Dung treated by high-temperature composting is an optimal bedding material for suckling calves according to analyses of microbial composition, growth performance, health status, and behavior.

Bedding materials are important for suckling buffalo calves. Treated dung has been used as a bedding material for dairy cows but the lack of an appropriate safety assessment limits its application. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of treated dung (TD) as a bedding material for suckling calves by comparing TD with rice husk (RH) and rice straw (RS) bedding materials. The TD was prepared through high-temperature composting by Bacillus subtilis. Thirty-three newborn suckling buffalo calves (Bubalus bubalis, 40.06 ± 5.79 kg) were randomly divided into 3 bedding material groups (TD, RH, and RS) and bedded with 1 of the 3 bedding materials for 60 d. We compared cost, moisture content, bacterial counts, and microbial composition of the 3 bedding materials, and investigated growth performance, health status, behavior, rumen fermentation, and blood parameters of bedded calves. The results showed that TD contained the fewest gram-negative bacteria and coliforms on d 1 and 30 and the lowest relative abundance of Staphylococcus throughout the experiment. The RH and TD bedding materials had the lowest cost. Calves in the TD and RS groups showed a higher dry matter intake, and final body weight and average daily gain in the TD and RS groups tended to be higher than in the RH group. Calves in the TD and RS groups had a lower disease incidence (diarrhea and fever), fewer antibiotic treatments, and lower fecal score than calves in the RH group. Higher contents of IgG, IgA, and IgM were observed in calves of the TD and RS groups than in calves of the RH group on d 10, indicating higher immune ability in TD and RS groups. Furthermore, TD bedding increased the butyric acid content in the calf's rumen, whereas RS bedding increased the acetate content, which might be attributed to the longer time and higher frequency of eating bedding material in the RS group. Considering all of the above indicators, we concluded that TD is the optimal bedding material for calves based on economics, bacterial count, microbial diversity, growth performance, and health status. Our findings provide a valuable reference for bedding material choice and calf farming.

Case Report: Local skin flap with vacuum-seal drainage to facilitate healing of ACS.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the therapy of a severe abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) to elucidate the use of an abdominal advanced flap with other supportive measures for restoration of large defects of the abdominal wall. A patient presented with a large defect of the abdominal wall caused by ACS, which had resulted from multiple injuries after a fall from height. Healing of the defect was achieved by transplantation of an abdominal advanced flap and other supportive strategies. All of the treatment measures are presented to demonstrate complicated treatment procedures for closure of large defects of the abdominal wall. An abdominal advanced flap combined with other supportive measures was successfully applied in the healing process of ACS. This study examined the treatment of a case of ACS caused by severe abdominal trauma. The results demonstrated that a large defect of the abdominal wall caused by ACS should be closed as early as possible, and an abdominal advanced flap combined with complex supportive measures can be a recommended strategy for closing large defects of the abdominal wall.

Symbiosis of Mycoplasma hominis in Trichomonas vaginalis may link metronidazole resistance in vitro.

Fourteen of 28 Trichomonas vaginalis isolates collected from patients in Guangzhou, China from 2003 to 2004 were found to be naturally infected with Mycoplasma hominis, as determined by PCR using specific primers. In vitro metronidazole sensitivity assay of the 28 isolates revealed four displaying low susceptibility [minimum lethal concentration (MLC)= approximately 13-25 microg/ml] and another four displaying high resistance (MLC=50-100 microg/ml). The overwhelming majority of these resistant isolates (7/8) were mycoplasma-infected. The mean of MLCs of mycoplasma-infected isolates is approximately 10-fold higher than the mean of noninfected isolates (p=0.029). Sequence analyses of PCR-amplified small subunit-large subunit rRNA interspacer regions (ITS1/5.8S/ITS2) revealed that 23 of the 28 samples are identical, the remaining five being separable into two groups, each with a single point mutation. These internal transcribed spacer sequence variants are associated neither with mycoplasma infection nor with drug resistance. In contrast, random amplified polymorphic DNA analyses of DNAs using 10 different primers showed that the drug-resistant isolates are clustered together in association with mycoplasma infection, albeit more loosely. Taken together, the results obtained from this study suggest that in vitro metronidazole resistance of T. vaginalis is related to mycoplasma infection of this protozoan.

Triterpenoid saponins from Clematis tangutica.

Two new triterpenoid saponins, tanguticoside A and B along with seven known saponins vitalboside B, alpha-hederin, saponin PK, beta-hederin, saponin PJ3, saponin PE, and ciwujianoside A were isolated from aerial part of Clematis tangutica. By chemical and spectral evidences methods, the structures of tanguticoside A and B were elucidated as 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosylhederagenin 28-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside and 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-beta-D-glucopyranosylhederagenin 28-O-alpha-D-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside, respectively.

[Selectivity of poly (4-methyl-5-vinylthiazole) stationary phase in reversed-phase liquid chromatography].

In this paper, the selectivity of poly(4-methyl-5-vinylthiazole) stationary phase (PMV CA phase) is comprehensively studied in reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) mode with methanol-water system. The selectivity difference between PMV CA phase and three commonly used RPLC stationary phases (C18, C8 and Phenyl phase) is shown. Four typical species of standards (alkylbenzens, chlorobenzenes, nitrobenzenes and PAHs) are selected for the selectivity study. It is shown that the PMV CA phase has some special selectivities: 1) It has different selectivity from C18 and C8 phase because the PMV CA phase may form diploe interaction, pi-electron interaction and hydrogen bonding interaction (with the nitrogen atom and oxygen atom on the phase) with solutes owing to its polar aromatic thiazole ring and polar ester bond etc. on the phase; 2) It has similar property as phenyl phase because both of them can form pi-electron interaction with solutes. But owing to its polar thiazole ring and other polar group on the phase, which may form dipole interaction and hydrogen bonding interaction with solutes, there are still some differences between these two phases.

[Application of the quantitation with curve-fitting method on chiral separation by high performance liquid chromatography].

We propose for the first time that curve-fitting method should be applied to the quantitation of overlapping peaks in chiral separation by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We have examined the separation of eight isomers of cyfluthrin on a chiral stationary phase (CSP), and found that in comparing with the perpendicular-drop method, the accuracy of quantitation of overlapping peaks with curve-fitting was much higher. Generally, errors in peak area measurement using the perpendicular-drop method become larger as the degree of peak overlap increases. Meanwhile, by using curve-fitting method errors have no apparent difference for different degrees of peak overlap. Generally, for the same chiral compounds, although the resolutions are different with different mobile phase strength, the results of peak areas are the same by using curve-fitting method.

[Study on adsorption of atrazine by soil leaching column chromatography].

A recently developed soil leaching column chromatography was applied to study the adsorption of pesticide in water-soil system. Soil was filled directly into a liquid chromatographic column and pesticide solution was applied as an eluant, and the adsorption equilibrium was monitored by a UV detector. The herbicide atrazine, i. e. 2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine, was chosen as an example. Its mass concentration ranged from 19.73 mg/L to 29.60 g/L. After the soil phase was rinsed with methanol, the amount of atrazine adsorbed was calculated from the difference between the atrazine totally rinsed and that in solution in the column. The low content atrazine sample was determined by enrichment on an ODS column and step-gradient method. It shows that the adsorption of atrazine on a sandy loam soil is in accordance with Freundlich isotherm. The adsorption coefficient Kf is 842.6 mL/kg and the normalized organic carbon adsorption coefficient log Koc is 1.832.