Effectiveness of Castration with Burdizzo, Calcium Chloride and Olive Oil in ‎Sahel Bucks

We evaluated the efficacy of castration with bilateral intratesticular injections of Calcium Chloride Dihydrate (CaCl2) in ethanol, Olive Oil as well as Burdizzo technique in twenty Sahel bucks. The bucks were randomly distributed into four groups as A, B, C and D. Group A served as the control and were given bilateral intratesticular injection of 1.0 ml of normal saline. Bucks in group B were castrated with Burdizzo, while group C and D were given bilateral intra testicular injection of 1.0 ml of CaCl2 and Olive oil, respectively. The sonograms and semen profiles of the bucks were evaluated.The diameters of the testicles and spermatic cords and the semen parameters were measured in real time after castration at days 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 60. The diameters in the Burdizzo, CaCl2‎and Olive oil castrated bucks ‎significantly increased (P < 0.05) on days 7 and was decreased at ‎day 60.‎ Semen motility was absent in the bucks castrated with Cacl2 after day 14. The ‎concentration of spermatozoa also decreased significantly on day 7 in all the Burdizzo, CaCl2‎and ‎Olive oil castrated goats. Sonogram of testes castrated with Cacl2 showed discreet focal ‎hyperechoic, surrounded by ‎hypoechoic areas ‎within the parenchyma due to the CaCl2 deposition. The testes of bucks castrated with olive oil were ‎characterized by a central hypoechoic area ‎surrounded by clearly distinguishable hyperechoic ‎areas within the parenchyma. It was concluded that intratesticular injection with Burdizzo, CaCl2and olive oil resulted in successful castration but CaCl2 injection resulted in earlier azoospermia.

Overexpression, purification, crystallization and structure determination of AspB, a putative aspartate aminotransferase fromMycobacterium tuberculosis

A recombinant version of a putative aspartate aminotransferase, AspB (encoded by the ORF Rv3565), fromMycobacterium tuberculosis(Mtb) was overexpressed inM. smegmatisand purified to homogeneity using liquid chromatography. Crystals of AspB were grown in a condition consisting of 0.2 Mammonium phosphate monobasic, 0.1 Mcalcium chloride dihydrate employing the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method at 298 K. The crystals diffracted to a limit of 2.50 Å resolution and belonged to the orthorhombic space groupP212121, with unit-cell parametersa= 93.27,b= 98.19,c= 198.70 Å. The structure of AspB was solved by the molecular-replacement method using a putative aminotransferase fromSilicibacter pomeroyi(PDB entry 3h14) as the search model. The template shares 46% amino-acid sequence identity withMtbAspB. The crystal asymmetric unit contains four AspB molecules (theMrof each is 42 035 Da).

Seksualitas dan Perkembangan Gamet Sponge Laut Aaptos aaptos Schmidt

This research was aimed to know the characteristics of gamet development of marine sponge Aaptos aaptos living in tropical waters of Barrang Lompo Island, Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi. In order to know gamet development, it was conducted three periods of sample collection at each moon phase. After sample collection, the specimen were put into tissue cassette and then were removed to fixative solution of FAACC (for 100 mL = 10 mL formaldehyde solution of 37–40%: 5 mL glacial acetic acid: 1.3 g calcium chloride dihydrate: 85 mL destilate water) for +48 hours, and then were removed to 70% alcohol for temporary storage before doing histological preparation following standard procedure. Sexuality of marine sponge Aaptos aaptos living in Barrang Lompo Island is gonochoric. Spermatocyt developed in spermatic cyst, while oocyt developed in the mesohyl. Stage of male gamet development was divided into four phases i.e. spermatocyt I phase, spermatocyt II phase, spermatocyt III phase, and spermatocyt IV (spermatid) phase, similarly, female gamet develop- ment was divided into four phases i.e. oocyt I phase, oocyt II phase, oocyt III, oocyt IV phase. Each phase of gamet development had specific characterstics different from among each others.

Influence of amide content on the crystal structure of chitin

The crystalline structure of chitin and chitosan was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Chitosan filaments were prepared using a saturated solution of calcium chloride dihydrate in methanol (CaCl2-MeOH) as a mild solvent and the study focused on the interaction between the degree of acetylation (DA) and crystallinity. There were pronounced differences in the XRD patterns for specimens with DA values between 44.2% and 52.2%. We suggest that the crystalline structure changes from an anhydrous-type chitosan to an α-chitin type without any additives. CaCl2-MeOH is a good solvent for chitin and a poor solvent for chitosan and we found that it can regulate the distribution of N-acetyl glucosamine and glucosamine between amorphous and crystalline regions.