Pyogenic meningitis and trigeminal neuritis secondary to periodontogenic paranasal sinusitis in a red deer (Cervus elaphus)

An adult female red deer died of a severe seizure and dysbasia. Postmortem computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed. On CT, deciduous right maxillary second and third premolar teeth were observed, and the right infraorbital canal was disrupted. MRI showed that the right trigeminal nerve was enlarged and the right subarachnoid cavity was occupied by fluid and gas. On gross examination, the right paranasal sinus, swollen muscles of the orbit and tonsils, right trigeminal nerve, and right cerebrum surface contained a yellowish-white, cheese-like pus. Based on these findings, the deer was believed to have developed pyogenic meningitis caused by a neuropathic infection secondary to periodontogenic paranasal sinusitis.     

Effect of live food transition time on survival,growth and metamorphosis of yellowtail clownfish, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Amphiprion clarkii</Emphasis>, larvae

Amphiprion clarkii, a popular marine ornamental fish, despite having an already established reproduction technology, still presents divergences regarding the feeding protocol used for its larviculture in what concerns the ideal day of transition from rotifers to Artemia. This study aimed to determine the optimum time to start supplying Artemia to larvae. Survival, growth, weight gain and metamorphosis of treatments: (T2) start of Artemia supply at the 2nd day after hatching (DAH); (T4) start at the 4th DAH; and (T6) start at the 6th DAH were evaluated. Survival rates ranged from 60 to 66 %. Fish in T2 had a number of metamorphosed fish statistically higher than T6 and began to metamorphose 1 day sooner than other treatments. The positive results obtained for T2 can be related to the premature ability of this species to capture large live food, which can provide many benefits to the larvae. It is concluded that it is possible to offer Artemia nauplii to yellowtail clownfish at 2 DAH.     

Immunosuppression in dogs by pretransfusions with ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated whole blood.

Ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated whole dog blood prevented the initiation of proliferative responses in allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLR). When dogs were given 4 weekly intravenous transfusions of UV-irradiated allogeneic donor whole blood, peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of the recipients responded less significantly to donor PBL in MLR for over one week after the final transfusion. Red blood cell (RBC)-crossmatching of these dogs was negative. Dogs treated with UV-irradiated blood did not produce anti-donor PBL antibody, or IgG, IgM and C3 determined by the indirect Coombs test. These dogs also had negligible delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses to donor PBL at the end of the treatment period, recognized as slightly suppression of skin graft rejection. In contrast, six dogs receiving injections of untreated allogeneic whole blood evidenced high proliferation in MLR, agglutination in RBC-crossmatching, acute rejection of skin grafts and three of them produced C3 in the Coombs test.     

Sleep and lying behavior of milking Holstein cows at commercial tie‐stall dairy farms

The aim of this study was to clarify cow's sleep behavior on farm and to examine the influence of some environment and management factors on cow's sleep. Total 85 behavior data (summer 41, autumn 44) were corrected from 12 commercial tie‐stall dairy farm in northern Tohoku area. Daily duration, bout frequency, and averaged bout duration of sleep and lying were measured. Even though there was no significant difference in any lying measurements, daily duration, bout frequency, and averaged bout duration of sleep was significantly different among farms (p < 0.01, p < 0.01, and p < 0.05, respectively). However, we could not find that any managements influence on sleep. There was significant seasonal difference in daily sleep duration (p < 0.01) and sleep bout frequency (p < 0.05). On the other hand, daily lying duration and averaged lying bout duration were significantly different between seasons (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). Primiparous cows slept longer and more frequent than multiparous (both p < 0.001). Milk solid‐non‐fat content was positively correlated with daily sleep duration (p < 0.05) and bout frequency (p < 0.01). These results might imply the productive importance of sleep related with anabolic hormones release.     

The use of accelerometer to measure sleeping posture of beef cows

Sleep is one of the essential behaviors for mammals. The aims of this study were to validate the use of accelerometer for measuring sleeping posture of cattle. Duration of sleeping posture of seven Japanese Black cows from 19.00 to 07.00 hours was measured by both accelerometer and video, and a total of 67 accelerometer and video measurement sets were collected. We calculated Cohen's κ coefficient between accelerometer and video measurements and 91.5% of the κ‐values were >0.80. Intra‐ and inter‐observer coefficient of variance showed that specific acceleration waveform patterns of sleeping posture could be easily and accurately detected by independent observers. There were no significant differences in the frequency of sleeping posture occurrences between accelerometer and video measurements. We compared averaged sleeping posture bout, and the total sleeping posture time between accelerometer and video measurements using regression. In each trait, the slope was close to 1 and the intercept was not different from 0, which showed a strong agreement between accelerometer and video measurements. This shows that an accelerometer could accurately detect sleeping postures of cattle. We conclude that adequate measurements of sleeping postures can be made using an accelerometer.     

Inheritance of low pasting temperature in sweetpotato starch and the dosage effect of wild-type alleles

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.), which is an outcrossing hexaploid, is one of the most important starch-producing crops in the world. During the last decade, new sweetpotato cultivars, e.g. ‘Quick Sweet’, which have approximately 20°C lower pasting temperature, slower retrogradation and higher digestibility of raw starch than ordinary cultivars, have been developed in Japan. Genetic analysis of these variants with low pasting temperature starch was conducted in this study. Using 8 variants and 15 normal clones, 26 families were generated. The results from analyzing these progenies suggested that this trait is a qualitative character controlled by one recessive allele (designated spt), which is inherited in a hexasomic manner. A dosage effect of the wild-type Spt allele was found for starch pasting temperature, although the effect was not linear. These results will aid breeders to develop sweetpotato cultivars with a range of starch pasting temperatures.     

An outbreak of canine distemper virus in tigers (Panthera tigris): possible transmission from wild animals to zoo animals

Canine distemper virus (CDV), a morbillivirus that causes one of the most contagious and lethal viral diseases known in canids, has an expanding host range, including wild animals. Since December 2009, several dead or dying wild raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) were found in and around one safari-style zoo in Japan, and CDV was isolated from four of these animals. In the subsequent months (January to February 2010), 12 tigers (Panthera tigris) in the zoo developed respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, and CDV RNA was detected in fecal samples of the examined tigers. In March 2010, one of the tigers developed a neurological disorder and died; CDV was isolated from the lung of this animal. Sequence analysis of the complete hemagglutinin (H) gene and the signal peptide region of the fusion (F) gene showed high homology among these isolates (99.8-100%), indicating that CDV might have been transmitted from raccoon dog to tiger. In addition, these isolates belonged to genotype Asia-1 and had lower homology (<90%) to the vaccine strain (Onderstepoort). Seropositivity of lions (Panthera leo) in the zoo and wild bears (Ursus thibetanus) captured around this area supported the theory that a CDV epidemic had occurred in many mammal species in and around the zoo. These results indicate a risk of CDV transmission among many animal species, including large felids and endangered species.     

Dual-subtype vaccine (Fel-O-Vax FIV) protects cats against contact challenge with heterologous subtype B FIV infected cats

Fel-O-Vax FIV is a dual-subtype vaccine consisting of inactivated whole viruses of subtype A (Petaluma strain) and subtype D (Shizuoka strain). The efficacy of this vaccine against heterologous subtype A strain challenge was demonstrated, but it is unclear whether the result reflects efficacy in the field. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of this vaccine against contact challenge by exposing both vaccinated and unvaccinated control animals with cats infected with Aomori-2 strain belonging to subtype B, a subtype prevalent in many regions of the world. Nineteen specific-pathogen-free (SPF) cats were divided into a vaccinated group (six cats), an unvaccinated control group (eight cats), and a challenge group (five cats), and maintained in the same room. Cats were monitored for FIV proviral DNA by nested PCR and for FIV-specific antibody levels by ELISA. After 1 year of commingling, each cat in the vaccinated group was given a booster dose. In addition, the original challenge group was removed and replaced with another challenge group of SPF cats, which were inoculated with the Aomori-2 strain. FIV infection was confirmed in four of the eight animals in the unvaccinated control group by the 29th week in the second year of commingling. In contrast, all of the animals were negative in the vaccinated group. These findings confirmed the efficacy of this vaccine against heterologous stains classified as subtype B, and suggested that the vaccine exhibits broad efficacy against genetically diverse FIV.