Oral surgery. Radical resection of maxillary and mandibular lesions

The results obtained following both maxillectomy and mandibulectomy in animals with benign disease show that these procedures are practical. The challenge is to select those animals with malignant disease where the disease is sufficiently localized so that radical resection will be curative, or where residual disease can be controlled by adjuvant therapy. The series of cases reported in Tables 1 and 2 represent animals treated during the "developmental phase" of these procedures. With 5 years of case experience now available, the usefulness and limitations of these procedures are becoming clearer.     

A defect in thyroglobulin synthesis in an inherited ovine goitre: possible neonatal respiratory distress syndrome

A ram lamb with congenital goitre showed signs of respiratory distress at birth. All previously affected lambs from this flock bad been born dead or bad died soon after birth. The serum free-thyroxine level at 1 birth was low (9.8 pmol/l) but treatment with oral L-thyroxine resulted in an increase in thyroxine blood levels to above normal and regression of the goitre. Four weeks after withdrawal of thyroid supplementation and when the lamb was eight weeks old, the radio iodide uptake mechanism of the thyroid glands was shown to be intact but the iodide was not organified. Low normal peroxidase activity was demonstrated in fresh thyroid tissue but gel electrophoresis demonstrated an absence of normal thyroglobulin from extracts of the goitrous thyroid. This lamb and the other affected lambs of this flock have an inherited defect in thyroglobulin synthesis and it is likely that the respiratory distress was associated with the low levels of thyroid hormone affecting foetal lung development.     

Dual infections of red deer (Cervus elaphus) by Leptospira interrogans serovars copenhageni and hardjo

On a property in the Nelson District, blood and urine samples were taken from red deer (Cervus elaphus) from which low (<1:100) antibody titres to serovar copenhageni and suspected leptospiral abortions had previously been reported. A total of 27 hinds were sampled. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) titres in sera ranging from 1:32 to 1:128 were found in six animals. Thirteen leptospiral isolations were made from nine of the 27 urine samples. Four of these were typed as copenhageni and nine as hardjo. Two cultures were prepared from each urine sample and hardjo and copenhageni were both isolated from single urine samples from two animals. None of the 27 deer had serum MAT titres at 1:32 or above to copenhageni.     

Pluronic poisoning in a herd of dairy calves

Of 32 calves given an unknown amount of a pluronic bloat mixture with their milk, 28 died in convulsions over 24 hours. Supportive therapy was unsuccessful. Concentrations of pluronic present in abomasal and rumenal contents supported a diagnosis of pluronic poisoning.     

Ovariectomy, ovariohysterectomy and orchidectomy in rodents and rabbits

This article describes the surgical procedures for the ovariectomy, ovariohysterectomy and orchidectomy in rodents and rabbits. The indications for each procedure are outlined and effective and safe anesthetics are described. Preoperative and postoperative care is also discussed.     

Lack of influence of nursery temperature on the response of weanling pigs to supplemental vitamins C and E

Three trials using 240 weanling pigs were conducted during winter months to determine the influence of nursery temperature ("comfortable" vs "cold") on the response of weanling pigs to added vitamin C (700 ppm) or E (55 IU/kg) to a corn-soybean meal diet. A "comfortable" temperature schedule (27 C initially with a weekly 2 C drop) was maintained in one nursery, with the temperature schedule in the "cold" nursery about 8 C lower. Plasma concentrations of vitamin C and vitamin E were elevated when the respective vitamins were added to the diet, but were not consistently influenced by nursery temperatures. Daily gain, daily feed intake and feed efficiency were not improved with the added C or E. Daily feed intake was increased and feed-to-gain ratios were larger for pigs housed in the "cold" nursery compared with pigs housed in the "comfortable" nursery; however, daily gains were similar in the two environments. Pigs housed in the "cold" nursery were slightly stressed, as indicated by heavier adrenal glands, but the antibody response and serum glucocorticoid concentrations were not significantly affected by either diet or temperature.     

Genomic variations and antigenic relationships among cytopathic rotavirus strains isolated in Quebec dairy herds.

Twelve isolates of bovine rotavirus, originating from eight dairy herds in Quebec known to have frequent epizootics of diarrhea in young calves in the last five years, were successfully propagated in cell cultures. The 12 isolates produced clear-cut plaques in BSC-1 cells and, except for one isolate, agglutinated human group "O" erythrocytes to an higher titer than bovine erythrocytes. Antisera to each isolate were produced in rabbits and used to study their antigenic relationships. All the isolates shared the group-specific immunofluorescent antigen and were antigenically related as demonstrated by the seroneutralization and hemagglutination-inhibition tests. However, the relationships to the Nebraska rotavirus was quite weak in cases of two Quebec isolates. When the genomes of the various isolates were compared by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, at least three different reproducible fractionation patterns could be identified.     

A review of feline serum protein electrophoresis

A review of the current literature available on feline serum proteins is presented. Early studies concentrated on comparative aspects of species variations in the electrophoretic pattern. The feline electrophoretogram was divided into five basic regions: albumin, alpha-1, alpha-2, beta and gamma. Different subdivisions of these areas were recognized depending on the support medium used. Current papers have compared the relative migration distances of each globulin peak to the migration of albumin. This "Rf" value enables reliable peak identification. To date, no data exists identifying the individual proteins responsible for the peaks in the alpha and beta regions. The only feline globulin to be studied is haptolobin; however its precise location on the electrophoretic strip was not identified.