BILATERAL ELBOW MALFORMATION IN A CAT CAUSED BY RADIO-ULNAR SYNOSTOSIS

A 9-month-old neutered male cat was referred because of left forelimb lameness. Physical examination, laboratory analysis, and radiographic examination of the entire skeleton were performed. The radiographic diagnosis was bilateral radio-ulnar synostosis with secondary elbow malformation. A comparison between clinical and radiographic findings of the cat and those described in children affected by radio-ulnar synostosis is reported. Correlations and differences are discussed.     

An epizootic of blindness and encephalitis associated with a herpesvirus indistinguishable from equine herpesvirus I in a herd of alpacas and llamas

Blindness characterized by dilated unresponsive pupils and funduscopic evidence of varying degrees of vitritis, retinal vasculitis, retinitis, chorioretinitis, and optic neuritis developed in 21 alpacas and 1 llama within a 30-day period. The animals were part of a group of approximately 100 animals imported from Chile one year earlier. The animals had spent 6 months in quarantine and then, for the 6 months preceding the epizootic, were housed at an exotic animal import-export farm, where the disease developed. Four of the affected animals also had signs of neurologic dysfunction. A herpesvirus indistinguishable from equine herpesvirus I was isolated from 4 of the affected animals, and antibody titers diagnostic for equine herpesvirus I were demonstrated in the serum of all but one of the affected animals.     

Emergency avian surgery.

Avian surgery is an exercise of preparedness; this statement is never so true as in emergency and critical care situations. The techniques used in avian surgery are significantly different from those used in larger species and require microsurgical techniques. Before initiating a surgical procedure, the patient must be evaluated and, in many cases, prepared or preconditioned. Rarely is surgery such an emergency that the prognosis would not be improved by readying the patient. Techniques of tissue handling, approaches to the coelomic cavities and a select number of surgical procedures are described.     

Maldronksiekte in cattle: a neuronopathy caused by Solanum kwebense N.E. Br.

A neurological disease of cattle (maldronksiekte), occurring in a localized area of the Northern Transvaal, was experimentally reproduced by feeding Solanum kwebense plants to cattle. The disease is characterized by temporary loss of balance and transient epileptiform seizures precipitated by a variety of stimuli, such as exercise, handling (dipping, loading, etc) and fright. When not disturbed, most affected animals appear to be completely normal. The most conspicuous histopathological lesion is a neuronopathy manifested by vacuolar degeneration and eventual necrosis of neurones, particularly of the Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. An atrophy of the cerebellar cortex is seen grossly. The history, clinical signs and experimental reproduction of the disease, as well as the pathology of 4 experimental and 18 natural cases, are described.     

Pathology of cutaneous trombidiosis caused by larval trombiculid mites in a wild Lesueur's tree frog (Litoria wilcoxii)

Cutaneous trombidiosis caused by larvae of trombiculid mites (Vercammenia gloriosa and V. zweifelorum) in the skin of a wild tree frog, Litoria wilcoxii, in northern Queensland, Australia manifested as small, domed vesicular lesions on the dorsal and lateral surfaces posterior to the eyes. The lesions contained small, orange trombiculid mites, with a surrounding minimal inflammatory reaction. The general health and behaviour of the frog appeared unaffected. Provisional diagnosis of cutaneous trombidiosis can be made from its distinctive clinical appearance and confirmed by biopsy with direct microscopic examination of mites. This case report represents a new host record.     

Kepler-16: a transiting circumbinary planet

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20 and 69% as massive as the Sun and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5° of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.     

Genetic correlations for daily gain between ram and ewe lambs fed in feedlot conditions and ram lambs fed in Pinpointer units

When performance is recorded in automated facilities that measure feed intake of individual lambs that are penned in a group, such as Pinpointer units, a legitimate question is the degree to which daily gain is genetically correlated with daily gain achieved under feedlot conditions. Lambs were from a composite population (1/2 Columbia, 1/4 Suffolk, and 1/4 Hampshire germplasm) and of the F2 or more advanced generations. Data were daily gains of 1,101 rams (PR) fed in Pinpointer units (11 to 17 wk of age) and 2,021 rams (FR) and 3,513 ewes (FE) fed under feedlot conditions (9- or 10-wk period starting at 9 wk of age). The FR and FE lambs were born from 1983 through 1995, whereas the PR lambs were born from 1986 through 1995. Measurements of daily gain in PR, FR, and FE lambs were considered to represent three correlated traits. Unadjusted means were .411, .406, and .326 kg/d for PR, FR, and FE, respectively. Random effects in the model were animal direct genetic, maternal genetic, and maternal permanent environmental. Fixed effects were associated with age of dam (1 to 6 yr), type of rearing (1 to 4), and contemporary group (test date). Variances due to maternal genetic effects with single-trait analyses were near zero, so those effects were eliminated from the three-trait analysis although a random uncorrelated effect due to dam was included in the model. Estimates of heritability were .22, .14, and .23 for PR, FR, and FE, respectively, with fractions of variance due to dam effects ranging from .02 to .05. Estimates of genetic correlations were .86 for PR with FR, .83 for PR with FE, and 1.00 for FR with FE. Estimated phenotypic variances were similar for PR and FR, but one-third less for FE. The similarity of heritability estimates and estimates of genetic correlations all exceeding .83 suggest that daily gain of rams fed in Pinpointer units will reflect genetic expression for daily gain in both ram and ewe lambs fed under feedlot conditions.