ion trap time-of-flight (QIT-TOF) mass spectrometer, which is able to perform MSⁿ analysis. We applied this system to the structural characterization of monosialogangliosides, GM1 (NeuAc) and GM2 (NeuAc), disialogangliosides, GD2 (NeuAc, NeuAc), GD1a (NeuAc, NeuAc) and GD1b (NeuAc, NeuAc) and trisialoganglioside GT1a (NeuAc, NeuAc, NeuAc). In this system, the negative ion mass spectra of MS, MS² and MS³, a set of three mass spectra, were able to measure within 2 s per cycle. Thus, obtained results demonstrate that the negative ion mode MS, MS² and MS³ spectra provided sufficient information for the determination of molecular weights, oligosaccharide sequences and ceramide structures, and indicate that the AP-MALDI-QIT-TOF mass spectrometry keeping analytes atmospheric conditions with MSⁿ switching is quite useful and convenient for structural analyses of various types of sialic acid-containing GSLs, gangliosides.     

Effect of rearing density on pecking behaviour and plumage condition of laying hens in two types of aviary

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of rearing density on pecking behaviour and plumage during rearing and throughout the laying period in aviaries. Chicks were reared on sand at high (H; 13 m⁻²) or low (L; 6.5 m⁻²) density, in four rearing pens of 390 chicks and eight pens of 195 chicks, respectively, each pen measuring 30 m². Proportions of chicks per pen performing various types of pecking behaviour were recorded by scan sampling during 16 observation bouts in each rearing pen at 6 weeks of age and during 24 observation bouts at 12 weeks. Individual body weights and plumage condition were recorded. Later, these pullets were housed at 17 hens m⁻² in Tiered Wire Floor (TWF; 3 H and 3 L pens of 275 hens) and Laco-Volétage (2 H and 2 L pens of 275 hens) aviaries. At 35 weeks, two samples of eight hens from each aviary pen were observed for pecking behaviour in a test pen. Throughout the laying period, additional records were collected on pecking behaviour, body weight, plumage condition, egg production, and mortality. The L birds had better plumage condition at 6 weeks of age and throughout the laying period. These birds also ground pecked more frequently than H birds during rearing and the laying period. At 12 weeks, L birds feather pecked less than H birds, but no relationship was found between rearing density and feather-pecking behaviour during the laying period. Although TWF hens feather pecked more frequently than Volétage hens, there was no interaction between rearing density and type of aviary for the various pecking behaviours.     

ADP-dependent 6-phosphofructokinase,an extremely thermophilic,non-allosteric enzyme from the hyperthermophilic,sulfate-reducing archaeon<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Archaeoglobus fulgidus</Emphasis> strain 7324

The hyperthermophilic, sulfate-reducing archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus strain 7324 has been shown to degrade starch via glucose using a modified Embden-Meyerhof pathway. In this pathway phosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate to fructose-1,6 bisphosphate is catalyzed by an ADP-dependent 6-phosphofructokinase (ADP-PFK), which was purified 1,800-fold to homogeneity. The enzyme is composed of 50 kDa subunits and is eluted from gel filtration as both a homotetramer and a homodimer. It had a temperature optimum at 85°C and showed significant thermostability up to 95°C. Kinetic constants were determined for both reaction directions at pH 6.6 and 80°C. Rate dependence for all substrates followed Michaelis Menten kinetics. The apparent K _m for ADP and fructose-6-phosphate (forward reaction) was 0.6 mM and 2.2 mM, respectively; the apparent V _max was 1,200 U/mg. ADP-PFK catalyzed in vitro the reverse reaction, with apparent K _m for fructose-1,6-bisophosphate and AMP of 5.7 and 1.4 mM, respectively, and a V _max value of 85 U/mg. The enzyme did not use ATP, PPi, or acetyl phosphate as phosphoryl donor and was highly specific for fructose-6-phosphate as substrate. The A. fulgidus ADP-PFK did not phosphorylate glucose and thus differs from the bifunctional ADP-PFK/GLK from Methanococcus jannaschii. Divalent cations were required for catalytic activity; Mg²⁺, which was most effective, could be partially replaced by Mn²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Co²⁺. Enzyme activity was not allosterically regulated by classical effectors of bacterial and eukaryal ATP-PFKs, such as ADP, AMP, phosphoenolpyruvate, or citrate. N-terminal amino acid sequence showed high similarity to known ADP-PFKs. In the genome of Archaeoglobus fulgidus strain VC 16, which is closely related to strain 7324, no homologous gene for ADP-PFK could be identified.Communicated by G. Antranikian     

Endogenous protein mono-ADP-ribosylation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

Protein mono-ADP-ribosylation post-translationally transfers the ADP-ribose moiety from the β-NAD⁺ donor to various protein acceptors. This type of modification has been widely characterized and shown to regulate protein activities in animals, yeast and prokaryotes, but has never been reported in plants. In this study, using [³²P]NAD⁺ as the substrate, ADP-ribosylated proteins in Arabidopsis were investigated. One protein substrate of 32 kDa in adult rosette leaves was found to be radiolabeled. Heat treatment, protease sensitivity and nucleotide derivative competition assays suggested a covalent reaction of NAD⁺ with the 32 kDa protein. [carbonyl-¹⁴C]NAD⁺ could not label the 32 kDa protein, confirming that the modification was ADP-ribosylation. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor failed to suppress the reaction, but chemicals that destroy mono-ADP-ribosylation on specific amino acid residues could break up the linkage, suggesting that the reaction was not a poly-ADP-ribosylation but rather a mono-ADP-ribosylation. This modification mainly existed in leaves and was enhanced by oxidative stresses. In young seedlings, two more protein substrates with the size of 45 kDa and over 130 kDa, respectively, were observed in addition to the 32 kDa protein, indicating that different proteins were modified at different developmental stages. Although the substrate proteins remain to be identified, this is the first report on the characterization of endogenously mono-ADP-ribosylated proteins in plants.     

Two‐Step Activated Carbon Cloth with Oxygen‐Rich Functional Groups as a High‐Performance Additive‐Free Air Electrode for Flexible Zinc–Air Batteries

A flexible air electrode (FAE) with both high oxygen electrocatalytic activity and excellent flexibility is the key to the performance of various flexible devices, such as Zn–air batteries. A facile two‐step method, mild acid oxidation followed by air calcination that directly activates commercial carbon cloth (CC) to generate uniform nanoporous and super hydrophilic surface structures with optimized oxygen‐rich functional groups and an enhanced surface area, is presented here. Impressively, this two‐step activated CC (CC‐AC) exhibits superior oxygen electrocatalytic activity and durability, outperforming the oxygen‐doped carbon materials reported to date. Especially, CC‐AC delivers an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential of 360 mV at 10 mA cm^?2 in 1 m KOH, which is among the best performances of metal‐free OER electrocatalysts. The practical application of CC‐AC is presented via its use as an FAE in a flexible rechargeable Zn–air battery. The bendable battery achieves a high open circuit voltage of 1.37 V, a remarkable peak power density of 52.3 mW cm^?3 at 77.5 mA cm^?3, good cycling performance with a small charge–discharge voltage gap of 0.98 V and high flexibility. This study provides a new approach to the design and construction of high‐performance self‐supported metal‐free electrodes.     

Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution by a Thermocatalytic Process Cascaded Electrocatalysis Over Sulfur‐Treated Fe‐Based Metal–Organic‐Frameworks

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a bottleneck process for water splitting and finding highly efficient, durable, low‐cost, and earth‐abundant electrocatalysts is still a major challenge. Here a sulfur‐treated Fe‐based metal–organic‐framework is reported as a promising electrocatalyst for the OER, which shows a low overpotential of 218 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm^?2 and exhibits a very low Tafel slope of 36.2 mV dec^?1 at room temperature. It can work on high current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm^?2 at low overpotentials of 298 and 330 mV, respectively, by keeping 97% of its initial activity after 100 h. Notably, it can achieve 1000 mA cm^?2 at 296 mV with a good stability at 50 °C, fully fitting the requirements for large‐scale industrial water electrolysis. The high catalytic performance can be attributed to the thermocatalytic processes of H⁺ capture by –SO₃ groups from *OH or *OOH species, which cascades to the electrocatalytic pathway and then significantly reduces the OER overpotentials.     

Novel spectrofluorimetric quantification of alogliptin benzoate in biofluids exploiting its interaction with 4‐chloro‐7‐nitrobenzofurazan

The direct determination of alogliptin benzoate (ALO) using fluorescence has not yet been accomplished because ALO cannot fluoresce naturally. Accordingly, it should be derivatized first with a fluorogenic reagent to enhance the sensitivity required for its bioanalysis. This method is the first spectrofluorimetric assay for ALO quantification exploiting the nucleophilic nature of its amino group to react with 4‐chloro‐7‐nitrobenzofurazan (NBD‐Cl) in borate buffer at pH 8.5 to produce a strong fluorescent compound that is excited at and emits at wavelengths 470 and 527 nm, respectively. Experimental variables concerning the conditions of reaction and fluorogenic intensity were carefully investigated and optimized. Linearity was from 1–250 ng ml^?1 with a lower detection limit of 0.29 ng ml^?1 and a lower quantification limit of 0.88 ng ml^?1. Validation of the current study was accomplished with mean per cent recovery of 100.62 ± 1.59 in tablets and 99.86 ± 0.82 in human plasma. Furthermore, the current method has been utilized in the bioanalysis of ALO in real rat plasma after oral administration with a simple specimen preparation. The developed method has proven to be a promising alternative method for ALO analysis in bioequivalence studies.     

Identification of the nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase of Trypanosoma cruzi

The intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the aetiological agent of Chagas disease, a public health concern with an increasing incidence rate. This increase is due, among other reasons, to the parasite''s drug resistance mechanisms, which require nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺). Furthermore, this molecule is involved in metabolic and intracellular signalling processes necessary for the survival of T. cruzi throughout its life cycle. NAD⁺ biosynthesis is performed by de novo and salvage pathways, which converge on the step that is catalysed by the enzyme nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase (NMNAT) (enzyme commission number: 2.7.7.1). The identification of the NMNAT of T. cruzi is important for the development of future therapeutic strategies to treat Chagas disease. In this study, a hypothetical open reading frame (ORF) for NMNAT was identified in the genome of T. cruzi. The corresponding putative protein was analysed by simulating structural models. The ORF was amplified from genomic DNA by polymerase chain reaction and was further used for the construction of a corresponding recombinant expression vector. The expressed recombinant protein was partially purified and its activity was evaluated using enzymatic assays. These results comprise the first identification of an NMNAT in T. cruzi using bioinformatics and experimental tools and hence represent the first step to understanding NAD⁺ metabolism in these parasites.     

Ablenkungsman?ver bei der Eiablage des H?herkuckucks(Clamator glandarius)

Summary A pair of the Great Spotted Cuckoo exhibited reproductive behaviour during the years 1968–72. Until 1971 the female laid the eggs in nests of Magpies or Blackbirds which were placed in the aviary. Birds which could serve as hosts at these times were not in the aviary. The female Cuckoo visited the nests before laying an egg quite often and stayed at or in the nests for longer periods.1972 two Rollers were kept together with the Cuckoos and one Roller laid four eggs into a cave of a beech-stump. Now the female Cuckoo tried to deposit its eggs into the Roller's nest and was successful doing so several times. As soon as the female Cuckoo was ready to lay, the male Cuckoo diverted the Roller and so made it possible for the female to get into the Rollers nest. The laying of the egg took only a few seconds.     

A 13C(d,n)-based epithermal neutron source for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

PurposeBoron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) requires neutron sources suitable for in-hospital siting. Low-energy particle accelerators working in conjunction with a neutron producing reaction are the most appropriate choice for this purpose. One of the possible nuclear reactions is ¹³C(d,n)¹⁴N. The aim of this work is to evaluate the therapeutic capabilities of the neutron beam produced by this reaction, through a 30 mA beam of deuterons of 1.45 MeV.MethodsA Beam Shaping Assembly design was computationally optimized. Depth dose profiles in a Snyder head phantom were simulated with the MCNP code for a number of BSA configurations. In order to optimize the treatment capabilities, the BSA configuration was determined as the one that allows maximizing both the tumor dose and the penetration depth while keeping doses to healthy tissues under the tolerance limits.ResultsSignificant doses to tumor tissues were achieved up to ∼6 cm in depth. Peak doses up to 57 Gy-Eq can be delivered in a fractionated scheme of 2 irradiations of approximately 1 h each. In a single 1 h irradiation, lower but still acceptable doses to tumor are also feasible.ConclusionsTreatment capabilities obtained here are comparable to those achieved with other accelerator-based neutron sources, making of the ¹³C(d,n)¹⁴N reaction a realistic option for producing therapeutic neutron beams through a low-energy particle accelerator.     

Structure‐activity relationship of indolicidin,a Trp‐rich antibacterial peptide

A series of Trp and Arg analogs of antibacterial indolicidin (Ind) was synthesized and the antimicrobial and hemolytic activities were investigated. [L⁹]Ind, [L¹¹]Ind, [K⁸,L⁹]Ind and [K^{6, 8},L⁹]Ind showed desirable characteristics, exhibiting negligible hemolytic activity while keeping strong antibacterial activity. The results indicated that the Trp residue at position 11 essentially contributes to both activities and one can not be exchanged for the other, whereas the Trp residues at positions 4 and 9 play important roles in antimicrobial and hemolytic activities, respectively. The Trp residues at positions 6 and 8 play no important roles in biological activities. We then found that the retro analog of Ind showed higher antibacterial activity than Ind against both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria but remarkably lower hemolytic activity than that of Ind. Copyright © 2010 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.