Serum amyloid A protein concentration measured by radial immunodiffusion in Abyssinian and non-Abyssinian cats

Serum amyloid A (SAA) protein concentration was determined by use of radial immunodiffusion (RID) in 4 groups of cats: Abyssinian cats with amyloidosis, healthy Abyssinian cats without clinical evidence of amyloidosis, hospitalized non-Abyssinian cats, and clinically normal non-Abyssinian cats. Mean SAA concentration in Abyssinian cats with amyloidosis was significantly (P = 0.05) higher than mean SAA concentration in healthy Abyssinian cats without clinical evidence of amyloidosis and in hospitalized non-Abyssinian cats. Mean SAA concentration in clinically normal non-Abyssinian cats was significantly (P = 0.05) lower than mean SAA concentration in healthy Abyssinian cats without clinical evidence of amyloidosis and in hospitalized non-Abyssinian cats. Affected and healthy Abyssinian cats, however, could not reliably be distinguished on the basis of SAA concentration, because of the wide range of SAA values in these 2 groups of cats.     

Oral fowlpox vaccination in chickens.

Chickens were given various fowlpox vaccines on food pellets--a commercial vaccine (strain M), and the same strain after a single passage on chorio-allantoic membrane or in chicken embryo fibroblasts. All three oral vaccines induced antibodies at levels similar to those induced by commercial strain M administered to the wingweb. The oral vaccine derived from chorio-allantoic membrane gave protection similar to that obtained with vaccine administered by the wingweb, but this required a thousandfold more virus.     

The contribution from hyphae, roots and organic carbon constituents to the aggregation of a sandy loam under long-term clover-based and grass pastures

Water-stable macro-aggregate size fractions (>2.0 mm, 1.0–2.0 mm, 0.5–1.0 mm and 0.25–0.5 mm) and non-aggregated soil from a sandy loam under long-term clover-based pasture and from grass pasture were analysed to determine the role of acid- and water-extractable carbohydrate C, total hyphal length, microbial biomass, organic C and total and mycorrhizal root length in stabilization of the aggregates. Aggregates were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the particle-size distribution of the size fractions was also determined. Macro-aggregation increased under grass, relative to clover-based pasture; however, the properties of the aggregate fractions measured did not reflect this difference. Microbial-biomass C, extractable-carbohydrate C, hyphal length, total and mycorrhizal root length and organic C content of the soils were poorly correlated with macro-aggregation. Within the aggregates, the proportion of 250–1000-km sand was smaller and clay, silt and fine sand (20–250 μm) were greater relative to non-aggregated soil, suggesting that the >250-μm sand in the non-aggregated soil limited the stabilization of macro-aggregates. Under SEM, no enmeshment of aggregates by hyphae and roots was apparent. Although 50–160 m hyphae g^?1 soil was found within the aggregates, calculations showed that on average only 5 to 13 lengths of hyphae were associated with each 250-μm cube of soil within the aggregates, and suggested little potential to stabilize the aggregates by enmeshing. On average, all >2.0-mm aggregates contained less than 3.6 mm of roots and less than 50% by weight of <2.0-mm aggregates contained a single length of root. The findings cast doubt about the role of hyphae and fine roots in the stabilization of macro-aggregates through an enmeshing mechanism in sandy soils.     

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.     

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.     

Tuberculosis in wild seals and characterisation of the seal bacillus

SUMMARY Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 3 otariid seals found dead on beaches at 3 locations on the south coast of Western Australian between May 1990 and March 1991. This confirms that tuberculosis is present in the 2 native seals (Neophoca cinerea and Arctocephalus forsteri) in Western Australian waters. Mycobacterium sp isolated from the lungs of 2 of the seals were studied to determine the similarity of the strains to each other, to the strains isolated during 1986 from Australian sea lions and New Zealand fur seals kept in captivity at a marine park near Perth, Western Australia, and to a strain isolated in 1988 from a seal trainer who worked with the infected captive seals for 3 years. After restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) with the endonucleases Bst Ell, Bcl I and Pvu II, one of the wild seal strains appeared to have identical DNA fragment patterns to the strains from the captive seals and the seal trainer. The other wild seal isolate had identical REA profiles using Bst EII and Bcl I, but a minor difference was detected using Pvu II. Differences in these isolates were more clearly seen in restriction fragment length polymorphisms after hybridisation with two DNA probes. The secretory protein MPB70, present in M bovis, was not detected in wild seal isolates using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting techniques. Analysis of protein and DNA fragment profiles indicated that seal tuberculosis isolates form a unique cluster within the M tuberculosis complex.     

BACTERIAL ENDOCARDITIS WITH THROMBUS FORMATION AND ABSCESSATION IN A HORSE

A 2.5 year old Appaloosa stallion with progressive weight loss and a heart murmur was diagnosed as having vegetative endocarditis of the right atrioventricular valves with a mass in the right atrium. The ultrasonographic appearance of the lesion was characterized by extreme reverberation. On postmortem examination, a 9 cm diameter thrombus was found within the right atrium and auricle, occupying approximately 80% of the chamber volume. Additionally, a lenticular abscess extended throughout the parietal cusp of the right atrioventricular valve. Histologic examination revealed that the lesions were septic with numerous gram positive cocci in short chains, suggestive of Streptococcus equi , and gram negative rods.