Articular / epiphyseal osteochondrosis in Thoroughbred foals at 5 months of age: influences of growth of the foal and prenatal copper supplementation of the dam

AIMS: To determine the influence of copper (Cu) supplementation by injection of mares in late gestation on the frequency and severity of osteochondrosis (OC) lesions in their foals at around 160 days of age. To determine if there was any influence of the concentration of Cu in the liver, growth rate, birthweight, weight at 160 days of age, fatness, sex, or year of birth of the foal on the frequency and severity of OC lesions. To determine the influence of dam's age, and sex and birthweight of the foal on the growth rate from birth to 160 days of age, and weight at 160 days of age. METHODS: Thirty-three Thoroughbred foals, born in two consecutive years, were weighed every 2 weeks from birth. The dams had been supplemented with parenteral Cu or saline during late gestation, and the supplementation regimens were different in each year. Foals had liver biopsies harvested at birth for determination of Cu concentration. Pasture samples were collected every 4-8 weeks for analysis of concentration of Cu and zinc (Zn). At 160 days of age, articular cartilage of long bones was examined. Gross lesions were counted and scored, then sawn and radiographed, and processed for histopathology. Lesions were given radiographic scores and histopathological scores. Maximum scores for each lesion were combined to give a total OC score for each joint and each foal. The fatness of 20 foals (10 each from Years 1 and 2) at 160 days of age was determined chemically. RESULTS: Supplementation of dams with Cu had no significant effect on the concentration of Cu in the liver of foals at birth, or on the frequency or severity of lesions in articular cartilage at 160 days of age. The Cu and Zn concentrations of pasture were similar in Years 1 and 2, and were lower than current recommendations. All foals in Year 2, and 9/10 foals in Year 1 had irregularities in cartilage that was confirmed histologically to be indicative of OC. The average number of lesions per foal was 4.7 (SD 1.1) and 5.7 (SD 1.1) in Years 1 and 2, respectively. However, the severity of the lesions was considered mild, and no foals showed any clinical evidence of OC while alive. The number of lesions in the tarsocrural (TC) joint and the TC OC score at 160 days were positively associated with average daily weight gain (ADG) in the previous 4 weeks (p=0.005 and p=0.001, respectively). There was no significant effect of sex, fatness, birthweight, weight at 160 days of age, or year of birth of the foal on the frequency and severity of OC lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the lesions classified as OC, using classification systems described by other authors, were likely to be normal variations of the process of endochondral ossification. Despite the high frequency of such lesions, they were considered to be of minor significance and none were clinically evident. The distribution of lesions was not typical, and most probably reflected the subtlety of the lesions. These results support the hypothesis that Cu is an over-emphasised factor in the aetiopathogenesis of OC. The relationship between subtle macroscopic lesions and lesions resulting in clinical signs of disease requires further investigation.     

Preliminary studies of serum acute-phase protein concentrations in hematologic and neoplastic diseases of the dog

Serum concentrations of acute-phase proteins (APPs): haptoglobin (Hp), ceruloplasmin (Cp), serum amyloid A (SAA), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were determined in healthy dogs (n = 15) and dogs with different diseases grouped as acute inflammation (I, n = 12), hematologic neoplasias (HT, including leukemia and lymphoma, n = 16), nonhematologic neoplasias (NHT, including epithelial, mesenchymal, and mixed, n = 20), and autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA, n = 8). SAA and CRP were analyzed using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits, and Hp and Cp were measured using colorimetric methods, all previously validated for use in dogs. Increased concentrations of all APPs were observed in all groups of diseased dogs, but statistical significance only was observed with Hp (I, P < .001; HT, P < .05), Cp (I, P < .05; AIHA, P < .01), and CRP (I, P < .001; HT, P < .001; AIHA, CRP P < .05). High variability in individual APPs within each group of diseases was found with no significant differences between leukemia and lymphoma as well as among different types of neoplasia. The AIHA group had smaller increases in Hp, SAA, and CRP but higher concentrations of Cp. When follow-up of individual cases was possible, a decrease in APPs generally was found in cases with favorable outcome. The results of this study suggest that neoplasia and hematologic diseases such as AIHA should be considered as possible causes of mild increases in APPs in dogs. Measurement of APPs may be helpful to assess clinical evolution and monitor treatment of these processes.     

Multiple-breed genetic inference using heavy-tailed structural models for heterogeneous residual variances

Multiple-breed genetic models recently have been demonstrated to account for the heterogenous genetic variances that exist between different beef cattle breed groups. We extend these models to allow for residual heteroskedasticity (heterogeneous residual variances), specified as a function of fixed effects (e.g., sex, breed proportion, breed group heterozygosity) and random effects such as contemporary groups (CG). We additionally specify the residual distributions to be either Gaussian or based on heavier-tailed alternatives such as the Student's t or Slash densities. For each of these three residual densities using either homoskedastic (homogeneous variance) or heteroskedastic error specifications, we analyzed 22,717 postweaning gain records from a Nelore-Hereford population based on a Markov chain Monte Carlo animal model implementation. The heteroskedastic Student's t error model (with estimated df = 7.33 +/- 0.48) was clearly the best-fitting model based on a pseudo-Bayes factor criterion. Breed group heterozygosity and, to a lesser extent, calf sex seemed to be marginally important sources of residual heteroskedasticity. Specifically, the residual variance in F1 animals was estimated to be 0.70 +/- 0.16 times that for purebreds, whereas the male residual variance was estimated to be 1.13 +/- 0.09 times that for females. The CG effects were important random sources of residual heteroskedasticity (i.e., the coefficient of variation of CG-specific residual variances was estimated to be 0.72 +/- 0.06). Purebred Nelores were estimated to have a larger genetic variance (124.84 +/- 21.75 kg2) compared with Herefords (40.89 +/- 6.70 kg2) under the heteroskedastic Student's t error model; however, the converse was observed from results based on a homoskedastic Student's t error model (46.24 +/- 10.90 kg2 and 60.11 +/- 8.54 kg2, respectively). These results indicate that allowing for robustness to outliers and accounting for heteroskedasticity of residual variances has potentially important implications for variance component and genetic parameter estimates from data on multiple-breed populations.     

接种PCV2疫苗对母猪繁殖性能的影响

<正>仔猪断奶后多系统衰竭综合症(Post-weaning Multi-systemicWasting Syndrome,PMWS)首次发现在1995年和1996年,分别在加拿大和欧洲,该病为一种全球性的猪病,也是由猪圆环病毒2型(PCV2)引起的疾病综合征(也被统称为猪圆环2型病)之一。除了PMWS外,PCV2也被视为母猪繁殖障碍的病因之一。本文的目的是简要地回顾该主题的可用数据和已经公布的从接种Circovac疫苗(一种PCV2灭活苗)的母猪中获得的数据。     

Mechanisms Involved in the Growth Promotion of Weaned Piglets by High-level Zinc Oxide

Dietary supplementation with high levels of zinc oxide (ZnO) is an effective method to prevent diarrhea and promote growth in weaned piglets. However, the mechanisms behind these beneficial effects are not well understood. Recent advances in this field indicated that the effects of ZnO on piglet growth are achieved through multiple regulatory pathways rather than a single pathway. This review focuses on recent advances in the effects of high level ZnO on:1) Zn status in weaned piglets;2) intestinal microbe flora regulation;3)intestinal structure and function;4 )ion secretion in the intestine epithelium;5) intestinal immunology; and 6) secretion of brain-intestine peptides. ZnO appears to regulate the intestinal microflora and decreases the release of histamine to prevent diarrhea. ZnO also increases the expression of intestinal insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and the IGF-1 receptor to ameliorate intestinal injury associated with weaning, and mediates secretion of brain-gut peptides to stimulate food intake, to promote the growth of piglets. Better understanding of the underlying mechanisms should inspire us to supplement the diet for weaned piglets with ZnO and investigate new approaches to prevent diarrhea and enhance growth.     

基于监控平台的智能车载终端设计

对电动汽车车联网关键技术进行研究,提出了一种基于监控平台的电动汽车智能终端系统。该系统由嵌入式单片机、监控平台、智能手机客户端组成,单片机从CAN总线获取车况数据、GPS获取定位信息,通过4G模块实现终端与监控平台之间的数据交互,用户通过移动设备连接互联网,从监控平台获取数据,实时监控车辆状况。     

基于ARM9的奶牛运动量无线采集系统终端设计

针对奶牛企业人工监测奶牛发情期效率和准确率不高的问题,设计开发了基于ARM9的奶牛运动量无线采集系统.该系统通过检测奶牛运动步数的显著增加来判断奶牛的发情期.采用ND-2振动传感器采集奶牛的运动步数,经单片机MSP430F149简单处理后,由无线收发芯片nRF903发送至基于S3C2440的嵌入式主机进行统一监控和管理.试验表明,奶牛发情期运动步数增加2～3倍,奶牛发情期判断的准确率得到了提高,同时减少了奶牛企业的工作量,提高了奶牛企业的经济效益.为此,着重介绍了终端采集分机的硬件设计、无线数据通信协议和系统软件的设计.     

光传感器变量施肥控制系统开发

针对当前国内智能化农业的发展现状,开发了一个集成光学传感器和数据控制器的实时自动变量施肥控制系统.该系统可以根据作物的长势实现实时变量施肥.系统利用NDVI(归一化植被指数)测定传感器实时地获取农作物生长的NDVI值,结合作物施肥的不同生长时期,达到依据作物长势实时变量施肥的目的.为此,对控制系统的设计和具体的施肥方案进行了详细的介绍.     

沼气气肥对番茄产量和品质的影响

通过在温室大棚种植番茄增施CO2沼气肥对大棚番茄产量和品质影响研究的结果表明,施用CO2沼气肥可增加温室大棚番茄产量,改善果实品质.当温室的CO2浓度在1500 uL*L-1,每天施肥3小时,番茄小区的产量、单果重、单株果数最高,小区产量比对照组提高43%,单果重比对照组提高103%,单株果数比对照增加52%.     

基于Simulink的水产养殖溶解氧监控系统

在水产养殖中,水体的溶氧量对鱼类生长和发育有很大影响,很有必要对其进行监控.为了提高监控的效果,建立了水产养殖溶解氧监控系统的数学模型,利用Simulink软件设计了PID控制器,并利用该软件中的非线性控制设计模块优化了控制器的参数.系统仿真分析表明,系统稳定,且优化后系统的超调量很小,响应变快,能够得到较好的控制效果.通过对水产养殖溶解氧监控系统的建模与仿真,可以为分析该系统提供重要基础,同时在实际应用方面积累了经验.