Hepatic lipidosis in pregnant cows on a dairy farm.

A syndrome very similar to hepatic lipidosis is described in dairy cows during the dry period. After being sent to pasture the animals did not eat well for undetermined reasons. The disease phenomena were mainly observed in animals carrying twins. At post mortem examination severe falty infiltration was found in the 3 animals made available for post mortem examination. Increase of the energy supply to the dry cows by addition of maize silage to the ration prevented new cases.     

Congress report on progress in pestivirus virology

This mini-review highlights new information on various research aspects presented by specialists from all over the world at the 4th Pestivirus meeting held in Giessen (Germany) from March 15-19, 1999. Especial attention is paid towards differences in humeral and cellular immune response of naive and persistently infected calves with BVDV, and towards BVD eradication programmes in the Scandinavian countries. The development of techniques for an early diagnosis of CSF in live pigs and the progress on both sub-unit and MLV marker vaccines against this disease are reported.     

A case of chronic zinc poisoning in calves fed with zinc-contaminated roughage

A case of zinc intoxication in young female cattle is described. The clinical signs consisted of reduced appetite, emaciation, submandibular oedema and diarrhoea. The source of zinc proved to be roughage harvested in the vicinity of a factory galvanizing steel tubes. In this roughage zinc levels between 3000 and 7300 mg/kg dry weight were found. In the liver of four animals zinc levels varied between 420 and 1600 mg/kg, and between 910 and 1680 mg/kg dry weight in the kidneys.     

Dirofilaria immitis in cats from inner Sydney

Two hundred feral cats from the inner suburbs of Sydney were examined post mortem for adult Dirofilaria immitis and circulating microfilariae, and 101 of these cats were tested for heartworm antigens by an ELISA. Only 2 cats (1%) had adult heartworms, the blood sample from another cat contained a single microfilaria. The blood of a further three cats contained small amounts of D immitis antigen. Although D immitis occurs in cats in Sydney, the prevalence is not high enough to warrant prophylactic treatment.     

Predatory Dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous Faunal Differentiation

Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) fossils discovered in the Kem Kem region of Morocco include large predatory dinosaurs that inhabited Africa as it drifted into geographic isolation. One, represented by a skull approximately 1.6 meters in length, is an advanced allosauroid referable to the African genus Carcharodontosaurus. Another, represented by a partial skeleton with slender proportions, is a new basal coelurosaur closely resembling the Egyptian genus Bahariasaurus. Comparisons with Cretaceous theropods from other continents reveal a previously unrecognized global radiation of carcharodontosaurid predators. Substantial geographic differentiation of dinosaurian faunas in response to continental drift appears to have arisen abruptly at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous.