Incidence and severity of Arcanobacterium pyogenes injection site abscesses with needle or needle-free injection

Nursery-age pigs (n=198) were used to evaluate the difference in abscess formation at needle-free jet and conventional needle-and-syringe injection sites. Needle-free jet injection was used to administer injections in the neck and ham on one side of the animal whereas needle-and-syringe was used for neck and ham injections on the opposite side. Immediately prior to injection, the injection site surfaces were contaminated with an inoculum of Arcanobacterium pyogenes. Each pig was humanely euthanized 27 or 28days after injections. Histopathological results showed that needle-free jet injection was associated with more abscesses than needle-and-syringe injection at both neck (P=0.0625) and ham (P=0.0313) injection sites. Out of 792 injection sites, only 13 abscesses were observed, with 12 of those present at needle-free jet injection sites. Needle-free jet injection may increase the occurrence of injection site abscesses that necessitate carcass trimming at pork processing plants.     

Quantitative and temporal analysis of effects of twospotted spider mite (acari: Tetranychidae) female sex pheromone on male guarding behavior

Responses of male twospotted spider mite,Tetranychus urticae (Koch), to female sex pheromone were described by a glass slide bioassay and computerized pathway digitizer. Pheromone was extracted from quiescent deutonymphs and fractionated by HPLC, and responses of guarding males to each fraction, all fractions combined, unfractionated extract, and a hexane control were bioassayed for 6 min. Mean angular velocities, linear velocities, percent time stationary, and distance from the 3-mm-diameter treatment circle were calculated for each mite at 20-sec intervals and these behavioral parameters regressed on time. Analysis of variance of regression-equation intercepts showed that no differences in initial male angular velocities were observed among treatments, but initial linear velocities were greater in response to all fractions combined and to extract than to individual fractions, and greater in response to individual fractions than to the control. Angular velocities decreased and linear velocities increased more rapidly in response to individual fractions than to all fractions combined and extract, while males turned preferentially in one direction and were stationary (no displacement) more often in response to all-fraction combinations than to individual fractions and the control. Significant differences were observed among the parameter values elicited by individual fractions, suggesting that active fractions differed qualitatively. The described changes in movement parameters show that maleT. urticae response to presence of pheromone occurs almost immediately, and that multiple pheromonal components are necessary to elicit maximum male response. The overall effect of pheromonal components was to decrease the rate at which males moved away from the treatment cycle, thereby causing male arrestment.     

Controlling Stereoselection in Aza-Cope-Mannich Reactions

The synthesis of 2-substituted cis-octahydroindolones from the reaction of cis-2-amino-1-alkenylcyclopentanols with aldehydes was studied to examine whether stereoselection in the aza-Cope–Mannich reaction could be controlled by the nature of the nitrogen substituent. 2-Alkylamino-1-(1-phenylethenyl)cyclopentanols 7 and 8 , which contain nitrogen substituents of widely differing size (Me and CHPh₂), were condensed with four aldehydes to give oxazolidines 9a–d and 10a-c. Rearrangement of these intermediates at 23–60 °C, in the presence of 0.9 equiv of (±)-10-camphorsulfonic acid in acetonitrile, gave cis-octahydroindolones 11a-d and 12a–c in yields of 77–95%. Using a combination of single-crystal X-ray crystallography, ¹H nOe measurements, and comparisons with known materials it was established that the N-methyl oxazolidines 9a–d provided exclusively cis-octahydroindolones having the 2-substituent trans to the angular substituents, while N-benzhydryl analogs 10a–c provided exclusively the all-cis products 12a–c. These results are interpreted to mean: (1) When the nitrogen substituent is small (Me), the stereochemistry-determining [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement occurs preferentially through a transition-state topography having the R² substituent oriented quasiequatorially ( 14 → 15 → 16 ); (2) When this substituent is large (CHPh₂), destabilizing steric interactions between the vicinal R¹ and R² substituents causes the rearrangement to occur preferentially through the alternate iminium ion stereoisomer ( 17 → 18 → 19 ).     

Analysis and Optimization of a Synthetic Milkweed Floral Attractant for Mosquitoes

A pentane extract of flowers of common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca (Asclepiadaceae), elicited significant orientation from both male and female Culex pipiens in a dual-port flight olfactometer. Analysis of the extract by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed six major constituents in order of relative abundance: benzaldehyde, (E)-β-ocimene, phenylacetaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, nonanal, and (E)-2-nonenal. Although not all were collected from the headspace profile of live flowers, a synthetic blend of these six compounds, when presented to mosquitoes in the same levels and proportions that occur in the extract, elicited a response comparable to the extract. Subtractive behavioral bioassays demonstrated that a three-component blend consisting of benzaldehyde, phenylacetaldehyde, and (E)-2-nonenal was as attractive as the full blend. These findings suggest the potential use of synthetic floral-odor blends for monitoring or control of both male and female disease-vectoring mosquitoes.     

ACOUSTIC STUDIES OF INTERFACIAL EFFECTS IN AIRLIFT REACTORS

Rational design of airlift reactors for the culture of plant and animal cells is impeded by a lack of understanding of the causes of loss of viability. Some recent speculations in the literature suggest that gas-liquid interfacial phenomena have played prominent roles in observed instances of loss of viability in both insect and animal cell cultures. The important interfacial events may include bubble formation and detachment at the sparger, bubble coalescence and breakage, and bubble disengagement at the free surface-entailing film thinning, film rupture, and film droplet ejection.

We have carried out an experimental investigation of interfacial phenomena using macrovideography and acoustic signals recorded at both the sparger and the free surface. Data have been collected for several liquid media including distilled water, distilled water with electrolyte (NaCl), and aqueous solutions of glycerol (μ = 3 to 9.5 cP). The studies were conducted in a 3-liter, acrylic plastic, split-column airlift reactor, and air was introduced through interchangeable sieve plates (with hole diameters of 1, 2, and 3 mm). Time-series data collected from the microphone were processed for mean and root-mean-square values, and Fourier transforms were computed to identify important signal energies. A sequence of experiments was also conducted that was designed to relate specific interfacial phenomena to the frequencies of the noises produced.     

Chemistry of the Interface Between Aluminum and Polyester Films

It has been observed that the adhesion between vacuum-evaporated aluminum and poly(ethylene isophthalate-co-ethylene sodium sulfoisophthalate) copolymer is approximately five times greater than the adhesion between vacuum-evaporated aluminum and biaxially-oriented poly(ethylene terephthalate) film. To describe the interface between the aluminum and these polymeric substrates, thermoanalytical, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques have been applied. Definite changes in surface elemental composition and chemical functionality occur upon metallization of the polymer films. Aluminized samples contained two new oxygen functionalities; one due to the aluminum oxide and the other due to an organoaluminum species. Thermal degradation, as may occur during vacuum evaporation, would be expected to yield a carboxylic acid endgroup and a vinyl endgroup for each chain scission reaction that occurred. Reaction of aluminum with these carboxylic acid endgroups is thought to be responsible for the organoaluminum oxygen peak that was observed. Based on the XPS data, however, the level of this new functionality was comparable for both types of polyester film. Thus, this new functionality may be involved in promoting aluminum/polyester adhesion, but by itself cannot explain the differences in the level of adhesion that are attained. It appears, based on the transmission electron micrographs, that the aluminum deposit penetrates the copolymer coating to a greater depth than it does the PET. The greater level of penetration could be responsible for the greater adhesion obtained between vacuum-evaporated aluminum and the copolymer film compared with the level of adhesion obtained with the PET film. Based on this work, it appears that the adhesion of the vacuum-evaporated aluminum to both polyesters has a similar chemical component (type and amount) but a different extent of the mechanical component.