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Browse tree leaves of six species of Acacia (A. angustissima L., A. drepanolobium L., A. nilotica L., A. polyacantha L., A. senegal L., A. tortilis L.) were screened for chemical composition, including minerals and trace elements. Crude protein (CP) varied among the species from 145 (A. senegal) to 229 g/kg DM (A. angustissima). The species had moderate to high levels of minerals. The concentrations of Ca, P, Mg and S varied among the species from 14.6-31.5, 3.5-4.9, 1.4-3.0 and 1.7-2.8 g/kg DM, respectively. The forages showed relatively low concentrations of trace elements. Content of trace elements varied among the species from 4.5-23.8, 99.4-173.6, 146.2-432, 41.0-90.1, 10.9-22.2 and 0.05-0.65 mg/kg DM for Cu, Mo, Fe, Mn, Zn and Co, respectively. All leaves of browse species would meet the normal requirements for Ca, P, Mg and S in ruminants, although some species had higher levels of Ca than tabulated mineral requirements in livestock. Assayed Cu, Mn, Zn and Co would satisfy the lower range of recommended requirements of trace elements depending on their bioavailability. Therefore, browse leaves from Acacias could form good sources of CP and mineral supplements to ruminants.

Fang, S.G., Wan, Q.H. and Fujihara, T. 2003. Loss of genetic variation in giant panda due to limited population and habitat fragmentation. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 24: 137–144. The present study was designed to investigate effects of population size and habitat fragmentation on the long-term survival of giant panda. Genetic diversity including band-sharing coefficient, gene frequency, heterozygosity, numbers of alleles and genetic variability were estimated in two populations of the giant panda, which inhabited in Liangshan Mountain and Qionglai Mountain, respectively. The results showed that the decrease of genetic variation caused by genetic drift in Liangshan panda population coincide with the fact that this isolated population had less immigration individuals from the other populations. On the contrary, the Qionglai panda population possessed relatively high genetic variation due to the possible gene flow among the fragmented populations inside the Qionglai Mountain. This finding also indicates t...

The purinergic P2Y(2) receptor agonists stimulate active Cl-transport across the excised rabbit conjunctival tissue in vitro. We determined whether UTP or ATP could increase the tear volume and change tear fluid composition in normal rabbits in vivo.Fifty mL was applied to rabbit eyes of UTP, ATP at concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 8.5% (1.8-154 mM) or saline. A modified Schirmer test with topical anesthesia was performed 5, 15, 30 and 60 min after the instillation. In studies lasting 30 days, 50 microL of 0.5% UTP was applied 6 times a day for 4 weeks. Tear samples were collected from the conjunctival sac with a glass microcapillary. The protein profile of the tear fluid was analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and total protein was measured with the Bradford assay. The Easy-Titer rabbit IgG assay kit was used for the determination of immunoglobulin G (IgG).UTP had dose-dependent stimulatory effects on tear secretion. It maximally increased tear secretion about 4-fold 15 min after its application. Similar effects were obtained with ATP. Repeated treatment with UTP reproducibly increased tear volume. Furthermore, UTP did not decrease total protein and IgG concentration in tear fluid and it had no effect on the protein profile.These data indicate that activation of P2Y(2) receptor increases tear fluid secretion accompanied with some proteins in normal rabbits. The purinergic agonists, UTP and ATP, have potential therapeutic value in the treatment of dry eye.

We studied the influences of ofloxacin, either eye drops or ointment, on corneal re-epithelialization after denudation with n-heptanol in rabbits. Ofloxacin (0.3%) was administered topically, at effective clinical concentrations, for 2 days after denudation of the corneal epithelium. Its effects were compared with those of the antibacterial agents norfloxacin, gentamicin, erythromycin, and the combination of oxytetracycline and polymyxin B. Neither ofloxacin nor any of those agents affected the time required for re-epithelialization except gentamicin sulfate, which significantly delayed the corneal wound healing 10 hr after denudation. These results suggest that the topical administration of ofloxacin eye drops or ointment after surgery may not influence corneal epithelial wound healing as do other antibacterial eye drops or ointments except gentamicin sulfate.

An application of scanning tunneling microscopy to biological research is presented on observation of micro-structures of a permanent tooth. This observation provides micro-structural images of cross-sectional surface of thin-sliced samples of dentin and enamel of a human permanent tooth within a nanometer region under atmospheric conditions at room temperatures. The scanning scale used in this study is in 313–10,000 nm for measurements of dental specimens. Several tunneling microscopic images of the dental