NACC is a malignancy with low rate of lymphatic metastases. NACC should be treated by combined surgical operation and radiotherapy. Cranial nerves invasion, stage and treatment approach might be important factors affecting the prognosis of the patients with NACC.

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We investigated the polymorphisms of bovine cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcripts (CART ). The coding and regulating regions of CART were screened in 7 cattle breeds by the single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique. The four loci (C1,C2, C3 and C4) studied were all polymorphic. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products representing different SSCP variants were sequenced and a total of 9 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found. The associations between polymorphic loci and the growth traits of Nanyang cattle were analysed. The results indicated that genotype A1A1 of the C1 locus was associated with a higher body weight (P less than 0.05) than heterozygous A1B1. Genotype A2A2 of the C2 locus was associated with lower body weight and average daily weight gain (P < or = 0.001) than heterozygous A2B2. C3 and C4 loci had no significant effect on Nanyang cattle growth traits (P > 0.05).

In weed management, using native parasites to control exotic weeds is considered a better alternative than classical biological control. But the risk must be assessed because of the potential damage caused by these agents. We conducted this project to investigate the mechanism driving the choice of a native obligate parasite, Cuscuta australis, between the exotic, Humulus scandens, and native plants as its host through field and pot experiments. The results showed that C. australis preferred the exotic weed over native (naturalized) hosts and caused a notable reduction in the biomass of H. scandens in the field. In contrast, the results of the pot experimentindicated that C. australis preferred a mix of native (naturalized) hosts over the exotic weed. Both texperiments indicated that the parasitic preference of C. australis was induced more by light irradiance than plant water, carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents, indicating that the native parasite can only be used to control H. scandens when the exotic weed forms mono-cultures or dominates the community. Accordingly, induction and release of C. australis to control H. scandens should be conducted with great caution.