Porcine adenovirus as a delivery system for swine vaccines and immunotherapeutics

Porcine adenovirus (PAdV) has many qualities which make it an ideal choice for use as a delivery vector in swine. It is a low grade pathogen, present almost world-wide in a number of serotypes varying in their virulence and tissue tropism, which may allow for serotype specific vaccine targeting. PAdV is species specific having only been isolated from swine, reducing the possibility of its spread to other animals or man following administration. When engineered to contain a foreign gene, recombinant PAdV (rPAdV) can be grown to high titres in tissue culture cells making it cheap to produce. Knowledge of the complete nucleotide sequence of the PAdV genome has enabled rationally directed insertions of foreign genes which remain stably inserted in the genome and can be expressed at high levels following delivery to the target host. Importantly, recombinant PAdV can be administered by injection or by the oral route in feed or drinking water. We have delivered a range of antigens and immunomodulatory molecules to commercially available pigs using rPAdV and found it to be a very effective delivery system. Significantly, recombinant PAdV serotype 3 is highly effective as a delivery vehicle even when administered in the face of high levels of artificially induced serotype specific neutralising antibody to the vector.     

溶液pH值测定的兽药检测实验室能力验证

为进一步提升实验室检测技术能力,加强实验室的质量管理,确保日常检验检测结果的准确性和可靠性,组织开展了全国省级兽药检验机构实验室间溶液pH值测定的能力验证.依据《中国兽药典》2015年版一部附录0631 pH值测定法以及中国合格评定国家认可委员会(CNAS)规定的程序进行本次能力验证.采用单因子方差分析对制备的测试样品...     

Guidelines for zoo and aquarium veterinary medical programs and veterinary hospitals

These guidelines for veterinary medical care and veterinary hospitals are written to conform with the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act, which states that programs of disease prevention and parasite control, euthanasia, and adequate veterinary care shall be established and maintained under the supervision of a veterinarian. Ideally the zoo and aquarium should be providing the best possible veterinary medical care for the animals in their collections. Many of these animals are rare and endangered and the institutions should endeavor both to provide for the long term health and well being of these animals and to advance the field of non-domestic animal medicine. It is hoped that this publication will aid in this process.     

Requirements for veterinary research and the recruitment of veterinary surgeons into research

Veterinary science plays a crucial role in society and it is important that veterinarians are involved. However, there are concerns about a growing gap in the quality of veterinary science compared with other biomedical sciences, and about falling recruitment of veterinarians into research. Andrea Nolan and Massimo Palmarini, on behalf of the rcvs Research Subcommittee, discuss these concerns and the steps being taken to encourage more veterinary graduates into a career in research.     

The emerging role of avian cytokines as immunotherapeutics and vaccine adjuvants

The use of antibiotic feed additives and chemical antimicrobials in food production animals is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it helps to prevent the outbreak of disease and promotes the growth of animals, but on the other hand, concerns are mounting over the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. As a consequence, some countries have already banned the use of in-feed antibiotics which has resulted in meat producers urgently seeking environmentally friendly alternative methods to control disease. Cytokines are proteins that control the type and extent of an immune response following infection or vaccination. They therefore represent excellent naturally occurring therapeutics. The use of cytokines in poultry has become more feasible with the discovery of a number of avian cytokine genes. Since the immune system of chickens is similar to that of mammals, they offer an attractive model system to study the effectiveness of cytokine therapy in the control of disease in livestock. This review will focus on the recent advances made in avian cytokines, with a particular focus on their assessment as therapeutic agents and vaccine adjuvants.     

Understanding veterinary practitioners' decision-making process: implications for veterinary medical education

Understanding how veterinary practitioners make clinical decisions, and how they use scientific information to inform their decisions, is important to optimize animal care, client satisfaction, and veterinary education. We aimed to develop an understanding of private practitioners' process of decision making. On the basis of a grounded-theory qualitative approach, we conducted a telephone survey and semi-structured face-to-face interviews. We identified a decision-making framework consisting of two possible processes to make decisions, five steps in the management of a clinical case, and three influencing factors. To inform their decision, veterinary surgeons rarely take the evidence-based medicine (EBM) approach. They consult first-opinion colleagues, specialists, laboratories, and the Internet rather than scientific databases and peer-reviewed literature, mainly because of limited time. Most interviewees suggested the development of educational interventions to better develop decision-making skills in veterinary schools. Adequate information and EBM tools are needed to optimize the time spent in query and assessment of scientific information, and practitioners need to be trained in their use.     

Determination of breakpoints for veterinary medically relevant antibiotics for resistance assessment of veterinary pathogens

This article describes the meaning of the term clinical breakpoint. This is followed by a discussion of the parameters that need to be considered when setting valid breakpoints for active substances in veterinary medicine; in doing so we closely follow equivalent regulations and guidelines on the establishment of breakpoints in human medicine. Along with pharmacokinetic data and the results of clinical efficacy tests, susceptibility data of relevant organisms play a key role in the establishment of breakpoints. Published breakpoints are currently only available for a few modern drugs in veterinary medicine.     

给我国兽药企业今后产品的研发思路提点建议

众所周知,新兽药的研究与开发在科研实力、资金投入、时间投入上都是非常大的,而且还具有不可预测的投资失败风险,我国兽药企业目前大多是以民营为主导,规模处于中小层次,资金实力、抗风险能力、科研技术水平都非常弱小,根本不可能像辉瑞、拜耳、雅培等国际医药巨头那样,每年投入几百上千万甚至上亿、几十个亿,进行新兽药的前沿性研究与探索,故严格地讲,我们国内兽药企业的产品研发部、研究所都不能用上研发二字.     

DNA vaccines for veterinary medicine

DNA vaccination represents one of the most recent novel approaches to vaccine development. Experimentally, DNA vaccines induce a broad range of long lasting immune responses including humoral and cell-mediated immunity against infectious diseases in humans and animals. Furthermore, DNA vaccines are potentially useful for the treatment of autoimmune diseases or cancer. However, most information on the efficacy of DNA vaccines has been generated in mice and studies in larger animals are limited. In this review, the potential application of DNA vaccines in livestock and pet animals are discussed. The principle of this new technology, its potency and future perspectives for use in veterinary medicine will be outlined.