Studies on the persistence of estradiol benzoate and nortestosterone decanoate in hair of cattle following treatment with growth promoters, determined by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Measurement of steroid esters in bovine hair samples, using sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), provides a powerful tool for identifying animals treated illicitly with growth promoters. The successful application of such testing requires appropriate sampling of hair from treated animals. This paper describes the results of hair analysis by LC-MS/MS for two animal studies in which animals were treated with estradiol-3-benzoate and nortestosterone decanoate. The results from the first animal study indicate that animals treated with these anabolic steroids may not always be identified from analysis of hair samples; positive test results occur sporadically and only for some of the treated animals. The results from the second animal study identify conditions attaching to positive hair samples, such as, that concentrations of steroid esters in hair are related to distance of sampling from point of injection and to time post-treatment, that concentrations of steroid esters in hair are related to dose given to the animal but that this relationship may vary over time post-treatment, and that steroid esters may be measured in regrowth hair taken some weeks after treatment. Steroid esters are determined along the length of the hair, confirming that accumulation of steroid esters into hair occurs from various sources, including blood, sweat and sebum. The reported research provides some useful insights into the mechanisms governing the persistence of steroid esters in bovine hair following illicit treatment with growth promoters. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Combining biomarker screening and mass-spectrometric analysis to detect hormone abuse in cattle

Since the introduction of the European ban on hormones in 1989, its implementation has proved to be an enormous challenge to regulatory authorities, because the great economic benefits that result from illegal misuse of growth promoters in animal production encourage their continued use. In efforts to challenge black-market trade in hormones, there have been many analytical advances. Recently, both effect-based bioanalysis for screening to target illegal misuse and improved mass-spectrometry-based confirmatory analysis have greatly increased the likelihood of detecting hormone abuse. This review outlines analytical methods currently used for detecting hormone abuse and presents advances in new approaches based on biological determinants that may complement these techniques in the future. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Body Mass Index Is More Predictive of Progenitor Number in Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Population Than Age in Men: Expanding the Predictors of the Progenitor Compartment

Research has focused on in vitro expansion of bone marrow stromal cells with the aim of developing cell-based therapies or tissue-engineered constructs. There is debate over whether there is a reduction in stem cells/osteoprogenitors in the bone marrow compartment with increasing age. The aim of this study was to investigate patient factors that affect the progenitor pool in bone marrow samples. Six milliliters of marrow aspirate was obtained from the femoral canal of 38 primary hip replacement patients (aged 28-91). Outcome measures were total nucleated cell count, colony-forming efficiency, alkaline phosphatase expression, and expression of stem cell markers. There was a nonsignificant negative correlation between age and both colony-forming efficiency and stem cell marker expression. However, body mass index showed a positive, significant correlation with colony area and number in men-accounting for up to 75% of the variation. In conclusion, body mass index, not age, was highly predictive of the number of progenitors found in bone marrow, and this relationship was sex specific. These results may inform the clinician's treatment choice when considering bone marrow-based therapies. Further, it highlights the need to widen research into patient factors that affect the adult stem cell population beyond age and reinforces the need to consider sexes separately.

Body mass and sex-biased parasitism in wood mice Apodemus sylvaticus

Male sex-biased parasitism (SBP) occurs across a range of mammalian taxa and two contrasting sets of hypotheses have been suggested for its establishment. The first invokes body size per se and suggests that larger individuals are either a larger target for parasites, trade off growth at the expense of immunity or cope better with parasitism than smaller individuals. The second suggests a sex-specific handicap whereby males have reduced immunocompetence compared to females due to the immunodepressive effects of testosterone. The current study investigated whether sex-biased parasitism is driven by host 'body size' or 'sex' using a rodent-tick (Apodemus sylvaticus-. Ixodes ricinus) system. Moreover, the presence or absence of large mammals at study sites were used to control the presence of immature ticks infesting wood mice, allowing the impacts of parasitism on host body mass and female reproduction to be assessed. As expected, male mice had greater tick loads than females and analyses suggested this sex-bias was driven by body mass as opposed to sex. It is therefore likely that larger individuals are a larger target for parasites, trade off growth at the expense of immunity or adapt behavioural responses to parasitism based on their body size. Parasite load had no effect on host body mass or female reproductive output suggesting individuals may alter behaviour or life history strategies to compensate for costs incurred through parasitism. Overall, this study lends support to the 'body size' hypothesis for the formation of sex-biased parasitism.

The top-down mechanism for body-mass-abundance scaling

Scaling relationships between mean body masses and abundances of species in multitrophic communities continue to be a subject of intense research and debate. The top-down mechanism explored in this paper explains the frequently observed inverse linear relationship between body mass and abundance (i.e., constant biomass) in terms of a balancing of resource biomasses by behaviorally and evolutionarily adapting foragers, and the evolutionary response of resources to this foraging pressure. The mechanism is tested using an allometric, multitrophic community model with a complex food web structure. It is a statistical model describing the evolutionary and population dynamics of tens to hundreds of species in a uniform way. Particularities of the model are the detailed representation of the evolution and interaction of trophic traits to reproduce topological food web patterns, prey switching behavior modeled after experimental observations, and the evolutionary adaptation of attack rates. Model structure and design are discussed. For model states comparable to natural communities, we find that (1) the body-mass-abundance scaling does not depend on the allometric scaling exponent of physiological rates in the form expected from the energetic equivalence rule or other bottom-up theories; (2) the scaling exponent of abundance as a function of body mass is approximately -1, independent of the allometric exponent for physiological rates assumed; (3) removal of top-down control destroys this pattern, and energetic equivalence is recovered. We conclude that the top-down mechanism is active in the model, and that it is a viable alternative to bottom-up mechanisms for controlling body-mass-abundance relations in natural communities.

The prevalence of celiac disease in Europe Results of a centralized international mass screening project

Although the prevalence of celiac disease (CD) has been extensively investigated in recent years, an accurate estimate of CD frequency in the European population is still lacking. The aims of this study were: 1) to establish accurately the prevalence of CD in a large sample of the European population (Finland, Germany, Italy, and UK), including both children and adults; and 2) to investigate whether the prevalence of CD significantly varies between different areas of the European continent.

Exploring Bach's B Minor Mass

The B-minor Mass has always represented a fascinating challenge to musical scholarship. Composed over the course of Johann Sebastian Bach's life, it is considered by many to be the composer's greatest and most complex work. The fourteen essays assembled in this volume originate from the International Symposium 'Understanding Bach's B-minor mass' at which scholars from eighteen countries gathered to debate the latest topics in the field. In revised and updated form, they comprise a thorough and systematic study of Bach's Opus Ultimum, including a wide range of discussions relating to the Mass's historical background and contexts, structure and proportion, sources and editions, and the reception of the work in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the light of important new developments in the study of the piece, this collection demonstrates the innovation and rigour for which Bach scholarship has become known.

WASP-26b: a 1-Jupiter-mass planet around an early-G-type star

We report the discovery of WASP-26b, a moderately over-sized Jupiter-mass exoplanet transiting its 11.3-mag early-G-type host star (1SWASP J001824.70-151602.3; TYC 5839-876-1) every 2.7566 days. A simultaneous fit to transit photometry and radial-velocity measurements yields a planetary mass of 1.02 ± 0.03 MJup and radius of 1.32 ± 0.08 RJup. The host star, WASP-26, has a mass of 1.12 ± 0.03 M? and a radius of 1.34 ± 0.06 R? and is in a visual double with a fainter K-type star. The two stars are at least a common-proper motion pair with a common distance of around 250 ± 15 pc and an age of 6 ± 2 Gy.

MML 53: a new low-mass, pre-main sequence eclipsing binary in the Upper Centaurus-Lupus region discovered by SuperWASP

We announce the discovery of a new low-mass, pre-main sequence eclipsing binary, MML 53. Previous observations of MML 53 found it to be a pre-main sequence spectroscopic multiple associated with the 15-22 Myr Upper Centaurus-Lupus cluster. We identify the object as an eclipsing binary for the first time through the analysis of multiple seasons of time series photometry from the SuperWASP transiting planet survey. Re-analysis of a single archive spectrum shows MML 53 to be a spatially unresolved triple system of young stars which all exhibit significant lithium absorption. Two of the components comprise an eclipsing binary with period, P = 2.097891(6) ± 0.000005 and mass ratio, q ~ 0.8. Here, we present the analysis of the discovery data.

Time of flight mass spectrometry for quantitative data analysis in fast transient studies using a Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP) reactor

A Time of flight (ToF) mass spectrometer suitable in terms of sensitivity, detector response and time resolution, for application in fast transient Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP) kinetic catalyst characterization is reported. Technical difficulties associated with such application as well as the solutions implemented in terms of adaptations of the ToF apparatus are discussed. The performance of the ToF was validated and the full linearity of the specific detector over the full dynamic range was explored in order to ensure its applicability for the TAP application. The reported TAP-ToF setup is the first system that achieves the high level of sensitivity allowing monitoring of the full 0-200 AMU range simultaneously with sub-millisecond time resolution. In this new setup, the high sensitivity allows the use of low intensity pulses ensuring that transport through the reactor occurs in the Knudsen diffusion regime and that the data can, therefore, be fully analysed using the reported theoretical TAP models and data processing.