Simulation model of within-herd transmission of bovine tuberculosis in Argentine dairy herds

Transmission of bovine tuberculosis was quantified in three dairy herds located in south Santa Fe Province, Argentina. Using estimates of Mycobacterium bovis transmission (β) and a Reed–Frost simulation model, the prevalence of tuberculosis infection in the study herds over time was investigated. The Reed–Frost model was modified by incorporating randomness in both β and the incubation period () of M. bovis. The mean estimated herd β was 2.2 infective contacts per year and did not differ significantly between the study herds. Modeling as Poisson distributed (mean 24 months) best fit the observed prevalences. Infection was predicted by the model either to spread quickly (<10 years) within a herd and reach a high prevalence (>50%), or to persist at a low prevalence (<5–10%). The model was robust, predictions were realistic and the mean β estimated was consistent with previous studies of bovine tuberculosis.     

Genotyping of Mycobacterium bovis by geographic location within Mexico

The spacer oligonucleotide typing (spoligotyping) method was used to differentiate 62 Mycobacterium bovis isolates obtained from tissues with macroscopic lesions typical of tuberculosis in dairy cattle from different regions of Mexico. Our purpose was to see if a strain from one region was genetically different from those of other regions (with the long-term aim of doing molecular trace back of isolates obtained in the laboratory). Results from the genetic analysis indicate that M. bovis isolates cannot be grouped by geographic location due to a wide range of genetic types involved in dairy cattle infections. Isolates even from the same herd showed different spoligotypes but some isolates from different region had similar genetic patterns. Genetic typing without epidemiologic information does not seem to be a plausible method to trace back animals to source of origin to detect and eliminate sources of infection.     

Natural transplacental infection of dairy calves with bovine immunodeficiency virus and estimation of effect on neonatal health

Many experimental infection studies with bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) have been conducted, but neither virus transmission under natural conditions nor longitudinal clinical effects of naturally occurring infections in non-experimental populations are well explored. We tested the hypotheses that BIV is transmitted across the placenta during gestation and that intragestionally infected calves are at increased risk of neonatal disease. A cohort of 59 dairy cows on one farm were enrolled at parturition and the BIV serostatus of the cows and their pre-colostral calves determined with an indirect fluorescent-antibody assay. Moreover, the enrolled calves were monitored thrice weekly for specific clinical signs through the duration of the 30 day neonatal period and the occurrence of clinical signs analyzed for association with calf pre-colostral BIV serostatus and dam BIV serostatus. Confounding due to calf passive immunity and season of birth were also explored. Forty percent of seropositive cows (14/35) gave birth to seropositive calves but no seropositive calves (0/19) were born to seronegative dams (estimated relative risk 16, 95% exact confidence interval 2.6–5.8×10²⁹). Calf pre-colostral BIV serostatus was not associated with the occurrence or frequency of clinical signs — but dam BIV serostatus was associated with the odds of occurrence of calf hyperthermia and with the frequency of occurrence of calf hyperthermia and hyperventilatory events. This study is inconclusive about the effects of prenatal BIV infection on neonatal health — but it does provide evidence for the natural occurrence of transplacental BIV infection.     

Study on the association of BoLA-DRB3.2 alleles with clinical mastitis in Norwegian Red cows

Genotyping of bovine leucocyte antigen DRB3.2 (BoLA-DRB3.2) in a total of 523 Norwegian Red (NR) cows from two groups selected for high protein yield and low clinical mastitis, respectively, identified 27 previously reported BoLA-DRB3.2 alleles across the groups. Significant differences in BoLA-DRB3.2 allele frequencies were found between the selection groups. Alleles *13, *18, *22 and *27 had a significantly higher frequency in cows selected for low clinical mastitis, while alleles *3, *9, *11 and *26 had a higher frequency in cows selected for high protein yield. Associations between BoLA-DRB3.2 alleles and clinical mastitis were analysed based on mastitis data from 741,072 first-lactation NR cows, of which 452 were genotyped. Alleles *22 and *26 were found to be associated with increased clinical mastitis, while alleles *7, *11, *18 and *24 had a favourable effect on mastitis resistance. Contradictory results from different studies investigating associations between BoLA-DRB3.2 alleles and mastitis indicate that future studies should focus on associations of mastitis with BoLA haplotypes rather than with single BoLA genes.     

牛流行热病的诊疗

本文通过某公牛站4次流行热病的发病情况、临床症状、预防治疗及笔者的体会,对牛流行热病的预防和治疗提供参考。     

牛病毒性腹泻病毒持续感染的免疫学研究进展

牛病毒性腹泻病毒(BVDV)是危害养牛业的重要病原之一。BVDV感染能够引起广泛的临床症状,包括牛病毒性腹泻-黏膜病、持续感染、免疫耐受、繁殖障碍、血小板减少与出血综合征等。由于其病原的复杂性,给该病的控制及疫苗研制带来了一定的困难。近年来,对其免疫学的研究取得了一定进展,特别是在病原的基本免疫学特征、体液免疫、细胞免疫、免疫耐受和免疫调节方面做了深入研究,同时也在参与免疫应答的细胞因子方面做了研究,这些都为牛病毒性腹泻-黏膜病的预防和控制研究提供了新的思路。     

牛、羊卵母细胞孤雌激活的研究

本试验主要比较了离子霉素、电脉冲两种方法激活牛、羊体外成熟卵母细胞的效率。两种激活方法中。牛胚胎卵裂率无显著差异（90．61％对94．40％，P〉0．05），而离子霉素激活胚胎的囊胚发育率极显著高于电激活方法（12．3％对2．4％，P〈0．01）。两种方法对羊胚胎的研究中，羊胚胎卵裂率无显著差异（72．4％对77．4％，P〉0．05）。但是离子霉素激活胚胎的囊胚发育率显著高于电激活方法（3．67％对10．40％，P〈0．05）。本试验中还比较了用化学激活法（离子霉素）激活牛体外成熟卵母细胞后，用SOFaa体系培养，换液与不换液对孤雌激活胚胎体外发育的影响。结果表明：在第4天不换液的胚胎卵裂率和囊胚率极显著高于换液的胚胎（11．64％对3．49％。P〈0．01）。     

牛卵母细胞体外成熟培养研究进展

作为胚胎生物工程技术研究的基础之一的牛卵母细胞体外成熟培养技术自上世纪30年代起至今,许多科学研究人员在牛卵母细胞体外生长、发育领域做了大量工作,对牛卵母细胞培养条件进行了广泛而深入地研究,并取得了较大的进展,目前牛卵母细胞体外成熟培养技术体系已建立,但在卵母细胞成熟机理、成熟调控方面尚存在许多尚未阐明的问题和一些亟待解决的问题。本文从卵母细胞的来源、卵母细胞体外培养条件、培养液的完善及卵母细胞成熟判定方法等方面详尽介绍了当前牛卵母细胞体外培养技术的研究进展。     

牛病毒性腹泻病毒及其进化研究进展

牛病毒性腹泻病毒（Bovine viral diarrhoea virus，BVDV）在我国发现有20多年，而在世界范珏来讲已有近100年的历史。由于牛病毒性腹泻病毒造成奶牛生产性能下降、繁殖障碍、持续感染等，是导劐集约化奶牛场严重亏损的重要原因。且牛病毒性腹泻导致的黏膜病致死率几乎1000A，已经严重阻碍养斗业的发展，但目前我国对牛病毒性腹泻还没有好的防控措施。文章对牛病毒性腹泻的发生历史总结，便于石牛病毒性腹泻病毒的诊断和预防中参考。     

猪卵母细胞去核方法的改进

对猪体细胞克隆技术中关键步骤之一的去核方法作了较深入的研究。结果表明，由本实验室改进的Willadsen去核法——二步挤压去核法，无论在去核操作成功率（73．9％）上还是在去核效率（81．2％）上都明显好于McGrath-Solter去核法（42．5％、67．4％，P〈0．05）；同时，本试验还发现，卵母细胞成熟培养36h后去核组去核效率（89．1％）显著地高于成熟培养44h后去核组（55．8％，P〈0．05），而核移植重构胚的发育率2个组间无显著差异。