Incidence of anthelmintic resistance in cattle farms in Northern Germany – first results

Anthelmintic resistance (AR) is an increasing problem worldwide especially for small ruminants and it is also rising in cattle. To maintain the efficacy of anthelmintics is an important objective. The current project aims at the investigation of the current efficacy of macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics for strongylid nematodes in first season grazing (FSG) calves in Northern Germany. On 8 participating farms in Northern Germany faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) with ivermectin (IVM) were performed. On 3 farms the efficacy of IVM was found to be ≤90% and on only 4 farms it was > 95% at 14 days post treatment (d.p.t.). Only 2 farms showed a reduction ≥ 95% at 21 d.p.t.. This survey reveals a rising problem of AR. The problem of drug resistance places the welfare of animals at risk. In organic farming, without a preventive treatment, livestock may harbour high worm counts. Therefore it is necessary to maintain powerful anthelmintic drugs to guarantee the welfare of animals that need salvage treatment. To investigate the AR problem in cattle more surveys with different anthelmintic drug classes are urgently needed

Absolute photoionization cross sections of atomic oxygen

The absolute values of photoionization cross sections of atomic oxygen were measured from the ionization threshold to 120 A. An auto-ionizing resonance belonging to the 2S2P4(4P)3P(3Do, 3So) transition was observed at 479.43 A and another line at 389.97 A. The experimental data is in excellent agreement with rigorous close-coupling calculations that include electron correlations in both the initial and final states

Total and dissociative photoionization cross sections of N2 from threshold to 107 eV

The absolute cross sections for the production of N(+) and N2(+) were measured from the dissociative ionization threshold of 115 A. In addition, the absolute photoabsorption and photoionization cross sections were tabulated between 114 and 796 A. The ionization efficiencies were also given at several discrete wave lengths between 660 and 790 A. The production of N(+) fragment ions are discussed in terms of the doubly excited N2(+) states with binding energies in the range of 24 to 44 eV

Chronic exposure to neonicotinoids increases neuronal vulnerability to mitochondrial dysfunction in the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

This work was funded jointly by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Natural Environment Research Council, the Scottish Government, and The Wellcome Trust, under the Insect Pollinators Initiative (United Kingdom) Grant BB/ 1000313/1 (to C.N.C.).The global decline in the abundance and diversity of insect pollinators could result from habitat loss, disease, and pesticide exposure. The contribution of the neonicotinoid insecticides (e.g., clothianidin and imidacloprid) to this decline is controversial, and key to understanding their risk is whether the astonishingly low levels found in the nectar and pollen of plants is sufficient to deliver neuroactive levels to their site of action: the bee brain. Here we show that bumblebees (Bombusterrestris audax) fed field levels [10 nM, 2.1 ppb (w/w)] of neonicotinoid accumulate between 4 and 10 nM in their brains within 3 days. Acute (minutes) exposure of cultured neurons to 10 nM clothianidin, but not imidacloprid, causes a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-dependent rapid mitochondrial depolarization. However, a chronic (2 days) exposure to 1 nM imidacloprid leads to a receptor-dependent increased sensitivity to a normally innocuous level of acetylcholine, which now also causes rapid mitochondrial depolarization in neurons. Finally, colonies exposed to this level of imidacloprid show deficits in colony growth and nest condition compared with untreated colonies. These findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the poor navigation and foraging observed in neonicotinoid treated bumblebee colonies.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Remotely controlled mirror of variable geometry for small angle x-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation

A total-reflecting mirror of 120-cm length was designed and built to focus synchrotron radiation emanating from the electron-positron storage ring at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SPEAR). The reflecting surface is of unpolished float glass. The bending and tilt mechanism allows very fine control of the curvature and selectability of the critical angle for wavelengths ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 Å. Elliptical curvature is used to minimize aberrations. The mirror is placed asymmetrically onto the ellipse so as to achieve a tenfold demagnification of the source. The bending mechanism reduces nonelastic deformation (flow) and minimizes strains and stresses in the glass despite its length. Special design features assure stability of the focused image. The mirror reduces the intensity of shorter wavelength harmonics by a factor of approximately 100

Self-Organization in Multimode Microwave Phonon Laser (Phaser): Experimental Observation of Spin-Phonon Cooperative Motions

An unusual nonlinear resonance was experimentally observed in a ruby phonon laser (phaser) operating at 9 GHz with an electromagnetic pumping at 23 GHz. The resonance is manifested by very slow cooperative self-detunings in the microwave spectra of stimulated phonon emission when pumping is modulated at a superlow frequency (less than 10 Hz). During the self-detuning cycle new and new narrow phonon modes are sequentially ``fired'' on one side of the spectrum and approximately the same number of modes are ``extinguished'' on the other side, up to a complete generation breakdown in a certain final portion of the frequency axis. This is usually followed by a short-time refractority, after which the generation is fired again in the opposite (starting) portion of the frequency axis. The entire process of such cooperative spectral motions is repeated with high degree of regularity. The self-detuning period strongly depends on difference between the modulation frequency and the resonance frequency. This period is incommensurable with period of modulation. It increases to very large values (more than 100 s) when pointed difference is less than 0.05 Hz. The revealed phenomenon is a kind of global spin-phonon self- organization. All microwave modes of phonon laser oscillate with the same period, but with different, strongly determined phase shifts - as in optical lasers with antiphase motions.Comment: LaTeX2e file (REVTeX4), 5 pages, 5 Postscript figures. Extended and revised version of journal publication. More convenient terminology is used. Many new bibliographic references are added, including main early theoretical and experimental papers on microwave phonon lasers (in English and in Russian

Modelling groundwater-dependent vegetation patterns using ensemble learning

International audienceVegetation patterns arise from the interplay between intraspecific and interspecific biotic interactions and from different abiotic constraints and interacting driving forces and distributions. In this study, we constructed an ensemble learning model that, based on spatially distributed environmental variables, could model vegetation patterns at the local scale. The study site was an alluvial floodplain with marked hydrologic gradients on which different vegetation types developed. The model was evaluated on accuracy, and could be concluded to perform well. However, model accuracy was remarkably lower for boundary areas between two distinct vegetation types. Subsequent application of the model on a spatially independent data set showed a poor performance that could be linked with the niche concept to conclude that an empirical distribution model, which has been constructed on local observations, is incapable to be applied beyond these boundaries

Towards Integrability of Topological Strings I: Three-forms on Calabi-Yau manifolds

The precise relation between Kodaira-Spencer path integral and a particular wave function in seven dimensional quadratic field theory is established. The special properties of three-forms in 6d, as well as Hitchin's action functional, play an important role. The latter defines a quantum field theory similar to Polyakov's formulation of 2d gravity; the curious analogy with world-sheet action of bosonic string is also pointed out.Comment: 31 page

Teknologi Tepat Guna Membangun Kecintaan dan Kebanggaan pada Kearifan Lokal Bahasa Sunda

Sebagai salah satu dari tujuh unsur budaya versi Koentjaraningrat bahasa merupakan unsur yang melekat pada diri setiap warga masyarakat dan menjadi salah satu pencirikelompoknya. Bahasa Sunda seyogyanya tampil dalam keseharian masyarakat Sunda, khususnya dalam pendidikan nonformal dan informal. Dengan demikian kearifan lokal tersebut akan terlindungi dari ancaman „pemarjinalan“.Penelitian yang dilakukan di kecamatan Pangalengan, Banjaran danCicalengka di kabupaten Bandungmembuahkan hasil yang cukup mengejutkan. Babasan, paribasa dan aksara Sunda (baca: Kaganga) nyaris tidak dikenal di kalangan masyarakatnya. Meskipun bahasa Sunda digunakan sebagai sarana komunikasi, namun nilai-nilai budaya yang terkandung di dalamnya tidak tereksplor dengan baik. Melalui teknologi tepat guna berupa kartu „Opat Kalima Pancer“ dan fesyen populer bernuansa kearifan lokal diharapkan kecintaan dan kebanggan warga terhadap nilai-nilai budaya Sunda berbasis bahasa dapat ditumbuhkan