Fasting and postprandial serum bile acid concentrations in 10 healthy female red-eared terrapins (Trachemys scripta elegans).

The fasting and postprandial serum concentrations of bile acids and other blood constituents were measured in a group of 10 clinically healthy, female, six-year-old captive red-eared terrapins (Trachemys scripta elegans). The terrapins were housed in a temperate room and maintained in four aquaria in which the water temperature ranged from 24 to 27 degrees C and the temperature above the basking site ranged from 27 to 30 degrees C. The serum concentrations of bile acids were measured four times in a period of five months, and at the second sampling the fasting and two postprandial (after 24 and 48 hours) serum concentrations of total protein, albumin, glucose, uric acid, cholesterol, triglycerides, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and bile acids were determined. Coelioscopy revealed vitellogenic and previtellogenic follicles on the ovaries of all the terrapins, and eggs with calcified shells were detected in two of them. The livers were mostly pink to deep yellow in colour, with sharp edges, a smooth serosal surface, distinct large superficial vessels, and multifocal melanin deposits. Liver biopsies revealed fine, more or less oil red O-positive lipid droplets in all the hepatocytes, but in none of the cases was it considered to be pathological lipidosis. The mean (sd) bile acid concentrations ranged from 7.35 (4.52) to 10.04 (7.40) micromol/l. The fasting and postprandial concentrations were 3.1 (2.3), 4.5 (5.4) (24 hours) and 2.2 (1.5) (48 hours) micromol/l. High concentrations between 27.6 and 66.6 micromol/l were associated with lipaemia. There were no significant differences between the biochemical profiles of the fasting and postprandial serum samples.

Optimization of experimental conditions for the separation of small and large starch granules by gravitational field-flow fractionation.

Separation of small and large barley starch granules by gravitational field-flow fractionation was investigated from the point of view of sample pre-treatment, amount of injected sample, and elution conditions. The sample pre-treatment study resulted in the conclusion that it is reasonable to soak the starch granules for at least 24 h prior to separation. The experiments with different amounts of injected sample show that it is possible to increase as well as decrease twofold the sample amount usually used without any change in retention ratios. The implementation of flow-rate gradients for elution of the starch granules reduced total separation time. However, the applied flow-rate gradients did not improve the resolution of peaks A and B compared with the generally used constant flow-rate. Thus, for barley starch granules, the constant flow-rates within the range from 0.8 to 1.0 ml/min seem to provide the best compromise of total separation time, peak resolution and instrumental expense.

[Drug resistance in salmonellae]. / Nekotorye aspekty lekarstvennoi ustoichivosti sal'monell.

The medicinal resistance of salmonellae isolated in the USSR and the Slovak Republic in 1987-1988 was studied. The resistance of salmonellae at this period was shown to decrease in comparison with the period of 1985-1986. The study revealed the presence of multiresistant strains capable of the conjugative transmission of some resistance markers. The minimal inhibiting concentrations of antibiotics to which salmonellae proved to be resistant were determined.

Antibiotic resistance of salmonellae in Czechoslovakia -- situation and prospects.

Antibiotic resistance of non-typhoid Salmonellae is in Czechoslovakia continuously monitored by a computer and its transferability is studied, on an all-nation level, within the Federal Plan of Scientific Investigation and Development. Restance and its transferability was surveyed in strains of Salmonella from humans, from farm animals, from the food chain as well as from surface and waste waters. Proportion of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella strains did not, in general, increase during the four-year period of 1973 to 1977. While resistant strains from humans as well as farm animals show a high degree of transferability, strains from food samples lack, in general, the transfer ability. This might be inferred that strains causing human salmonellosis which are carried to man trough foodchain, gain their character of transferability directly in the gut, i.e. from E. coli strains, and mainly due to presence of therapeutically given antibiotics.

Salmonellae with antibiotic resistance and R plasmids in Danube River.

Incidence of antibiotic resistance and of R plasmids and its dynamics was investigated in 1084 Salmonella strains isolated in the Danube River on Czechoslovak territory in recent years. From 261 strains belonging to various serotypes of Salmonella isolated at various sampling sites along the Danube in June 1972 to June 1973, 31 strains were found to be resistant to antibiotics and 24 (77.2%) carried R plasmids. The influence of waste waters from large cities (Vienna, Bratislava) in this respect was striking. No correlation was found between the frequency of occurence of resistant Salmonellae and the season of year. The results from the season 1972 to 1973 were compared with those obtained in 823 stock cultures of Salmonellae isolated from the Danube in 1967-68 and in 1969. The increase of incidence of antibiotic resistance and particularly of R plasmids in Salmonella strains from the Danube up to 1973 is striking.