Morphology and Neurochemical Expression of Neurons Immunoreactive for the Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP-IR) in the Lamb Ileum

Veterinary Research Communications -     

Evaluation of the association between microalbuminuria and the urine albumin-creatinine ratio and systemic disease in dogs

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate semiquantitative and quantitative assays for microalbuminuria and determination of the urine albumin-creatinine (UAC) ratio in detection of systemic disease in dogs without overt proteinuria. DESIGN: Prospective study. ANIMALS: 408 dogs. PROCEDURES: Urine samples that had been obtained from dogs for which a complete medical record was available and in which results of a dipstick test for urine protein were negative were evaluated. Urine protein-creatinine ratios (cutoff values, 0.5 and 0.1), semiquantitative and quantitative microalbuminuria values (cutoff value, 1 mg/dL), and UAC ratios (cutoff values, 100 and 200 mg/g) were determined. Clinical diagnoses rendered within 3 months of enrollment in the study were recorded. Sensitivity and specificity were determined with disease status serving as the standard. Associations with clinical diagnosis, sex, age, BUN and serum creatinine concentrations, blood pressure, results of bacterial culture of urine, temperature, pyuria, hematuria, and bacteriuria were evaluated by use of logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: 48 dogs were healthy, and 360 had at least 1 disease. Significant associations were detected between age, presence of disease, presence of neoplastic disease, BUN and serum creatinine concentrations, and hematuria and results of 1 or both of the microalbuminuria assays. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Microalbuminuria was associated with underlying disease. The sensitivity and specificity of the semiquantitative microalbuminuria test for detection of systemic disease were superior to those of other tests. Microalbuminuria testing in conjunction with other screening procedures may increase diagnosis of subclinical disease, but a prospective study in which the predictive values of screening tests are evaluated, with and without microalbuminuria determination, is needed.     

Individual differences and repeatability of post-prandial changes of plasma-free amino acids in young horses

Few data are available on post-prandial changes of plasma amino acids (AAs) in horses and on the repeatability and the individual variance on different sampling days. The objective of the present study was to measure pre- and post-prandial concentrations of plasma AA in 10 yearling horses. Blood samples were taken on days 1 and 40 of the study before feeding of hay, oats and soya meal and over an 8 h post-prandial period in 2-h intervals. The plasma AAs were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography after ortho-phthalaldehyde derivatization. Mean fasting concentrations of the AAs were not significantly influenced by the individuum and sampling day. Repeatability of the fasting AA levels in the individual horses on two different sampling days was only found for histidine, 3-methylhistidine, methionine, tryptophan and taurine. While the absolute post-prandial AA concentrations differed between sampling days, the relative changes were comparable. All AA concentrations except 3-methylhistidine increased after feeding by 13% to more than 200% of their fasting values if the combined data of both days were analysed. Four hours after feeding the concentrations of arginine, asparagine, lysine, leucine, isoleucine and threonine, decreased more than 20%. Histidine, methionine, phenylalanine, valine, tryptophan, glutamine, glycine, tyrosine and taurine concentrations decreased by less than 20%. Concentrations of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, ornithine, serine and citrulline remained elevated. Most AA approached the fasting concentrations at 8 h, only glycine increased between 6 and 8 h after meal and 3-methyl-histidine concentrations were constant throughout the entire period. In conclusion, the pre-prandial plasma AA in horses appeared less influenced by individuum or sampling day than post-prandial plasma AA concentrations. Therefore, plasma AA concentrations should be interpreted only under well-defined conditions, especially regarding the feeding regimen.     

Assessing hygiene proficiency on organic and conventional pig farms regarding pork safety: A pilot study in Finland

A key element in the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be a single farm payment system that is linked to compliance with rules on, for instance hygiene standards. However, there are no recommended methods for assessing the hygiene proficiency of pig production farms. The present study was undertaken to develop a method for this purpose. A first implementation was done on pilot scale; with a set of both conventional and organic pig farms (N = 15). Fifty hygiene-related factors were selected, especially with reference to the possible proliferation of enteric pathogens Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. The factors were allocated into 8 evaluation categories: (1) general production management, (2) animal density, (3) the outdoor area for pigs, (4) pest and pet animals, (5) general hygiene in the piggery, (6) pen hygiene, (7) feed production hygiene, and (8) feeding hygiene. A farm questionnaire and a supplementary on-site observation form were devised, and one arbitrary scale of hygiene points assigned for each factor. In addition to the mailed questionnaires, one person subsequently visited all the farms, perused the questionnaire with the owners and completed the observation form. The hygiene scores of the farms in each evaluation category were compared both without weighting and with weighting based on expert opinions. The method proved to be feasible and applicable to different types of production.     

Yeasts and algae isolated from cows with mastitis in the south-eastern part of Poland

The aim of the study was to evaluate the occurrence of mycotic and protohecal mastitis in herds in south-eastern part of Poland. A total of 3091 milk samples from udder quarters with clinical and subclinical mastitis from 29 dairy herds was investigated in this survey. Milk samples were plated as soon as possible on blood agar (BA), Mac Conkey agar, aesculin-tallium acetate-crystal violet agar, and Sabouraud agar. A hundred and thirty one yeast (4.23%) and eleven Protoheca zopfii (0.35%) strains were isolated from cows with clinical and subclinical mastitis. All the isolated fungi were the yeast classified into 4 genera (Candida, Trichosporon, Saccharomyces and Rhodotorula). The most frequently isolated yeasts were Candida sp., C. kefyr, C. humicola, C. rugosa and C. inconspicua. Both fungi and algae were isolated first of all during a confinement-housing season.     

Ability of a proteinase inhibitor mixture to kill poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae in an in vitro feeding system

The development of a reliable in vitro feeding system has enabled the rapid testing of presumptive anti-mite factors, a mixture of protease inhibitors (PI), by incorporating these into the blood feed. Mites were collected from a caged-hen facility and underwent a regime of starvation under varying conditions of temperature and darkness to determine the optimum conditions that encouraged mites to feed in the in vitro system. The efficacy of two anti-coagulants, heparin (HS) and acid citrate glucose (ACD), on mite feeding rates and mortality was evaluated. The ability of a mixture of PI to kill mites was also evaluated. The rate of feeding was greater in mites that were starved and cooled for between 7 and 30 days compared with mites that were not starved or cooled. The percentage of mites that fed when presented with HS treated blood (70%) was greater when compared with ACD treated blood (48%). The mortality of mites fed blood treated with HS + PI increased to 45% compared with a mortality level of 5% in mites fed on blood treated with HS alone. A reliable in vitro method for feeding D. gallinae which has the potential to be used to rapidly screen blood-borne products for their efficacy in reducing mite numbers has been developed.     

Low-dose interferon-alpha treatment for feline immunodeficiency virus infection

Feline immunodeficiency virus sustains an AIDS-like syndrome in cats, which is considered a relevant model for human AIDS. Under precise enrolment requirements, 30 naturally infected cats showing overt disease were included in a trial of low-dose, oral human interferon-alpha treatment. Twenty-four of them received 10 IU/Kg of human interferon-alpha and 6 placebo only on a daily basis under veterinary supervision. The low-dose human interferon-alpha treatment significantly prolonged the survival of virus-infected cats (p<0.01) and brought to a rapid improvement of disease conditions in the infected hosts. Amelioration of clinical conditions was neither correlated with plasma viremia, nor with proviral load in leukocytes. A good survival of CD4+ T cells and a slow increase of CD8+ T cells were also observed in human interferon-alpha-treated cats. Interestingly, the improvement of the total leukocyte counts showed a much stronger correlation with the recovery from serious opportunistic infections. As shown in other models of low-dose interferon-alpha treatment, there was a rapid regression of overt immunopathological conditions in virus-infected cats. This hints at a major role of interferon-alpha in the control circuits of inflammatory cytokines, which was probably the very foundation of the improved clinical score and survival despite the unabated persistence of virus and virus-infected cells.     

Genotyping of Toll-like receptor 4, myeloid differentiation factor 2 and CD-14 in the horse: an investigation into the influence of genetic polymorphisms on the LPS induced TNF-alpha response in equine whole blood

The inter- and intra-species differences in the response to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are well recognised in mammalian species. It has been hypothesized that these differences can be attributed to genetic polymorphisms in the components involved in LPS signal transduction. These components include the cluster of differentiation factor 14 (CD-14), a membrane bound protein on the surface of mononuclear cells that recognises LPS and a receptor complex consisting of Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) and myeloid differentiation factor-2 (MD-2). Sequencing of these three proteins in humans and mice revealed that all three are susceptible to polymorphic alterations, influencing the response to LPS. Previous experiments in the horse showed large inter-individual variations in the response to LPS. With the aim to assess this inter-individual variation, we performed a whole blood assay in 10 healthy horses as a functional assay to study the responsiveness to LPS. In 3 out of the 10 horses, LPS-induced TNF-alpha production was significantly lower compared to the overall mean. Subsequently the entire cDNA sequence encoding for the TLR-4, MD-2 and CD-14 protein was documented for each horse. Although mutations were observed in the sequence of TLR-4, these could not be related to an altered response to LPS in the concentration used in this study, as determined in the whole blood assay. Despite the various mutations found in the TLR-4 receptor protein, no alterations could be found in either the MD-2 or CD-14 gene, which are obviously more conserved structures.     

Subacute atropine toxicity in a pygmy sperm whale, Kogia breviceps.

Atropine, an anticholinergic agent commonly used in human and veterinary medicine, is reported to cause toxicity associated with its antimuscarinic action. A juvenile pygmy sperm whale, Kogia breviceps, was treated with atropine in an attempt to relieve symptoms similar to pyloric stenosis, as has been used in humans. Two doses of 0.01 mg/kg were given i.m., 12 hr apart, followed by three doses of 0.005 mg/kg i.m. s.i.d. over the next 3 days. Symptoms associated with atropine toxicity developed gradually and included hyperexcitability, a generalized ascending paralysis of body musculature, shallow, rapid respiration, vomiting, aspiration of seawater, and pulmonary edema. Treatment with physostigmine salicylate (two doses of 2 mg i.m., I hr apart) was effective in counteracting the paralysis, as well as other symptoms, beginning in as little as 17 min after the first dose, and the whale was back to swimming on its own after 8 hr. All overt symptoms of atropine toxicity were gone in about 24 hr, but there were other possible sequella that lasted much longer.