Gutteral pouch tympany in German warmblood foals: influence of sex,inbreeding and blood proportions of founding breeds as well as estimation of heritability

The objective of the present study was to analyse the importance of the influences of sex, inbreeding coefficient, proportion of genes of the original breeds and the additive genetic contribution to the occurrence of guttural pouch tympany in foals belonging to German Warmblood breeds. Foals affected by guttural pouch tympany were ascertained in the Clinic of Horses, School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. This data set comprised 22 German Warmblood foals with guttural pouch tympany, which were patients of the Clinic for Horses between 1994 and 2001. Information on the pedigrees and all available relatives of these patients allowed us to group the affected foals into five families with a total of 289 animals. Female foals were significantly more often affected by guttural pouch tympany. The difference was 16.6% in favour of female foals. The size of the inbreeding coefficient was not important for the occurrence of guttural pouch tympany. The proportion of the genes of the breeds Arabian, Thoroughbred and Trakehner were not significantly different from a randomly selected sample of 10% of foals born in the same birth years and the same region. The heritability estimates for the frequency of guttural pouch tympany using a threshold model was 0.81 +/- 0.16. This is the first report that could show a genetic component responsible for guttural pouch tympany in horses.     

Antimicrobial activity of Artemisia douglasiana leaf essential oil

Artemisia douglasiana leaf has been shown to be efficacious complementary herbal treatment for chronic bladder infection in a paraplegic youth. The leaf oil has been analyzed by GC-MS and the major components found to be camphor (29%), artemisia ketone (26%), artemisia alcohol (13%), alpha-thujone (10%), 1,8-cineole (8%), and hexanal (5%). The leaf oil and the major components have been tested for antimicrobial activity against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger. The essential oil shows limited antimicrobial activity in vitro, so it is unclear if the oil exerts a direct antimicrobial effect in vivo, or plays some role in stimulation of host defenses.     

Impact of a biochar or a biochar-compost mixture on water relation, nutrient uptake and photosynthesis of Phragmites karka

Soil water and nutrient status are both of major importance for plant appearance and growth performance. The objective of this study was to understand the effect of biochar (1.5%) and a biochar-compost mixture (1.5% biochar + 1.5% compost) on the performance of Phragmites karka plants grown on a synthetic nutrient-poor sandy clay soil (50% sand, 30% clay, and 20% gravel). Indicators of plant performance, such as growth, lignocellulosic biomass, water status (leaf water potential, osmotic potential, and turgor potential), mineral nutrition status, leaf gas exchange, and chlorophyll fluorescence, and soil respiration (carbon dioxide (CO₂) flux) were assessed under greenhouse conditions. Biochar-treated plants had higher growth rates and lignocellulosic biomass production than control plants with no biochar and no compost. There was also a significant increase in soil respiration in the treatments with biochar, which stimulated microbial interactions. The increase in soil water-holding capacity after biochar amendment caused significant improvements in plant water status and plant ion (K⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺) contents, leading to an increase in net photosynthesis and a higher energy-use efficiency of photosystem II. Biochar-treated plants had lower oxidative stress, increased water-use efficiency, and decreased soil respiration, and the biochar-compost mixture resulted in even greater improvements in growth, leaf turgor potential, photosynthesis, nutrient content, and soil gas exchange. Our results suggest that biochar and compost promote plant growth with respect to nutrient uptake, water balance, and photosynthetic system efficiency. In summary, both the soil amendments studied could increase opportunities for P. karka to sequester CO₂ and produce more fodder bio-active compounds and biomass for bio-energy on nutrient-poor degraded soils.     

Scleral rupture in dogs, cats, and horses

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this retrospective study was to summarize the most frequent clinical signs, ultrasonographic, and histological findings accompanying scleral rupture as a result of blunt trauma in dogs, cats, and horses. ANIMALS STUDIED AND PROCEDURES: Thirty small animals and three horses diagnosed with scleral rupture resulting from blunt trauma. B-mode ultrasonography was performed on 20 animals. Histopathology was carried out on 18 enucleated globes. RESULTS: In small animals, 80% presented hyphema, 60% subconjunctival hemorrhage, and 53% eyelid and conjunctival swelling. In horses, 100% presented eyelid and conjunctival swelling, 67% hyphema, subconjunctival hemorrhage, and collapsed anterior chamber. Ultrasonographic findings were an area with ill-defined scleral margins (90%), echoic/hyperechoic contents in the anterior and posterior chamber (55%) and in the vitreous (80%). In small animals, scleral rupture location noted on gross examination was: at the posterior pole (4), close to the optic nerve (3), near the limbus (2), and in the dorsal aspect of the globe (1). In horses, the lesion was located at the limbus (3). In small animals, histopathology showed presence of hemorrhage in the anterior, posterior chamber, and vitreous (94%), retinal detachment (94%), choroidal edema and hemorrhages (88%), and choroidal detachment as a result of suprachoroidal hemorrhage (88%). The same lesions were found in the globes of two horses. In small animals, rupture location noted on histopathology was: at the posterior pole (8), close to the optic nerve (4), near the limbus (1), near the ciliary body (1). CONCLUSIONS: The most frequent clinical signs observed were hyphema, subconjunctival hemorrhage, and eyelid and conjunctival swelling. Ultrasonographic findings suggestive for scleral rupture were ill-defined scleral borders and/or echoic/hyperechoic material in the cavities of the globe. On histopathology, lesions severely altering the anatomy of the eye structures were: hemorrhage into the chambers of the globe, subretinal and suprachoroidal hemorrhage leading to retinal and choroidal detachment, respectively. In small animals, the most frequent locations for scleral rupture were the posterior pole and close to the optic nerve, whereas in horses it was the limbus.     

Growth-related micromorphological characteristics of the porcine common carotid artery

The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge about the micromorphology of the porcine common carotid artery (CCA) during the period of growth over the bodyweight range of 10–40 kg. CCA samples from German landrace pigs (DL) aged either 2 or 3 months (DL-2 and DL-3) were compared with samples from Göttingen minipigs (GM) aged either 18 or 40 months (GM-18 and GM-40) using transmitted light (phase-contrast mode) and transmission electron microscopy. The GM-18, GM-40 and the DL-3 groups had typical muscular artery histological characteristics. Contrasting to this, the 2-month-old DL pigs had a transitional artery type being characterized by a significantly higher proportion of elastic fibres and a significantly lower number of smooth muscle cells than did the 1 month older DL-3. During the period of maturation, the tunica media of the CCA in GM animals thickened by 1.3× and in DL animals by 2.5× resulting in an overall increased vessel wall thickness. The cumulated thickness of the tunica interna (endothelium, stratum subendotheliale and internal elastic lamina) and the tunica media (including the external elastic lamina) of DL-3 and GM-40 pigs were similar to each other and comparable to that of humans. With an increasing vessel wall thickness, the luminal diameter decreased in GM by 19% and in DL by 11%. Additionally, in the older age groups, GM-40 and DL-3, the internal elastic lamina principally was continuous, but there were also interrupted large segments of elastic lamina separated by gaps. In addition, the principal internal elastic lamina was duplicated in several places.     

Suspected macular degeneration in a captive western lowland gorilla (gorilla gorilla gorilla)

The case of a 31-year-old captive female Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) with decreased near vision but good distance vision is presented. Examination of the fundus revealed drusen-like bodies in the macula presumably because of an age-related macular degeneration (AMD).     

正确操作挤奶设备 降低牛奶体细胞数

牛奶体细胞数过高——我们应该做些什么？ 现在我们评定牛奶的质量,一般将体细胞数的最大值设定为400000.00／mL。如果体细胞数高于这个数,牛奶生产者收益就会立即受到损失。体细胞的出现一般是对乳腺组织受到感染或损伤的一种回应。这种感染必须得到很好治疗及去除病因后奶牛才能得到适当恢复,否则奶牛将受到长期的感染。保持对体细胞的有效控制,     

Carabid beetles (Coleoptera,Carabidae) as bioindicators in biological and conventional farming in Austrian potato fields

Summary Carabid beetles were sampled in 1980 and 1981 by pitfall trapping in two biologically and two conventionally farmed potato fields in B. Zell, Upper Austria. The cultivation differences consisted mainly of a herbicide application to one conventional field in 1980 and higher fertilization levels in both conventional fields in both years. The total carabid catch was 7428 beetles, representing 48 species. In both years the numbers of total carabids and numbers of species were higher in the biologically farmed fields. Of 16 dominant species (representing 96% of all carabids) only 5 (e.g., Platynus dorsalis, Poecilus cupreus) showed similar activity densities under both types of cultivation. Five species (e.g., Carabus spp., Amara consularis, Harpalus rufipes) were frequent only in one field. Pterostichus melanarius was the only species more numerous in the conventional fields, whereas five species occurred either more frequently or exclusively in the biological fields. Of these five species, Poecilus versicolor, Dyschirius globosus, Calathus fuscipes and, only regionally, Harpalus aeneus are considered to be bioindicators for biologically farmed agroecosystems. The frequencies of Amara consularis and Harpalus rufipes are apparently related to weed vegetation.Dedicated to the late Prof. Dr. W. Kühnelt