Metastatic aortic body tumour causing neck pain in a dog

An aortic body tumour in an 11-year-old male Jack Russell terrier with acute onset neck pain is described. Clinical signs were related to a metastatic lesion present in the spinal column and involving the vertebral body of the fifth cervical vertebra. Radiographic and post mortem findings are described including histopathologi-cal features of the tumour and ultrastructural observations.     

Effects of altered dietary iron intake in Mycobacterium paratuberculosis-infected dairy cattle: sequential observations on growth, iron and copper metabolism and development of paratuberculosis

Twenty calves were orally inoculated with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis at six weeks old. At six months old, 10 of these, plus four uninfected controls were maintained on limited dietary copper and supplemented iron intake for a further 27 months. During this time all these animals, together with a further four untreated controls, were bred before being killed and examined for evidence of paratuberculosis. Despite significant reduction in weight gain, attributable to both iron supplementation and infection, no significant difference was found in the numbers of iron-supplemented and unsupplemented animals that developed clinical signs nor in the extent and severity of intestinal lesions between groups. Accumulation of iron in paratuberculosis lesions was not affected by iron supplementation but was positively correlated with the frequency of shedding of M paratuberculosis in faeces (P less than 0.05). Dietary iron supplementation alone resulted in serum hyperferraemia, hepatic siderosis and slight hypocuprosis, whereas, in infected animals, this resulted in marked hypocuprosis and anaemia within groups (P less than 0.05). Infection alone resulted in serum hypoferraemia and intestinal and hepatic siderosis which was positively correlated with the severity of infection within groups (P less than 0.05). Susceptibility to paratuberculosis may result from failure ultimately to limit monokine-mediated iron sequestration in intestinal tissue.     

Plasma Taurine Concentrations and M-mode Echocardiographic Measures in Healthy Cats and in Cats with Dilated Cardiomyopathy

M-mode echocardiography was completed and plasma taurine concentrations were determined in 79 healthy cats and 77 cats with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In healthy cats, a relationship was not observed between plasma taurine concentrations and any M-mode echocardiographic measurement. End-systolic and end-diastolic cardiac chamber dimensions were larger; wall thickness measures were smaller; and calculations of fractional shortening were less in cats with DCM than in healthy cats. Plasma taurine concentrations less than 30 nmol/mL were detected in 7/79 healthy cats and in 52/77 cats with DCM. Of the 52 cats with DCM and an initial plasma taurine concentration less than 30 nmol/mL, 23 died or were euthanized during the first post-treatment week, 7 were lost to further study, and 22 improved after taurine supplementation. Of the 25 cats with DCM and an initial plasma taurine concentration greater than or equal to 30 nmol/mL, 9 died or were euthanatized during the first post-treatment week, and 9 were lost to further study. Two cats did not improve, of which one died and one was euthanatized 4 to 8 weeks after initiation of taurine supplementation. Five cats with a plasma taurine concentration greater than or equal to 30 nmol/mL improved after taurine supplementation. Myocardial function subsequently deteriorated in three of these cats. Two of the three cats had signs of congestive heart failure redevelop.     

Class-specific and polyvalent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for detection of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in equids

Class-specific and polyvalent ELISA were developed to detect IgM antibody or total immunoglobulins to Borrelia burgdorferi in equine sera. Analyses of 122 serum specimens, collected during 1985 from horses and ponies in tick-infested areas of Connecticut, revealed IgM antibody in 41 (34%) samples; titration end points ranged from 1:160 to 1:2,560. In polyvalent ELISA, 73 (16%) of 454 serum specimens contained IgM and/or IgG antibody. Seropositivity was highest (32%) for blood samples collected during May. Both ELISA procedures had comparable sensitivities.     

Observations on the pathogenicity for sheep and goats and the transmissibility of the strain of virus isolated during the rinderpest outbreak in Sri Lanka in 1987

The pathogenicity for sheep and goats of the virus strain that caused acute rinderpest in cattle and domestic buffalo in Sri Lanka after an interval of over 40 years has been examined. The results show that it can cause overt clinical disease in goats, but only mild or unapparent infection in sheep. The disease was transmitted from infected sheep to in-contact susceptible sheep and calves.     

Seroprevalence of OHV-2, BVDV, BHV-1, and BRSV in ranch-raised bison (Bison bison).

Serum samples were collected at slaughter from 226 24-30-month-old American bison (Bison bison) bulls from Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba and assayed for antibodies to ovine herpesvirus type-2 (OHV-2), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), bovine herpesvirus type-1 (BHV-1), and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV). Antibodies were detected by serum neutralization for BVDV, BHV-1, and BRSV, while antibodies to OHV-2 were detected by competitive inhibition-ELISA (CI-ELISA). Detectable antibodies were found against all viruses: 10 of 226 (4.40%) against OHV-2, 125 of 226 (55.3%) against BVDV, 99 of 226 (43.8%) against BHV-1, and 208 of 226 (92.0%) against BRSV. Titers from 93.6% of the BVDV-positive animals, 79.8% of the BHV-1-positive animals, and 98.1% of the BRSV-positive animals were > or = 1.25. These data indicate that a low percentage of clinically normal bison are seropositive for OHV-2 while a high percentage of bison sampled are seropositive for BVDV, BHV-1, and BRSV.     

Ruminal microbial development in conventionally or early-weaned calves

Eight bull calves (four Holsteins and four Ayrshire calves with mean birth weight of 38.8 kg) were ruminally cannulated at 3 d of age and allocated to one of two weaning programs. All calves were fed colostrum for 3 d after birth and milk until weaning. Calves in the conventional-weaning program were fed a starter diet from 3 d of age and weaned at 6 wk of age. In the early-weaning program, calves were fed a highly palatable pre-starter diet from 3 d of age until they consumed 227 g/d, and then fed a mixture of pre-starter (227 g) and starter diet ad libitum. Calves in this group were weaned at 4 wk of age. Ruminal samples were collected at 3 and 7 d, then weekly thereafter through 8 wk and at 10 and 12 wk of age to assess microbial activity. Calves in the early-weaned group had a higher concentration of total ruminal volatile fatty acids at an earlier age than the calves in the conventional-weaning program. This was accompanied by a trend toward higher lactate concentrations and lower ruminal pH in the early-weaned group during their first 4 wk of age. Lactate and ammonia concentrations decreased with calf age. The total anaerobic bacterial counts increased slightly with calf age, whereas Streptococcus bovis and facultative bacterial populations decreased with calf age. Amylolytic, proteolytic, lactobacilli, lactate-utilizers, cellulolytic and methanogenic bacterial populations increased progressively in both groups. Cellulolytic and methanogenic bacteria were present in both groups at 3 d of age. No protozoa were detected in calves of either group. In general, the most significant changes in bacterial populations and metabolic activity in both groups occurred between 4 and 6 wk of age. Although calves in both groups had similar patterns of bacterial development, calves in the early-weaning program tended to have high ruminal microbial activity at an earlier age than the conventionally weaned calves.