Serum lipid concentrations in dogs with tail chasing

O bjective : To characterise lipid profile in dogs with tail chasing.
M ethods : Fifteen dogs with tail chasing were included in this study. A behavioural diagnosis was made for each dog on the basis of the dog's behavioural history, clinical signs and results of other medical assessments. None of the dogs had concurrent medical disease that would account for compulsive tail chasing. Blood samples were taken from each dog after a fasting period of 12 to 16 hours to measure total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Fifteen control dogs were also enrolled on the basis of normal physical examination results, complete blood count and serum biochemistry profiles.
R esults : Dogs with tail chasing had significantly higher total cholesterol (P < 0·01), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P<0·05) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P<0·001) compared with control dogs. Very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels did not differ significantly between the groups.
C linical S ignificance : Tail chasing may be associated with serum cholesterol elevations in dogs. High serum cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels may be used as biochemical parameters of compulsive tail chasing in clinical settings.     

Porcine group C rotavirus as a cause of neonatal diarrhea in a Quebec swine herd.

A porcine group C rotavirus was found to be the unique cause of a problem of enzootic neonatal diarrhea in a minimal disease herd composed of 190 sows on a continuous farrowing program. During the outbreaks of diarrhea, 10 to 80% of the litters were affected with a morbidity rate of 100% and case fatality rates of 5 to 10%. Clinical signs began 24 to 48 h after birth and were characterized by a profuse yellow diarrhea lasting a few days. Piglets from different outbreaks of diarrhea were necropsied. They had multifocal villous atrophy in the small intestine, especially in the ileum. Group C rotavirus was demonstrated by direct immunofluorescent staining of frozen intestinal sections and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of viral RNA extracted from the intestinal contents of diarrheic piglets. The infection with clinical illness and lesions was reproduced experimentally in newborn piglets by oral inoculation of a suspension prepared from a pool of intestinal contents from diarrheic piglets.     

Interaction between energy level in the diet and environmental temperature on the utilization of energy in growing pigs

Thirty-two pigs weighing approximately 50 kg were maintained in respiration chambers to measure their heat production and the partition of energy retention between protein and fat deposition at two environmental temperatures (23 and 13 C) and with two energy levels in the diet: 3.39 (HE) and 2.92 (LE) Mcal ME/kg. From energy balance data, maintenance requirements (MEm) and the efficiency (k) of energy (ME) utilization for energy deposition were calculated for each treatment. For both diets, MEm averaged 122 kcal ME/kg.75 at 23 C, the rate of increase of MEm being 3.7 kcal ME/kg.75 for each 1 C decrease in the environmental temperature. At 23 C, k was higher with the HE diet (.81 vs .55) and similar for both diets (.78) at 13 C. At comparable ME intakes, heat production was higher with the LE diet at 23 C, and the rate of increase of heat production between 23 and 13 C was lower with the LE diet (1 kcal/kg.75) than with the HE diet (3 kcal/kg.75), resulting in similar heat production at 13 C for both diets. This resulted in an interaction (P less than .01) between temperature and diet on heat production. Protein retention was lower (P less than .01) at 13 C but unaffected by diet at both temperatures. This resulted in an interaction (P less than .01) between temperature and diet on fat retention. Consequently, energy of LE and HE diets was similarly utilized at 13 C, while at 23 C, the HE diet was better utilized. The comparison between these results and those obtained in growth experiments is discussed.     

Neutrophilic nodules in the intestinal walls of Japanese monkeys associated with the neutrophil chemotactic activity of larval extracts and secretions of Oesophagostomum aculeatum

High neutrophil chemotactic activity was detected in the culture medium from Oesophagostomum aculeatum larvae in vitro using blind-well chambers with Millipore filters, and guinea pig leucocytes as indicator cells. Neutrophil chemotactic activity was also detected in the extract from larval worms in a dose dependent fashion. This activity was detected in the low molecular weight fractions adjacent to a sodium chloride marker by gel filtration on Sephadex G200. These results were further confirmed with monkey neutrophils. The possible role of this activity in the formation of granulomatous lesions rich in neutrophils found in O aculeatum infections in the Japanese monkey is discussed.