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Purpose The clinical diagnosis of pulmonary sarcoidosis is based on the presence of noncaseating granulomas in an appropriate clinical setting with either bilateral hilar adenopathy and/or parenchymal infiltrates. Lymphocytosis with an increased CD4/CD8 T cell ratio in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid is supportive. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of a predictive binary logistic regression model in sarcoidosis based on sex, age, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cell profile with and without the inclusion of HLA-DR.sup.+ CD8.sup.+ T cells and natural killer T-cell fractions. Methods A retrospective analysis of differential cell counts and lymphocyte phenotypes by flow cytometry in bronchoalveolar lavage was performed in 183 patients investigated for possible diffuse parenchymal lung disease. A logistic regression model with age, sex, lymphocyte fraction, eosinophils, and CD4/CD8 ratio in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (basic model) was compared with a final model, which also included fractions of HLA-DR.sup.+ CD8.sup.+ T cells and natural killer T cells. Diagnostic accuracy of the two models was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results The area under the ROC curve for the basic and final model was 0.898 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.852-0.945] and 0.937 (95 % CI 0.902-0.972), respectively, p = 0.008. Conclusions Assessment of HLA-DR.sup.+ CD8.sup.+ T cell and natural killer T-cell fractions may improve diagnostic accuracy and further strengthen the importance of bronchoalveolar lavage in the diagnostic workup of sarcoidosis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00408-013-9527-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users., Author(s): A. Tøndell[sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.4] , A. D. Rø[sup.2] , A. Åsberg[sup.3] , M. Børset[sup.2] [sup.4] , T. Moen[sup.2] [sup.5] , M. Sue-Chu[sup.1] [sup.6] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Thoracic [...]

Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were demonstrated in 3 out of 10 Gordon setters with symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy and in 5 out of 13 Gordon setters with black hair follicular dysplasia. Two dogs showed both symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy and black hair follicular dysplasia, and one of these was ANA positive. The results suggest that symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy and black hair follicular dysplasia in the Gordon setter might be autoimmune diseases that are pathogenetically related, which might indicate a common genetic predisposition.

Ruminal fiber digestion is often decreased by supplementation of readily fermentable carbohydrates. Five ruminally cannulated beef steers were used in a 5 x 5 Latin square design to evaluate the effects of grain type (corn vs barley) and ruminal buffer (Na sesquicarbonate; 0 vs 1.2% of dietary DM) on ruminal digestion and fermentation in wheat straw-based diets. Grain supplements were 30% of the dietary DM. The 2 x 2 + 1 factorial arrangement of treatments included a control supplement that consisted primarily of soybean meal. Diets were fed once daily and were formulated to be 10% CP (DM basis). In situ DM (ISDMD) and NDF (ISNDFD) disappearance of wheat straw was measured at 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 96 h of incubation. To examine the effects of time after supplementation, 8-h incubations were performed at 0 to 8, 4 to 12, 8 to 16, 12 to 20, and 16 to 24 h after supplementation. Corn diets resulted in lower (P |is less than~ .05) ISDMD for the 12- to 20- and 16- to 24-h periods than did barley diets. Averaged across 8-h intervals, the control treatment had greater ISDMD (P |is less than~ .01) and ISNDFD (P |is less than~ .05) than the grain treatments. Treatment differences were not observed for ISDMD and ISNDFD after 8 h of incubation. Ruminal fluid pH for barley diets was greater at 0, 16, and 20 h and less at 4 h after feeding than for corn diets (treatment x hour; P |is less than~ .01). Propionate concentration was greater (P |is less than~ .05) for corn than for barley diets. Buffer addition increased acetate concentration, acetate:propionate ratio, and total VFA concentration for barley diets, whereas a reverse trend was observed for corn diets (grain type x buffer; P |is less than~ .10). Results of this study demonstrate only subtle changes in ruminal fiber digestion and fermentation as affected by grain type and buffer addition.

Two corn hybrids (Pioneer 3377 and 3389) with similar total plant and grain yield characteristics were evaluated to determine potential differences in nutritive value of the whole plant and stover. Hybrids were grown in plots at four different locations in Idaho in 1988 and 1989 for laboratory evaluation. Samples from the plots were stored fresh or ensiled with or without a microbial inoculant for 60 d in laboratory silos. Whole-plant samples of 3377 had a lower (P |is less than~ .01) percentage of NDF (42.7 vs 48.1), ADF (26.3 vs 30), hemicellulose (16.2 vs 18.2), cellulose (21.4 vs 24), and lignin (3.4 vs 3.8). Similar differences, but of larger magnitude, were observed in stover samples. Ruminal in situ (24 h) and two-stage IVDMD of whole-plant and stover samples were greater (P |is less than~ .01) for 3377 than for 3389. Lower fiber content and greater degradability for 3377 was not due to greater grain content; 3377 actually had numerically lower grain as a percentage of whole plant than 3389 (41 vs 44). Ensiling reduced (P |is less than~ .05) NDF, hemicellulose, and cellulose content compared with fresh samples; however, no effect (P |is greater than~ .10) due to inoculant was noted. Hybrid x storage interactions were not observed (P |is greater than~ .10). Inoculation and hybrid did not affect (P |is greater than~ .10) organic acid concentration of the silages. In 1989 silages from 3377 and 3389 were harvested to evaluate diets containing 65% (DM basis) corn silage in steer digestion and growth trials. Digestible energy and digestibility of DM and CP were greater (P |is less than~ .05), and the trend (P |is greater than~ .05) was for greater NDF and ADF digestibility for the 3377 than for the 3389 diet. In a growth trial, steers fed the 3377 silage diet had greater (P |is less than~ .05) daily gain (1.09 vs 1.01 kg/d), consumed numerically less (P = .09) DM, and had improved (P |is less than~ .01) feed efficiency (6.75 vs 7.49 feed:gain) compared with steers fed the 3389 silage diet. Results of the experiments indicate that large differences in feed value of corn silage may exist among hybrids with similar grain content.

Ion milling has been used to convert molecular beam epitaxy vacancy-doped Cd[sub x]Hg[sub 1-x]Te from p- to n-type. Electron beam induced current and remote electron beam induced current (REBIC) measurements have been performed to study the pn junction depth and lateral extension dependence on the milling time, milling current, and vacancy concentration. The conversion depth is linear with the milling time and current and inversely proportional to the vacancy concentration in layers thinner than 10 μm. This shows that filling of Hg vacancies in this region during conversion is limited by the rate of supply of extra Hg from the milling. The lateral extension also increases linearly with the milling time, the ratio of the lateral extension to the depth being ∼0.5. One can therefore use REBIC on the top surface to determine the junction depth, which greatly simplifies the measurement and does not destroy the diodes. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we describe the development and characterization of the first high-density single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP) genotyping array for rainbow trout. The SNP array is publically available from a commercial vendor (Affymetrix). The SNP genotyping quality was high, and validation rate was close to 90%. This is comparable to other farm animals and is much higher than previous smaller scale SNP validation studies in rainbow trout. High quality and integrity of the genotypes are evident from sample reproducibility and from nearly 100% agreement in genotyping results from other methods. The array is very useful for rainbow trout aquaculture populations with more than 40 900 polymorphic markers per population. For wild populations that were confounded by a smaller sample size, the number of polymorphic markers was between 10 577 and 24 330. Comparison between genotypes from individual populations suggests good potential for identifying candidate markers for populations' traceability. Linkage analysis and mapping of the SNPs to the reference genome assembly provide strong evidence for a wide distribution throughout the genome with good representation in all 29 chromosomes. A total of 68% of the genome scaffolds and contigs were anchored through linkage analysis using the SNP array genotypes, including ~20% of the genome assembly that has not been previously anchored to chromosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]