Flash electroretinography in standing horses using the DTL microfiber electrode

Purpose The goal of our study was the evaluation of a practical method for the recording of flash electroretinograms (ERGs) in sedated, standing horses with the DTL? microfiber electrode. Methods The horses were sedated intravenously with detomidine hydrochloride (0.015 mg/kg). The pupil was dilated and the auriculopalpebral nerve was blocked. The ERGs were recorded with the active electrode on the cornea (DTL?), the reference electrode near the lateral canthus, and the ground electrode over the occipital bone. The light intensities of the white strobe light were 0.03 cd·s/m² (scotopic) and 3 cd·s/m² (scotopic and photopic). Photopic and scotopic single flash and flicker responses to Ganzfeld stimulation were recorded. During the 20‐min dark adaptation period the retina was stimulated every 5 min with the 0.03 cd·s/m² single flash. Results The median b‐wave amplitudes and implicit times were 38 µV and 33 ms (photopic cone‐dominated response), 43 µV and 63 ms (5‐min dark adaptation), 72 µV and 89 ms (10 min), 147 µV and 103 ms (15 min), 188 µV and 109 ms (20 min, 0.03 cd·s/m², rod response), and 186 µV and 77 ms (20 min, 3 cd·s/m², maximal combined rod‐cone response). A steady increase in amplitude and implicit time was noted during dark adaptation. No oscillatory potentials could be isolated. Conclusions The use of detomidine hydrochloride sedation and the DTL? microfiber electrode allowed the recording of good quality ERGs. This protocol should permit the detection of functional problems in the retina without the risk involved with general anesthesia.     

Grazing Management in Tropical Savannas: Utilization and Rest Strategies to Manipulate Rangeland Condition

Grazing management is important for sustaining the productivity and health of rangelands. However, the effects of grazing management on herbage growth and species composition in the tropical savannas of northern Australia are not well known. In this eight-year study the influences of utilization rate and resting pastures from grazing on vegetation dynamics were measured at three sites in northeast Queensland, Australia. The sites had high, medium, and low soil fertility, and there were two land condition classes (States I and II) at each site. Severe drought occurred during the first four years, but above-average rainfall was received in the second half of the study. High utilization rates reduced biomass, perennial grass basal area, and ground cover. The reduction in biomass was due to both higher consumption and decreased primary production. State I condition plots at the high and medium soil fertility sites were initially dominated by decreaser perennial grasses, but these declined at all utilization levels, particularly the high rate. They were largely replaced by exotic perennial grasses. At the low fertility site there were no exotic grasses, and the decreaser grasses increased in all treatments, with the increases greatest in plots with low utilization or medium utilization plus resting. In the State II condition plots at the high and medium fertility sites, low or moderate utilization, led to an increase in both decreaser and exotic perennial grasses; with high utilization the decreaser perennial grasses declined and were replaced largely by exotic perennial grasses. This study clearly demonstrated that either conservative stocking with year-round grazing or a grazing system that includes some wet-season resting will help maintain land in a desirable state or help facilitate the transition from a less desirable ecological state to one more desirable for pastoral production and rangeland condition.     

Evaluation of the induction of vasoactive mediators from equine digital vein endothelial cells by endotoxin

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) on vasoactive mediator production by cultured equine digital vein endothelial cells (EDVECs). SAMPLE POPULATION: EDVECs obtained from forelimb digital veins of 7 healthy adult horses. PROCEDURES: EDVECs were incubated with or without LPS (1 microg/mL) for 0, 2, 4, 6, 22, and 24 hours. The EDVECs were incubated for 18 hours with LPS (10 pg/mL to 1 microg/mL) with or without ibuprofen, cycloheximide, or L-nitroarginine methyl ester. Medium concentrations of prostacyclin, cyclic guanosine monophosphate, endothelin-1, and thromboxane A(2) were determined. Changes in inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expression were determined. RESULTS: LPS stimulated mean 4.2- and 14.1-fold increases in EDVEC prostacyclin and cyclic guanosine monophosphate production, respectively, after 22 hours. These effects were LPS concentration-dependent (LPS concentrations that induced a response halfway between the maximum response and baseline of 1.50 and 1.22 ng/mL, respectively). The LPS-induced cyclic guanosine monophosphate production was significantly inhibited (to basal concentrations) by L-nitroarginine methyl ester, and prostacyclin production was inhibited by cycloheximide and ibuprofen. Production of thromboxane A(2) by EDVECs was not detected. Endothelin-1 accumulated in the medium, but LPS did not enhance its production. Inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in EDVECs was not detected with the available antibodies, whereas LPS stimulated cyclooxygenase-2 expression in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: LPS stimulated vasoactive mediator production by equine endothelial cells, which may play a role in LPS-induced digital hypoperfusion.     

Efficacy of statistical process control procedures to identify deviations in continuously measured physiological and behavioral variables in beef heifers resulting from an experimentally combined viral–bacterial challenge

The objective of this experiment was to determine if statistical process control (SPC) procedures coupled with remote continuous data collection could accurately differentiate between animals experimentally inoculated with a viral–bacterial (VB) challenge or phosphate buffer solution (PBS). Crossbred heifers (N = 38; BW = 230 ± 16.4 kg) were randomly assigned to treatments by initial weight, average daily gain (ADG), bovine herpes virus 1, and Mannheimia haemolytica serum titers. Feeding behavior, dry matter intake (DMI), animal activity, and rumen temperature were continuously monitored remotely prior to and following VB challenge. VB-challenged heifers exhibited decreased (P < 0.01) ADG and DMI, as well as increased (P < 0.01) neutrophils and rumen temperature consistent with a bovine respiratory disease (BRD) infection. However, none of the heifers displayed overt clinical signs of disease. Shewhart and cumulative summation (CUSUM) charts were evaluated, with sensitivity and specificity computed on the VB-challenged heifers (n = 19) and PBS-challenged heifers (n = 19), respectively, and the accuracy was determined as the average of sensitivity and specificity. To address the diurnal nature of rumen temperature responses, summary statistics (mean, minimum, and maximum) were computed for daily quartiles (6-h intervals), and these quartile temperature models were evaluated separately. In the Shewhart analysis, DMI was the most accurate (95%) at deciphering between PBS- and VB-challenged heifers, followed by rumen temperature (94%) collected in the 2nd and 3rd quartiles. Rest was most the accurate accelerometer-based traits (89%), and meal duration (87%) and bunk visit (BV) frequency (82%) were the most accurate feeding behavior traits. Rumen temperature collected in the 3rd quartile signaled the earliest (2.5 d) of all the variables monitored with the Shewhart, followed by BV frequency (2.8 d), meal duration (2.8 d), DMI (3.0 d), and rest (4.0 d). Rumen temperature and DMI remained the most accurate variables in the CUSUM at 80% and 79%, respectively. Meal duration (58%), BV frequency (71%), and rest (74%) were less accurate when monitored with the CUSUM analysis. Furthermore, signal day was greater for DMI, rumen temperature, and meal duration (4.4, 5.0, and 3.7 d, respectively) in the CUSUM compared to Shewhart analysis. These results indicate that Shewhart and CUSUM charts can effectively identify deviations in feeding behavior, activity, and rumen temperature patterns for the purpose of detecting sub-clinical BRD in beef cattle.     

Cover Image,Volume 75, Issue 6

The cover image is based on Research Article Field evaluation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sprayer: effect of spray volume on deposition and the control of pests and disease in wheat by Guobin Wang et al., DOI: 10.1002/ps.5321 . Illustration Credit: Guobin Wang, Yubin Lan, and Yuxing Han.

     

Theileria parva: the immune status of calves born of dams immunised against East Coast fever

Eight Friesian cross cows three months pregnant to a single Friesian bull were immunised against East Coast fever by infection with Theileria parva (Muguga) sporozoite stabilate and treatment with pyrrolidino-methyl tetracycline. They were challenged with the homologous stock four times before calving and a fifth time after calving, and resisted all five challenges which killed all of the five groups of five susceptible controls. Calves born to these hyperimmunised dams were fully susceptible on challenge with the same stabilate, as were susceptible cows from the same farm and their calves. In both instances the calves died three to seven days earlier than the cows which were approximately 10 times heavier. These results show that one- to two-month-old taurine calves from artificially immunised dams are not protected from experimental T parva sporozoite challenge and that there is no inherent calfhood resistance to East Coast fever.     

EXCRETORY UROGRAPHY BY INTRAOSSEOUS INJECTION OF CONTRAST MEDIA IN A RABBIT MODEL

There are many indications for an intravenous excretory urogram. However, where intravenous access is not available, the intraosseous route to the circulation may be an alternative. We found that safe and diagnostic excretory urograms could be obtained in rabbits following the injection of different contrast media via the intraosseous route. In fact, these excretory urograms were indistinguishable from ones obtained by the conventional intravenous route. While the rabbits did not develop any abnormal clinical signs following the procedure, there were postmortem histologic lesions of osteochondrosis in 5 of 22 (22.7%) tibias receiving an intraosseous needle, but in none of the 14 tibias that did not receive an intraosseous needle. Further, the use of diatrizoate was associated with the development of osteochondrosis while the use of iopamidol was not.