Noninferiority trial investigating the efficacy of a nonantibiotic intramammary therapy in the treatment of mild‐to‐moderate clinical mastitis in dairy cows with longer lasting udder diseases

A nonblinded, positively controlled, noninferiority trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of an alternative, nonantibiotic therapy with Masti Veyxym^® to reduce ineffective antibiotic usage in the treatment of nonsevere clinical mastitis (CM) in cows with longer lasting udder diseases. The solely intramammary treatment with Masti Veyxym^® (three applications, 12 hr apart) and the combined treatment with Masti Veyxym^® and antibiotics as usual on the farm according to label of the respective product were compared with the reference treatment of solely antibiotic therapy. The matched field study was conducted on eight free‐stall dairy farms located in Eastern Germany. Cases of mild‐to‐moderate CM in cows with longer lasting high somatic cell counts in preceding dairy herd improvement test days and with previous CM cases in current lactation were randomly allocated to one of the three treatment groups. A foremilk sample of the affected quarter was taken before treatment and again approximately 14 days and 21 days after the end of therapy for cyto‐bacteriological examination. Primary outcomes were clinical cure (CC) and no CM recurrence within 60 days after the end of treatment (no R60). Bacteriological cure (BC) and quarter somatic cell count (QSCC) cure were chosen as secondary outcomes although low probabilities of BC and QSCC cure for selected cows were expected. The study resulted in the following findings: the pathogens mostly cultured from pretreatment samples were Streptococcus uberis, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase‐negative staphylococci. There were no significant differences between the two test treatments in comparison with the reference treatment regarding all outcome variables. The sole therapy with Masti Veyxym^® resulted in a numerically lower likelihood of BC without significant differences to the reference treatment. The combined therapy group showed a numerically higher nonrecurrence rate than the two other treatment groups and noninferiority compared to the reference treatment was proven. Having regard to the selection criteria of cows in this study, the findings indicated that sole treatment with Masti Veyxym^® in nonsevere CM cases may constitute an alternative therapy to reduce antibiotics. However, noninferiority evaluations were mostly inconclusive. Further investigations with a larger sample size are required to confirm the results and to make a clear statement on noninferiority.     

Genetic evaluation of growth in farmers’ flocks of Madras Red sheep under long-term selection in a group breeding scheme

The Network Project on Sheep Improvement (NWPSI)–Madras Red field unit is a group breeding scheme involving 198 farmers’ flocks of Madras Red sheep in which selection for growth traits and rotation of rams have been practised for over two decades. Growth data collected from these flocks were used to evaluate the performance and understand the direct and expected responses to selection based on genetic parameters. The body weight at birth (BW), weaning weight (WW), 6-month weight (6W), 9-month weight (9W), 12-month weight (YW), pre-weaning average daily gain (ADG1, birth to 3 months), post-weaning ADG2 (3–6 months), ADG3 (6–9 months), ADG4 (9–12 months) and ADG5 (3–12 months) were 2.67, 10.05, 14.56, 18.36, 21.36, 80.13, 49.05, 43.00, 34.21 and 41.18 g, respectively. Univariate analyses were carried out using animal and sire models to estimate variance components. Heritability obtained from animal model for BW was 0.36 and the values for other body weight traits were almost unity. Heritability estimate for pre-weaning ADG1 was 0.31. Very high genetic variability was observed in spite of long-term selection and this sustenance of variability is one of the main advantages of a group breeding scheme, combining several flocks of smaller size. An increasing genetic and phenotypic trend was noticed for almost all the traits studied. The expected responses calculated based on genetic parameters also indicated scope for improvement.     

Effect of heat stress on the behavioral and physiological patterns of Small-tail Han sheep housed indoors

Tropical Animal Health and Production - This study was conducted to investigate the effects of heat stress on the behavioral and physiological patterns in Small-tail Han sheep housed indoors in...     

Prevalence of Leptospira serogroup-specific antibodies in cattle associated with reproductive problems in endemic states of India

Tropical Animal Health and Production - In this study, the seroprevalence and distribution of Leptospira in dairy cattle in endemic states of India were investigated in association with...     

The influence of rapid growth on sodium salicylate pharmacokinetics in male turkeys

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of growth on the pharmacokinetics of sodium salicylate (SS) in male turkeys. SS was administered intravenously at a dose of 50 mg/kg. Plasma drug concentrations were assessed by high‐performance liquid chromatography, and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by noncompartmental analysis. As the age increased from 6 to 13 weeks (body weight increase from 2.35 to 9.43 kg), median body clearance decreased from 1.34 to 0.87 ml/min/kg. This caused a significant increase in the median mean residence time from 3.42 to 4.44 hr. Elimination phase proved to be biphasic and two elimination half‐lives (T_1/2el) were distinguished. Whereas T_1/2el1 was found to increase with age by 128%, T_1/2el2 represented a later but faster and less age‐dependent phase of elimination (increase by 56% in the respective groups). Volume of distribution decreased with age. These effects may lead to different therapeutic response to SS in turkeys of different age and body weights.     

Development of a clinical prediction score for detection of suspected cases of equine grass sickness (dysautonomia) in France

Equine grass sickness (EGS) (equine dysautonomia) is a neurodegenerative condition of grazing equines. Pre-mortem diagnosis of EGS is a challenge for practitioners as definitive diagnosis requires ileal/myenteric lymph node biopsies. This study aimed to develop a clinical score that could be used by practitioners to improve the detection of acute or subacute EGS cases in the field. Suspected EGS cases were declared by veterinary practitioners. A case was classified as confirmed positive if ileal or rectal biopsy samples showed neuronal degeneration typical of EGS. A semi-quantitative scoring system, including epidemiological and clinical data, was created to attempt to classify suspected EGS horses into confirmed positive or negative cases. Each variable was weighted based on a boosted regression trees model, while taking into account its clinical relevance. Twenty-eight EGS cases were confirmed by biopsy during the entire study period. The best cut-off value for the score to have a high sensitivity while maximizing specificity was 8, with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 53%. In our dataset, 77% of animals would be correctly classified with this cut-off value of 8. Highest sensitivity was chosen in order to detect the highest number of potential cases. Our score represents an inexpensive and useful tool to aid in the identification of suspected EGS cases in the field and selection for further diagnostics procedures to confirm or rule out the disease. Application of the score to larger populations of animals would be required to further adapt and refine the score.     

Stem cell factor supports migration in canine mesenchymal stem cells

Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) are cells that can be defined as multipotent cells able to differentiate into diverse lineages, under appropriate conditions. These cells have been widely used in regenerative medicine, both in preclinical and clinical settings. Initially discovered in bone marrow, MSC can now be isolated from a wide spectrum of adult and foetal tissues. Studies to evaluate the therapeutic potential of these cells are based on their ability to arrive to damaged tissues. In this paper we have done a comparative study analyzing proliferation, surface markers and OCT4, SOX9, RUNX2, PPARG genes expression in MSC cells from Bone marrow (BMMSC) and Adipose tissue (ASC). We also analyzed the role of Stem Cell Factor (SCF) on MSC proliferation and on ASCs metalloproteinases MMP-2, MMP-9 secretion. Healthy dogs were used as BMMSC donors, and ASC were collected from omentum during elective ovariohysterectomy surgery. Both cell types were cultured in IMDM medium with or without SCF, 10% Dog Serum (DS), and incubated at 38 °C with 5% CO2. Growth of BMMSCs and ASCs was exponential until 25–30 days. Flow citometry of MSCs revealed positive results for CD90 and negative for CD34, CD45 and MCH-II. Genes were evaluated by RT-PCR and metalloproteinases by zymografy. Our findings indicate morphological and immunological similarities as well as expression of genes from both origins on analyzed cells. Furthermore, SCF did not affect proliferation of MSCs, however it up-regulated MMP-2 and MMP-9 secretion in ASCs. These results suggest that metalloproteinases are possibly essential molecules pivoting migration.