Effects of sodium nitroprusside after load reduction and/or atropine pre-treatment prior to dexmedetomidine administration on cardiovascular variables in dogs

The purpose of this study was to determine the cardiovascular effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP)‐induced after load reduction in dogs administered dexmedetomidine (DEX). Using a randomized crossover design and allowing at least 2 weeks between treatments 12 adult hound dogs of either sex weighing 22 ± 1.7 SD kg were anesthetized by face mask administration of 2.9% ET sevoflurane to facilitate instrumentation prior to administration of treatment drugs. Dogs were intubated and instrumented to enable measurement of heart rate (HR), systolic (SAP), mean (MAP) and diastolic (DAP) arterial pressures, mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), central venous pressure (CVP), pulmonary arterial temperature (TEMP), and cardiac output (CO). Systemic (SVR) and pulmonary vascular resistances were calculated. Following completion of instrumentation dogs were allowed to recover for 40 minutes. After collection of baseline data, dogs were administered one of four treatments at T–10 minutes prior to injection of DEX (500? g M^–2 IM): 1) saline (SAL); 2) atropine (ATR, 0.02 [n = 6] or 0.04 [n = 6] mg kg^–1 IM); 3) SAL + SNP (infused at 1–10 ?g kg^–1 minute^–1, IV as needed to maintain MAP between 90–110 mm Hg; or 4) ATR + SNP. Cardiovascular data were collected at T‐20 minutes prior to administration of DEX, T‐5 and at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 minutes following DEX. Data were analyzed using anova for repeated measures with post hoc differences between means identified using Bonferroni's method (p < 0.05). Differences in ATR dose were not found to be significant and thus results for ATR dose groups were pooled. Administration of SAL (dexmedetomidine alone) was associated with decreases in HR and CO and increases in SAP, MAP, DAP, CVP, and SVR. Administration of ATR was associated with an increase in HR and CO compared with SAL. Administration of SNP was associated with an increase in HR and CO and a decrease in SVR, MAP and CVP compared with SAL. Administration of SNP + ATR was associated with effects similar to that of SNP or ATR alone and resulted in an additive increase in CO. We conclude that SNP‐induced afterload reduction with or without atropine is effective in mitigating DEX‐induced impairment of cardiovascular function.     

Are the Australian poultry industries vulnerable to large outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza?

Objective   To describe the structure of the Australian poultry industry and discuss the potential for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to spread between Australian poultry farms.
Procedure   High densities of poultry farms, frequent contacts between farms by service providers, the supply of live poultry markets (LPM) and the presence of free-range duck flocks in affected regions have been identified as risk factors for the spread of HPAI between flocks in outbreaks causing the death or destruction of over 1 million poultry overseas. Data on 1,594 commercial Australian chicken meat, chicken egg, duck and turkey farms were collected by a telephone questionnaire of farm managers to assess the risk of a HPAI outbreak in Australia.
Results and Discussion   Five regions of Australia had farm densities comparable to overseas regions that experienced widespread HPAI. Common service providers routinely contacted different classes and types of farms over wide geographic areas. However, no responding farms supplied LPM and the majority of duck farms did not produce free-range ducks.
Conclusion   Outbreaks of HPAI have the potential to cause serious impacts on the Australian poultry industry. The risk posted by LPM and free-range ducks is limited, but the movement of genetic stock and common service providers could spread infection between companies, industries or geographical regions. Biosecurity measures are therefore considered critical to limit the secondary spread of infection should an outbreak occur.     

几种生长调节剂对四翅滨藜全光喷雾扦插效果的影响

四翅滨藜全光照喷雾嫩枝扦插试验结果表明:采用NAA、ABT 2号生根粉、IBA等3种外源植物生长调节剂处理插条2 h,对插条具有良好的促根作用,其中100 mg/L NAA为最好,生根率可达到93.6%;100 mg/LABT2号生根粉和100 mg/L IBA次之,生根率分别可以达到92.6%,92.3%.     

三株芽孢杆菌抑菌活性分析及对肉鸡舍空气微生物的影响

【目的】分析2株解淀粉芽孢杆菌（Bacillus amyloliquefaciens）和1株苏云金芽孢杆菌（Bacillus thuringiensis）的基本特性以及对大肠埃希氏菌（Escherichia.coli,CVCC1570）的抑制活性;分析3株芽孢杆菌复合制剂对肉鸡舍空气大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的抑制作用,为改善畜舍环境提供基础数据。【方法】对3株芽孢杆菌进行形态学观察、镜检和生长曲线测定,以大肠埃希氏菌（CVCC1570）为指示菌株,采用琼脂扩散法对单一菌株的抑菌特性进行测定,筛选出适宜的抑菌浓度;利用三因子三水平的正交试验设计,筛选出最佳抑菌效果的复合芽孢杆菌组合;鸡舍喷洒试验采用单因子设计,分为3个处理组,每个处理设3个重复,分别为空白对照组,化学消毒剂阳性对照组（苯扎氯铵）,喷洒复合芽孢杆菌菌剂处理组。在肉鸡不同日龄检测鸡舍内大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的变化规律。【结果】3株芽孢杆菌为革兰氏阳性需氧菌。芽孢杆菌SKN01和芽孢杆菌SKN02生长曲线相近,在培养2h开始进入对数生长期。芽孢杆菌SKN03生长较缓慢,进入对数生长期的时间相对较长。单一菌株对大肠埃希氏菌有效抑菌浓度均为108CFU•mL-1。经正交试验测定,3株芽孢杆菌复合菌液最佳抑菌组合为4×108 CFU•mL-1、4×108 CFU•mL-1、6×108 CFU•mL-1。最佳组合复合芽孢杆菌喷洒鸡舍,能够有效抑制大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的生长,在肉鸡生长后期复合制剂的抑菌效果明显。【结论】3株芽孢杆菌能够有效抑制大肠埃希氏菌,同时复合菌液能够有效减少鸡舍有害微生物的数量,起到改善鸡舍环境的作用。     

金霉素与赖氨酸和蛋氨酸交互作用研究

采用3×2×2因子饲养试验和2×2×2因子代谢试验,研究金霉素与赖氨酸和蛋氨酸的交互作用对肉仔鸡生产性能的影响,及金霉素对两种氨基酸代谢的影响。金霉素在饲料中添加150 mg/kg时,对0-3周肉仔鸡具有显著的促生长作用（P<0.01）;并显著提高肉仔鸡的饲料采食量和饲料转化率（P<0.01）,促进氮沉积（P<0.01）。对4-6周肉仔鸡的生产性能无显著影响（P>0.05）;金霉素、赖氨酸和蛋氨酸存在显著的互作关系（P<0.05）。金霉素的促生长效果受饲料中赖氨酸和蛋氨酸含量的影响,当日粮中赖氨酸水平为1.3％,蛋氨酸水平为0.6％时,肉仔鸡的生长性能最高。金霉素对赖氨酸的利用率没有显著影响（P>0.05）,对蛋氨酸和胱氨酸的表观利用率具有显著抑制作用（P<0.05）。研究结果表明持续低剂量金霉素与蛋氨酸和赖氨酸具有交互作用,这种互作关系影响彼此对肉仔鸡生产性能的作用效果,金霉素具有提高肉仔鸡赖氨酸需要量的作用。     

芦荟对肉仔鸡生长性能和免疫功能的影响

将360只1日龄雄性AA肉仔鸡随机分成6个组,每组设6个重复,每个重复10只.Ⅰ组为空白对照组,饲喂基础日粮,Ⅱ-Ⅵ组分别在基础日粮中添加600 mg.kg-1芦荟粉、600 mg.kg-1芦荟水提取物、600 mg.kg-1芦荟醇提取物、600mg.kg-1芦荟水提取物+600 mg.kg-1芦荟醇提取物和150 mg.kg-1金霉素.结果表明:Ⅲ组3、6周鸡的体增重均显著高于Ⅰ组(P<0.05);Ⅲ-Ⅳ组的料肉比与Ⅰ组比较均极显著降低(P<0.01),Ⅲ组与Ⅵ组比较显著降低(P<0.05);Ⅱ-Ⅴ组3周鸡的脾脏指数与Ⅰ组相比,差异均显著提高(P<0.05);Ⅲ组3周鸡的胸腺指数显著高于Ⅰ组(P<0.05);Ⅱ-Ⅴ组3周鸡的自然杀伤细胞的杀伤活性均极显著高于Ⅰ组(P<0.01),Ⅱ-Ⅴ组6周鸡均极显著高于Ⅰ、Ⅵ组(P<0.01).可见芦荟粉、水提取物、醇提取物和提取物混合组均能提高肉仔鸡的生产性能和免疫功能,其中水提取物组的效果最佳.     

Determination of reference intervals for metabolic profile of Hanwoo cows at early,middle and late gestation periods

Background

Metabolic profile was initially designed as a presymptomatic diagnostic aid based on statistical analyses of blood metabolites to provide an early warning of certain types of metabolic disorder. However, there is little metabolic profile data available about Korean Hanwoo cows. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the reference intervals of metabolic profile for Korean Hanwoo cows.

Methods

Healthy animals (2,205) were selected and divided into early (day 1 to 95), middle (day 96 to 190) and late (day 191 to 285) period according to their gestating period. Metabolic profile including total protein (TP), albumin (Alb), urea (UREA), glucose (Glu), total cholesterol (T-Cho), long-chain fatty acid (LCFA), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), creatinine (Crea), calcium (Ca), inorganic phosphorous (iP) and magnesium (Mg) were analyzed using a TBA-40FR automatic biochemical analyzer. The data of Korean Hanwoo cows were then compared to those of the Japanese Wagyu cows.

Results

Most of the data of the Korean Hanwoo cows were relatively higher than those of Japanese Wagyu cows, with the exception of Glu and GGT. This may indicate that the nutritional level of feed for the Korean Hanwoo cows was higher than that of the Japanese Wagyu cows because of the different feeding system. In particular, relatively higher levels of UREA and LCFA were observed in the Korean Hanwoo cows, and this may also contribute to the low reproduction efficiency.

Conclusions

These findings may provide some theoretical basis for understanding the reproductive and feeding situation of Korean Hanwoo cows.     

Risk factors influencing death prior to discharge in 302 dogs undergoing unilateral adrenalectomy for treatment of primary adrenal gland tumours

Adrenalectomies for canine adrenal tumours are associated with peri-operative morbidity and mortality. Objectives of this study included assessing the prognostic value of tumour- or surgery-related variables in predicting peri-operative mortality and overall survival in dogs undergoing adrenalectomies for primary adrenal tumours as well as pre-treatment with phenoxybenzamine on survival to discharge with pheochromocytomas specifically. A multi-institutional retrospective cohort study was performed across nine institutions. Electronic medical record searches identified 302 dogs which met the inclusion criteria. Data collected included dog-related, tumour-related, treatment-related, surgery-related, and outcome variables. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression and cox proportional hazards models were used to identify variables associated with death prior to discharge and tumour-related survival. Overall, 87% of dogs survived to discharge with a tumour-related survival time of 3.96 years. Post-operative complications were reported in 25%. Increased surgical time (p = 0.002) and pre-surgical medical treatment other than phenoxybenzamine (p = 0.024) were significantly associated with increased peri-operative mortality while ureteronephrectomy (p = 0.021), post-operative pancreatitis (p = 0.025), and post-operative aspiration pneumonia (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with decreased overall survival. Phenoxybenzamine pretreatment had no effect on peri-operative mortality. Thirty-seven of 45 (82%) dogs with pheochromocytomas not pretreated survived to discharge, and 50 of 59 (85%) dogs with pheochromocytomas pretreated with phenoxybenzamine survived to discharge (p = 0.730). This study provides information on risk factors for death prior to discharge and tumour-related survival that may help guide clinical management and owner expectations. In addition, the study findings challenge the previously reported benefit of phenoxybenzamine for pretreatment of dogs undergoing adrenalectomies for pheochromocytomas.