Effects of supplemental vitamin E during the mature period on the reproduction performance of Taiwan Native Chicken cockerels

One-day-old Taiwan native male chicks were fed with maize-soybean rearing diets without supplemental vitamin E to 23 weeks of age. From 23 to 52 weeks of age, the cockerels (n = 90) were assigned at random to 5 dietary treatments and fed with maize-soybean diets supplemented with 0, 20, 40, 80 and 160 mg/kg of vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol acetate). Pullets (225) of the same age were fed with standard diets throughout. They were artificially inseminated with one dose of 0.04 ml/bird intact and 5-fold diluted pooled semen at 31 to 43 weeks of age and at 49 weeks of age, respectively. The criteria evaluated included: semen quality, fertility and maximum and effective duration of fertility, blood characteristics, body and testes weight. Supplemental vitamin E did not affect cockerels' effective duration of fertility and percentage of fertility. However, when pullets were inseminated with diluted semen, supplementing 160 mg/kg vitamin E increased the maximum duration of fertility at 49 weeks of age. Cockerels receiving 40 to 160mg/kg supplements had higher sperm viability and motility after 39 weeks of age and those fed 80 mg/kg had higher sperm concentration at 39 weeks of age. Cockerels receiving supplements of more than 40 mg/kg vitamin E had higher body weight gain. Plasma cholesterol and testosterone were not affected by supplemental vitamin E. However, plasma luteinising hormone (LH) concentration was lower in cockerels fed 160 mg/kg. Lack of supplemental vitamin E over 39 weeks was associated with lower semen quality but did not reduce the proportion of fertile eggs laid by inseminated hens, perhaps because the insemination dose compensated for low sperm quality. We found that the maximum duration of fertility might be improved by supplementing 160 mg/kg vitamin E at 49 weeks of age.     

ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC AND DOPPLER DIAGNOSIS: FIRST CASE OF ATRIAL SEPTAL ANEURYSM IN A CAT

A 6-year-old female cat developed pleural and abdominal effusion. Cardiac ultrasound and 2D color tissue Doppler imaging revealed restrictive cardiomyopathy with severe biatrial dilatation and hypertension. This cardiomyopathy was associated with atrial septal aneurysm and a patent foramen ovale. The atrial septal aneurysm involved the entire atrial septum. Necropsy and histological examination confirmed all these findings. ASA is a rare malformation and, as in this cat, it generally occurs concomitantly with congenital or acquired heart disease and may be explained by greater pressure in one atrium, leading to controlateral protrusion of the atrial septum.     

First cases of animal diseases published in 2005

In 2003, Veterinary Quarterly started with the publication of a series of articles reviewing reports on "first cases" of animal diseases. Till now six articles have been published. They were arranged in order of animal species. Each article concerned only one species. Starting at this seventh publication, each article discusses "first cases" on more than one animal species. In this article 15 cases published in 2005 are discussed: one in birds, two in cats, three in cattle, four in dogs, two in goats, one in hares, and two in horses. Of each case a short introduction, the bibliographical data of the publication, the abstract of the author(s) (except one case) and some additional information (mainly) derived from the article are given.     

Physiologic assessment of blood glucose homeostasis via combined intravenous glucose and insulin testing in horses

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the physiologic response to i.v. bolus injection of glucose and insulin for development of a combined glucose-insulin test (CGIT) in horses. ANIMALS: 6 healthy mares and 1 mare each with pituitary adenoma and urolithiasis. PROCEDURE: Horses were given a CGIT (glucose, 150 mg/kg; insulin, 0.1 U/kg); results were compared with a singular i.v. glucose tolerance test (GTT; 150 mg/kg) and a singular i.v. insulin sensitivity test (IST; 0.1 U/kg). Healthy horses were also given a CGIT after receiving xylazine and undergoing stress. RESULTS: Physiologically, the CGIT resulted in a 2-phase curve with positive (hyperglycemic) and negative (hypoglycemic) portions; the positive phase came first (250% of baseline at 1 minute). The descending segment declined linearly to baseline by approximately 30 minutes and to a nadir at 58% of baseline by 75 minutes. After a 35-minute valley, a linear ascent to baseline began. Addition of insulin in the CGIT increased glucose utilization by approximately 4.5 times during the positive phase but not during the negative phase. The diseases' effects and experimental inhibition of insulin secretion with xylazine and stress were detectable by use of the 2 phases of the CGIT. Only a single positive phase resulted from the GTT and a single negative phase from the IST CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The CGIT resulted in a consistent, well-defined glycemia profile, which can be disrupted experimentally or by a disease process. The CGIT has clinical potential because it provides integrated information and more information than either the singular GTT or IST.     

Radiographic features of two cases of feline proximal femoral dysplasia

Congenital or acquired feline femoral dysplasia have seldom been reported in the literature. This report describes two cases of femoral dysplasia involving the proximal epiphyses. Bilateral agenesis of the femoral head and neck (case 1) constituted an incidental finding during a post-traumatic radiographic examination, while right proximal femoral dysplasia (case 2) was observed during an orthopaedic examination for lameness. To the authors' knowledge, such imaging findings have not been reported before in cats.     

The effect of tryptophan supplementation of diets of restricted- and unrestricted-fed young pigs

Young pigs (body weight 15-25 kg) were used to study the effect of graded levels of tryptophan supplementation to a diet containing 2.5 g tryptophan/kg dry matter (DM) and having a tryptophan to lysine ratio of 0.17 under restricted and unrestricted feeding conditions. Ad libitum feed intake and growth rate were 0.99 kg DM/day and 0.84 kg/day, respectively, and were not affected by supplementation of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 g tryptophan/kg diet. In restricted-fed piglets (80% of ad libitum intake) tryptophan supplementation did not improve growth rate. Therefore, greater optimum tryptophan to lysine ratios for young fast growing pigs, as concluded from results of some recently published studies in contrast to results of other studies, could not be confirmed. Possible reasons for discrepancies in published values for optimum tryptophan supply are briefly discussed. In accordance with general recommendations given in the literature, it can be concluded that a tryptophan to lysine ratio between 0.17 and 0.18 is sufficient to reach high feed intake and high growth rate in young pigs, when adequately supplied with lysine and other amino acids.     

Oral malignant melanoma – the effect of coarse fractionation radiotherapy alone or with adjuvant carboplatin therapy

A retrospective study was undertaken of dogs presented to the Animal Health Trust for treatment of oral malignant melanoma, without radiographic evidence of pulmonary metastases. Group 1 (n = 13) received radiotherapy of the primary and any lymph node metastases (4 weekly fractions of 9 Gy); and group 2 (n = 15) were treated the same but additionally received between two and six doses carboplatin at 300 mg m^?2 every 3 weeks. Median survival times for the two groups were 307 and 286 days, respectively (P > 0.05). In addition, carboplatin therapy did not significantly reduce the proportion of dogs dying due to metastases (three from group 1 and four from group 2). We found no evidence of a beneficial effect of carboplatin therapy over radiotherapy alone.     

Response to lysine in a wheat gluten diet in adult minipigs after short-and long-term dietary adaptation as assessed with an indicator amino acid oxidation and balance technique

An experiment was conducted to examine the response to wheat gluten (WG)-based diets at two lysine levels in adult minipigs (23 kg BW) using the indicator AA oxidation (IAAO) approach and N balance. Twenty minipigs (n = five per group), fitted with reentrant ileoileal cannulas allowing collection of ileal effluents, were fed restrictively two WG-based diets (WG and WG + Lys; 2.7 and 6.6 g of lysine/kg, respectively) for adaptation periods of 10 and 100 d. On d 7 and 9, for pigs fed the diets for 10 d, and on d 97 and 99, for pigs fed the diets for 100 d, primed i.v. fasted/fed tracer protocols with [(13)C]bicarbonate, and [(13)C]leucine were performed. With the WG diet, [(13)C]bicarbonate recoveries (%) were lower irrespective of the adaptation period, and higher during the fed period (fasted: WG + Lys = 82.5, and WG = 69.1; fed: WG + Lys = 90.6, and WG = 85.9; P < 0.05). Leucine oxidation rate was higher with the lower lysine intake (WG = 194.6 vs. 109.5 mg/[kg BW x d]; P < 0.05). Wheat gluten feeding resulted in a negative leucine balance independent of the adaptation period (WG = -29.1, and WG + Lys = 48.2 mg/[kg BW x d]; P < 0.05). In contrast with the IAAO method, N balance did not differ between the two lysine intakes, possibly because of an underestimation of N losses. The finding of a lower (13)C bicarbonate recovery with the lower dietary lysine intake suggests that caution should be taken in using a single recovery factor for all AA oxidation studies.