CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, VITAMIN, ELECTROPHORESIS, AND HEMATOLOGIC ANALYTES OF BLACK-HEADED IBIS (THRESKIORNIS MELANOCEPHALUS).

The evaluation of laboratory blood analytes is an important tool for health assessment in avian medicine. Unfortunately, there is a lack of suitable reference values for many zoo bird species. The goal of the present study was to establish reference intervals for a wide range of blood analytes in healthy black-headed ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) kept in a zoologic garden. Lithium heparinized blood samples from 15 individuals were collected, and 18 different clinical chemistry analytes were measured. New are especially the minimum and maximum values for bile acid (2.38-49.4 µmol/L), cholinesterase (439-1260 U/L), vitamin A (0.65-1.70 mg/L), vitamin E (26.3-52.5 mg/L), and capillary zone electrophoresis (prealbumin, 10.2-23.4%; albumin, 35.9-44.1%; A/G ratio, 1.07-1.69; α-, 15.7-20.0%; ß-, 13.5-19.1%; γ-globulin, 6.08-11.3%). The measured values for clinical chemistry, vitamin, electrophoresis, and hematologic analytes are a basis for further studies and for diagnostics and clinical treatment in this ibis species.

Removal of Etalon Features in the Far-Infrared-Terahertz Transmittance Spectra of Thin Polymer Films.

Etalon features in infrared spectra of stratified samples, their influence on the interpretation, and methods to circumvent their presence in infrared spectra have been in discussion for decades. This paper focuses on the application of a method originally developed to remove interference fringes in the mid-infrared spectra for far-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy on thin polymer films. We show that the total transmittance reflectance technique, commonly used for mid-infrared, also works successfully in the far-infrared spectral range where other approaches fail. Experimental spectra obtained by such technique are supported by model calculations and reveal the possibility and limits to obtain almost undisturbed far-infrared spectra which are suitable to determine low-energy vibrations of ionomer salts under certain sample conditions.