Objectives-The purpose of the study was to investigate the bacterial and fungal flora of dust deposits in a newly built pig grower finisher building. Viable bacterial counts and microbial species found in a barn which had never housed pigs were compared with those in a barn housing 144 pigs. Methods-The quantitative streak plate method was used to measure viable bacterial counts on nutrient agar or sheep blood agar. Viable bacterial counts of the dust deposits were expressed as the number of colony forming units (CFUs)/mg of dust. Gram positive cocci and Gram negative bacilli were identified by an automated system. Identifications with a confidence interval > 90% were accepted at the species level. Fungi were identified to the genus level with slide culture preparations on cereal agar.

The present study constitutes the characterization of a specific, high-affinity GH-binding protein (GHBP) in the serum of a teleost, the goldfish (Carassius auratus). GH-binding assay and ligand blotting techniques were employed to identify GHBPs in goldfish serum and hepatocyte culture medium. The binding characteristics and apparent molecular weights (M r ) of goldfish GHBPs were also compared with those of rabbit and rat. LIGAND analysis identified a single class of high-affinity and lowcapacity binding sites for iodinated recombinant carp GH (rcGH) in the goldfish serum, with an association constant (K a ) of 20·1 10 9 M 1 and a maximum binding capacity (B max ) of 161 fmol ml 1 serum. A single class of binding sites for iodinated recombinant sea bream GH and bovine GH (bGH) was also found in goldfish serum, but with a much lower affinity than that of rcGH. The binding affinity for iodinated bGH in rabbit and rat sera was found to be similar to that reported previously. Ligand blotting revealed multiple forms of GHBPs in sera of goldfish, rabbit and rat with M r ranging from 70 kDa to 400 kDa and 27 kDa to 240 kDa under non-reducing and reducing conditions respectively. A prominent band with M r of 66 kDa and a minor band with M r of 27 kDa were observed to occur in sera from all three species under reducing conditions. Iodoacetamide promoted the shedding of three GHBPs with M r of 25, 40 and 45 kDa from the cultured goldfish hepatocytes. The appearance of all bands was completely inhibited by the presence of excess unlabeled rcGH. Our results provide clear evidence that a GHBP exists in the goldfish and indicate that more information on teleost GHBPs is needed if the physiology of growth in teleosts is to be fully understood.