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The ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, is a most important health risk for European honey bee subspecies (Apis mellifera) globally. There is a scarcity in experimental approaches addressing this issue by using computed tomography. Our purpose was to determine the decrease in the volume, surface, density and weight alteration triggered by V. destructor in pre-imaginal stages of A. mellifera using computer-based 3-D reconstruction technology. Computer tomography used in the current study proved to be sufficiently sensitive for the detection of V. destructor in comb cells. This non-invasive experimental setup revealed that the developing worker pupae have retained their volume and surface values, whereas the weight loss triggered by V. destructor was statistically confirmed. In addition, the disappearance of lower radiodensity tissues is shown to be due to mite parasitism, which can be primarily explained by haemolymph losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leguminous plant products have great nutritional and economic importance in the European Union, which is reflected by its protein policy. These harvested yields are risked by stored product pests, such as Acanthoscelides obtectus Say, which can cause up to 50-60% loss in stored bean items. The bean weevil causes both quantitative and qualitative damage to seeds. We aimed to map the qualitative damage of this devastating pest, which deteriorates the nutritional content of bean kernels. Furthermore, our purpose was to determine accurately the decrease in the volume and density alteration in beans caused by this important stored product pest using CT-assisted imaging analysis. Our results showed that the nutritional arrangement in damaged beans was caused by A. obtectus. The measured nutrient content increment in damaged samples can be explained by the presence of extraneous organic material which originates from perished specimens of the bruchin pest. This is a negative phenomenon in bean items used as forage, because of the loss of valuable proteins and rancidity in herbal oils. Weight loss triggered by developing larvae was 49.42% in examined bean items. The use of 3D technologies has greatly improved and facilitated the detailed investigation of injured seeds. The density (75,834 HU; 41.93%) and the volume (296.162 mm³; 26.21%) values measured by CT of the examined samples were significantly decreased. The decreasing of tissue density in damaged beans can be accounted for by the consumption of starch present at a high ratio and that of the dense reserve components in the cotyledons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the interaction of Bordetella bronchiseptica, toxigenic pasteurella multocida serotype D and mycotoxin fumonisin B1 (FB1) on artificially reared 3 day old piglets. The piglets were divided into a control group, a group fed FB1 toxin, a group infected with the 2 pathogens, and a group infected with the 2 pathogens and fed FB1 toxin. Computed tomography showed lung lesions attributable to colonization by Bordetella bronchiseptica in the infected groups.

The aim of these experiments was to examine the applicability of two different methods (TOBEC and CT) for the in vivo prediction of egg composition. In the first experiment the electrical conductivity of 46 hen's eggs was measured by means of the TOBEC (Total Body Electrical Conductivity) method and correlations were calculated between the measured values and different egg components (dry matter, protein, fat). In the second experiment 120 hen's eggs were scanned by CT (computer tomography), in order to develop the CT measurement protocol and to determine correlations between the information content of the CT images and yolk content of the eggs. In the case of the TOBEC measurements it was established that the dry matter and fat content of the eggs could be measured with medium accuracy (R2=0.472 and R2=0.486, respectively), when the electrical conductivity (E-value) and the weight of the eggs are used as independent variables in the linear regression model. In the second experiment it was observed that the separation of egg yolk and albumen is not possible based on the X-ray density values of the pixels (CT picture elements) because of the overlapping values of yolk and albumen. The determination of the surface of egg yolk on the CT pictures gave fairly good results, but this type of the evaluation is very time consuming. Therefore further development of the new egg-separation and segmentation software is needed, which can be used to determine the whole volume of the yolk, albumen and shell automatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]