Pain-related cerebral potentials in response to acute painful electrical stimulation in sheep

Objective To examine associations between late event-related cerebral potential amplitudes and behavioural responses to noxious electrical stimulation as an indicator of acute pain in sheep.
Design Analysis of variance for the effects of stimulus intensity on the behaviour and event-related cerebral potential variables.
Procedure Ninety-six brief constant current electrical pulse trains were presented to the front left leg of eight sheep at four intensities (2.5 to 10 mA) in a randomised order. An event-related cerebral potential and a graded flinch response were recorded for each stimulus and the 24 event-related cerebral potentials at each intensity were averaged to produce a mean waveform. Various components of this waveform were analysed and changes in these measures and the sheep's flinch response, as stimulus intensity increased, were determined.
Results Both the flinch response and some event-related cerebral potential components, that is, peak amplitudes 114 {N1}, 187 {P1}, 318 {P2} and 230 {Pm} ms after stimulus onset, were significantly affected as stimulus intensity increased.
Conclusion These corresponding behavioural and event-related cerebral potential changes indicate the usefulness of using changes in the event-related cerebral potential to measure acute pain in sheep.     

Effect of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone on the fertility of sows kept outdoors

A total of 1,231 mixed parity sows from five outdoor units in East Anglia were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Sows in the control group were given no treatment, those in group 1 were injected intramuscularly with 8 microg of the analogue of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), buserelin, within 24 hours after first service and those in group 2 received the same treatment on day 11 or 12 after first service. There was no significant effect of treatment on farrowing rate to first service (85.0 v 85.4 v 84.7 per cent, respectively) or on overall mean (se) total litter size (11.6 [0.2] v 11.9 [0.2] v 11.9 [0.21]), although litter size was significantly increased by both treatments on one unit (11.6 [0.3] v 12.4 [0.3] v 12.8 [0.3]; P<0.05). However, there was a significant increase overall in the numbers of pigs born alive in both treatment groups (10.9 [0.2] v 11.3 [0.1] v 11.4 [0.3]; P<0.05) to sows of parities 0 to 2 only (P<0.05). This increase in numbers born alive is difficult to reconcile with the lack of overall effect on total litter size.     

Effect of recombinant porcine somatotropin and dietary protein on pancreatic digestive enzymes in the pig.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of daily recombinant porcine somatotropin (rpST) injection (0 or 120 micrograms/kg BW) and dietary CP level of the feed (14 or 26% CP) on pancreatic characteristics of growing pigs. Daily injection of rpST did not affect pancreatic weight (P = .885) but did decrease pancreatic amylase content (P = .005). The ratios of amylase:protein and amylase:trypsin were also lowered by daily rpST injection (P = .002 and P = .0002, respectively). There were protein x rpST and protein x rpST x sex interactions for the ratio of amylase:chymotrypsin. The CP content of the diet had a greater effect than the injection of rpST on pancreatic characteristics. Pigs consuming the 26% CP diet had significantly higher pancreatic weight (P = .003) and greater total pancreatic chymotrypsin (P = .006) than pigs consuming the 14% CP diet. The ratios of trypsin and chymotrypsin to DNA were also higher in pigs fed the 26% CP diet (P = .007 and P = .005, respectively). These responses were not influenced by sex. Recombinant porcine somatotropin seemed to have a slight effect on porcine pancreatic characteristics; however, dietary protein had a greater effect on pancreatic characteristics in market-weight hogs.     

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Selection of a recombinant Marek's disease virus in vivo through expression of the Marek's EcoRI-Q (Meq)-encoded oncoprotein: characterization of an rMd5-based mutant expressing the Meq of strain RB-1B

Marek's disease (MD) is a highly contagious viral disease of chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) caused by MD virus (MDV), characterized by paralysis, neurologic signs, and the rapid onset of T-cell lymphomas. MDV-induced T-cell transformation requires a basic leucine zipper protein called Marek's EcoRI-Q-encoded protein (Meq). We have identified mutations in the coding sequence of Meq that correlated with virus pathotype (virulent, very virulent, and very virulent plus). The aim of this study was to determine whether recombinant viruses could be isolated based on Meq expression through in vivo selection. Chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) were cotransfected with an rMd5 strain-based Meq deletion virus (rMd5deltaMeq) and meq loci from strains representing different pathotypes of MDV. Transfected CEFs were inoculated into chickens in two independent studies. We were able to isolate a single recombinant virus, rMDV-1137, in a contact-exposed chicken. rMDV-1137 had recombined two copies of the meq gene of RB-1B and was found to have pathogenicity similar to both RB-1B and rMd5 parental strains. We found the RB-1B- and rMd5-induced lymphomas showed differences in composition and that rMDV-1137-induced lymphomas were intermediate in their composition. We were able to establish cell lines from both RB-1B- (MDCC-UD35, -UD37) and rMDV-1137 (MDCC-UD36, -UD38)-induced, but not rMd5-induced, lymphomas. To date, no rMd5- or parent Md5-transformed T-cell lines have been reported. Our results suggest that 1) a recombinant MDV can be selected on the basis of oncogenicity; 2) changes in Meq sequence seem to affect tumor composition and the ability to establish cell lines; and 3) in addition to meq, other genomic loci affect MDV pathogenicity and oncogenicity.     

p38-avidity-ELISA: examination of herds experiencing epidemic or endemic Neospora caninum-associated bovine abortion

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established to measure the avidity of bovine IgG directed against p38, a surface antigen (NCSRS2) of Neospora caninum tachyzoites. In the sera of dams intravenously infected with N. caninum NC-1, the p38-specific avidity increased from initially below 40% up to avidity indices between 50 and 80% after days 23 and 91 p.i. The p38-avidity-ELISA was used to examine various herds that had experienced endemic and epidemic N. caninum-associated bovine abortions. In herds with endemic abortion, generally high avidity indices of N. caninum-specific IgG were detected. This finding and the observation of an association between the seropositivity of dams and that of their offspring suggested a predominantly vertical transmission of the parasite among the animals of these herds, thus indicating chronic infection of these cattle. In contrast, for herds experiencing epidemic abortion: (i) an association regarding seropositivity of dams and their daughters could not be shown and (ii) a generally low avidity of p38-specific IgG in the sera from aborting dams was determined. This indicates recent postnatal transmission of N. caninum in these herds. A linear regression model explaining the avidity of p38-specific IgG was significantly influenced by the time span between sampling and the occurrence of the first abortion of the epidemic in herds with an N. caninum-associated abortion storm. Another factor significantly contributing to the model was the proportion of dams at risk that had aborted in the herds (i.e. the severity of the abortion epidemic). A possible explanation for this observation is that herds experiencing heavy abortion are sampled earlier after the onset of the epidemic than others that have a less severe abortion storm.     

Nitrogen release from different polymer-coated urea fertilizers in soil is affected by soil properties

The use of urea as nitrogen (N) fertilizer in agriculture needs to consider environmental, economic and resource conservation aspects because of low N-use efficiency (NUE). Polymer-coated urea (PCU) offers an effective way to improve the NUE of urea and to reduce its environmental trade-offs. However, we lack information on the impact of climate and soil properties on N release from PCU. Therefore, this study was performed to quantify the effects of soil texture, moisture and temperature on the release kinetics of N from PCU. We designed a test system for soil incubation experiments and investigated three fertilizers with different release patterns, five topsoils, three moisture levels and two temperatures over 48 days. We analysed the concentrations of inorganic N (${\mathrm{NH}}_4^{+}-\mathrm{N}$ and ${\mathrm{NO}}_3^{-}-\mathrm{N}$) in the soil and estimated N release rates using the unified Richards model. Soil texture did not change the N release patterns, but release rates varied significantly among the investigated soils. Changes in soil moisture for a given soil had no effect on N release from PCU and urea when fertilizers were incorporated into the soil at conditions supportive of crop growth. Lowering soil temperatures, however, decreased N release rates from PCU by 16%–49% but only in silt loam and not in sandy loam. We conclude that PCU improves the N residence time in soil, but predictions on N release from PCU must be adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions and cannot be generalized across differently textured soils.