Effects of Firocoxib and Tepoxalin on Healing in a Canine Gastric Mucosal Injury Model

Background: Little is known about the effect of dual cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase inhibition on canine gastric mucosal healing.
Objective: This study compares the effects of putative dual COX and 5-lipoxygenase inhibition with that of COX-2 selective inhibition on gastric mucosal lesion healing in dogs.
Animals: Six normal adult mixed-breed research dogs.
Methods: Gastric body and pyloric lesions were induced by endoscopic biopsy. Dogs were treated with tepoxalin, firocoxib, or placebo for 7 days in a randomized 3-way crossover study design. Healing was evaluated on days 2, 4, and 7 of treatment by endoscopic lesion scoring. Eicosanoid concentrations in plasma and at the lesion margins were determined on days 2, 4, and 7. Repeated measures analyses were performed. All hypothesis tests were 2-sided with P < .05. Multiple comparisons were adjusted using Tukey's test.
Results: Significant treatment differences were noted in the pyloric lesion area measurements. Overall, the firocoxib group had larger lesions than the placebo ( P = .0469) or tepoxalin ( P = .0089) groups. Despite larger pyloric lesions in the firocoxib group, mucosal prostaglandin production did not differ significantly from placebo. In contrast, the tepoxalin group had significantly lower pyloric mucosal prostaglandin production compared with the firocoxib ( P < .0001) or the placebo ( P < .0001) groups but pyloric lesions were not significantly larger than those of the placebo group ( P = .7829).
Conclusion: COX-2 inhibition by firocoxib slowed wound healing by a mechanism independent of prostaglandin synthesis. Suppression of mucosal prostaglandin production by tepoxalin did not alter mucosal lesion healing compared with placebo.     

Isolation of avian paramyxovirus-2 from domestic and wild birds in Costa Rica

A survey for Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in wild birds of Costa Rica was conducted by swabbing wild-caught pet birds, backyard chickens, and wild birds captured in Japanese mist nets in tropical rain forests and agricultural areas. Cloacal swabs were collected from 876 birds of approximately 132 species representing 24 taxonomic families. Hemagglutinating agents were isolated from 18.7% of the birds. Paramyxovirus type 2(PMV-2) (Yucaipa-like), unreported in free-flying passerines in the Americas, was recovered from a finch, wren, and chicken, each from a different location. Pathogenicity trials with infected turkey poults and newly hatched chicks did not result in growth impairment or significant clinical signs of disease. Attempts to isolate NDV were negative.     

The neuronal growth-associated protein GAP-43 induces filopodia in non-neuronal cells

The neuron-specific protein GAP-43 is associated with the membrane of the nerve growth cone and thus may be important to the activity of this distinctive neuronal structure. Transient transfection of COS and NIH 3T3 cells with appropriate vectors resulted in expression of GAP-43 in these non-neuronal cells; as in neurons, transfected GAP-43 associated with the membrane. In addition, many long fine filopodial processes extended from the periphery of such transfected cells. Stable CHO cell lines expressing GAP-43 also exhibited processes that were more numerous, far longer, and more complex than those of CHO cell lines not transfected or transfected with control plasmids. Thus GAP-43 may directly contribute to growth cone activity by regulating cell membrane structure and enhancing extension of filopodial processes.     

Lameness diagnosis and treatment in the quarter horse racehorse

Lameness problems constitute a major part of racing Quarter Horse practice. This article considers the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of the frequently encountered lamenesses. The main conditions included are synovitis, intra-articular fractures, osteochondritis dissecans, and degenerative joint disease as they relate to the coffin, fetlock, carpal, and tarsal joints. Intra-articular injection techniques and medications are discussed because of the frequency of joint disease. Bucked shins and stress fractures are also reviewed.     

Field trials of a formulation containing moxidectin and 6 in 1 vaccines for sheep

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of a formulation containing moxidectin and 6 in 1 vaccine in sheep under field conditions.
Design: Efficacy and safety study.
Animals: Two hundred and five crossbred Merino lambs and two hundred and eight Merino ewes were used in the studies.
Procedure: A formulation was made for the simultaneous treatment of sheep with moxidectin and immunisation against clostridial diseases and caseous lymphadenitis. The efficacy against nematodes, vaccine response and safety were assessed.
Results: Effective control of nematodes and responses to antigens were achieved following subcutaneous administration. The formulation was safe to administer; occasional minor tissue reactions were evident, but no other adverse effects of treatment were observed in either pregnant ewes or lambs, using either the recommended dose, or an overdose of the formulation.
Conclusion: Administration of a formulation containing moxidectin, five clostridial antigens and caseous lymphadenitis antigen proved safe and efficacious under field conditions.     

Patterns of Follicular Growth in Superovulated Sheep and Influence on Endocrine and Ovarian Response

Objectives of this study were to characterize patterns of follicular development in sheep superovulated with purified follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) (OVAGEN^TM, ICP, Auckland, New Zealand) and to determine its influence on preovulatory events (onset of the oestrus behaviour and timing of the preovulatory luteinizing hormone surge) and ovarian response (ovulation rate and embryo yield). Number and size of all ≥ 23 mm follicles from the first FSH injection to withdrawal of progestagen sponges was determined by transrectal ultrasonography just prior to every FSH injection in nine Manchega ewes superovulated with eight decreasing doses (ml) (1.5 × 3, 1.25 × 2 and 1 × 3) of OVAGEN injected twice daily from 60 h before to 24 h after the withdrawal of 40 mg fluorogestone acetate sponges. Oestrous detection and jugular blood sampling for LH radioimmunoassay were performed every 3 h from 14 to 53 h after sponge removal and ovulation rate and number of embryos were determined 4 days after progestagen withdrawal. Administration of OVAGEN induced a significant rise (p < 0.0005) in the number of follicles ≥ 4 mm in size because of an increased growth in size of follicles from the first FSH injection to sponge removal, an increase in the number of newly detected follicles from 12 to 36 h of the first FSH dose (p < 0.005) and a decrease in regression rate from 24 h (p < 0.001). The number of follicles 2–3 mm in size at first FSH dose (10.4 ± 1.5) was positively correlated with the number of ≥ 4 mm follicles at 0 h (19.0 ± 2.7, p < 0.01). A higher number of ≥ 4 mm follicles at 0 h was related with an earlier appearance of oestrus (31.5 ± 1.5 h, p = 0.08) and LH surge (45.0 ± 2.3 h, p < 0.005), and a higher ovulation rate (18.2 ± 3.8, p < 0.005). On the other hand, the rate of embryo recovery was decreased in ewes with earlier preovulatory LH peaks (p < 0.005), with a shorter interval between oestrus and LH peak (p < 0.05).     

Conditions of the interphalangeal joints

The various conditions of the interphalangeal joint are presented; these include degenerative joint disease and osteochondral chip fractures of the proximal interphalangeal joint, fractures of the middle phalanx affecting proximal and/or distal interphalangeal joints, subluxation and osteochondrosis of the proximal interphalangeal joint, and arthrosis of the distal interphalangeal joint.     

Thermoneutral zone and resting metabolic rate of growing white leghorn‐type chickens

1. Metabolic rate was determined once a week in pullets from commercial flocks of the local White Leghorn strain from the age of 1 d to 13 weeks.

2. The equations relating minimal resting metabolic rate and body weight were: for body weights of 40 to 163 g Y ‐ 1–83 W ^0.986, and for 163 to 1 200 g Y = 11.64 W ^0.623, where Y = O₂ consumption (ml/bird h) and W = body weight (g).

3. The relationship between lower critical temperature (T_d) and age may be described by two equations: for pullets of 1 to 21 d of age Y = 35 ‐ 0.286 X, and for 21 to 70 d of age Y = 63.3 X^{‐ 0.254}, where Y = T _d(°C) and X = age (d).

4. T_d related to body weight is also described by two equations: for body weights of 40 to 163 g Y = ’42 ‐ 1.18 W^0.480 , and for 163 to 800 g r = 42 ‐ 3.60 W^0.260

5. These equations could be used to calculate the T_d on a day‐to‐day basis related to age or body weight.