Incidence of epulides in the dog: A retrospective histopathological study

The retrospective histopathological study of 468 samples of tumour material obtained from dogs, referred to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Stara Zagora during the period 1991-2000 showed that 29 specimens (6.19%) were epulides. According to their histogenesis, the lesions were classified in two primary groups: reactive lesions – 37.94% and peripheral odontogenic tumours – 62.06%. Epulides were most commonly encountered in males (68.96%) compared to females (31.04%). The average age of affected dogs was 4 years for both genders. In 18 cases (62.06%), the lesions were mandibular whereas in 11 (37.94%) – maxillar. The highest predilection to epulides was observed in German Shepherds – 27.58%

Histopathological and biochemical findings of congenital copper deficiency: are these similar to those of caprine arthritis-encephalitis?

This study was done after identifying animals with a twisted carpal joint in goat herd. These included a kid goat walking on its articulus carpii and a newborn goat with a stiff leg. Necropsies of the diseased goats revealed swollen carpal joints that were twisted backwards. Arthritis was observed during microscopic examination of the carpal joints. Very low levels of eosinophil, leucocyte, and lymphocyte cell infiltration were found in the central nervous system and meninges. Serum copper levels were significantly decreased in most of the animals. All of these results led us to diagnose the animals with swayback disease

Soil Contamination Interpretation by the Use of Monitoring Data Analysis

The presented study deals with the interpretation of soil quality monitoring data using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA). Both statistical methods contributed to the correct data classification and projection of the surface (0–20 cm) and subsurface (20–40 cm) soil layers of 36 sampling sites in the region of Burgas, Bulgaria. Clustering of the variables led to formation of four significant clusters corresponding to possible sources defining the soil quality like agricultural activity, industrial impact, fertilizing, etc. Two major clusters were found to explain the sampling site locations according to soil composition—one cluster for coastal and mountain sites and another—for typical rural and industrial sites. Analogous results were obtained by the use of PCA. The advantage of the latter was the opportunity to offer more quantitative interpretation of the role of identified soil quality sources by the level of explained total variance. The score plots and the dendrogram of the sampling sites indicated a relative spatial homogeneity according to geographical location and soil layer depth. The high-risk areas and pollution profiles were detected and visualized using surface maps based on Kriging algorithm

Concern for information privacy in South Africa: An empirical study using the OIPCI

Please follow the DOI link at the top of the record to access the published version of this article online on the website of the journal.The information privacy concern of consumers concerning the processing of their personal information by online organizations (websites) is investigated in this study by means of a quantitative approach. An overview of existing concerns about information privacy instruments are presented based on a literature review. The Online Information Privacy Concern Instrument (OIPCI) is used to study consumers’ expectations and experience regarding information privacy principles in order to identify their concerns about information privacy. The study was conducted in South Africa with a demographical representative sample of 1000 participants. Gaps were identified where consumers experienced that online organizations were not meeting their privacy expectations. This indicated that the regulatory requirements (in this case, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) are perceived as not being met. The results indicate that while consumers in South Africa have a high expectation for privacy, it is not met in practice. Corrective action and interventions are required from a government and online organization perspective.Women in Research Grant of UNISA.School of Computin

What About my Privacy, Habibi? Understanding Privacy Concerns and Perceptions of Users From Different Socioeconomic Groups in the Arab World

This paper contributes an in-depth understanding of privacy concerns and perceptions of Arab users. We report on the first comparison of privacy perceptions among (1) users from high socioeconomic groups in Arab countries (HSA), (2) users from medium to low socioeconomic groups in Arab countries (LSA), and (3) as a baseline, users from high socioeconomic groups in Germany (HSG). Our work is motivated by the fact that most research in privacy focused on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. This excludes a segment of the population whose cultural norms and socioeconomic status influence privacy perception and needs. We report on multiple novel findings and unexpected similarities and differences across the user groups. For example, shoulder surfing is more common across LSA and HSG, and defamation is a major threat in LSA. We discuss the implications of our findings on the design of privacy protection measures for investigated groups

Cytoskeletal protein kinases: titin and its relations in mechanosensing

Titin, the giant elastic ruler protein of striated muscle sarcomeres, contains a catalytic kinase domain related to a family of intrasterically regulated protein kinases. The most extensively studied member of this branch of the human kinome is the Ca2+–calmodulin (CaM)-regulated myosin light-chain kinases (MLCK). However, not all kinases of the MLCK branch are functional MLCKs, and about half lack a CaM binding site in their C-terminal autoinhibitory tail (AI). A unifying feature is their association with the cytoskeleton, mostly via actin and myosin filaments. Titin kinase, similar to its invertebrate analogue twitchin kinase and likely other “MLCKs”, is not Ca2+–calmodulin-activated. Recently, local protein unfolding of the C-terminal AI has emerged as a common mechanism in the activation of CaM kinases. Single-molecule data suggested that opening of the TK active site could also be achieved by mechanical unfolding of the AI. Mechanical modulation of catalytic activity might thus allow cytoskeletal signalling proteins to act as mechanosensors, creating feedback mechanisms between cytoskeletal tension and tension generation or cellular remodelling. Similar to other MLCK-like kinases like DRAK2 and DAPK1, TK is linked to protein turnover regulation via the autophagy/lysosomal system, suggesting the MLCK-like kinases have common functions beyond contraction regulation

Humic acid and enzymes in canola-based broiler diets: Effects on bone development, intestinal histomorphology and immune development

The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of humic acid and enzymes on bone development, histomorphology of internal organs and the incidence of rickets in broiler chickens fed canola-based diets. In the study, Cobb 500 broiler chicks were used and the following five dietary treatments were administered: control (commercial diet); CM (17.5% canola meal inclusion); CMEnz (17.5% CM inclusion + 0.3g/kg Axtra XAP); CMPh (17.5% CM inclusion + 1.5% potassium humate (PH)); and CMEnzPh (17.5% CM inclusion + 1.5% PH + 0.3g/kg Axtra XAP). These diets were formulated and randomly allocated to 20 pens (experimental units), each housing 11 birds. The birds were phase fed, with the starter diet being given to all birds from day 1 to day 14. During the grower (days 15–28) and finisher phases (days 29–42) birds were fed the experimental diets. Diet differed significantly across all treatments on latency-to-lie (LTL) test. Broilers fed CMEnz had the lowest standing persistence (2.88 ± 2.69 min) and those on CMEnzPh had the highest (11.19 ± 2.69 min), followed by those offered the control diet (9.05 ± 2.69 min). Gross lesion analysis displayed high prevalence of rickets in boilers fed CMEnz diet compared with all other dietary treatments. Intestinal morphometric parameters demonstrated some dietary differences in the height and width of the intestinal villi and intestinal crypts. In conclusion, inclusion of humic acid in canola-based diets appeared to positively influence digestion and assimilation dynamics that were consequential to the improvement in bone and immune development in broilers.Keywords: Bursae of Fabricius, latency-to-lie, poultry, thymus, tibia biomechanics, tibia gross lesion

Yield and qualitY of parsleY depend on water qualitY

abstract DiNev, N. and i. Mitova, 2014. Yield and quality of parsley depend on water quality. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., Food safety crop production depends largely on soil characteristics. Relatively little has studied the problem of the quality of irrigation water. The purpose of this paper is to establish the influence of nitrate contaminated irrigation water on production of parsley. in a greenhouse pot growing experiment with soil (Chernozem-smolnitza) it was investigated the effect of irrigation water taken from natural wells. ), adequate to the concentrations of nitrates of water and declining over time were found. Content of sugars and solids in three cuttings are discussed. Parallel trend of nitrate concentration and pigment content in leaves is shown. The results provide specific recommendations for the safety of products of parsley and control of soil quality at nitrate-enriched water, used for irrigation