Bacteraemia in 66 cats and antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates (1995-2004)

Bacterial blood culture results of 292 privately owned cats presented to the Clinic for Small Animal Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich with signs of sepsis were evaluated retrospectively. Of the blood cultures, 23% were positive. In 88%, a single bacterial species was isolated. Of all bacterial isolates, 45% were Gram-positive, 43% were Gram-negative, and 12% were obligate anaerobes. The most frequently isolated bacteria were Enterobacteriaceae, obligate anaerobic species, Staphylococcus species and Streptococcus species. Of the cats with positive blood cultures, 32% were pretreated with antibiotics. Of all bacterial isolates, 77% were susceptible to enrofloxacin, 69% to chloramphenicol, 67% to gentamicin, and 64% to amoxycillin clavulanic acid. Only enrofloxacin reached an in vitro efficacy of more than 70% against Gram-positive and more than 74% against Gram-negative bacteria.     

How to consider history in landscape ecology: patterns,processes, and pathways

Landscape Ecology - Landscape ecology early on developed the awareness that central objects of investigation are not stable over time and therefore the historical dimension must be included, or at...     

Genetic structure and differentiation of 12 African Bos indicus and Bos taurus cattle breeds, inferred from protein and microsatellite polymorphisms

Level of genetic differentiation, gene flow and genetic structuring of nine Bos indicus and three Bos taurus cattle breeds in Cameroon and Nigeria were estimated using the genetic information from 16 microsatellite, five blood protein and seven milk protein markers. The global heterozygote deficit across all populations (F_it) amounted to 11.7% (p < 0.001). The overall significant (p < 0.001) deficit of heterozygotes because of inbreeding within breeds (F_is) amounted to 6.1%. The breeds were moderately differentiated (F_st = 6%, p < 0.001) with all loci except CSN1S2 contributing significantly to the F_st value. The 12 populations belong to two genetic clusters, a zebu and a taurine cluster. While inferred sub‐clusters within the taurine group corresponded extremely well to predefined breed categorizations, no real sub‐clusters, corresponding to predefined breeds, existed within the zebu cluster. With the application of prior population information, cluster analysis achieved posterior probabilities from 0.962 to 0.994 of correctly assigning individuals to their rightful populations. High gene flow was evident between the zebu populations. Positive and negative implications of the observed genetic structure of the breeds on their development, improvement and conservation are discussed. The study shows that the breeds are threatened by uncontrolled breeding and therefore are at risk to become genetically uniform in the future. This situation can be avoided by putting in place effective breeding and management measures aimed at limiting uncontrolled mating between the breeds and to preserve special characteristics, genetic as well as breed biodiversity. The first step towards realizing these goals might be to geographically demarcate the breeds.     

CO2-stunning of swine for slaughter from the anesthesiological viewpoint

For investigations of CO2-stunning of feeder- and slaughter-pigs parameters of behaviour, blood-gas-analyses and electroencephalograms were chosen. The following results were obtained: 1. Blood-gas-analyses proved that the CO2-stunning does not produce unconsciousness due to a lack of oxygen. 2. The criterias of general anaesthesia: unconsciousness, muscle-relaxation and analgesia with total reversibility could be confirmed. 3. The violent convulsive symptoms were evaluated as reactions identical with the stage II of GUEDEL's scheme of anaesthesia. 4. Muscular agitation, which sometimes appeared a few seconds before the stage of excitation, was judged to belong either to the start of the excitation phase or to the end of Guedel's stage of analgesia, during which the sensitivity is decreased. Neither study of behavior nor objective measurements showed, during the first 10 to 20 seconds of exposure to the CO2, any sign of pain or suffering related to the Act for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and accordingly such suffering should not be ascribed to the CO2 stunning method.     

Mapping of quantitative trait loci for lactation persistency traits in German Holstein dairy cattle

A whole genome scan to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for persistency of milk yield (PMY), persistency of fat yield (PFY), persistency of protein yield (PPY) and persistency of milk energy yield (PEY) was performed in a granddaughter design in the German Holstein dairy cattle population. The analysis included 16 paternal half‐sib families with a total of 872 bulls. The analysis was carried out for the first lactation and for the first three lactations combined using univariate weighted multimarker regression. Controlling the false discovery rate across traits and data sets at a level of 0.15 and treating the four persistency traits as different traits revealed 27 significant QTL. A total of 12 chromosomes showed significant QTL effects on a chromosomewise basis. The DGAT1 effect was highly significant for PPY and protein yield. A haplotype analysis using results of previous studies of the same design revealed a co‐segregation of various persistency QTL and QTL affecting health traits like dystocia and stillbirth and functional traits like non‐return rate 90 and somatic cell score.