Stress echocardiography in warmblood horses: comparison of dobutamine/atropine with treadmill exercise as cardiac stressors

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the combination of dobutamine and atropine causes cardiac stress equivalent to treadmill exercise. Therefore, electrocardiography and echocardiography were performed on 10 warmblood horses before, during, and after different cardiac stress tests. Stressors consisted of a standardized treadmill exercise and combined administration of dobutamine (7.5 microg/kg/min) and atropine (5 microg/kg). Maxima heart rates were achieved during the treadmill exercise (175 +/- 10 bpm). After exercise, a rapid decrease in heart rate was observed. Subsequently, a stress echocardiography for which a heart rate >100 bpm was required could only be performed within 1 minute after exercise. The mean heart rate during echocardiography was 136 +/- 8 bpm after exercise. The combination of dobutamine and atropine also resulted in a significant increase in heart rate, up to 141 +/- 20 bpm. Maxima heart rate was significantly higher during the treadmill exercise, but the decrease in heart rate was significantly slower after dobutamine and atropine administration. Over a period of 7.9 minutes, the mean heart rate was 123 +/- 8 bpm during dobutamine and atropine administration. Consequently, the combination of both drugs offered sufficient time for detailed examinations. Overall, echocardiographic examination identified a decrease in left ventricular (LV) dimensions, an increase in LV wall thickness, and a decrease in stroke volume after the treadmill exercise and during pharmacologic stress testing compared with baseline. Changes in echocardiographic variables generally were more pronounced during dobutamine and atropine administration. Similar to stress echocardiography in humans, in horses the combination of dobutamine and atropine is useful to produce an increase in heart rate comparable with what is achieved with exercise but without the need of increasing dobutamine dosage.     

Experimental infection of weaned piglets with Campylobacter coli – Excretion and translocation in a pig colonisation trial

Campylobacter (C.) is one of the most common food-borne pathogen causing bacterial enteric infections in humans. Consumption of meat and meat products that have been contaminated with Campylobacter are the major source of infection. Pigs are a natural reservoir of Campylobacter spp. with C. coli as the dominant species. Even though some studies focussed on transmission of C. coli in pig herds and the excretion in faeces, little is known about the colonisation and excretion dynamics of C. coli in a complex gut microbiota present in weaned piglets and the translocation to different tissues.     

Ergebnisse aus 10 Jahren Untersuchungen zum notwendigen Maß im Netz Vergleichsbetriebe Pflanzenschutz

The reduction of risks associated with plant protection products is the main goal of the National Action Plan on sustainable use of plant protection products. One further goal is the use of plant protection products according to the necessary minimum. This aim serves also as an indicator with the target that 95% of pesticide applications are within the necessary minimum. For this purpose, the data from the Reference Farm Network on the intensity of pesticide use are assessed. With the current study we summarize the result for arable crops over the ten-year project period and investigate in detail the assessments from 2014 until 2016. The results show, that the majority of pesticide treatments are evaluated within the necessary minimum. Deviations occur especially for fungicide and insecticide treatments. Other factors, such as regional weather and pest or disease occurrence, production specific factors as well as farmers’ decision processes additionally influence the annual pesticide use intensity and the necessary minimum. Existing technologies, decision support systems and recommendations from advisory service should be better exploited in order to minimize those deviations.     

A call for stakeholders to boost integrated pest management in Europe: a vision based on the three-year European research area network project

Recent years have seen an increasing effort towards the development and adoption of sustainable crop protection strategies, especially in the EU. Several policy frameworks have been put in place including the EU framework Directive (128/EC/2009) on the sustainable use of pesticides. Consequently, all EU Member States developed National Action Plans to ensure the implementation of the general principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by all professional pesticide users starting from January 1, 2014. On the other hand, there are also difficulties related to the adoption of IPM in Europe and worldwide which seek for a better understanding of factors hindering IPM uptake. This paper presents the potential role that each actor of the food chain may have – called here stakeholders – to ensure a higher level IPM adoption in Europe. The information reported here is a summary based on several discussions held within a three-year European Research Area Network project on Coordinated Integrated Pest Management (ERA-Net C-IPM; http://c-ipm.org/).     

Evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging for the differentiation of inflammatory,neoplastic, and vascular intradural spinal cord diseases in the dog

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a common test for dogs with suspected intradural spinal cord lesions, however studies on diagnostic performance for this test are lacking. Objectives of this multi‐institutional, retrospective, case‐control study were to estimate sensitivity and specificity of MRI for (1) distinguishing between histopathologically confirmed intradural spinal cord disease versus degenerative myelopathy in dogs, (2) categorizing intradural spinal cord diseases as neoplastic, inflammatory, or vascular; and (3) determining tumor type within the etiologic category of neoplasia. Additional aims were to (1) determine whether knowledge of clinical data affects sensitivity and specificity of MRI diagnoses; and (2) report interrater agreement for MRI classification of intradural spinal lesions. Cases were recruited from participating hospital databases over a 7‐year period. Three reviewers independently evaluated each MRI study prior to and after provision of clinical information. A total of 87 cases were sampled (17 degenerative myelopathy, 53 neoplasia, nine inflammatory, and eight vascular). Magnetic resonance imaging had excellent (>97.6%) sensitivity for diagnosis of intradural spinal cord lesions but specificity varied before and after provision of clinical data (68.6% vs. 82.4%, P = 0.023). Magnetic resonance imaging had good sensitivity (86.8%) and moderate specificity (64.7–72.5%) for diagnosing neoplasia. Sensitivity was lower for classifying inflammatory lesions but improved with provision of clinical data (48.1% vs. 81.5%, P = 0.015). Magnetic resonance imaging was insensitive for diagnosing vascular lesions (25.0%). Interrater agreement was very good for correctly diagnosing dogs with intradural lesions (? = 0.882–0.833), and good (? = 0.726–0.671) for diagnosing dogs with neoplasia.     

Automatic image registration of three-dimensional images of the head of cats and dogs by use of maximization of mutual information

OBJECTIVE: To validate mutual information criterion as a ready-to-use technique for automated alignment (ie, registration) of 3-dimensional (3-D) multimodal image data of the head of cats and dogs. SAMPLE POPULATION: Corresponding 3-D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) brain scans of a 6-month-old Doberman Pinscher with a brain cyst; CT images of the head of a European shorthair cat with a meningioma before and immediately, 3, and 6 months after surgical resection; and CT and corresponding stacked anatomic cryosection images of the entire head of a 2-year-old sexually intact female Beagle. PROCEDURE: All images were matched retrospectively by use of an in-house computer program developed on the basis of a mutual information image registration algorithm. Accuracy of the resulting registrations was evaluated by visual inspection. RESULTS: All registrations were judged to be highly accurate. Additional manual corrections were not necessary. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Mutual information registration criterion can by applied to 3-D multimodal head images of cats and dogs for full automatic rigid-body image registration. The combination of such aligned images would considerably facilitate efforts of veterinary clinicians as indicated by its widespread use in brain surgery and radiation therapy of humans.     

Comparative immunopathogenesis of mild,intermediate, and virulent strains of classic infectious bursal disease virus

Differences in the immunopathogenesis of several strains of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were compared. The strains included a virulent virus (IBDV-IM) and three vaccine viruses that included an intermediate vaccine virus (IBDV-B2) and two mild vaccine viruses (IBDV-Lukert and IBDV-BVM). The most significant differences were found in the systemic effects of these strains. In comparison with other strains, IBDV-IM antigen was detectable for up to 8 days postinfection (PI) in lymphoid tissues that included spleen and cecal tonsils, whereas only a few IBDV-B2- and IBDV-Lukert- and no IBDV-BVM-inoculated birds had detectable IBDV antigen in these tissues. IBDV-IM induced systemic circulating nitrite levels in over 86% of the birds at days 2 and 3 PI. IBDV-IM suppressed most vigorously the splenic mitogenic response on days 3-8 PI. Among the three vaccine strains, IBDV-B2 was the most virulent of the three, inducing a significant suppression of the mitogenic response (P < 0.05) and the most vigorous lesions in the bursa of Fabricius with the highest possible lesion score of 4 at 3 days PI (P < 0.05). IBDV-BVM was the mildest strain, not inducing any detectable lesions in lymphoid tissue at the tested time points. Whereas all IBDV-BVM-inoculated and 67% and 33% of the IBDV-Lukert- and IBDV-B2-inoculated birds, respectively, had detectable IBDV antigen in the bursa at 4 days postchallenge, none of the IBDV-IM-inoculated birds was positive for IBDV by immunohistochemistry. IBDV-IM induced the highest enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) antibody levels detected at days 8-29 PI (P < 0.05) and the best protection against challenge virus replication in comparison with IBDV-B2 and IBDV-Lukert. Only one of five IBDV-BVM-inoculated birds developed anti-IBDV ELISA antibodies at 29 days PI, and none of the birds was protected against IBDV challenge. We speculate that better protection with more virulent strains was due to more systemic antigenic stimulation on the basis of higher replication of IBDV in extrabursal lymphoid tissues. Interestingly, IBDV-IM did not differ from IBDV-B2 and IBDV-Lukert in its ability to induce T cell accumulation in the bursa at 8 days PI and local interferon-gamma induction from days 2 to 5 PI. These results suggested that the local T cell events in the bursa alone may not be indicative of a rapid and protective immune response.     

Long‐term Cultivation of Bovine Hoof Cells in a Novel Perfusion Chamber System

The aim of this study was to establish a co‐culture of bovine hoof keratinocytes and fibroblasts in different types of perfusion chambers under defined conditions. The perfusion chamber PCS3c (Oligene, Berlin) was used to culture dermal fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes separated by a Millicell^® Insert (Millipore, Schwalbach). In addition novel perfusion chambers developed by Dirk Hoffmann were used in combination with S & S membrane filters (Schleicher & Schuell, Dassel). First, fibroblasts were seeded onto one side of the insert/membrane and allowed to grow for 4 days. Subsequently keratinocytes were seeded onto the other side and allowed to adhere for one day. Then the chambers were connected to the tubing system with an attached 8‐channel pump and a gas permeable media bag. We worked with different media and flow rates ranging from 0.035 ml/min to 0.35 ml/min. The system was run for up to 20 days. After a few days in culture the cells had grown to confluence. Then keratinocytes began to differentiate and built up stratified colonies. Within these colonies the cells showed the characteristic morphology of a stratified squamous epithelium. The use of perfusion chambers allows three‐dimensional cultures to grow and survive for weeks, because of an unlimited medium supply and gas exchange. Additional, perfusion chamber systems enable the co‐cultivation of fibroblasts and keratinocytes separated by membranes, which permit the exchange of molecules like growth factors. Furthermore, it is possible to perfuse the two different parts of the perfusion chamber with various and even different types of media. This provides the opportunity to add a growth factor to the medium for only one cell type and to study the effect of this factor to the other cell type. This work was supported by the European Communities under the Lamecow project QLK5‐CT‐2002‐00969.The authors are solely responsible and the work does not necessarily represent the opinion of the European Communities.