Potato spindle tuber viroid eradicated in Western Australia
Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) was detected for the f irst time in an isolated hydroponic greenhouse tomato (Lycopersicon esculenturn) erop in the great southern region of Western Australia (WA). An urgent eradication plan was activated because of the highly contagious nature of the pathogen. The tomato erop on the infected property was destroyed and the greenhouses and surrounding area were decontaminated. Surveys of 15 other hydroponic tomato crops did not detect any other PSTVd infected tomato plants in WA.
A new strain of potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd-N) exhibits major sequence differences as compared to all other PSTVd strains sequenced so far
Holger Puchta, ~" 3 Thomas Herold, ~ Ko Verhoeven, 2 Annelien Roenhorst, 2 Karla Ramm, 1 Waltraud Schmidt-Puchta 1, 3 and Heinz L. S/tnger 1, 1Max-Planck-Institut far Biochemie, Abteilung Viroidforschung, D-8033 Martinsried bei Mf~nchen, FR G (* author for correspondence); 2 Plantenziektenkundige Dienst, Postbus 9102, 6700 HC Wageningen, The Netherlands; 3 Present address: Friedrich Miescher-lnstitut, P.O. Box 2543, CH-4002 Basel Switzerland
Intentional poisoning cases of animals with anticholinesterase pesticide-carbofuran in Sri Lanka.
Carbofuran is a broad spectrum insecticide and nematicide which inhibits acetyl cholinesterase. Several intentional poisoning cases of animals and birds including crows, dogs, cow, and elephant, using carbofuran were reported in Sri Lanka. Qualitative analysis of carbofuran in biological specimens was carried out using T.L.C and GC-MS. The quantitative analysis was carried out by HPLC using Zorbax Eclips XDB-C18 (150 x 4.6 mm I.D x 5 microm particle size) column with acetonitrile: water 25:75 v/v mobile phase and UV detection at 210 nm. The liquid-liquid extraction with chloroform was reproducible and sensitive. The procedure was validated in terms of linearity (0.996<r<0.999) for concentrations ranging from 1 to 200 microg/ml, repeatability (RSD 4.4% at 100 microg/ml, n=10) extraction recovery (91.7% at 100 microg/g, 77.3% at 20 microg/g), limit of detection (S/N ratio=3, 0.7 microg/ml) and limit of quantification (S/N ratio=10, 2.4 microg/ml). The method was found satisfactory and successfully applied in fatal cases of animals and birds due to carbofuran poisoning. The fatal carbofuran levels detected were in the range of 42-910 microg/g in crow's gizzard and contents, 50-800 microg/g in dog's stomach contents, 13-20 microg/g in dog's liver, 0.9 microg/g in cow's stomach and contents, 35 microg/g in elephant's stomach and contents.