Open Intestinal Anastomosis with Surgical Stapling Equipment in 24 Dogs and Cats

Surgical stapling equipment was used to perform open antiperistaltic side-to-side ("functional end-to-end") entero-anastomoses in 20 dogs and 4 cats. Twenty-one anastomoses healed uneventfully. Seven animals with severe bacterial peritonitis required open peritoneal drainage and delayed abdominal closure. There was postoperative leakage at the anastomotic site in two dogs and a localized abscess at the staple line in one cat. No long-term complications occurred in follow-up periods of 3 to 29 months.     

Transmission of the agent causing a melon yellowing disease by the greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum in southeast Spain

The agent causing a yellowing disease of melon (Cucumis melo), which results in severe losses in crops under plastic on the coastal plains of southeast Spain, was shown to be transmitted in a semipersistent manner by the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood). The agent was transmitted by grafting, but not by mechanical inoculation or through seeds. The agent was acquired in the minimum period tested (2 h) and could infect plants in an infection feeding interval of 6 h. Capsella bursa-pastoris, Cucumis melo, C. sativus, Cucurbita moschata, Cichorium endivia, Lactuca sativa andTaraxacum officinale were found susceptible.Results suggest that the yellowing disease affecting melon crops in the southeast of Spain is due to a pathogen similar to beet pseudo yellows virus, but this has to be confirmed by serology.     

Comments on the method to test side effects of pesticides on the predatory mitePhytoseiulus persimilis Ath.-Hen

A paper published byKniehase & Zoebelein (1990) describes a new laboratory method to test the side effects of pesticides on the predatory mitePhytoseiulus persimilis and criticizes the laboratory test developed by the International Working Group pesticides and beneficial organisms of the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC), West Palaearctic Regional Section (WPRS). The present publication discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both methods, responds to the criticism and mention the overall concept of the IOBC/WPRS Working Group including semifield and field test methods.In einer Arbeit vonKniehase undZoebelein (1990) wird ein neues Laborverfahren zur Prüfung der Nebenwirkung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln auf die RaubmilbePhytoseiulus persimilis beschrieben. Die genannten Autoren äußern sich kritisch über das seither von der Arbeitsgruppe Pflanzenschutzmittel und Nutzorganismen der International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC), West Palaearctic Regional Section (WPRS) praktizierte Verfahren. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die Vor- und Nachteile der beiden Prüfmethoden diskutiert. Einer Reaktion auf die Kritik folgt eine kurze Beschreibung der gesamten Konzeption der genannten Arbeitsgruppe, die auf einer Kombination aus Labor-, Halbfreiland- und Feldprüfverfahren beruht.     

The detection of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in bovine faeces by isolation and the comparison of isolation with the examination of stained smears by light microscopy

The detection of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis organisms in bovine faeces by isolation was compared with that by the microscopical examination of Ziehl-Neelsen stained faecal smears for the presence of clumps of acid-fast M. paratuberculosis organisms. Faeces were obtained from cattle naturally or experimentally infected with M. paratuberculosis as well as from uninfected cattle. Microscopical examination was an unreliable method for the detection of M. paratuberculosis organisms, since the organisms were only detected in 99 (=55.9%) of 177 culturally positive faecal samples. 1111 addition, clumps of acid-fast organisms indistinguishable from M. paratuberculosis were also observed iin three of 18 samples from cattle free from Johne's disease and in 18 of 37 culturally negative samples from paratuberculous cattle. When M. paratuberculosis organisms were added to faeces from an uninfected cow, results showed that isolation attempts should be positive when 15 or more M. paratuberculosis organisms per gram of faeces are present.     

Serum bile acids: reference values in healthy dogs and comparison of two kit methods

Serum bile acid (SBA) reference intervals were established by use of a radioimmunoassay method for fasting dogs to be 0.2 to 4.3 micro mol/L (n = 60) and for 2 hour postprandial samples to be 0.6 to 24.2 micro mol/L (n = 37). The SBA reference intervals estimated using an enzymatic method were 0 to 8.6 micro mol/L for fasting (n = 26) and 0 to 29.8 micro mol/L for 2 hour postprandial samples (n = 36). The correlation between the two methods including samples from healthy dogs and clinical cases is good (n = 128, r = 0.82, p < 0.0001). The radioimmunoassay method is linear to 50 micro mol/L and the enzymatic method is linear to 100 micro mol/L, thus both methods require serum dilutions to be made in many cases of primary liver disease. The enzymatic method is less expensive and more convenient for use in a clinical laboratory but requires a greater sample volume (400 micro I) than the RIA method (50 micro I). Both methods have adequate precision and accuracy to be useful as diagnostic tests of liver function in dogs.     

An Unusual Necrotizing cholangiohepatitis in Broiler Chickens

A diagnosis of toxic necrotizing cholangiohepatitis was made in approximately 35% of a flock of 23,000 commercial broiler chickens. Affected chickens were small, and had discrete green foci throughout the liver. Seven to twelve days prior to shipping the flock to slaughter, premixes containing oxytetracycline, monensin, and 3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid had been added to the ration because the birds had wet droppings and were growing slowly. The 3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid had been inadvertently incorporated at ten times the recommended level. Liver and kidney of affected birds had elevated levels of total arsenic, and special strains demonstrated arsenic in necrotic foci in liver. Histologically there was marked dilation of intrahepatic bile ducts, and patchy necrosis and hyperplasia of the bile duct epithelium. Damage to bile ducts may have been a toxic manifestation of altered metabolism and excretion of the three drugs being fed to birds suffering from intercurrent diarrhea and/or undefined interactions among the drugs.