ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MYCOPLASMA AND ACHOLEPLASMA FROM PNEUMONIC LUNGS OF GOATS SLAUGHTERED AT FAISALABAD ABATTOIR 0
Among the goats slaughtered at Faisalabad abattoir, pneumonic lungs were collected from 50 animals suspected for contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP). These samples were subjected to bacteriological studies and 8 isolates were recovered. On the basis of morphological, biochemical a 1d serological characteristics, these were identified as Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies capri (4), acholeplasmas (2) and unidentified mycoplasmas (2).
Caprine pneumonia. II. Biochemical characterisation and serological identification of mycoplasmas.
Thirty strains Mycoplasma isolated from pneumonic lungs of goats were chracterised biochemically and serologically. On the basis of biochemical characteristics, the strains were divided into three groups. (A) Eighteen strains which fermented glucose and mannose, digested serum and reduced tetrazolium, (B) 10 strains which reduced tetrazolium, formed "film and spots" and possessed phosphatase activity and (C) two strains which catabolised arginine only. Serologically group A strains were identified as M. mycoides subspecies, group B strains could not be fully identified but on the basis of immunofluorescence and biochemical reactions were put in the M. agalactiae subspecies; there are to be further investigated. Group C strains were identified as M. arginini.
Daily weather variables and affective disorder admissions to psychiatric hospitals
Numerous studies have reported that admission rates in patients with affective disorders are subject to seasonal variation. Notwithstanding, there has been limited evaluation of the degree to which changeable daily meteorological patterns influence affective disorder admission rates. A handful of small studies have alluded to a potential link between psychiatric admission rates and meteorological variables such as environmental temperature (heat waves in particular), wind direction and sunshine. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test, ARIMA and time-series regression analyses to examine whether daily meteorological variables—namely wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, rainfall, hours of sunshine, sunlight radiation and temperature—influence admission rates for mania and depression across 12 regions in Ireland over a 31-year period. Although we found some very weak but interesting trends for barometric pressure in relation to mania admissions, daily meteorological patterns did not appear to affect hospital admissions overall for mania or depression. Our results do not support the small number of papers to date that suggest a link between daily meteorological variables and affective disorder admissions. Further study is needed.