Unlikely Menus

Ever since I heard the joke What do honeymooners eat (Lettuce alone). I\u27ve been making up unlikely menus to fit every taste, mood and culture. Here are a few

I Love to be Squoze

In early April 1992, out local newspaper carried a syndicated piece titled Best of the Worst Country Song Titles by Mike Harden

Tom Swiftie Potpourri

I\u27ve found a productive way to pass the time when I\u27m waiting unpatiently in a doctor\u27s or dentist\u27s office: I manufacture Tom Swifties. Remember them? They were the word game rage 25 years ago. Maybe it\u27s time for a comeback, she reparteed

Headlines I Have Loved

The headline writers for our local newspaper, the Town Talk, have to be closet punsters. There\u27s no other explanation for the play-on-words banners which so frequently appear in boldface. Here are my favorites, most of which are self-explanatory

A real-time PCR method for quantification of the total and major variant strains of the Deformed wing virus

Funding: ELB was supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) EASTBIO Doctoral Training Partnership (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk) [grant number BB/J01446X/1] and an Eastern Association Regional Studentship (EARS) and The Morley Agricultural Foundation awarded to ASB. CRC was supported by a KTN BBSRC CASE studentship (BB/M503526/1) (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk), part-funded by the Scottish Beekeeping Association (https://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/) and the Animal Health - Disease Prevention, Scottish Government awarded to ASB CRC. This project received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613960 (SMARTBEES) (http://www.smartbees-fp7.eu/) awarded to ASB. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Mr W. Thrale, Mr Z. Blackmore, Mr J. Quinlan, and Mr J. Palombo for sample collection from the South East of England and Margie Ramsey for Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve sample collection.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Communal farmers of Namibia appreciate vultures and the ecosystem services they provide

Ecosystem services are cited as one of the many reasons for conserving declining vulture populations in Africa. We aimed to explore how communal farmers in Namibia perceive vultures and the ecosystem services they provide, with special focus on cultural and regulating ecosystem services. We surveyed 361 households across Namibia’s communal farmlands and found that over two-thirds of households liked vultures and found them useful, stating that they were harmless and useful for locating dead livestock. The minority of households who disliked vultures believed that they were killing their livestock. Poisoning was the main cause of vulture mortalities reported by farmers. While poisoning appears to be a concern for vultures in the communal farmlands, it appears that cultural use of vulture body parts is a minimal threat. We found that few farmers knew of cultural beliefs about vultures or uses for body parts; most farmers believed these beliefs and practices to be outdated. It is further promising that communal farmers have an overall positive perception of vultures. This highlights the potential for communal conservancies to bring attention to vulture conservation in their constituencies.Peer reviewe

Insect Cultural Services : How Insects Have Changed Our Lives and How Can We Do Better for Them

Funding: This research received no external funding. Data Availability Statement: No new data were created or analysed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The sensitivity of direct faecal examination, faecal flotation and centrifugal sedimentation / flotation in the diagnosis of canine spirocercosis

A variety of faecal examination methods have shown variable sensitivity in identifying larvated Spirocerca lupi (S. lupi) eggs. The purpose of this study was to determine which faecal examination method, including a novel modified centrifugal flotation method, was most sensitive in the diagnosis of spirocercosis. Faeces were collected from 33 dogs diagnosed with spirocercosis by oesophageal endoscopy at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital between 2008 and 2009. If the first evaluation was negative, a second faecal sample was evaluated 24-48 h later. Ten faecal examinations using 1 g aliquots of faeces were performed per sample. Four faecal examination methods were evaluated; direct faecal examination using saline, direct faecal flotation, a modified faecal centrifugal flotation and a laboratory performed faecal sedimentation/flotation. The direct and modified centrifugal flotation methods were each performed using four faecal flotation solutions; NaNO3 (Specific gravity (SG) 1.22), MgSO4 (SG 1.29), ZnSO4 (SG 1.30) and saturated sugar (SG 1.27). The sedimentation/flotation method utilized MgSO4 (SG 1.29). The modified centrifugal flotation method required centrifugation (1400 G) of a prepared faecal suspension (1 g faeces suspended in 5 ml of flotation solution) after which 0.1 ml of the supernatant was aspirated from the surface using an adjustable volume micropipette for microscopic examination. The 10 faecal examination tests were statistically analysed using the Friedman test (nonparametric equivalent of analysis of variance) p=0.000, z value = 0.05. The sensitivity of the tests ranged between 42 % and 67 %, with the NaNO3 solution showing the highest sensitivity in both the direct and modified centrifugal flotation methods. The modified NaNO3 centrifugal method ranked first with the highest mean egg cell count (45.24 ± 83). The modified centrifugal NaNO3 method was found to be superior (i.e. higher egg counts) and significantly different (p<0.001) compared with the routine saturated sugar, ZnSO4 and MgSO4 flotation methods. The direct flotation method/technique using NaNO3 flotation fluid was also superior and significantly different (p<0.001) when compared to the same technique using ZnSO4 or MgSO4 flotation fluids. Neoplastic transformation of oesophageal nodules was confirmed in 15 % (n=5) of dogs and a further 18 % (n=6) had both neoplastic and non-neoplastic oesophageal nodules. S. lupi eggs were demonstrated in 40 % of dogs with neoplastic nodules and in 72.9 % of dogs with non-neoplastic nodules. The mean egg count in the non-neoplastic group (61) was statistically greater (p=0.02) than that of the neoplastic group (1). The results show that faecal examination using the direct and modified centrifugal flotation methods with the NaNO3 flotation fluid are the most sensitive methods in the diagnosis of spirocercosis. The modified centrifugal flotation method using this solution has the highest mean egg count. The study also found that dogs with neoplastic nodules shed significantly fewer eggs than dogs with non-neoplastic nodules. CopyrightDissertation (MMedVet)--University of Pretoria, 2011.Companion Animal Clinical Studiesunrestricte

Super food or Super toxic? : Turmeric and spirulina as culprits for the toxic effects of food dyes in Drosophila

Open Access via the Elsevier Agreement JM is funded by BBSRC grant (BB/V015249/1). RvH is funded through DEFRA project (ETPP-33/C10).Peer reviewedPublisher PD