Effects of dopamine administration on cecal mechanical activity and cecal blood flow in conscious healthy horses

Lateral cecal arterial blood flow, carotid arterial pressure, heart rate, and mechanical activity of the circular and longitudinal muscle layers of the cecal body were measured in 7 conscious healthy horses during IV infusion of physiologic saline solution for 60 minutes (control), during a 60-minute IV infusion of dopamine (at dosages of 1, 2.5, and 5 micrograms/kg/min), and for 60 minutes after IV infusion of dopamine. The mean values for lateral cecal arterial blood flow during IV infusion of dopamine at a dosage of either 1 or 2.5 micrograms/kg/min were not significantly different from the mean values for lateral cecal arterial blood flow during IV infusion of saline solution. The mean values for lateral cecal arterial blood flow, however, were significantly greater during IV infusion of dopamine at a dosage of 5 micrograms/kg/min than the mean values for lateral cecal arterial blood flow during IV infusion of saline solution. Intravenous infusion of dopamine at 1 and 2.5 micrograms/kg/min did not significantly change the mean values for carotid arterial pressure. In contrast, the mean values for carotid arterial pressure were significantly less during IV infusion of dopamine at dosages of 2.5 and 5 micrograms/kg/min than during infusion of saline solution. The mean values for heart rate were not significantly altered by infusion of dopamine at a dosage of either 1 or 2.5 micrograms/kg/min, but infusion of dopamine at a dosage of 5 micrograms/kg/min significantly increased heart rate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Response of an acetolactate synthase (ALS)-resistant biotype of Amaranthus rudis to selected ALS-inhibiting and alternative herbicides

An Amaranthus rudis Saner (common water-hemp) biotype from a field treated for two consecutive years with a mixture of chlorimuron and metribuzin was tested in greenhouse and laboratory studies to assess resistance and cross-resistance to four acetolactale synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides. The biotype demonstrated >1920-fold resistance at the whole plant level, and >850-fold resistance at the ALS enzyme to chlorimuron, compared with a susceptible biotype. This chlorimuron-resistant biotype was also cross-resistant to primisuifu-ron, haiosulfuron and imazethapyr. In greenhouse studies, atrazine alone or in combination with ALS-inhibiting herbicides provided excellent control of the resistant biotype of A. rudis . Combinations of dicamba and ALS-inhibitors also provided adequate control. Additionally, premixtures of flumetsulam and metolachlor and of dicamba and atrazine furnished excellent control of this chlorimuron-resistant A. rudis biotype.     

Additive and synergistic pharmacologic inhibition of equine fibrinoligase (factor XIIIa*-like) biochemical activity.

A selected group of pharmaceutical compounds were evaluated for the ability to inhibit the biochemical activity of fibrinoligase (coagulation factor XIIIa*) in pooled equine plasma. Criteria for the pharmaceuticals selected were based on the mechanism of the transglutamination biochemical reaction mediated by coagulation factor XIIa*. These criteria were complemented by recognition of the molecular configuration and chemical composition of amino acid residue side chains involved in the process of covalent fibrin monomer polymerization (cross-linking, transglutamination) mediated by this enzyme. Each pharmaceutical was evaluated individually and in combination with other potential coagulation factor XIIIa* inhibitors in an effort to detect additive and synergistic phenomenon. In this context, pharmaceuticals with a carbonylamide (eg, cefuroxime, Girard's reagent-P, prolinamide) were applied in concert with compounds with a terminal amine (eg, D-arginine, L-lysine) functional group. In concept, this method theoretically served to competitively simulate glutamine and lysine amino acid residues within strands of fibrin monomer substrate involved in phase I (carbonylamide) and phase II (terminal amine) of the transglutamination reaction (covalent fibrin monomer cross-linking). Halogen-dinitro and ethylene compounds were also evaluated because of their reported ability to inactivate enzyme systems dependent on an intact sulfhydryl group located at their biochemically active site (eg, cystine amino acid residue). This group of pharmaceutical compounds failed to inhibit the biochemical activity mediated by coagulation factor XIIIa* in equine plasma.     

Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in raccoons.

Serum samples from 427 raccoons (93 from Pennsylvania, 45 from New Jersey, 72 from South Carolina, 68 from Virginia, 30 from Iowa, and 119 from Ohio) were evaluated for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in dilutions of 1:25, 1:50, and 1:500. The distribution of T gondii antibody titers was less than 1:25 for 212 raccoons (49.6%), 1:25 for 34 raccoons (7.9%), 1:50 for 117 raccoons (27.4%), and greater than or equal to 1:500 for 64 raccoons (14.9%). Tissue cysts were seen in the liver, and tachyzoites were in the brain of a raccoon with abnormal neurologic signs and concurrent infection with canine distemper virus. Organisms in the liver were stained with anti-T gondii serum, and the raccoon had a T gondii titer of 1:160 in the agglutination test.     

Comparative susceptibility of caponized and uncaponized tom turkeys to Pasteurella multocida.

When susceptibility to virulent Pasteurella multocida was compared, there was no significant (P greater than 0.05) difference between caponized and uncaponized tom turkeys. Neither was there any significant (P greater than 0.05) difference between the surviving caponized and uncaponized toms in the development of serum anti-P. multocida antibody. However, at 28 weeks of age, the average live body weight of the caponized toms was significantly (P less than 0.05) lower than that of the uncaponized toms. Turkeys were caponized when 9 weeks old, and different groups were exposed to P. multocida when 13, 18, 23, and 28 weeks old.     

Comparison of slot blot nucleic acid hybridization, immunofluorescence, and virus isolation techniques to detect bluetongue virus in blood mononuclear cells from cattle with experimentally induced infection.

A slot blot hybridization technique was applied for detection of bluetongue virus (BTV) in blood mononuclear cells (BMNC) obtained from cattle with experimentally induced infection. This technique lacked sensitivity to detect the viral nucleic acid directly in clinical specimens. When aliquots of mononuclear cells from these cattle were cultivated in vitro for 10 days to amplify virus titer, only 33.3% of the samples collected during viremia gave a positive signal in the slot blot hybridization format. By contrast, results for 34.3% of noncultured and 63.3% of cultured mononuclear cell samples collected during viremia were positive by immunofluorescence. The average number of infected cells, as detected by immunofluorescence in the noncultured mononuclear cell samples, was 1 to 5/300,000, and was usually > 10/300,000 in the cultured cell samples. Virus was isolated from all postinoculation blood samples obtained from 4 heifers that were seronegative at the time of inoculation, but was not isolated from any of the preinoculation samples, or from any of the postinoculation samples obtained from 2 heifers that were seropositive at the time of inoculation. When virus isolation was attempted from separated mononuclear cells in 2 heifers, 43.7% of the noncultured and 87.5% of the cultured samples had positive results.     

Laryngeal paralysis in immature and mature dogs as one sign of a more diffuse polyneuropathy

Six dogs with laryngeal paralysis had clinical, electrophysiologic, and pathologic evidence of a more generalized polyneuropathy. Three of the dogs were young Dalmatians, one was a young Bouvier des Flandres, and two were older, large-breed dogs. The results of this study suggest that laryngeal paralysis in dogs may frequently be one clinical sign of an underlying, more generalized polyneuropathy. Two forms of this generalized polyneuropathy may exist: an early form, as seen in young dogs with congenital or hereditary disease, and a delayed-onset form that is usually found in older dogs with so-called idiopathic laryngeal paralysis, some of which may have hypothyroidism.