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Urolithiasis and kidney disease as causes of significant mortality in fowls were investigated in two flocks of commercial laying birds on farms where outbreaks had occurred previously. The investigation, covering the first 10-11 months of egg production, included macroscopic and histological examination of individual cases of the disease, biochemical studies on blood samples collected at regular intervals from marked birds and the analysis of feed samples taken at the same time.The aetiology and pathogenesis of the condition was not established and the various investigations carried out did not reveal any consistent features. The possibility of an association between infectious bronchitis virus and the pathological entity described in the paper is discussed.

Abstract: The results of surgical treatment of 301 patients with malignant tumors of the colon and rectum presenting to two small district general hospitals in the years 1972 to 1977 were analyzed. Two hundred seventy-four patients (91 per cent) underwent surgery with an operative mortality of 8.7 per cent. Curative resections were performed in 58 per cent of the patients. The overall crude five-year survival rate was 32 per cent. The crude five-year survival rates for curative resection, palliative procedures, and inoperable patients were 47 per cent, 11 per cent, and 0 per cent, respectively. Survival rates were considerably improved in patients in the 40-to-50-year age group with 9 to 12 months' duration of symptoms, and in those with early unfixed, resected tumors. It was diminished in patients with bowel perforation presenting as an emergency, and in patients with two weeks or less duration of symptoms. Survival was not related to the site or grade of the tumor.

Background. Methane emissions from agriculture are responsible for over 40% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. In the past, antibiotics were used to control methane production by animals, but concerns over the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to humans have prompted a search for alternative approaches. Hops are the flowers of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. They have been used to feed cattle for many years and are known to contain antibacterial compounds, and their extracts have been shown to kill members of the Mycobacterium spp including Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis as well as a number of human pathogens. In this study, hop extracts were studied for their ability to inhibit methane production from Methanobrevibacter ruminantium, a major methane-producing archaeon found in the rumen of cattle. Methods. Methanobrevibacter ruminantium M1T (DSM 1093) was grown at 37°C for 30 days, and the amount of methane produced at different time points during this period was measured using gas chromatography. The archaeon was exposed to commercial hop extracts (tetra-hydro-iso-alpha acid and beta acid) and to aqueous hop extracts of a range of hop variants, and their effect on methane production was determined. Results. All of the extracts reduced the level of methane production of M. ruminantium over the 30-day period compared to the negative control (sterile distilled water). The commercial hop extracts were the most effective at inhibiting methane production over the course of the experiment in contrast to the aqueous extracts, which showed a gradual reduction of inhibition with time. Conclusions. Hops contain compounds which inhibit methane production. Given that hops can be safely fed to cattle, this raises the possibility of rationally designing a feed strategy which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect against bovine tuberculosis. This study recommends that further research be undertaken to further identifying bioactive components from hops and their efficacy against a range of archaea.

In-a retrospective series of 301 colorectal tumours, tumour fixity was assessed, and was found to be of prognostic significance in relation to 5-year survival. Fixity of the tumour was associated with low curative resection rate and advanced tumour stage. Fixation did not correlate significantly with the site or differentiation of the tumour nor with operative mortality.