Clinical evaluation of protein electrophoresis of cerebral spinal fluid

Protein fractions of cerebral spinal fluid samples were analyzed in an effort to find a reliable, minimally invasive and cost effective method of diagnosing cervical vertebral myelopathy. There were six separate protein fractions analyzed by electrophoresis. In this study we specifically looked for a post beta spike in horses with spinal cord compression. There was no correlation in our study between horses with a post beta spike and CVM as diagnosed by a myelogram.     

Role for LDL in estradiol-synthesis capacity of bovine ovarian follicles

The steroidogenic capacity of several tissues has been shown to be regulated by lipoproteins. However, the ability of the various lipoprotein classes to affect steroid production in general and estradiol-synthesis in particular has not been established in bovine ovarian cells. In previous studies, we described alterations in the lipoprotein profiles in follicles of different sizes and corresponding changes in lipoprotein-receptor gene expression. In the present study, the effect of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-enriched medium on aromatization competence of whole ovarian follicles was determined in vitro. Gene expression of aromatase increased and that of selective-uptake receptors decreased in the presence of LDL. These results suggest a role for LDL availability in folliculogenesis.     

Effect of Insemination–Ovulation Interval and Addition of Seminal Plasma on Sow Fertility to Insemination of Cryopreserved Sperm

In swine, the use of frozen-thawed (FT) sperm for artificial insemination (AI) is limited because of poor sow fertility, possibly associated with a post-thaw capacitation-like status resulting in fewer fully viable sperm. Sow fertility to AI with FT sperm may improve with deeper deposition of sperm within the female tract, insemination very close to ovulation, or reversal of cryocapacitation by seminal plasma (SP). We performed two experiments to examine these suggestions. In experiment 1, 122 multiparous Yorkshire sows received 600 IU equine chorionic gonadotrophin at weaning and 5 mg pLH 80 h later to control time of ovulation. The predicted time of ovulation (PTO) was 38 h after pLH injection. Thereafter, sows were assigned on the basis of parity to a single AI of FT sperm at 2 h before PTO, or at 12 h before PTO, or FT sperm supplemented with 10% SP at 12 h before PTO. Control sows received fresh semen at 12 h before PTO. All semen doses were adjusted to 3 x 10(9) live cells and deposited into the cervix. Experiment 2 employed 99 multiparous crossbred sows and repeated the treatments of experiment 1 except that all FT inseminations were intrauterine. In both experiments, farrowing rates were lower (p < 0.01) following FT inseminations with no effect of time of insemination or of supplemental SP. In experiment 1, litter size was smaller following FT insemination (p < 0.05), but no effect on litter size was evident in experiment 2. Supplemental SP had no effect on litter size in either experiment. The lack of effect of either SP or timing of FT insemination on sow fertility suggests that the non-lethal sperm cryoinjury affecting fertility involves more than just cryocapacitation.     

Effect of breed of cattle on innate resistance to infection with <i>Babesia bovis, B bigemina and Anaplasma marginale

Objective To assess the innate resistance of naive Bos taurus, Bos taurus cross Bos indicus and Bos indicus cattle to virulent Babesia bovis, B bigemina and Anaplasma marginale parasites. Design Groups of 10, pure B indicus, fi B indicus cross,/B indicus cross and pure B taurus steers were infected with virulent B bovis, B bigemina and A marginale parasites. Procedure Sequential infections were carried out by intravenous inoculation of infected blood containing 1 times 10⁸ parasites of B bovis, followed by B bigemina and then A marginale. To assess resistance, measurements were made of parasitaemia, rectal temperature, packed cell volume and the number within a group requiring chemotherapy to control infection. There was a recovery period between each infection. Results Infection with B bovis showed that pure B indicus steers were significantly more resistant to B bovis infection than the other groups, with none of this group requiring treatment. There was no significant difference between fi B indicus cross and/B indicus cross with 30% and 20%, respectively, of steers in these groups requiring treatment. The pure B taurus steers were significantly more affected then those in the other three groups with 80% requiring treatment. Infections of B bigemina produced a mild response in comparison to that of B bovis and none of the steers required treatment. However, the pure B taurus group was significantly more affected than the other three groups for all other measurements. After the A marginale infection, B indicus steers were moderately affected with 50% requiring treatment, whereas 70% of the fi B indicus group, 80% of the /B indicus cross group and 100% of the pure B taurus group required treatment. Conclusions All breeds of cattle, ranging from pure B indicus to pure B taurus may be at risk of severe disease if exposed to virulent A marginale. The results confirm that pure B indicus cattle are relatively resistant to B bovis, but there could be a significant risk of severe mortalities if cross-bred herds are exposed to virulent infection.     

A "Schrodinger Cat" Superposition State of an Atom

A "Schrodinger cat"-like state of matter was generated at the single atom level. A trapped 9Be+ ion was laser-cooled to the zero-point energy and then prepared in a superposition of spatially separated coherent harmonic oscillator states. This state was created by application of a sequence of laser pulses, which entangles internal (electronic) and external (motional) states of the ion. The Schrodinger cat superposition was verified by detection of the quantum mechanical interference between the localized wave packets. This mesoscopic system may provide insight into the fuzzy boundary between the classical and quantum worlds by allowing controlled studies of quantum measurement and quantum decoherence.     

Investigation of Johne's disease in Tasmanian fallow deer (Dama dama)

In 2012 when many sheep flocks in northern‐central Tasmania were experiencing a high prevalence of ovine Johne's disease, 34 wild adult fallow deer shot on or near infected properties were negative to microscopic Mptb lesions of the ileo‐caecal valve, terminal ileum and ileo‐caecal lymph nodes. This study demonstrated 95% confidence of detecting Johne's disease in this fallow deer population if ≥10% of animals were shedding Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in their faeces, or if ≥21% of animals were sub‐clinically infected.     

Echinococcus granulosus in the Northern Territory,Australia: hydatid disease reported in beef cattle from the region

Hydatid disease in beef cattle has been reported to be widespread throughout Australia, but cattle bred and raised in the Northern Territory were previously believed to be free of the disease. Between 2010 and 2016, 1061 cattle from the Northern Territory were slaughtered at a New South Wales abattoir and inspected for hydatid disease. The proportion of cattle reported infected with hydatid disease was 3.5%. Individual cattle identification numbers indicated that the cattle included in the study had most likely remained within the Northern Territory from birth until immediately prior to slaughter, so were assumed to have become infected within the region. We suspect that the sylvatic cycle of Echinococcus granulosus transmission could be responsible for infection of cattle in this region.     

The effect of dietary lecithin and lipase,as a function of age,on n-9 fatty acid incorporation in the tissue lipids of Sparus aurata larvae

The present study tested the effect of dietary lecithin and exogenous lipase on the incorporation of oleic acid in the tissue lipids of gilthead seabream larvae (Sparus aurata). Two of four microdiets were prepared by the addition of [¹⁴C]oleic acid as free fatty acid (FFA) to diets containing either 5% cuttlefish liver oil (CLO) or 5% soybean lecithin. Glycerol tri[1-¹⁴C]oleate was similarly incorporated in two other diets identical in lipid (4% cuttlefish liver oil, 1% soybean lecithin) and non-lipid composition but differed in that one contained a supplement of 0.05% porcine lipase. The effect of these diets was tested by following the incorporation of the label (dpm/mg larvae DBW) in the neutral and phospholipid fractions of seabream larvae at four different ages (21, 27, 32 and 45 days after hatching).A significant (p<0.05) effect of dietary lecithin on the incorporation of labelled FFA in both larval neutral and phospholipid fractions was demonstrated at all ages. This was particularly pronounced during early development (day 21) where fish fed the lecithin supplement incorporated 6.75 times more label than the diet containing [¹⁴C]oleic acid in CLO. The dietary lecithin enhancing effect diminished with age but was still significant at day 45 (2.17 times more label). In addition, the label was considerably higher in the phospholipid fraction compared to the neutral lipid, reflecting the high demand for membrane synthesis during rapid growth. Lecithin fed larvae demonstrated a higher consumption rate and efficiency of incorporation than fish consuming the cuttlefish liver oil diet, suggesting an emulsifying function for dietary phospholipid.In contrast, the supplementation with lipase showed a clear effect only in older fish where 45 day old larvae fed the lipase diet demonstrated a 3.42 times increase in radioactivity in their tissue lipids. This late lipase response may be the result of an insufficient level of dietary lecithin (M) and a short intestinal length being ineffective, in the early larval stages, in incorporating labelled free fatty acid from dietary glycerol tri[1-¹⁴C]oleate breakdown.