Four different studies were conducted in order to re-evaluate conventional methods and assess the efficacy of new selective agars and a filtration method for the isolation of campylobacters. Skirrow's medium, Preston agar, modified CCD agar and Fennell's medium, incubated microaerobically at 37 degrees C for 48 h, gave similar Campylobacter isolation rates from 225 faecal samples, but the latter two media were more selective. Evaluation of modified CCD agar demonstrated that campylobacters could be isolated from that medium more successfully after incubation at 37 degrees C (173/177 positive samples) than at 42 degrees C (152/177 positive samples). In a larger study 1286 faecal specimens were cultured using modified CCD agar, Fennell's medium and a 0.45 micron membrane filtration technique, all incubated at 37 degrees C. Campylobacters were isolated from 89% (178), 86% (171) and 60% (130) of 199 positive samples respectively. Modified CCD agar was most successful in isolation of the majority of campylobacters, but Fennell's medium was essential for recovery of "Campylobacter cinaedi" and "Campylobacter fennelliae", whereas the 0.45 micron membrane technique was the only method to isolate all of the catalase-negative campylobacter strains. Further evaluation of the 0.45 micron and 0.65 micron pore size membranes showed that more strains of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli were isolated using the larger pore size membranes.

Abstract. Preliminary research has shown that sodium pentobarbital (SP), a euthanasia drug, can persist up to 180 days in equine mortality

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Plant–microbe interactions are of rising interest in plant sustainability, biomass production, plant biology, and systems biology. These interactions have been a challenge to detect until recent advancements in mass spectrometry imaging. Plants and microbes interact in four main regions within the plant, the rhizosphere, endosphere, phyllosphere, and spermosphere. This mini review covers the challenges within investigations of plant and microbe interactions. We highlight the importance of sample preparation and comparisons among time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), laser desorption ionization (LDI/LDPI), and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) techniques used for the analysis of these interactions. Using mass spectral imaging (MSI) to study plants and microbes offers advantages in understanding microbe and host interactions at the molecular level with single-cell and community communication information. More research utilizing MSI has emerged in the past several years. We first introduce the principles of major MSI techniques that have been employed in the research of microorganisms. An overview of proper sample preparation methods is offered as a prerequisite for successful MSI analysis. Traditionally, dried or cryogenically prepared, frozen samples have been used; however, they do not provide a true representation of the bacterial biofilms compared to living cell analysis and chemical imaging. New developments such as microfluidic devices that can be used under a vacuum are highly desirable for the application of MSI techniques, such as ToF-SIMS, because they have a subcellular spatial resolution to map and image plant and microbe interactions, including the potential to elucidate metabolic pathways and cell-to-cell interactions. Promising results due to recent MSI advancements in the past five years are selected and highlighted. The latest developments utilizing machine learning are captured as an important outlook for maximal output using MSI to study microorganisms.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY sperm extracts consistently gives two distinct peaks of enzyme activity. One peak is eluted at a position corresponding to a molecular weight of 100000, whereas the other peak is eluted at the void volume from Sephadex G-150 (mol.wt. > 500000). No significant change from one peak to the other was observed when either form was rerun separately on Sephadex, even when run in the presence of high salt concentrations (0-75M). No difference in the Km of fructose or glucose could be detected between the two forms of hexokinase. Horizontal starch-gel electrophoresis separates hexokinase into three bands. One of these migrates very slowly from the origin and is characteristic of sperm hexokinases. Katzen (1967) discovered this slowly migrating form of hexokinase in testis and epididymal extracts and deduced that it resulted from the sperm in these tissues. Separate electrophoresis of each of the two peaks from gel filtration strongly suggests that this 'sperm-type' hexokinase band on electrophoresis is identical with the highermolecular-weight enzyme peak from gel filtration. The low mobility of the 'sperm-type' band may well be due to its being a relatively large molecule, retarded by the sieving action of starch gel, rather than to its charge or chemical properties. This work is supported by a grant from the Pig Industry Development Authority.