A method to reduce the frequency fluctuation in a phase-shift transistor oscillator.

The frequency and current fluctuations, and their correlation were measured in a phase shift transistor oscillator. The spectra are of 1/f type and both are correlated. A demonstration was carried out to reduce the frequency fluctuation, and a useful method to reduce the fluctuation is proposed in an oscillator.

Protection from caseous lymphadenitis in sheep by spraying iodine tincture on shearing wounds.

The effect of spraying shearing wounds with iodine tincture on Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in lambs was examined. The ELISA-negative lambs which had received some visible wounds during their first shearing were randomly divided into two groups: one was sprayed with iodine tincture on wounds after shearing, and the other was not. Anti-C. pseudotuberculosis toxin titers were measured by ELISA. The seroconversion ratio of the group with iodine tincture treatment 3 months after shearing was smaller than that of the untreated group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that treatment of shearing wounds with iodine tincture is effective in the protection of C. pseudotuberculosis infection in lambs.

Seroepidemiological evidence that shearing wounds are mainly responsible for Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in sheep.

Anti-Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis toxin titers were examined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at 3 to 5 month intervals in sheep of three age groups (lambs, 1- and 2-year-old sheep). A significant increase in the ELISA-positive ratio was found only in July, 3 months after shearing, in 1- and 2-year-old sheep. A decrease in the positive ratio was found in the same month in lambs, possibly due to a decrease in maternal antibodies. Since the 1- and 2-year-old sheep had been sheared in April, it was considered that the increase in the positive ratio in July might be closely related to the shearing in April.

Selective medium containing fosfomycin, nalidixic acid, and culture supernatant of Rhodococcus equi for isolation of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis.

FNR medium containing fosfomycin, nalidixic acid, bovine blood and culture supernatant of Rhodococcus equi was prepared by the present authors, and the medium did not inhibit growth of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis but completely hampered the growth of Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. The culture supernatant of R. equi facilitated detection of suspected colonies of C. pseudotuberculosis due to synergistic hemolysis. Rate of isolation of the organisms (from the trachea, larynx and nasal cavity of 16 slaughtered sheep with caseous abscess in the lung) was higher with FNR, the selective medium, than with nonselective medium. The selective medium was thus found to be useful for isolation of C. pseudotuberculosis from sheep.

Diurnal changes in plasma melatonin and the timing of reproductive onset in anestrous sheep fed melatonin.

Seasonally anestrous Suffolk ewes (n = 28) were randomly divided into 5 groups and treated with varying doses of melatonin as follows; Groups C (n = 4), M1 (n = 6), M2 (n = 6), M3 (n = 6), M4 (n = 6) of ewes were fed pellets containing 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 mg melatonin, respectively, daily for 60 days from May 17 (Day 0). Following feeding of the pellets at 13.00 hr plasma levels of melatonin rapidly increased reaching the peak values within 30 min, which ranged from 92.0 to 292.7 pg/ml and were highly correlated with the dose of melatonin administered (r = 0.986, P less than 0.01). Maximum dose of melatonin (4 mg) produced an increase of plasma melatonin similar in magnitude to nocturnal peaks of endogenous secretion. The onset of ovulatory cyclicity, assessed from plasma progesterone profiles, was advanced by melatonin administration. The mean +/- SEM intervals from the commencement of melatonin treatment until the onset of ovulatory cyclicity were 53.0 +/- 5.8, 53.6 +/- 2.5, 42.0 +/- 5.6 and 44.3 +/- 4.3 days for the Groups M1, M2, M3 and M4, respectively, which were shorter (M1, P less than 0.05; M2, M3 & M4, P less than 0.01) than that for the Group C (72.5 +/- 1.4 days). The melatonin treatment also suppressed, in a dose related manner, the rise in plasma prolactin under the lengthening photoperiod. We conclude that the dose-related efficacy of melatonin could be ascribed to the difference in the diurnal profiles of circulating melatonin.