Bovine virus diarrhoea-mucosal disease virus: pathogenicity for the fetal calf following maternal infection

Fifteen pregnant, bovine virus diarrhoea-mucosal disease (BVD-MD) antibody-free Jersey heifers were infected experimentally with a mixture of 10 cytopathic strains of BVD-MD virus isolated from cattle in Britain. Each cow was inoculated intramuscularly on gestation day 100 with a high or a low dose of virus grown in primary calf testis tissue cultures. None of the cows showed clinical signs of illness following exposure, but all had seroconverted within six weeks. Six fetuses, including one set of twins, died in utero following infection. Of these five were aborted between days 136 and 154; the sixth one was mummified and still retained at day 300. The remaining 10 fetuses survived to term, but all showed evidence of intrauterine growth retardation with or without gross malformation and/or dysmyelination of the central nervous system. Three were clinically affected with congenital nervous disease. Of the 10 liveborn fetuses, two had specific serum antibodies to BVD-MD. Non-cytopathic BVD-MD virus was recovered from all of the remaining eight. When non-immune cows become infected with BVD-MD virus in mid gestation: transplacental infection of the fetus will probably result; apart from the risk of fetal death, with or without abortion, there is a high probability of fetal mal-development which may not always be clinically obvious; the immunological competence of the fetus may be impaired; congenital infection is likely in a substantial proportion of liveborn calves. About one in 16 bovine fetuses in British herds are estimated to be at risk from BVD-MD virus infection.     

Wormlike fossil from the pennsylvanian of illinois

Tullimonstrum gregarium was a common, possibly marine, invertebrate in certain shallow, offshore waters of northern Illinois during the Middle Pennsylvanian. It had a flexible proboscis armed with teeth; a mobile tail; and a curious transverse bar behind the head, bearing a pair of round, external organs.     

The effect of duodenal constriction on food and water intake of the brown Leghorn cockerel

Constriction of the duodenum produces an immediate decrease in food and water consumption of birds given free access to both. In birds on a schedule of 2 h feeding per day, duodenal constriction has an effect only after the crop has been filled.     

Experimental infection of pregnant ewes with Listeria monocytogenes

Eight 18-month-old ewes were infected orally with Listeria monocytogenes between 77 and 91 days of pregnancy. Only one ewe aborted, 10 days after the first infecting dose, at 94 days of gestation; L monocytogenes was isolated from several sites in both its aborted fetuses. Two days after the first infecting dose all the ewes exhibited mild illness and pyrexia lasting for two to three days but the ewe which aborted was seriously ill until nine to 10 days after aborting. Agglutination tests carried out on 2-mercaptoethanol reduced sera revealed a strong immunological response in all the infected ewes but in the ewe which aborted this response was delayed. Four uninfected ewes which were kept as controls remained healthy throughout the experiment and showed no evidence of 2-mercaptoethanol resistant antibodies to L monocytogenes. Growth retardation lines, occurring at the time of and after experimental infection, were found in the bones of 14 of 17 newborn lambs in both the infected and control groups; in the aborted lambs these lines occurred before the infection.     

Phase II evaluation of doxorubicin for treatment of various canine neoplasms

One hundred eighty-five dogs with histologically confirmed, measurable malignant tumors were used in a prospective study to determine the response to 2 doses of the anthracycline antitumor antibiotic, doxorubicin. Eighty-three dogs had been refractory to one or more previous treatment modalities (surgery, n = 54; chemotherapy, n = 22; radiation, n = 10; hyperthermia, n = 1; biological response modifier, n = 1). The extent of neoplastic disease was determined immediately prior to and 3 weeks after 2 doses of doxorubicin were administered (30 mg/m2 of body surface area, iv) 21 days apart. Eighty-four percent (n = 157) of the dogs received 2 doses of doxorubicin and were evaluated. Of the 28 dogs ruled ineligible, 4 had serious side effects to the first dose of doxorubicin, and 24 others acquired complications resulting from their malignant tumors. A partial or complete remission was obtained in 41% (64/157) of all evaluable dogs: 26% (11/43) of the dogs with carcinoma, 67% (42/63) of the dogs with lymphoma, and 22% (11/51) of the dogs with sarcoma. Tumors in which there was at least a 50% volume reduction (partial or complete remission) included malignant lymphoma (42/63), fibrosarcoma (1/14), solid follicular thyroid carcinoma (3/13), mammary adenocarcinoma (2/8), hemangiosarcoma (2/8), osteosarcoma (1/6), circumanal carcinoma (3/5), synovial cell sarcoma (2/3), undifferentiated sarcoma (2/3), nasal adenocarcinoma (1/2), liposarcoma (1/2), infiltrating lipoma (1/1), malignant melanoma (1/1), sclerosing mesothelioma (1/1), and neurofibrosarcoma (1/2).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Proteoglycan synthesis and content in articular cartilage and cartilage repair tissue in horses

Hexosamine concentration, DNA concentration, and [35S]sulfate incorporation for articular cartilage obtained from various sites in the metacarpophalangeal and carpal joints of horses were measured. The same measurements were made on the repair tissue filling full-thickness articular defects in the intermediate carpal bone and on cartilage surrounding partial-thickness defects 6 weeks after the defects were created arthroscopically. Cellularity (measured as DNA concentration), proteoglycan content (measured as hexosamine concentration), and proteoglycan synthesis (measured as [35S]sulfate incorporation) varied according to the site sampled. Cartilage from the transverse ridge of the head of the third metacarpal bone and the radial facet of the third carpal bone had the lowest hexosamine concentration, whereas rate of proteoglycan synthesis was lowest in cartilage from the transverse ridge of the head of the third metacarpal bone and the distal articular surface of the radial carpal bone. Repair tissue filling a full-thickness cartilage defect at 6 weeks was highly cellular. It was low in proteoglycan content, but was actively synthesizing these macromolecules. In contrast, the cartilage surrounding a partial-thickness defect was unchanged 6 weeks after the original defect was made.     

Border disease: a sequential study of surviving lambs and an assessment of its effect on profitability.

Pregnant Dorset horn gimmers inoculated with a non-cytopathic strain of the border disease virus produced "hairy shaker" lambs that were individually affected to a varying degree. Surviving lambs were observed for a period of up to 20 weeks when neurological signs were seen to gradually disappear. During this time live virus was isolated from a wide variety of sites in nearly all of the infected lambs. The infected animals grew at a significantly slower rate compared with the controls, particularly during the first 15 weeks. Several morphological defects are described the most consistent being the decreased weight of the central nervous system. By 20 weeks body-weights were about 20 per cent lower and carcase quality scores were reduced. An assessment is made of the economic losses attributable to BD taking into consideration carcase quality at 20 weeks and the perinatal losses.