Low-dose interferon-alpha treatment for feline immunodeficiency virus infection

Feline immunodeficiency virus sustains an AIDS-like syndrome in cats, which is considered a relevant model for human AIDS. Under precise enrolment requirements, 30 naturally infected cats showing overt disease were included in a trial of low-dose, oral human interferon-alpha treatment. Twenty-four of them received 10 IU/Kg of human interferon-alpha and 6 placebo only on a daily basis under veterinary supervision. The low-dose human interferon-alpha treatment significantly prolonged the survival of virus-infected cats (p<0.01) and brought to a rapid improvement of disease conditions in the infected hosts. Amelioration of clinical conditions was neither correlated with plasma viremia, nor with proviral load in leukocytes. A good survival of CD4+ T cells and a slow increase of CD8+ T cells were also observed in human interferon-alpha-treated cats. Interestingly, the improvement of the total leukocyte counts showed a much stronger correlation with the recovery from serious opportunistic infections. As shown in other models of low-dose interferon-alpha treatment, there was a rapid regression of overt immunopathological conditions in virus-infected cats. This hints at a major role of interferon-alpha in the control circuits of inflammatory cytokines, which was probably the very foundation of the improved clinical score and survival despite the unabated persistence of virus and virus-infected cells.     

Is a Delayed Treatment with GnRH,hCG or Progesterone Beneficial for Reducing Embryonic Mortality in Buffaloes?

The aims of this study were to verify the efficacy of delayed hormonal treatments performed on day 25 post‐insemination on pregnancy rate at 45 and 70 days in buffalo. The trial was performed on 385 buffaloes synchronized by the Ovsynch/TAI protocol and submitted to artificial insemination (AI). Twenty‐five days after AI, pregnant animals were assigned to four treatments: (1) GnRH agonist (n = 52), 12 μg of buserelin acetate; (2) hCG (n = 51), 1500 IU of human chorionic gonadotrophin; (3) Progesterone (n = 47), 341 mg of P4 intramuscular (im) every 4 days for three times; (4) Control (n = 54), treatment with physiological saline (0.9% NaCl). Milk samples were collected on days 10, 20 and 25 after AI in all buffaloes to determine progesterone concentration in whey by radioimmunoassay method. Statistical analysis was performed by anova . Pregnancy rate on day 25 after AI was 52.9%, but declined to 41.8% by day 45, indicating an embryonic mortality (EM) of 21%. If only control group is considered, the incidence of EM was 38.9%. Pregnant buffaloes had higher (p < 0.01) progesterone concentrations on day 20 and 25 after AI than both non‐pregnant buffaloes and buffaloes that showed EM. The treatments on day 25 increased (p < 0.01) pregnancy rate, although in buffaloes with a low whey progesterone concentration on day 20 and 25 after AI (n = 22); all treatments were ineffective to reduce EM.     

Intake and digestibility in sheep and chemical composition during different seasons of some West African browse species

Foliage of Afzelia africana, Pterocarpus erinaceus and Khaya senegalensis, from 10 trees per species, was collected every two weeks during the late dry, rainy and cool season to determine the seasonal effects on chemical composition. Fifteen rams of the Djallonké breed, weighing on average 20.0 kg, were used to evaluate the voluntary intake and digestibility of hay of A. gayanus, foliage of A. africana (as a sole feed), and A. africana, P. erinaceus and K. senegalensis offered with 30% of the diet as A. gayanus hay. The crude protein (CP) content of A. africana, and P. erinaceus decreased significantly from the late dry season to the cool season when that of K. senegalensis tended to increase. The mean CP of A. africana, P. erinaceus and K. senegalensis differed significantly (173 g, 139 g and 114 g/kg DM, respectively). The DM intake of A. africana offered with hay (571 g/d) or as a sole feed (598 g/d) were not significantly different, but was higher than that of P. erinaceus (428 g/d) and K. senegalensis (298 g/d). The digestibility calculated by difference of DM and CP of A. africana (582 g/kg DM and 795 g/kg CP, respectively) did not differ significantly from A. africana as a sole feed, but were higher than for the other species. The nutritive value of A. africana seems to justify the high preference of herders for this species.     

First report of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Neospora caninum</Emphasis> infection in cattle in Sudan

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Sudan to determine sero-prevalence and risk factors associated with Neospora caninum infection in non-vaccinated dairy herds and to assess importance of the disease. Blood samples were collected from a total of 262 animals from 25 herds. Sera were tested for antibodies against N. caninum using ELISA test. The prevalence rates of N. caninum antibodies in cattle were high both at herd level (44%) and at individual animal level (10.7%). Herd level infection rates were similar in Khartoum State (43.7%) and at Gazira States (44.4%). The overall prevalence rates were higher (16.1%) in Gazira State than in Khartoum State (9%) but with no significant variation. The sero-prevalence at individual animal level was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in animals with history of abortion (12.8%) than in apparently healthy animal (11.3%), animal with history of infertility (8.1%), or neonatal death of calves (4.3%). In addition, significantly higher (P < 0.05) sero-prevalence was observed in samples collected during the rainy season (6.87%) than winter (3.05%) or summer (0.76%). However, no significant differences in sero-prevalence due to locality, animal breed, sex, and age were observed (p > 0.05). This preliminary study reveals for the first time the existence of natural N. caninum infection in Sudan. Also, the findings of the present study indicated that this disease is highly prevalent in two major areas of dairy production in the country, and this calls for control strategy to be implemented.     

电解多维对缓解断奶仔猪转群应激的探讨

目前，规模化养猪场一般采取２８－３５日龄的仔猪早期断奶，在很大程度上提高了母猪的生产力及饲料的利用率，提高了猪场的经济，但随着仔猪断奶日龄的提高，也出现了许多生产上的问题，其中较为普遍而且影响较为严重的就是仔猪断奶后的转群应激。 在生产实践中，我们已克服了仔猪断奶应激，通过半年多的反复对比试验发现，在断奶仔猪转群后的３ｄ－５ｄ天内，饲料中添加一定量的电解多维，对缓解断奶仔猪因转群造成的食欲不振、消化不良、腹泻、膘情下降、抗病力减弱等不良反应均能起到满意的效果。１材料与方法１．１电解多维山东省明发…     

独龙族独龙鸡品种现状及保护规划

2006年8月,笔者对贡山县独龙江乡独龙族养殖的"独龙鸡"(未认定的地方品种)的生长习性、品种特征等进行了调查,结果表明:独龙鸡是独龙族祖辈养的鸡;目前的种群数量只有约200只,处于濒危物种边缘,整个流域分布上呈现明显的核心区、杂交区及无独龙鸡区;与其它的土和新品种鸡相比,外表和基因特征上有明显的区别,在肉质、营养、产蛋量及抗病性上比其它新品种鸡具有明显的优势;当地社区和农户一直保护着独龙鸡,主要是因为其具有很强的抗病性,而其它新品鸡与独龙鸡的杂交后代却没有这样强抗病性。     

Antiapoptotic activity of bovine herpesvirus type-1 (BHV-1) UL14 protein

Viruses have evolved different strategies to interfere with apoptotic pathways in order to halt cellular responses to infection. One previous study showed that transient transfection of bovine herpesvirus type-1 (BHV-1) UL14 protein is efficient in protecting Madin Darby kidney (MDBK) and human chronic myelogenous leukemia (K562) cells from sorbitol-induced apoptosis. This protein corresponds to a putative protein of BHV-1, which shares aminoacid sequence with a part of the peptide-binding domain conserved in human heat shock protein (HSP70) family. The pBK-CMV-UL14 plasmid transfected MDBK cells treated with sorbitol did not show caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation with respect to non-transfected MDBK cells (UL14 negative). Furthermore, we report that the expression of the full length sequence of BHV-1 UL14 is evident after 7 h of infection of BHV-1 on MDBK cells which were then treated with sorbitol. These results indicate that UL14 gene product has important implications to enhance cell survival in response to apoptotic stimuli.