Plasma glucose-insulin relationship in chicken lines selected for high or low fasting glycaemia

1. Selected Fat or Lean chickens differ in their plasma glucose insulin relationship: in the fed or fasted state, Fat chickens have a lower glycaemia associated with normal or higher insulinaemia, depending upon the difference in glycaemia. 2. Conversely, chickens selected for low fasting glycaemia (LG) are fattier than their counterparts selected for high fasting glycaemia (HG), although the divergence in fat content is lower than in the Fat-Lean model. 3. The plasma glucose insulin relationship has been investigated in males of the HG and LG lines in the F4 and F5 generations. 4. A difference in glycaemia is suggested during embryonic development and was present at hatching and later on in the fasted or the fed state; insulinaemia did not differ. 5. During refeeding after an overnight fast, glycaemia differed between lines (except at intermediate times); cumulative food intake and insulinaemia were similar. 6. During a glucose tolerance test, glucose disposal rate and insulinaemia were rather similar. 7. Exogenous insulin exerted a very similar hypoglycaemic effect in both lines. 8. Other variables (body temperature, plasma concentrations of potassium and alpha NH2-non protein nitrogen) did not differ between HG and LG chickens. 9. In conclusion, HG and LG chickens do not exhibit any differences in glucose disposal rate, insulinaemia (in various nutritional conditions) or sensitivity to exogenous insulin, which contrasts with Fat or Lean chickens and may explain why HG and LG chickens have diverged to a lesser extent in fat content.     

Effect of exogenous corticosterone in genetically fat and lean chickens

1. The effects of daily injections of corticosterone (1 or 5 mg/bird) on growth, fat deposition, liver lipid and plasma concentrations of uric acid, glucose, insulin and growth hormone were studied using genetically selected lines of fat (FL) and lean (LL) chickens. 2. Both doses of corticosterone depressed body weight gain and increased the liver lipid and the abdominal fat to the same extent in both lines. 3. In both lines, corticosterone caused a dose-dependent increase in the plasma concentrations of uric acid, glucose and insulin in the fasted and refed states. 4. In untreated birds, plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GH) were slightly higher in FL than in LL chickens and slightly decreased during refeeding. The response was not modified by injection of 1 mg corticosterone. Injections of 5 mg decreased plasma GH in both lines in the fasting state and in LL chickens during refeeding. In contrast, the same dose increased GH in FL chickens during refeeding. This contradiction remains unexplained. 5. The results suggest that corticosterone sensitivity is not involved in difference of fattening between FL and LL chickens.     

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPEARANCE OF SUSPECTED ISCHEMIC MYELOPATHY IN DOGS

Ischemia and infarction of the spinal cord is a known cause of acute spinal injury in dogs. Currently, the diagnosis of spinal cord infarction in small animals is based on history, clinical signs, and the exclusion of other differentials with radiography and myelography. It is a diagnosis only confirmed through necropsy examination of the spinal cord. The aim of this paper is to describe the Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of the spinal cord of dogs with suspected spinal cord infarcts to utilize this technology for antemortem support of this diagnosis. This retrospective study evaluated the spinal MR examinations of 11 dogs with acute onset of asymmetric nonpainful myelopathies. All patients except one (imaged at 2 months) were imaged within 1 week of clinical signs and managed conservatively with minimal medical and no surgical intervention. They were followed clinically for a minimum of 4 months after discharge. MR findings in all dogs were characterized by focal, intramedullary, hyperintense lesions on T2-weighted images with variable contrast enhancement similar to what is reported in humans. Though it could not be used to diagnose spinal cord infarction definitively, MRI was useful in excluding extramedullary spinal lesions and supporting intramedullary infarction as a cause of the acute neurologic signs. Together with the history and clinical examination findings, MRI is supportive of a diagnosis of spinal cord infarction.     

国际禽病研究的进展

疫病是世界养禽生产效率的主要限制因素。尽管分子生物学方面的基础研究导致了新型疫苗的出现，但集约化生产体系仍受到新的和变异疫病的危害，这常常是多因子感染造成的。本文综述了一些重要疫病复合症的研究进展并对商品蛋鸡群和肉鸡生产效益的影响作一评述。     

菜籽粕和向日葵粕在饲料中的应用

提取植物油后剩下的饼粕蛋白质含量较高,有很高的饲用价值。豆粕占全世界饼粕总产量50%以上,另外菜籽粕和向日葵粕在一些地区产量也较高。植物油的提取主要通过机械压榨和溶剂浸提。溶剂浸提是最常用的方法,由该方法生产的饼粕,脂肪含量很低(1%～3%)。饼粕的饲用价值与其基本物质含量、加工方法和抗营养因子的含量有关。1　营养成份与能量含量菜籽粕和向日葵粕的营养物质含量见表1。与豆粕相比,菜籽粕和向日葵粕具有蛋白质低、纤维素高的特点,带壳向日葵粕粗纤维的含量更高。在榨油前脱壳可减少向日葵粕中粗纤维的含量。当向日葵粕用于猪和…     

The effect of temperature on growth and survival of Fusobacterium necrophorum isolated from bovine liver abscesses.

The ability of Fusobacterium necrophorum to survive or grow in liquid nitrogen or at temperatures between -10 degrees and 59 degrees C was determined. The organism remained viable but did not grow in liquid nitrogen or between -10 degrees and 21 degrees C. It grew between 22 degrees and 43 degrees C. No isolate grew at temperatures above 43 degrees C and all three isolates survived for a minimum of 15 minutes and an average of 25 minutes at 59 degrees C. The optimum temperature for maximum growth was 37 degrees C. The organism survived in ampoules stored in liquid nitrogen for eight years. It survived in liver abscesses stored at -10 degrees C for five years and as cultures in screw capped tubes for three years.     

Adverse effects and outcome associated with dexamethasone administration in dogs with acute thoracolumbar intervertebral disk herniation: 161 cases (2000-2006)

OBJECTIVE: To determine complications and neurologic outcomes associated with dexamethasone administration to dogs with surgically treated thoracolumbar intervertebral disk herniation, compared with dogs not receiving dexamethasone. DESIGN: Retrospective case series. ANIMALS: 161 dogs with surgically confirmed thoracolumbar disk herniation. PROCEDURES: Medical records from 2 hospitals were used to identify dogs that had received dexamethasone < 48 hours prior to admission (dexamethasone group dogs), dogs that received glucocorticoids other than dexamethasone < 48 hours prior to admission (other-glucocorticoid group dogs), and dogs that received no glucocorticoids (nontreatment group dogs). Signalment, neurologic injury grade, laboratory data, and complications were extracted from medical records. RESULTS: Dexamethasone group dogs were 3.4 times as likely to have a complication, compared with other-glucocorticoid or nontreatment group dogs. Dexamethasone group dogs were 11.4 times as likely to have a urinary tract infection and 3.5 times as likely to have diarrhea, compared with other-glucocorticoid or nontreatment group dogs. No differences in neurologic function at discharge or recheck evaluation were detected among groups. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results indicated that treatment with dexamethasone before surgery is associated with more adverse effects, compared with treatment with glucocorticoids other than dexamethasone or no treatment with glucocorticoids, in dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disk herniation. In this study population, no difference in outcome was found among groups. These findings suggest that the value of dexamethasone administration before surgery in dogs with thoracolumbar disk herniation should be reconsidered.