Objective To evaluate standing, percutaneous, ultrasound-guided, transthoracic liver biopsy in mares, and transabdominal, laparoscopically-guided, liver biopsy under general anaesthesia in foals, as techniques for obtaining tissue for assessment of copper status. The techniques were evaluated with respect to ease of use and effect on the animal. Procedure Twenty of 24 Thoroughbred mares and 21 of their foals were biopsied. The animals were part of a larger study of the effect of copper supplementation on copper status and the prevalence of developmental orthopaedic disease. Livers were also collected from unrelated horses and sampled to investigate the variability in the distribution of copper in liver tissue. Result The biopsy technique caused no lasting effect on the mares, but there was an increased risk of viscus penetration associated with taking multiple biopsy cores. The use of ultrasonography to scan the target area for the liver identified four cases that were not appropriate candidates for liver biopsy, because of large intestine being located in the biopsy area. In the foals there were no serious postoperative adverse effects, nor was there any evidence of problems caused by the procedure when the abdomen was examined post-mortem at 5 months of age. In livers collected to investigate the variability of copper concentration, copper appeared to be relatively evenly distributed through the liver. Conclusion Standing, percutaneous, ultrasound-guided, transthoracic liver biopsy in mares, and transabdominal, laparoscopically-guided, liver biopsy under general anaesthesia in foals are convenient procedures for obtaining liver tissue for assessing copper status in horses. The use of ultrasound to identify liver tissue is recommended, especially in older mares. 相似文献
Nitrogen cycling was studied for four years (1983–1987) in an N-deficient 10-year-old stand of Pinus radiata growing on a yellow podzolic soil which had a low water-holding capacity. Trees were subjected to combinations of irrigation of N-fertilization resulting in a wide range of N uptake and tree growth. Net mineralization, plant uptake and leaching of soil N was monitored using a sequential coring and in-situ incubation technique. Nitrogen concentrations were measuredd monthly in live needles and litterfall. Average rates of weight loss and release of N from decomposing litter were estimated over a 3-year period using a budgeting approach.
Trees responded only to N (not to P, and there was no N×P interaction), but there was a large positive interaction between N supply and water availability. Response to fertilizer averaged + 24% over a 4-year period, but was zero during a growing-season which contained a 4-month drought. Irrigation alone increased growth by 60%, but in combination with high N availability growth increased 2–3 fold. Annual uptake of N ranged from <10 (irrigated plots in years 2 and 3 after enhanced mineralization during the initial year) to 166 kg ha−1 (during a wet growing season following heavy N fertilization). Although soil mineral-N concentrations were elevated for only about 1 year after fertilization, fertilization enhanced rates of N mineralization throughout the soil N mineralization may have resulted from re-mineralization of the large quantity (147 kg soil N mineralization may have resulted from re-mineralization of the large quantity (147 kg ha−1) of fertilizer N immobilized by the soil during the initial 8 months after fertilization, or the N released from decomposition of fine roots having higher N content. Nitrification was negligible in unfertilized soils, but increased markedly 50–100 days after fertilization and resulted in the leaching of about 60 kg N ha−1 during autumn and winter of the first year after fertilization. Fertilized soils have continued to nitrify readily. Irrigation increased rates of weight loss and N release from decomposing litter.
The rate of N uptake by trees markedly affected the concentrations of N in newly emerging and older needles, and the concentration of N in needlefall. The weighted mean concentration of N in annual needlefall ranged from 0.42% in the irrigated-only plot (most N-stressed) to 0.94% in the heavily fertilized plot during the first year after treatment. These weighted concentrations are a useful index of N uptake from the soil and of growth rate where water supply is not limiting. Except for the initial year after heavy N fertilization, annual uptake of N was equivalent to annual soil N mineralization, and N uptake was positively linearly correlated with annual basal-area increment of trees. 相似文献
Paclitaxel is a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent with a broad spectrum of activity against cancers in humans. In 1992, paclitaxel was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as Taxol® for use in advanced ovarian cancer. Two years later, it was approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Paclitaxel was originally isolated from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia in 1971. Taxanes are a family of microtubule inhibitors. As a member of this family, paclitaxel suppresses spindle microtubule dynamics. This activity results in the blockage of the metaphase‐anaphase transitions, and ultimately in the inhibition of mitosis, and induction of apoptosis in a wide spectrum of cancer cells. Additional anticancer activities of paclitaxel have been defined that are independent of these effects on the microtubules and may include the suppression of cell proliferation as well as antiangiogenic effects. Based on its targeting of a fundamental feature of the cancer phenotype, the mitotic complex, it is not surprising that paclitaxel has been found to be active in a wide variety of cancers in humans. This review summarizes the evidence in support of paclitaxel's broad anticancer activity and introduces the rationale for, and the progress in development of novel formulations of paclitaxel that may preferentially target cancers and that are not associated with the risks for hypersensitivity in dogs. Of note, a novel nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel that substantially limits hypersensitivity was recently given conditional approval by the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine for use in dogs with resectable and nonresectable squamous cell carcinoma and nonresectable stage III, IV and V mammary carcinoma. 相似文献
Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy is a useful technique for the study of vibrational modes of molecules adsorbed on the surface of oxide layers in a metal-insulator-metal tunnel junction. The technique involves studying the effects of adsorbed molecules on the tunneling spectrum of such junctions. The data give useful information about the structure, bonding, and orientation of adsorbed molecules. One of the major advantages of inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy is its sensitivity. It is capable of detecting on the order of 10(10) molecules (a fraction of a monolayer) on a 1-square-millimeter junction. It has been successfully used in studies of catalysis, biology, trace impurity detection, and electronic excitations. Because of its high sensitivity, this technique shows great promise in the area of solid-state electronic chemical sensing. 相似文献
Mounting a protective immune response is critically dependent on the orchestrated movement of cells within lymphoid organs. We report here the visualization, using major histocompatability complex class I tetramers, of the CD8-positive (CD8) T cell response in the spleens of mice to Listeria monocytogenes infection. A multistage pathway was revealed that included initial activation at the borders of the B and T cell zones followed by cluster formation with antigenpresenting cells leading to CD8 T cell exit to the red pulp via bridging channels. Strikingly, many memory CD8 T cells localized to the B cell zones and, when challenged, underwent rapid migration to the T cell zones where proliferation occurred, followed by egress via bridging channels in parallel with the primary response. Thus, the ability to track endogenous immune responses has uncovered both distinct and overlapping mechanisms and anatomical locations driving primary and secondary immune responses. 相似文献
The development of metastasis is the most significant cause of death for both canine and human patients with osteosarcoma (OS). Ezrin has been associated with tumour progression and metastasis in human, canine and murine OS. Ezrin activation is dynamically regulated by protein kinase C (PKC) during metastatic progression in human and murine OS. To include the dog in the development of therapeutics that target ezrin biology, we characterized four new canine OS cell lines and confirmed the relationship between PKC and ezrin in these cells. Three of four cell lines formed tumours in mice that were histologically consistent with OS. All cell lines were markedly aneuploid and expressed ezrin and PKC. Finally, both ezrin phosphorylation and cell migration were inhibited using a PKC inhibitor. These data suggest that an association between PKC-mediated activation of ezrin and the metastatic phenotype in canine OS cells. 相似文献
