Suspected pseudohypoparathyroidism in a domestic ferret

A 1.5-year-old ferret examined because of seizures was found to have low serum calcium, high serum phosphorus, and extremely high serum parathyroid hormone concentrations. Common causes of these abnormalities, including nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, chronic renal secondary hyperparathyroidism, tumor lysis syndrome, and hypomagnesemia, were ruled out, and a tentative diagnosis of pseudohypoparathyroidism was made. Pseudohypoparathyroidism is a hereditary condition in people that, to our knowledge, has not been identified in ferrets previously and is caused by a lack of response to high serum parathyroid hormone concentrations, rather than a deficiency of this hormone. The ferret improved after treatment with dihydrotachysterol (a vitamin D analog) and calcium carbonate. It was still doing well after 3.5 years of continued treatment.     

Laparoscopic colopexy in a horse

An 11-year-old Trakehner gelding required 2 ventral midline celiotomies for correction of a large colon volvulus and a large colon displacement, respectively. Laparoscopic colopexy was performed 50 days following the 2nd celiotomy. Delayed laparoscopic colopexy is minimally invasive and does not disrupt the ventral midline incision following abdominal exploration.     

The relationship between ultrasound measurements and carcass fat thickness and longissimus muscle area in beef cattle

Five hundred thirty-four steers were evaluated over a 2-yr period to determine the accuracy of ultrasonic estimates of carcass 12th-rib fat thickness (CFAT) and longissimus muscle area (CLMA). Within 5 d before slaughter, steers were ultrasonically measured for 12th-rib fat thickness (UFAT) and longissimus muscle area (ULMA) using an Aloka 500V real-time ultrasound machine equipped with a 17.2-cm, 3.5-MHz linear transducer. Overall, correlation coefficients between ultrasound and carcass fat and longissimus muscle area were 0.89 and 0.86, respectively. Correlations for UFAT with CFAT were similar between years (0.86 and 0.90), whereas the relationship between ULMA and CLMA was stronger in yr 1 (r = 0.91; n = 282) than in yr 2 (r = 0.79; n = 252). Differences between ultrasonic and carcass measurements were expressed on both an actual (FDIFF and RDIFF) and absolute (FDEV and RDEV) basis. Mean FDIFF and RDIFF indicated that ultrasound underestimated CFAT by 0.06 cm and overestimated CLMA by 0.71 cm2 across both years. Overall mean FDEV and RDEV, which are indications of the average error rate, were 0.16 cm and 3.39 cm2, respectively. Analysis of year effects revealed that FDIFF, FDEV, and RDEV were greater (P < 0.01) in magnitude in yr 1. Further analysis of FDEV indicated that leaner (CFAT < 0.51 cm) cattle were overestimated and that fatter (CFAT > 1.02 cm) cattle were underestimated with ultrasound. Similarly, steers with small CLMA (< 71.0 cm2) were overestimated, and steers with large CLMA (> 90.3 cm2) were underestimated. The thickness of CFAT had an effect (P < 0.05) on the error of UFAT and ULMA measurements, with leaner animals being more accurately evaluated for both traits. Standard errors of prediction (SEP) adjusted for bias of ultrasound measurements were 0.20 cm and 4.49 cm2 for UFAT and ULMA, respectively. Differences in SEP were observed for ULMA, but not UFAT, by year. These results indicate that ultrasound can be an accurate estimator of carcass traits in live cattle when measurements are taken by an experienced, well-trained technician, with only small differences in accuracy between years.     

Purpura haemorrhagica in 53 horses

The medical records of 53 horses with purpura haemorrhagica were reviewed. Seventeen of them had been exposed to or infected with Streptococcus equi, nine had been infected with Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, five had been vaccinated with S. equi M protein, five had had a respiratory infection of unknown aetiology, and two had open wounds; the other 15 cases had no history of recent viral or bacterial infection. The horses were between six months and 19 years of age (mean 8.4 years). The predominant clinical signs were well demarcated subcutaneous oedema of all four limbs and haemorrhages on the visible mucous membranes; other signs included depression, anorexia, fever, tachycardia, tachypnoea, reluctance to move, drainage from lymph nodes, exudation of serum from the skin, colic, epistaxis and weight loss. Haematological and biochemical abnormalities commonly detected were anaemia, neutrophilia, hyperproteinaemia, hyperfibrinogenaemia, hyperglobulinaemia and high activities of muscle enzymes. All of the horses were treated with corticosteroids; 42 also received non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and 26 received antimicrobial drugs. Selected cases received special nursing care, including hydrotherapy and bandaging of the limbs. Most of the horses were treated for more than seven days and none of them relapsed. Forty-nine of the horses survived, one died and three were euthanased, either because their severe clinical disease failed to respond to treatment or because they developed secondary complications. Two of the four non-survivors had been vaccinated against S. equi with a product containing the M protein, one had a S. equi infection and the other had a respiratory infection of undetermined aetiology.     

Subjective and objective evaluation of veal lean color

Because veal lean color continues to be a primary factor that determines veal carcass value and is typically assessed by subjective means, it is important to explore objective methods for color assessment. Objective and subjective evaluations of veal flank and breast lean color were compared as predictors of longissimus lean color at 24 h postmortem. One hundred fifty special-fed Holstein veal calves were Kosher-slaughtered with blood samples collected upon exsanguination and analyzed for hematocrit and hemoglobin content. Lean color was evaluated in the flank and breast at 0, 6, 12, and 24 h postmortem. Color of the longissimus was evaluated at 6 h, when possible, and at 24 h. A panel of three trained individuals used a 5-point color standard developed in the Netherlands to visually evaluate lean color. A Minolta Chromameter CR-300 was used to obtain L*, a*, and b* values. A plant employee assigned packer grades at slaughter. Temperature and pH were also measured at each time period. Hemoglobin was more highly correlated than hematocrit with colorimeter values. Hemoglobin levels correlated well with a* values of the flank at 0 h postmortem (r = 0.52) although the correlation declined at 24 h (r = 0.30). The correlation between packer grades and 24-h visual loin color was r = 0.41. Visual loin color at 24 h postmortem was selected as the predicted variable for regression analysis. Temperature and pH did not contribute significantly to any prediction equations. The equation using breast L*, a*, and b* values at 24 h postmortem to predict 24-h loin color gave a higher prediction coefficient (R2 = 0.44) than the corresponding equation using 0-h breast values (R2 = 0.28). Objective measurement of lean color may be useful in veal carcass grading because it is more precise than subjective methods and would allow for uniformity among processing plants.     

Induced systemic protection against tomato late blight elicited by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria

ABSTRACT Two strains of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Bacillus pumilus SE34 and Pseudomonas fluorescens 89B61, elicited systemic protection against late blight on tomato and reduced disease severity by a level equivalent to systemic acquired resistance induced by Phytophthora infestans or induced local resistance by chemical inducer beta-amino butyric acid (BABA) in greenhouse assays. Germination of sporangia and zoospores of P. infestans on leaf surfaces of tomato plants treated with the two PGPR strains, pathogen, and chemical BABA was significantly reduced compared with the noninduced control. Induced protection elicited by PGPR, pathogen, and BABA were examined to determine the signal transduction pathways in three tomato lines: salicylic acid (SA)-hydroxylase transgenic tomato (nahG), ethylene insensitive mutants (Nr/Nr), and jasmonic acid insensitive mutants (def1). Results suggest that induced protection elicited by both bacilli and pseudomonad PGPR strains was SA-independent but ethylene- and jasmonic acid-dependent, whereas systemic acquired resistance elicited by the pathogen and induced local resistance by BABA were SA-dependent. The lack of colonization of tomato leaves by strain 89B61 suggests that the observed induced systemic resistance (ISR) was due to systemic protection by strain 89B61 and not attributable to a direct interaction between pathogen and biological control agent. Although strain SE34 was detected on tomato leaves, ISR mainly accounted for the systemic protection with this strain.     

Effect of ammonium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate on anthracnose of papaya

Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is the causal organism of anthracnose inCarica papaya L. (papaya, papaw). The effect of ammonium carbonate (3%) or sodium bicarbonate (2%) in aqueous solution or when incorporated into a wax formulation on anthracnose severity in inoculated or naturally infected fruits was examined. Both salts had significant effects, but that of ammonium carbonate was greater than that of sodium bicarbonate in controlling anthracnose. Ammonium carbonate (3%) incorporated into the wax formulation effectively reduced anthracnose incidence by 70% in naturally infected papaya and extended the storage life by maintaining the firmness, color and overall quality of the fruit in low temperature storage (13.5°C) and 95% r.h. for 21 days followed by 2 days under marketing conditions. The mode of action of ammonium carbonate on the control of anthroacnose appears to bevia complete inhibition of radial mycelial growth and conidia germination. http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting Aug. 14, 2002.