Peripartum back fat thickness of multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows with displacement of the abomasum or ketosis

To establish a method to predict postpartum diseases using prepartum back fat thickness (BFT), the peripartum BFTs of 54 healthy multiparous cows before calving, which were diagnosed with postpartum displacement of the abomasum (DA), clinical ketosis or subclinical ketosis were compared with those of healthy cows from 8 weeks before the expected calving date to 8 weeks after calving. The peripartum BFTs of the cows with DA or clinical ketosis were significantly higher than those of healthy cows. The peripartum BFTs of the cows with subclinical ketosis were not significantly higher than those of the healthy cows.     

Renal collecting duct carcinoma in a dog

An 8-year-old, male, mongrel dog developed severe cough and anorexia and died within 3 months. Autopsy revealed an invasive grayish-white mass in the right kidney and multiple nodules in the lungs, thoracic wall, and spleen. Histologically, the renal mass and the other nodules were mainly composed of papillotubular structures lined by oval-to-polygonal pleomorphic cells. The cells were reactive with DBA, PNA, and UEA-1 lectins and positive for vimentin but negative for CD10 and high molecular weight cytokeratin. Because of its histological, histochemical, and immunohistochemical similarities with human collecting duct carcinoma (CDC), a diagnosis of renal collecting duct carcinoma with pulmonary, thoracic, and splenic metastases was established. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of CDC in animals.     

Economic evaluation of artificial insemination of sex‐sorted semen on a Brown Swiss dairy farm—A case study

Artificial insemination using sex‐sorted semen is employed to efficiently increase the number of female dairy calves born. Previous studies have determined that using sex‐sorted semen is beneficial to improve the management, but the mechanism by which it increases cattle numbers through objective indices of breeding remains unclear. This study focused on a Brown Swiss cattle herd in which frozen female sex‐sorted semen was systematically employed to increase the number of cattle. We analyzed the correlation between the increase in the number of cattle and the screening accuracy of sex‐sorted semen, measuring indices such as pregnancy rate and birth rate of female calves. Study revealed that: (1) production cost for female calves is influenced by the pregnancy rate, rate of female calves, and using sex‐sorted semen is less expensive than using nonsorted semen; (2) improvements in screening accuracy nearly doubled the number of cows and tripled the number of heifers in 5 years; and (3) use of sex‐sorted semen improved milk quality. The pregnancy rate was lower when sex‐sorted semen was used, but the birth rate of heifers was improved. Results suggest that artificial insemination using sex‐sorted semen is beneficial because it economically produces offspring to increase the herd.     

Nationwide surveillance of salmonella in the faeces of pigs in Japan

The prevalence of faecal carriage of salmonella in 5393 pigs reared on 218 pig farms located in 31 of 47 prefectures in Japan over the period July 2003 to June 2005 was investigated. We isolated 172 strains belonging to 20 serovars and one untypable Salmonella enterica from 169 pig faecal samples (3.1%) collected from 48 farms (22.0%). The most prevalent type of S. enterica was untypable O4,12:d:- which lacks phase 2 flagellar antigen, representing 29.1% (50/172) of all isolates. Of 26 S. enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates, 16 strains appeared to be definitive phage type 104 (DT104) by polymerase chain reaction.     

Validation and standardization of virus neutralizing test using indirect immunoperoxidase technique for the quantification of antibodies to rabies virus

A virus neutralizing test using an indirect immunoperoxidase technique (VNT-IIP) for rabies has been developed for the titration of dog and cat serum samples in Japan. The VNT-IIP has the advantage that results obtained can be viewed by the naked eye. The purpose of this study was to validate the VNT-IIP and compare it with one of the international standard methods, the fluorescent antibody virus neutralization test (FAVNT). The VNT-IIP showed satisfactory repeatability, high analytical specificity and good accuracy. Regarding the comparison between the VNT-IIP and the FAVNT, the VNT-IIP showed good agreement (91.9%), high sensitivity (92.8%) as well as specificity (87.0%) and good correlation (r = 0.92). As described above, the validation of the VNT-IIP was satisfactory and the performances of the test proved to be equivalent to those of an international standard method.     

Paired box 7 inhibits differentiation in 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes

Myogenesis is precisely proceeded by myogenic regulatory factors. Myogenic stem cells are activated, proliferated and fused into a multinuclear myofiber. Pax7, paired box 7, one of the earliest markers during myogenesis. It has been reported that Pax7 regulates the muscle marker genes, Myf5 and MyoD toward differentiation. The possible roles of Pax7 in myogenic cells have been well researched. However, it has not yet been clarified if Pax7 itself is able to induce myogenic fate in nonmyogenic lineage cells. In this study, we performed experiments using stably expressed Pax7 in 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes to elucidate if Pax7 inhibits adipogenesis. We found that Pax7 represses adipogenic markers and prevents differentiation. These cells showed decreased expression of PDGFRα, PPARγ and Fabp4 and inhibited forming lipid droplets.     

Induction of antibodies in mice by a recombinant baculovirus expressing pseudorabies virus glycoprotein B in mammalian cells.

The glycoprotein gB of pseudorabies virus (PrV) was expressed in various mammalian cells by a recombinant baculovirus carrying the PrV gB gene under the control of the CAG promoter. When the recombinant baculovirus was inoculated into the stable porcine kidney cell line CPK, expression of PrV gB was detected by immunofluorescent antibody analysis and a 155 kDa of protein, which has the same molecular mass as the native PrV gB, was detected by Western blotting. High levels of expression of PrV gB were observed in BHK-21, HmLu-1 and SK-H cell lines. Furthermore, anti-PrV gB-specific antibodies against PrV gB protein were detected by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in mice inoculated the recombinant baculovirus. The recombinant baculovirus containing the PrV glycoprotein gB gene under the CAG promoter could be a candidate for a pseudorabies vaccine.     

Detection of cathepsin L in red cell membranes from fish blood

Cathepsin L, one of the cysteine proteases found in fish muscle, is considered to be the main cause of post-mortem autolysis of fish muscle. We have determined the presence of cathepsin L in the membranes of red blood cells of carp, amberjack, and red sea bream and measured its activity. Immunoblotting of an extract of the red blood cell membranes from these three fish species using human anti-cathepsin L antibody revealed the presence of cathepsin L of different molecular masses. The molecular masses of cathepsin L was estimated to be 120 and 85 kDa in the amberjack and 75 and 70 kDa in the carp. These proteins have higher molecular masses than the mature form of cathepsin L, suggesting that they are precursor forms. In contrast, the protein in the red sea bream was estimated to have a molecular mass of 30 kDa, suggesting that this cathepsin L is a mature form. The specific activity of cathepsin L was highest in the red blood cell membranes of the amberjack, followed by the carp and the red sea bream in descending order.     

Characterisation of starch properties and physical characteristics in buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.) mutant lacking accumulation of ‘granule-bound starch synthase a’

The concentration of amylose, which is synthesised using granule-bound starch synthase, affects the physical properties of food. However, no studies have focused on starch properties and physical characteristics of low-amylose buckwheat. Here, we hypothesised that low-amylose buckwheat would be useful to produce new buckwheat products because low-amylose characteristics change the texture of buckwheat food. In this study, we bred relatively low-amylose buckwheat compared to wild type and investigated the causative genes of the traits, starch properties and physical properties of noodles. In the GBSSa mutant, the amylose concentration was lower than that in the wild type. Compared with the wild type, the mutant exhibited the following traits: Amylose concentration decreased by approximately 2%, setback in the Rapid Visco Analyzer decreased by 30 points and the physical characteristics of noodles in the sensory analysis were soft and sticky. These results suggest that this trait may be useful for changing the texture of foods. In addition, the mutant is promising for producing new foods with physical characteristics that are different from those of the wild type.