Consensus recommendations on diagnostic testing for the detection of paratuberculosis in cattle in the United States

The report provided here contains a simplified set of diagnostic testing recommendations. These recommendations were developed on the basis of research funded by the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Veterinary Services through a cooperative agreement. The report is intended to provide simple, practical, cost-effective consensus testing recommendations for cattle herds that are not enrolled in the US Test-Negative Program. The information has been reviewed by paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) experts at the USDA and academic centers as well as stakeholders in various segments of the cattle industry. The recommendations were accepted by the National Johne's Working Group and Johne's Disease Committee of the US Animal Health Association during their annual meetings in October 2006. The report is intended to aid veterinarians who work with cattle producers in the United States. The recommendations are based on information available up to October 2006. There is a paucity of large-scale, high-quality studies of multiple tests conducted on samples obtained from the same cattle. It is understood that there may be special circumstances that require deviation from these recommendations. Furthermore, as new information becomes available and assays are improved and their accuracy is critically evaluated, changes to these recommendations may be necessary.     

Nutritional considerations for animals with pulmonary disease.

Recent publications in the human and veterinary literature have indicated that patients with pulmonary disease require specific nutritional consideration to ensure that optimal benefit is derived with nutrition support. Although additional research is needed in this area, preliminary recommendations can be made using information from the scant studies performed thus far in veterinary medicine and from information extrapolated from the human literature. These recommendations are likely to provide significant clinical benefit to patients with pulmonary disease. This article aims to provide the reader with a summary of the available information and links to other relevant sources.     

A Review of Pseudorabies (Aujeszky''s Disease) in Pigs

The main features in terms of etiology, clinical signs, pathogenesis, pathology, diagnosis, epizootiology and control and prevention that are known about pseudorabies are briefly reviewed. Areas still lacking in information which may provide more effective and reliable means of dealing with pseudorabies are mentioned and recommendations using available tools and knowledge to deal with the problem of pseudorabies are given.     

Study on Cashmere Goat Breeding and Production Management System on the Basis of RFID

In order to meet the requirement of the development of cashmere goat industry,and improve the matching accuracy and scientificity of breeding sheep selection and the production efficiency,it is needed to use information technology and modern breeding theory in cashmere goats accurate management and scientific breeding.Using MVC software design pattern,B/S three-tier network architecture,database,BLUP breeding and other technologies,a cashmere goat breeding and production management systems based on RFID was designed and developed in this study.The system contained information management,breeding analysis,production management,nutrition regulation and benefit analysis and other functional modules.In the system,WOMBAT genetic evaluation software was used in calculating cultivation and inbreeding coefficient,then based on this,the optimal combination parents were choosn;The system was designed for different breeding objectives,such us accelerating advances in genetic improvement of cashmere goat economic traits,and developing the production technology through the joint breeding.Based on cashmere goats individual information,the system could automatically generated recommendations for sheep grading,breeding,selecting and cluster grouping;It could also generat warnings on materials,diet formulation and other control points in production (such as pre-production period,light control for increase cashmere,grazing duration,prevention,feeding and so on),it would provide technical support for "1396" sheep breeding and efficient feeding,thus made cashmere goat breeding and production informationalized,standardized and scientific.     

基于射频识别的绒山羊育种生产管理系统研究

为满足中国绒山羊业发展需求,提高种羊选种选配的准确性和科学性、提升生产效率,运用信息技术和现代育种理论可对绒山羊进行科学化育种及精准化管理。本研究采用MVC软件设计模式、B/S三层网络结构、BLUP法育种及绒山羊增绒等技术,开发基于射频识别(RFID)的绒山羊育种生产管理系统,该系统主要包含信息管理、育种分析、生产管理、营养调控和效益分析等功能模块。系统运用WOMBAT遗传评估软件计算育种值和近交系数从而确定最优父母组合,通过联合育种加快绒山羊经济性状的遗传改良进展及相配套的生产技术,实现不同育种目标的生产。通过育种目标的设定及基于绒山羊个体信息,系统可自动生成种羊分级评定建议、配种建议、淘汰建议、分群整群建议、物料预警、日粮配方和对一些生产时间节点(如预产期、光控增绒放牧时长、防疫、补饲等)的提醒,为"1396"型绒山羊的育种及高效饲养提供技术支持,从而实现绒山羊育种和生产的信息化、规范化和科学化。     

PROVIDES: A Complete Veterinary Medical Information System

The desirable attributes of a computer-based diagnostic aid are proposed. These include ease of use, ready accessibility, sound reasoning, completeness, the ability to justify its recommendations, and a system for updating. These principles are illustrated by examples from the authors' diagnostic system (PROVIDES).

PROVIDES is a computer-aided diagnosis and medical information system designed for in-office use on a wide variety of microcomputers using the MS-DOS or PC-DOS operating systems. It is organized by the clinical problems frequently encountered in practice. Relevant historical, physical, and routine laboratory findings are collected through a series of menus. These findings are used to generate a ranked differential diagnostic list. Up-to-date information on diagnostic tests, recommended treatments, and expected outcomes is available for each suggested disease.

     

Recommendations on vaccination for Latin American small animal practitioners: a report of the WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association Vaccination Guidelines Group has produced global guidelines for small companion animal practitioners on best practice in canine and feline vaccination. Recognising that there are unique aspects of veterinary practice in certain geographical regions of the world, the Vaccination Guidelines Group undertook a regional project in Latin America between 2016 and 2019, culminating in the present document. The Vaccination Guidelines Group gathered scientific and demographic data during visits to Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, by discussion with national key opinion leaders, visiting veterinary practices and review of the scientific literature. A questionnaire survey was completed by 1390 veterinarians in five Latin American countries and the Vaccination Guidelines Group delivered continuing education at seven events attended by over 3500 veterinarians. The Vaccination Guidelines Group recognised numerous challenges in Latin America, for example: (1) lack of national oversight of the veterinary profession, (2) extraordinary growth in private veterinary schools of undetermined quality, (3) socioeconomic constraints on client engagement with preventive health care, (4) high regional prevalence of some key infectious diseases (e.g. feline leukaemia virus infection, canine visceral leishmaniosis), (5) almost complete lack of minimal antigen vaccine products as available in other markets, (6) relative lack of vaccine products with extended duration of immunity as available in other markets, (7) availability of vaccine products withdrawn from other markets (e.g. Giardia vaccine) or unique to Latin America (e.g. some Leishmania vaccines), (8) accessibility of vaccines directly by pet owners or breeders such that vaccination is not delivered under veterinary supervision, (9) limited availability of continuing education in veterinary vaccinology and lack of compulsion for continuing professional development and (10) limited peer-reviewed published scientific data on small companion animal infectious diseases (with the exception of leishmaniosis) and lack of support for such academic research. In this document, the Vaccination Guidelines Group summarises the findings of this project and assesses in evidence-based fashion the scientific literature pertaining to companion animal vaccine-preventable diseases in Latin America. The Vaccination Guidelines Group makes some recommendations on undergraduate and postgraduate education and academic research. Recognising that current product availability in Latin America does not permit veterinarians in these countries to vaccinate according to the global World Small Animal Veterinary Association guidelines, the Vaccination Guidelines Group makes a series of “pragmatic” recommendations as to what might be currently achievable, and a series of “aspirational” recommendations as to what might be desirable for the future. The concept of “vaccine husbandry” is addressed via some simple guidelines for the management of vaccine products in the practice. Finally, the Vaccination Guidelines Group emphasises the global trend towards delivery of vaccination as one part of an “annual health check” or “health care plan” that reviews holistically the preventive health care needs of the individual pet animal. Latin American practitioners should transition towards these important new practices that are now well embedded in more developed veterinary markets. The document also includes 70 frequently asked questions and their answers; these were posed to the Vaccination Guidelines Group during our continuing education events and small group discussions and should address many of the issues surrounding delivery of vaccination in the Latin American countries. Spanish and Portuguese translations of this document will be made freely available from the on-line resource pages of the Vaccination Guidelines Group.     

Selection against canine hip dysplasia: success or failure?

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is a multifactorial skeletal disorder which is very common in pedigree dogs and represents a huge concern for canine welfare. Control schemes based on selective breeding have been in operation for decades. The aim of these schemes is to reduce the impact of CHD on canine welfare by selecting for reduced radiographic evidence of CHD pathology as assessed by a variety of phenotypes. There is less information regarding the genotypic correlation between these phenotypes and the impact of CHD on canine welfare. Although the phenotypes chosen as the basis for these control schemes have displayed heritable phenotypic variation in many studies, success in achieving improvement in the phenotypes has been mixed. There is significant room for improvement in the current schemes through the use of estimated breeding values (EBVs), which can combine a dog's CHD phenotype with CHD phenotypes of relatives, other phenotypes as they are proven to be genetically correlated with CHD (especially elbow dysplasia phenotypes), and information from genetic tests for population-relevant DNA markers, as such tests become available. Additionally, breed clubs should be encouraged and assisted to formulate rational, evidenced-based breeding recommendations for CHD which suit their individual circumstances and dynamically to adjust the breeding recommendations based on continuous tracking of CHD genetic trends. These improvements can assist in safely and effectively reducing the impact of CHD on pedigree dog welfare.     

Searching for veterinary evidence: A guide for equine professionals

There is more and more online information available at our fingertips, but how do we efficiently identify and extract relevant information for good clinical decision making? The aim of this review article is to provide equine professionals with the building blocks to be able to develop skills for expertly navigating the scientific literature in a timely fashion. This includes what key questions you need to ask before starting (why am I searching and how much time do I have), where the best places are to search and how to find freely available legal copies of papers (articles, conference proceedings, book chapters and dissertations). Additionally, how to best conduct an information search and what you get from searches of varying comprehensiveness. Finally, this article will cover where to find databases of research syntheses where others have already carried out the hard work for you and some advanced techniques which are likely to save you substantial amounts of time. This article draws together expertise from a panel of veterinary clinicians, nurses and technicians, information specialists and librarians and clinical researchers.     

Equine tapeworm infections: Disease,diagnosis and control

Equine tapeworm infection has gained increasing attention over the past few decades and a number of research studies have already been published. These focus primarily on the most common of the 3 tapeworm species, Anoplocephala perfoliata, although some new information has also been generated for the other two species, Anoplocephala magna and Anoplocephaloides mamillana. The preponderance of research studies have focused on development and validation of diagnostic techniques for tapeworm detection and the role of these parasites in equine gastrointestinal disease. Several diagnostic techniques have been found useful for diagnosis of A. perfoliata but each has its strengths and weaknesses. Egg counting techniques have been modified to achieve acceptable to good diagnostic performance but the trade‐off is often a more time‐consuming method. Validation studies indicate that these methods can reliably detect tapeworm burdens above 10 worms. Several enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed and made commercially available. These can generate useful information about tapeworm exposure on the herd level but are less reliable for individual diagnosis. Unfortunately, none of the available diagnostic techniques are useful for evaluating anthelmintic treatment efficacy. Coproantigen testing may find use as a future diagnostic modality but further characterisation is required. The large body of scientific evidence supports an association between A. perfoliata infection and certain types of equine colic, although some discrepancy exists between studies. Tapeworm surveillance and control should be considered as part of the overall parasite control strategy. When properly used, the currently available diagnostic tools can guide the veterinarian to make strategic decisions regarding tapeworm control.     

Reference values: a review

Abstract: Reference values are used to describe the dispersion of variables in healthy individuals. They are usually reported as population‐based reference intervals (RIs) comprising 95% of the healthy population. International recommendations state the preferred method as a priori nonparametric determination from at least 120 reference individuals, but acceptable alternative methods include transference or validation from previously established RIs. The most critical steps in the determination of reference values are the selection of reference individuals based on extensively documented inclusion and exclusion criteria and the use of quality‐controlled analytical procedures. When only small numbers of values are available, RIs can be estimated by new methods, but reference limits thus obtained may be highly imprecise. These recommendations are a challenge in veterinary clinical pathology, especially when only small numbers of reference individuals are available.     

ASVCP guidelines: quality assurance for portable blood glucose meter (glucometer) use in veterinary medicine

Portable blood glucose meters (PBGM, glucometers) are a convenient, cost effective, and quick means to assess patient blood glucose concentration. The number of commercially available PBGM is constantly increasing, making it challenging to determine whether certain glucometers may have benefits over others for veterinary testing. The challenge in selection of an appropriate glucometer from a quality perspective is compounded by the variety of analytic methods used to quantify glucose concentrations and disparate statistical analysis in many published studies. These guidelines were developed as part of the ASVCP QALS committee response to establish recommendations to improve the quality of testing using point‐of‐care testing (POCT) handheld and benchtop devices in veterinary medicine. They are intended for clinical pathologists and laboratory professionals to provide them with background knowledge and specific recommendations for quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC), and to serve as a resource to assist the provision of advice to veterinarians and technicians to improve the quality of results obtained when using PBGM. These guidelines are not intended to be all‐inclusive; rather they provide a minimum standard for management of PBGM in the veterinary setting.     

Personal computer word processing for veterinary article writing: selecting a suitable word processing program

Word processing makes the writing and altering of scientific articles faster, easier, and more accurate. Personal computers that are ideally suited to this use are now available. The major problem affecting the veterinarian who wishes to purchase a personal computer word processing system, is that of spending the time to acquire sufficient information in order to choose the computer and the programs that will be appropriate to his or her requirements. These will include the specialized word processing demands of scientific article writing and many other applications, as applicable. Despite this obstacle, the acquisition of a personal computer and a suitable word processing program, soon results in time saving. The use of the computer for many other tasks logically follows. An additional benefit is the understanding of computers, their abilities and their limitations--a decided benefit in the 1980s.     

Recommendations for designing and conducting veterinary clinical pathology biologic variation studies

The recent creation of a veterinary clinical pathology biologic variation website has highlighted the need to provide recommendations for future studies of biologic variation in animals in order to help standardize and improve the quality of published information and to facilitate review and selection of publications as standard references. The following recommendations are provided in the format and order commonly found in veterinary publications. A checklist is provided to aid in planning, implementing, and evaluating veterinary studies on biologic variation (Appendix  S1 ). These recommendations provide a valuable resource for clinicians, laboratorians, and researchers interested in conducting studies of biologic variation and in determining the quality of studies of biologic variation in veterinary laboratory testing.     

古尔班通古特沙漠草方格沙障对土壤养分的影响

以古尔班通古特沙漠引水工程沿线草方格沙障设置区域为研究对象,分析了不同铺设年限草方格沙障对表层土壤有机质、速效氮、速效磷和速效钾的影响。结果表明,铺设草方格沙障可提高土壤有机质、速效氮、速效钾的含量,其中速效氮和速效钾含量增加趋势最显著(P<0.05),但对速效磷含量影响不显著(P>0.05)。土壤养分含量随草方格沙障铺设时间延长而逐渐增加,但达到一定阶段后趋于平缓。本研究结果说明,草方格沙障对土壤定向培育呈现为正向反馈,为采用草方格促进工程沿线生态恢复和重建提供了理论支撑。     

Procedures utilized for primate import quarantine at the International Center for Gibbon Studies.

The intent of the Foreign Quarantine requirements (42 CFR 71.53) for nonhuman primates (NHPs) is to prevent the importation of potentially serious infectious diseases that are not endemic to the United States. In 1990, prompted by an outbreak of Ebola (Reston) hemorrhagic fever at an (NHP) quarantine facility, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiated unannounced inspections of all NHP importers' quarantine facilities. During the inspections, the majority did not meet the required infection control and containment standards. Numerous discrepancies were identified in infection control and NHP quarantine protocols. Zoos should have knowledge of CDC requirements and recommendations for the importation of NHPs into the United States. Zoos planning to import NHPs should register with the CDC and have their NHP quarantine facility and protocols inspected and approved by CDC's Division of Quarantine. Specific areas addressed must include protocols for in-transit shipping and handling, transport to the quarantine facility, biocontainment procedures (transfer of NHPs from shipping containers to quarantine cages, entering/exiting the quarantine room, routine daily and emergency procedures, protective clothing, infection control, infectious waste disposal), occupational health, and employee training. Here, we provide information on the approved protocols used for import quarantine at a single registered importer facility specializing in importation of gibbons (Hylobatidae) for species conservation purposes. These procedures are site specific and are not intended to be applicable to the needs of all NHP import facilities.     

Compliance of Victorian dairy farmers with current calf rearing recommendations for control of Johne's disease

Questionnaires were posted to 800 randomly selected registered Victorian dairy farmers in 1996. Five hundred and thirty-four responses were received and analysed. Johne's disease (JD) had been diagnosed on the farm of 13.2% of respondents in the last 5 years. JD was rated second only to neonatal diarrhoea in importance as a disease of calves, even though other diseases occurred more frequently. However, there was a low level of compliance with JD control recommendations by the respondents. There was no significant difference in the number of JD control recommendations adopted by farmers between the three major Victorian regions. There was a significant difference in compliance between farms having had a diagnosed case of JD and those that had not. Although there is awareness among dairy farmers of the importance of JD, there appears to be a poor implementation of measures by farmers to prevent the spread of the disease. Current JD control recommendations and the method of information transfer to Victorian dairy farms should be reassessed to ensure that dairy heifers are reared with minimal risk of transmission of JD.     

A review of feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus seroprevalence in cats in Canada

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are common and important infectious diseases of cats in Canada. Prevalence data are necessary to define prophylactic, management, and therapeutic measures for stray, feral and owned cats. Recently, comprehensive data on the seroprevalence of retrovirus infections of cats in Canada have become available and are reviewed. Further investigation into geographic variations in retrovirus seroprevalence within Canada is warranted, and may provide information to improve recommendations for testing and prevention. As well, more information is needed on FIV subtypes in Canada to improve diagnostics and vaccines, as well as to provide information on disease outcomes.