Conditioning of nyala (Tragelaphus angasi) to blood sampling in a crate with positive reinforcement

Habituation and positive reinforcement procedures were successfully used for low stress blood sampling of nyala (Tragelaphus angasi) at the Denver Zoological Gardens. Four adult females and three offspring were conditioned with a food reward voluntarily to enter a plywood crate for bimonthly blood sampling from the rear leg. Habituated and conditioned, nonsedated nyala could also be given intramuscular injections and be palpated on the udder and abdomen. Highly palatable sliced yams and carrots were used to train the seven animals to enter the crate and allow a handler to confine each animal in it by closing a remotely controlled, vertical slide gate. The next step was slow, careful desensitization and habituation of each animal to having its legs and body touched by a person who reached through a small hole in the side of the crate. The animal was given yam treats during this procedure. The solid sides on the crate helped keep the animal calm. Conditioning and habituation were done slowly and carefully over a period of 3 months to avoid frightening the animals or causing a dangerous escape attempt. All animals remained calm during both conditioning and blood sampling procedures. Investing the time and effort to train nyala to crate handling resulted in improved animal welfare and blood samples that were not confounded by stress. The nyala were trained for a vitamin E supplementation study. In captivity, nyala often suffer from myopathy due to vitamin E deficiency. Vitamin E levels will change when an animal is stressed. Training the animals to cooperate during blood sampling eliminated handling stress. This made it possible to accurately measure vitamin E levels, which will aid nutritionists in determining supplementation levels. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Automatic evaluation of protein sequence functional patterns

A procedure that automatically provides an evaluation of thediagnostic ability of a protein sequence functional patternis described. The procedure relies on the identification ofthe closest definable set in terms of a (protein sequence) databasefunctional annotation to the set of database instances containinga given pattern. Assuming annotation correctness and completenessin the protein sequence database, the degree of statisticalassociation between these sets provides an appropriate measureof the diagnostic ability of the pattern. An experimental implementationof the procedure, using the NBRF/PIR protein database, has beenapplied to a diverse collection of published sequence patterns.Results obtained reveal that frequently it is not possible todefine (in NBRF/PIR database terminology) the set of databaseinstances containing a given pattern, suggesting either lackof pattern diagnostic ability or protein database annotationincompleteness and/or inconsistencies. Received on November 30, 1989; accepted on July 20, 1990     

Effects of kelp (Macrocystis integrifolia andEcklonia maxima) foliar applications on bean crop growth

In 1983 and 1984 field plot experiments were established to assess the effects of a foliar applied (2 or 4L ha^–1×four applications per season) kelpMacrocystis integrifolia, concentrate on growth and nutrition of bean,Phaseolus vulgaris. A commerical kelp concentrate, prepared fromEcklonia maxima, was also used as a test comparison. In the first year a phytohormonal extract of theM. integrifolia concentrate, designed to extract the cytokinin, auxin and gibberellin phytohormones, was also applied to the crop to test the thesis that these phytohormones are active constitutents. In each of the two field seasons the kelp concentrates increased harvestable bean yields on average by 24%. The phytohormonal extract also increased yields, but was less effective than the kelp concentrate itself. Bioassay results demonstrated the presence of phytohormone-like substances in this crude extract.     

Effects of kelp (Macrocystis integrifolia andEcklonia maxima) foliar applications on bean crop growth and nitrogen nutrition under varying soil moisture regimes

A greenhouse experiment was designed to test the effects of two kelp(Macrocystis integrifolia andEcklonia maxima) concentrates, when prepared as foliar sprays, upon bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) growth and N nutrition under three soil moisture regimes. Plant growth and developmental responses in this greenhouse experiment have demonstrated the effectiveness of the two kelp foliar sprays as plant growth regulating substances. Bean growth and developmental responses to the kelp foliar spray treatments were dependent upon the soil moisture regime to which they have been subjected. Although the two kelp foliar sprays had varying and sometimes contrasting effects on bean growth and N nutrition, which were dependent on the soil moisture treatment, their developmental effects upon the number of nodes, shoot/root ratio, leaf area ratio and specific leaf area were quite similar. A soybean callus bioassay demonstrated the presence of cytokinin-like substances and a callus growth antagonist in the kelp concentrate. Increasing dilution of the kelp concentrate disproportionately reduced the callus growth antagonist relative to the growth promoting or cytokinin-like activity.     

The influence of xanthines on the contractile responses of PGF2 alpha and PGD2 in human parenchymal strips

Prostaglandins (PGs) F2 alpha and D2 are bronchoconstrictor agents which are released under allergic conditions such as asthma. The efficacy and potency of PGF2 alpha and PGD2 differ in some tissues. We compared the effects of these two PGs in sensitized human parenchymal strips. In six experiments, PGF2 alpha 0.1 and 0.3 microM produced greater contractions than PGD2 at the same concentrations. There were no significant differences between the contractions from the two PGs at concentrations of 0.01, 0.03, 1.0-10 microM and the two PGs appeared to be equipotent. We studied the effects of the anti-asthmatic drug theophylline, and its analogue enprofylline, on the contraction caused by these PGs. Theophylline 100 microM caused no change to the cumulative concentration response curves. However, enprofylline 100 microM reduced the PGF2 alpha-induced contractions.     

Analysis of cloned structural and regulatory genes for carbohydrate utilization in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO.

Five of the genes required for phosphorylative catabolism of glucose in Pseudomonas aeruginosa were ordered on two different chromosomal fragments. Analysis of a previously isolated 6.0-kb EcoRI fragment containing three structural genes showed that the genes were present on a 4.6-kb fragment in the order glucose-binding protein (gltB)-glucokinase (glk)-6-phosphogluconate dehydratase (edd). Two genes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (zwf) and 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase (eda), shown by transductional analysis to be linked to gltB and edd, were cloned on a separate 11-kb BamHI chromosomal DNA fragment and then subcloned and ordered on a 7-kb fragment. The 6.0-kb EcoRI fragment had been shown to complement a regulatory mutation, hexR, which caused noninducibility of four glucose catabolic enzymes. In this study, hexR was mapped coincident with edd. A second regulatory function, hexC, was cloned within a 0.6-kb fragment contiguous to the edd gene but containing none of the structural genes. The phenotypic effect of the hexC locus, when present on a multicopy plasmid, was elevated expression of glucokinase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase, and 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase activities in the absence of inducer.     

The antagonism by anti-inflammatory analgesics of prostaglandin F2α-induced contractions of human and rabbit myometrium in vitro

The anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs, aspirin, indomethacin, phenylbutazone, mefenamic acid, ibuprofen and flurbiprofen are shown to inhibit in a dose-dependent manner the force of contraction of isolated human pregnant myometrial strips which have been stimulated to contract by adding prostaglandin (PG) F_2α to the tissue bath. These drugs and also flufenamic acid and salicin show a similar antagonism of the action of PGF_2α with isolated rabbit non-pregnant myometrium. The ratio of the inhibitory concentration in vitro to the maximum plasma level after a normal dose in vivo suggests that phenylbutazone and possibly ibuprofen may be capable of inhibiting human uterine contractions in vivo. Patients who were treated with aspirin during induction of abortion using PGF_2α during the second trimester of pregnancy showed no significant change in the induction-abortion interval compared with patients not taking aspirin.