Monozygotic bovine quadruplets
H. P. DONALD, W. S. BIGGAR and D. M. LOGAN Animal Breeding and Genetics Research Organisation, Edinburgh Received Io.v.5o ON the 27th January 1949, a Friesian type cow called Peggy, and belonging to Mr William Youngs of Sankence Farm, Aylsham, Norfolk, produced four bull calves. After undergoing considerable publicity for a few days, Peggy died, but the calves survived and were purchased by the Agricultural Research Council, and transferred to the Cattle Breeding Research Farm at Cold Norton in Staffordshire. These calves are remarkable, not only because quadruplets are unusual in cattle, but also because they were born alive, and were all of the same sex. Furthermore, they appear to be the first recorded set judged to be of monozygotic origin. A somewhat detailed account of them, therefore, appears desirable. Unfortunately, two of the calves died a few weeks after purchase, so that a comparison of late developing features became impossible. The evidence on which the diagnosis of one-egg origin is based is as follows. Except where otherwise noted, all remarks apply equally to all four calves.
Monozygotic twins in cattle.
Publisher Summary Despite the fact that more than two decades have passed since Kronacher began his studies on cattle twins, no single test or series of tests yet exists through which it would be possible to distinguish between monozygotic and dizygotic cattle twins in an objective manner. However, studies on diagnostic methods have shown that the number of strongly inherited characters on which cattle twin diagnosis can be based is as great as, if not greater than, in man. Newman showed that, in man, a trained observer—after a cursory examination—was able to distinguish between monozygotic and dizygotic twins with a very great degree of certainty. Much the same situation applies to cattle. Superficially, it may seem that most cattle belonging to the same breed are so alike that they cannot be distinguished from each other (just as all people of a strange race seem indistinguishably alike), but an observer with highly developed critical faculties can easily note a great number of often subtle characteristics that make each individual different from the others.
Synergistic Effect of High Temperature and High pH on the Destruction of Salmonella enteritidis and Escherichia co1i O157:H7.
This study was undertaken to determine if high temperature and high pH interact synergistically to enhance the rate of destruction of two important gram-negative foodborne pathogens, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteritidis . The rates of destruction in NaHCO3-NaOH buffers at pH 7.0, 10.0, and 11.0 were determined at 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65°C. Use of an improved heating protocol eliminated a "tailing effect" at longer exposure times. The present study demonstrated that the combination of high pH and high temperature resulted in a highly significant synergistic interaction (P > F = 0.0001), which caused rapid death of both E. coli O157:H7 and S. enteritidis . This "alka-therm" technology might be used commercially to destroy gram-negative foodborne pathogens on various raw agricultural commodities.