Review of neurological diseases of ruminant livestock in Australia. VI: postnatal bovine, and ovine and caprine, neurogenetic disorders

This paper, the last in a series of reviews of neurological diseases of ruminants in Australia, discusses a range of neurogenetic disorders of cattle, sheep and goats, including necrotising encephalomyelopathy, glycogen storage disorders, cerebellar abiotrophy and β-mannosidosis. They are categorised by the species and breeds in which they occur.     

Neurological diseases of ruminant livestock in Australia. I: general neurological examination, necropsy procedures and neurological manifestations of systemic disease, trauma and neoplasia

Disease surveillance is an integral part of most veterinary practices in Australia. The aim of this series of invited reviews is to facilitate the differential and ultimately definitive diagnosis of some of the previously known, as well as the novel and emerging, neurological disorders of ruminant livestock, which is of particular importance in the surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. General principles of a systematic neurological examination, necropsy procedures and the neurological manifestations of systemic disease, trauma and neoplasia are described here.     

星状病毒感染免疫应答机制的研究进展

星状病毒(AstV)能够感染多种多样的物种,包括人类、哺乳动物和禽类。一旦感染,可诱发肠炎、肾炎以及神经疾病等,但人们对星状病毒感染的免疫反应知之甚少。随着细胞培养系统和动物模型的建立,人们逐渐提高了对星状病毒感染和发病机制的认识。本文综述了目前星状病毒感染免疫应答的机制,并强调了研究中发现的一些关键问题,为治疗和控制星状病毒感染提供新的研究思路。     

Bovine diseases causing neurological signs and death in Mexican feedlots

The number of large feedlot operations, similar to that of USA and Canada, has notably increased in Mexico in the last three decades. Clinical and laboratory diagnoses of neurological diseases in feedlot cattle are crucial in Mexico and Central America because of the high incidence of bovine paralytic rabies (BPR). Because of its zoonotic potential, BPR must be promptly diagnosed and differentiated from other bovine neurological diseases such as thrombotic meningoencephalitis (TME), polioencephalomalacia (PEM) and botulism. More recently, BPR and botulism have been diagnosed with increasing frequency in Mexican feedlots. Neither BPR nor botulism has relevant gross lesions, thus post-mortem diagnosis without laboratory support is impossible. Herein, we describe five outbreaks of neurological diseases in Mexican feedlots in which BPR, botulism and PEM were diagnosed either independently or in combination. A diagram illustrating the most conspicuous pathologic findings and ancillary laboratory test required to confirm the diagnoses of these neurological diseases in feedlot cattle is proposed.     

Rehabilitation methods in small animal neurology]

Rehabilitation is an important part of the treatment of neurological diseases. The primary goal of these methods is an optimal functional restoring of the neuro-muscular system. Massages, thermo-, hydro- and electrotherapy, as well as therapy of movement are different treatment possibilities with their own indication, which are combined in a physiotherapy program. It follows an overview of the different physiotherapeutic methods and their application in some of the most common neurological diseases, as for example intervertebral disc problems or degenerative myelopathy.     

Computed tomography in small animals--basic principles and state of the art applications

Since its clinical introduction, computed tomography (CT) has revolutionized veterinary medicine and is considered to be one of the most valuable tools for the imaging work-up of neurological, oncological and orthopaedic canine and feline patients. In small animals with acute trauma, particularly those involving complex anatomic areas such as the head, spine or pelvis, CT has been established as a standard imaging method. With the increasing availability of radiation therapy in veterinary medicine, CT has also become the principal tool to stage a tumour, assess response, and guide radiation therapy. The increasing availability of helical CT in veterinary medicine has allowed novel techniques such as spiral CT angiography and high-resolution CT. This review provides a brief overview of the historical and technical development of CT and literature reviews of the major clinical CT applications in small animals such as intracranial and extracranial lesions, the spine, the appendicular skeleton, and abdominal and thoracic diseases.     

Feline spongiform encephalopathy

This paper reviews the recently recognised condition of feline spongiform encephalopathy and its importance as a neurological disorder of cats. Its possible origin and relationship to other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are discussed.     

Decreases in urine specific gravity and urinary creatinine in dogs with different diseases but with normal renal function

The subject of this study was to determine urine specific gravity (USg) and urinary creatinine (UCrn) in dogs with different diseases but with normal renal function. Sick dogs with different diseases were divided into nine groups. Dogs suffering from polyuria/polydipsia, vomits, diarrhoea and females in oestrus or pregnant were excluded from the studies. The healthy dogs served as a control group. Over a three-year period, a total of 267 dogs were examined clinically as well as using imaging and laboratory diagnostics methods. In sick dogs, USg and UCrn were found to be essentially decreased (except animals with neurological and uterine diseases, and neurological diseases, respectively), as compared with normal dogs. In clinically healthy animals of the control group, UCrn and USg did not significantly differ between the females and males. As for the control group, no correlation between UCrn/USg and the body weight/age was found, either.     

Prevalence of Bartonella henselae antibodies in serum of cats with and without clinical signs of central nervous system disease

Bartonella henselae is occasionally associated with neurological dysfunction in people and some experimentally infected cats. The purpose of this study was to determine whether B henselae seroprevalence or titer magnitude varies among cats with neurological disease, cats with non-neurological diseases, and healthy cats while controlling for age and flea exposure. There was no difference in B henselae seroprevalence rates between cats with seizures and cats with other neurological diseases. Cats with non-neurological disease and healthy cats were more likely than cats with neurological disease to be seropositive. While the median B henselae antibody titer was greater in cats with seizures than in cats with other neurological disease, the median B henselae antibody titer was also greater in healthy cats than cats with seizures. The results suggest that titer magnitude cannot be used alone to document clinical disease associated with B henselae infection and that presence of B henselae antibodies in serum of cats with neurological disease does not prove the clinical signs are related to B henselae.     

Feline spongiform encephalopathy: fibril and PrP studies.

The brains from 18 cats were examined for the presence of the fibrils and modified PrP protein which are molecular diagnostic markers for scrapie-like diseases. Thirteen cats were referred with clinical neurological signs potentially indicative of feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE). Of these, five had histopathological changes of FSE, five had other lesions of the central nervous system, and in three the brain was normal. The remaining five cats had no clinical neurological signs and were selected as controls. Fibrils and modified PrP protein were found in the brains of the five cats with FSE and in one of the cats with neurological signs but no histopathological changes in the central nervous system. Fibrils were present in the absence of modified PrP in the brains of two cats, one with neurological signs and a histologically confirmed meningioma, and one with no neurological signs and a histologically normal brain.     

Cerebrospinal Fluid PCR and Antibody Concentrations against Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in Dogs with Neurological Signs

Background: The tick-borne bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (sl) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum have been suspected to cause neurological signs in dogs. Diagnosis often has been made based on positive antibody titers in serum of dogs with neurological signs, but a high seroprevalence in dogs in at-risk populations makes diagnosis difficult.
Objective: To determine if the neurological signs in dogs examined were caused by any of these bacteria.
Animals: Fifty-four dogs presented to a board-certified neurologist.
Methods: Prospective study. We divided dogs into 2 groups: those with inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) and those with neurological signs from other diseases. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from all dogs were analyzed.
Results: Dogs with inflammatory CNS diseases showed no serum antibodies against any of the agents. Among dogs with neurological signs from other diseases, 10.3% had serum antibodies for B. burgdorferi sl and 20.5% for A. phagocytophilum . All blood samples analyzed for bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and all CSF analyzed for antibodies and bacterial DNA for the 2 agents were negative.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Based on this study, these bacteria are unlikely causes of neurologic disease in dogs and the presence of serum antibodies alone does not document or establish a definitive diagnosis of CNS disease caused by these organisms. Dogs that have neurologic disease and corresponding serum antibodies against these agents should have additional tests performed to assess for other potential etiologies of the signs.     

Improving the assessment of the economic impact of parasitic diseases and of their control in production animals.

This paper reviews the ways in which the economic impact of parasitic diseases of production animals have been evaluated. It then discusses the shortfalls of such studies, as well as the opportunities for improving the quality of economic impact assessments and their value to decision makers in the future. The paper first identifies the impacts that are specific to parasitic diseases. It then goes on to review the abundant literature on estimating the total costs of diseases. The authors argue that this approach severely limits the opportunity for economic assessments to aid decisions in disease control and research. The paper then reviews the literature on studies of avoidable costs, before discussing ways in which economic impact assessments can be enhanced. These issues include greater emphasis on incorporating the lost productivity potential caused by parasitic diseases, greater emphasis on valuing actual rather than intended control measures, and greater emphasis on quantifying the productivity effects at the societal level, particularly in the developing world.     

纳米胶体金免疫标记技术在牛病检测中的研究和应用

作者综述了以胶体金免疫渗滤法和胶体金免疫层析法为代表的纳米胶体金免疫标记技术近年来在牛病检测方面的研究和应用进展,并分析和预测其应用前景,为该技术在牛病临床检测领域的进一步研究与应用提供参考。     

Diagnosis of Inflammatory and Infectious Diseases of the Central Nervous System in Dogs: A Retrospective Study

The medical records of 220 dogs with inflammatory/infectious diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) were retrospectively examined. The aims of the study were to determine if clinical and clinicopathologic data (not including biopsy or necropsy examination) could distinguish inflammatory CNS diseases from diseases of other types, and to search for criteria allowing differentiation of specific inflammatory diseases. The signalment, historical findings, extraneural and neurological signs, and the lesion site contributed marginally to a specific diagnosis. Multifocal signs were only noticed in one third of the dogs with inflammatory/infectious diseases. Particular neurological abnormalities were more frequent in certain diseases than in others (eg, myoclonus was frequent in dogs with distemper, but it was also found in those with other meningoencephalomyelitides). Hematologic findings contributed to the diagnosis in certain conditions (eg, canine distemper encephalitis, protozoal encephalomyelitis, steroid-responsive meningitis-arteritis). Cerebrospinal fluid examinations, including immunoglobulin G index and cytology were useful to separate meningoencephalomyelitides from the other CNS diseases and to distinguish certain conditions from others. In most cases a specific diagnosis depended on a combination of clinical signs and ancillary diagnostic aids. Still, a specific diagnosis remained very difficult, if not impossible, in at least one third of the dogs.     

腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶在奶牛疾病中的作用研究进展

随着奶牛养殖规模化、集约化程度的不断提高，奶牛养殖过程中乳腺炎、酮病和脂肪肝等疾病的发病率也逐年增加。腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶（AMP-activated protein kinase，AMPK）作为一种能量感受器可以反映细胞能量状态。AMPK在葡萄糖、脂质和蛋白质代谢以及线粒体生物发生和自噬等过程中发挥重要调控作用。AMPK被认为是多种疾病潜在的干预或治疗靶点，在奶牛代谢性疾病中的研究也较为广泛。综述了AMPK在奶牛乳腺炎、酮病、脂肪肝中的调控作用研究进展，以期为这些疾病的靶向治疗提供参考。     

Swiss scrapie surveillance. I. Clinical aspects of neurological diseases in sheep and goats

Small ruminants infected with scrapie show a large range of often unspecific clinical symptoms. The most-often described signs, locomotion, sensibility and behavioural disorders and emaciation, rarely occur together, and cases have been described in which only one of those signs was detectable.Thus, formulating a well-circumscribed definition of a clinical suspect case is difficult. Most animals with CNS-effecting diseases such as listeriosis, polioencephalomacia, cerebrospinal nematidiasis and enterotoxemia will, in a thorough neurological examination, show at least some scrapie-like symptoms. Among the 22 neurological field cases examined in this study, a goat with cerebral gliomatosis and hair lice showed the closest similarity to clinical scrapie. The unilateral deficiency of the cerebral nerves has potential as an clinical exclusion criterion for scrapie. However, the laboratory confirmation--or exclusion--of scrapie remains important. It thus needs to be realized that a consistent and thorough examination of neurologically diseased small ruminants (including fallen stock) is the backbone of a good surveillance system for these diseases. This should be a motivation for submitting adult sheep and goats for neuropathological examination.     

Ischaemic encephalopathy and focal granulomatous meningoencephalitis in the cat

Three cats were presented with neurological deficits compatible with cerebral disease. Two of the cats had temporal lobe infarction diagnosed as ischaemic encephalopathy; one cat had granulomatous inflammation, diagnosed as focal granulomatous meningoencephalitis. In all three cases the lesions were characterized by necrotic, cavitated areas. Vascular insult was the cause of the ischaemic encephalopathy and the focal granulomatous meningoencephalitis may have been caused by feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus. An infectious aetiology, possibly FIP virus, is proposed for the ischaemic encephalopathy. A relationship between these two neurological diseases may exist.     

Functional neuroanatomy of the domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

This article reviews clinically relevant neuroanatomy of the central nervous system of the domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that will help guide veterinarians in localizing neurological disease in this species. Although the vertebral column, spinal cord and brain of rabbits are similar to those of other mammals, features unique to the rabbit are emphasized where they exist.