Peanuts and soybeans are frequent causes of food hypersensitivity reactions in children. Sera from 12 patients with atopic dermatitis and a positive double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge to peanut and sera from 5 patients with atopic dermatitis and a positive double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge to soybean were used to identify and characterize specific legume allergens. Identification of a minor allergen from peanut and a minor allergen from soybean was accomplished using various physicochemical techniques. The peanut fraction, peanut agglutinin, isolated by anion-exchange chromatography and electrolution and confirmed by amino acid sequencing, bound IgE in only 50% of the peanut challenge positive patients. The soybean fraction, soybean trypsin inhibitor, identified by gel filtration and electroelution and confirmed by amino acid sequencing, bound IgE in only 20% of the soy challenge positive patients. The identification of these two known legume proteins as minor allergens should allow further immunologic and structural investigations to compare the major and minor legume allergens.

The concentrations of phenobarbitone, albumin, bile acids and cholesterol, and the activities of alkaline phosphatase (AP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) were measured in the serum of 95 epileptic dogs whose clinical signs were controlled with phenobarbitone. The dogs were divided into groups on the basis of the concentration of phenobarbitone in their serum, the dose administered and the duration of the treatment. The concentration of phenobarbitone in serum was directly related to the activities of ALT, AP, GGT and GLDH and inversely related to the concentration of albumin. There was no significant relationship between the duration of treatment and the serum concentration of phenobarbitone, but there was a significant relationship between the duration of treatment and the activities of ALT, AP and GLDH. Thirty-five of the dogs (37 per cent) had serum activities of AP above the normal range, 19 had abnormally high activities of ALT, and 15 had high activities of GLDH, but these incidences were not related to the serum concentration of phenobarbitone. The dogs receiving higher doses for longer periods had the highest incidence of high activities of AP, ALT and GLDH. The concentration of bile acids in seven of the dogs was above the normal range but there was no relationship between the concentration and either the serum concentration, dose or duration of treatment with phenobarbitone.

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SUMMARY1. Water intake was measured in eight lactating cows. Subsequently n i an experiment of a 4 × 4 Latin square design, each cow received 100, 87, 73 and 60% of its voluntary intake for 6 days followed by an 8-day recovery period.2. Measurements were made of the intake of feed, milk yield and quality, water, Na and K balances, metabolic profiles, and serum and urine osmolalities. The cows were weighed at the beginning and end ofthe experimental periods, and pulse, respiration and rumination rates and rectal temperatures were measured daily.3. Milk yield decreased significantly with increasing water deprivation. A 40% reduction in water intake was associated with a 16% decrease in intake of dry matter and a concomitant 16% decrease in milk yield. The only significant change in milk composition was a small increase in lactose concentration with increasing water deprivation.4. There was no significant reduction in urine output, but the output of water in faeces was reduced and there was evidence of a reduction i n total body water which approximated the reduction in body weight. 5. Concentrations of serum Na and urea-N and serum osmolality increased significantly with increasing water deprivation.

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During the grazing seasons of 1978 and 1979, 126 Hereford cross Friesian and 25 Charolais cross Friesian steers were used in controlled trials of the effects of injecting them with copper and, or, selenium. In both seasons the unsupplemented steers had low blood concentrations of copper, selenium and glutathione peroxidase, whereas the supplemented steers maintained their serum copper concentrations within the normal range and had significantly higher whole blood concentrations of selenium and glutathione peroxidase than the unsupplemented animals. Supplementing the steers with 400 mg copper during 1978 increased their growth rate by 0.032 kg/day and supplementing them with 200 mg copper during 1979 increased it by 0.080 kg/day. Supplementing the steers in each year with two doses of selenium, each of 0.15 mg selenium/kg bodyweight, increased their growth rate by 0.041 kg/day in 1978 and by 0.060 kg/day in 1979. There was no interaction between the selenium and copper treatments and the total increases in liveweight gains due to both supplements were around 11 kg in 1978 and 16 kg in 1979.

A herd of lactating British Friesian cows was divided into two equal groups. After 14 days during which all the cows had free access to water one group (restricted) was allowed only 50 per cent of the voluntary water intake of the other group (control). After four days when the experiment was terminated, the milk yield of the restricted group had fallen to 74 per cent of that of the control group and their mean body-weight was reduced by 14 per cent. In the restricted group there were significant increases in the concentrations of urea, sodium, total protein and copper in serum, in the osmolality of serum, in the plasma activities of the enzymes creatine kinase and glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase and in the packed cell volume of blood. The restricted cows behaved very aggressively around their water trough and spent more time in its vicinity. They spent less time lying down than the cows of the control group and some of them were not seen to drink and were withdrawn from the experiment before the end of four days. In a second experiment half the herd was allowed approximately 90 per cent of the water intake of the control group for 14 days. Decreases in milk yield and body-weight and changes in blood composition were much smaller and difficult to detect. However, changes in behaviour were still easily recognised although not as marked as in the first experiment.

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