Evaluation of left ventricular function with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography after administration of dobutamine and esmolol in healthy beagle dogs

Unlike echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cardiac MRI) results in a near-exact assessment of cardiac structures and function. However, most veterinary studies have focused on dogs with normal cardiac function. We hypothesized that there would be significant differences in cardiac measurements between cardiac MRI and echocardiography when left ventricular (LV) function was abnormal. This study was undertaken to compare measurements of LV function produced by cardiac MRI and echocardiography in dogs whose LV function was altered by pharmacological agents. This study was conducted with six healthy beagle dogs. We increased left ventricular contractility by administration of dobutamine; we decreased cardiac contractility with esmolol. Stroke volume measurements were made by using both cardiac MRI and echocardiography under seven different conditions with general anesthesia: control, three doses of esmolol (100, 200, and 500 µg/kg/min), and three doses of dobutamine (10, 20, and 50 µg/kg/min). Experiments involving each condition were conducted at least 1 week apart. When LV contractility was normal, ejection fraction (EF) and stroke volume (SV), as measured by echocardiography and cardiac MRI, were not significantly different. However, when contractility was changed by pharmacological agents, EF and SV were overestimated by echocardiography, compared to MRI. Evaluation of cardiac function in patients treated with pharmacological agents should be conducted carefully because EF and SV measured by echocardiography can be overestimated, compared with EF and SV obtained by cardiac MRI.     

Black soldier fly and yellow mealworm live larvae for broiler chickens: Effects on bird performance and health status

The commercial broiler chicken strains are the result of successful selection programmes. Most of the problems related to welfare arise from the high growth rate and body weight. The use of environmental enrichments in intensive farming could have a positive effect on birds by increasing animal welfare. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of Hermetia illucens (HI) and Tenebrio molitor (TM) live larvae in the diets of broiler chickens on growth performance, carcass yield and health status. A total of 180 four-day-old male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to 18 pens. Each pen was assigned to one of the three dietary treatments (6 replicates/treatment, 10 birds/replicate) as follows: (i) control diet (C): commercial feed (two feeding phases: starter [4–11 days] and grower [12–38 days]), (ii) HI: C + 5% of the expected daily feed intake (DFI) HI live larvae (calculated on dry matter [DM]) and (iii) TM: C + 5% of DFI TM live larvae (DM). At 39 days of age, birds were slaughtered. Growth performance parameters were overall not affected by dietary treatments, except for the grower phase feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the overall FCR being better in the TM broilers than the others (p < 0.01). No differences were observed for slaughtering performance and haematological and serum parameters, except for the spleen relative weight being higher (p < 0.01) in the birds administered with larvae when compared to the C group. Gut morphometric indexes and histopathological alterations were not influenced by insect larvae administration. In conclusion, the administration in limited quantities of HI and TM live larvae as environmental enrichment has no negative effects on broiler chicken growth performance and health status. A behavioural study could confirm that live insect larvae represent a novel natural environmental enrichment in broiler farming.     

Effects of dietary Bacillus coagulans and yeast hydrolysate supplementation on growth performance,immune response and intestinal barrier function in weaned piglets

The present study investigated the effects of Bacillus coagulans and yeast hydrolysate supplementation on growth performance, immune response and intestinal barrier function of weaned piglets. Twenty-four weaned piglets with an average body weight (BW) of 6.89 ± 0.15 kg were divided into four diets for 28 days. The treatments were basal diet (control), basal diet supplemented with antibiotic (20 mg/kg colistin sulphate and 40 mg/kg bacitracin zinc, AT), probiotics (400 mg/kg Bacillus coagulans ≥5 × 109 CFU/g, BC) or yeast hydrolysate (5000 mg/kg yeast hydrolysate, YH). Average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) were improved by AT and YH diets (p < 0.05), while BC diet only increased ADG (p < 0.05). The complement 3 (C3), lysozyme (LZM) and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) concentrations in serum were increased in BC diet (p < 0.05). Feeding AT and YH caused the increase of jejunal villus height (p < 0.05), and a higher ratio of villus height/crypt depth was observed in AT, BC and YH groups (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in jejunal mucosa was up-regulated by AT, BC and YH diets (p < 0.05). Dietary AT, BC or YH inclusion decreased the interleukin-1β (IL-1β) concentration and TNF-α mRNA expression (p < 0.05), and YH supplementation even down-regulated toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and CD14 expressions (p < 0.05). In summary, the dietary administration of BC or YH both improves growth performance through promoting the intestinal barrier function, indicating both of them can serve as potential alternatives to antibiotics growth promoters for the piglet production.     

复方中草药对猪生长性能、屠宰性能、肉品质和免疫功能的影响

试验旨在研究复方中草药对猪生长性能、屠宰性能、肉品质和免疫功能的影响。将60头育肥猪随机分成4组,每组15头猪。对照组、Ⅰ组、Ⅱ组、Ⅲ组分别在基础日粮中添加0、0.5%、1.0%、2.0%的复方中草药。结果显示:与对照组相比,Ⅰ组育肥猪平均日增重、血清免疫球蛋白G(IgG)含量均显著提高(P<0.05),失水率显著降低(P<0.05)。与对照组相比,Ⅱ组、Ⅲ组育肥猪末重、平均日增重、胴体重、胴体斜长、熟肉率、脾脏指数、血清免疫球蛋白A (IgA)含量、IgG含量均显著提高(P<0.05),料重比、背膘厚、剪切力、失水率均显著降低(P<0.05)。与Ⅰ组相比,Ⅱ组、Ⅲ组育肥猪胴体重、胴体斜长、血清IgG含量均显著提高(P<0.05),背膘厚均显著降低(P<0.05)。研究表明,育肥猪基础饲粮中添加1.0%和2.0%的该复方中草药制剂均能改善育肥猪的生长性能、屠宰性能、肉品质和免疫功能,临床应用中选择1.0%作为最适添加剂量。     

纤维和蛋白质对肠道健康和环境的影响

由于膳食纤维和蛋白质对肠道健康和环境都有潜在的有益或有害影响,因此,膳食纤维和蛋白质在猪肠道中的发酵是一个值得关注的问题。本文综述了近年来有关膳食纤维和蛋白质发酵对猪肠道环境的影响及其对猪粪和猪舍含氮气体和异味排放的影响,同时探讨了蛋白质发酵和相关代谢化合物的生产,与膳食纤维发酵、对肠道健康、细菌蛋白质合成和氮排泄的影响。生产上可以采用不同的营养策略来应对集约化养猪生产对环境的的负面影响,如降低日粮粗蛋白质水平减少氮排泄。总的来说,日粮纤维和蛋白质水平是影响猪肠道发酵、氮排泄和环境影响的一个有效策略。     

A proposal to leverage high-quality veterinary diagnostic laboratory large data streams for animal health,public health,and One Health

Test data generated by ~60 accredited member laboratories of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) is of exceptional quality. These data are captured by 1 of 13 laboratory information management systems (LIMSs) developed specifically for veterinary diagnostic laboratories (VDLs). Beginning ~2000, the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) developed an electronic messaging system for LIMS to automatically send standardized data streams for 14 select agents to a national repository. This messaging enables the U.S. Department of Agriculture to track and respond to high-consequence animal disease outbreaks such as highly pathogenic avian influenza. Because of the lack of standardized data collection in the LIMSs used at VDLs, there is, to date, no means of summarizing VDL large data streams for multi-state and national animal health studies or for providing near-real-time tracking for hundreds of other important animal diseases in the United States that are detected routinely by VDLs. Further, VDLs are the only state and federal resources that can provide early detection and identification of endemic and emerging zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases are estimated to be responsible for 2.5 billion cases of human illness and 2.7 million deaths worldwide every year. The economic and health impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is self-evident. We review here the history and progress of data management in VDLs and discuss ways of seizing unexplored opportunities to advance data leveraging to better serve animal health, public health, and One Health.     

不同剂量环磷酰胺对昆明小鼠肝肾组织的损伤作用研究

为研究不同剂量的环磷酰胺对小鼠肝肾组织及功能的损害程度,试验选取40只5周龄健康雌性昆明小鼠,随机分为5组,除对照组外,其余4组小鼠连续3 d分别腹腔注射40、80、120及160 mg/（kg·BW）环磷酰胺溶液,注射后第7天采集肝脏和肾脏组织样品及血清,制备石蜡组织切片及透射电镜切片,观察肝脏和肾脏的组织学变化,检测血清中甘胆酸（CG）、胆碱酯酶（ChE）、血清前白蛋白（PA）、总胆汁酸（TBA）、谷丙转氨酶（ALT）、谷草转氨酶（AST）、尿素氮（BUN）、血清肌酐（SCr）、尿酸（UA）含量/活性。结果显示,环磷酰胺可引起小鼠肝肾组织病理损害,呈剂量依赖性,肝脏比肾脏更早出现损伤。石蜡切片及透射电镜切片观察结果显示,环磷酰胺对肝脏的毒性作用主要表现在肝索紊乱、肝血窦扩张、微胆管淤胆、门管区及中央静脉周围炎性细胞浸润及纤维增生、组织间出血、肝细胞出现脂肪变性及气球样变性,凋亡及坏死细胞增多。肾脏组织损伤主要表现在出血及纤维增生,肾小管上皮细胞胞浆空泡样变、线粒体损伤、核固缩,上皮细胞基底膜增厚。环磷酰胺对膀胱的损害不严重。与对照组相比,40~160 mg/（kg·BW）剂量组小鼠血清中ChE活性及PA水平,120~160 mg/（kg·BW）剂量组AST活性,80~160 mg/（kg·BW）剂量组BUN水平及80 mg/（kg·BW）剂量组UA水平均显著升高（P<0.05）;其余生化指标与对照组差异不显著（P>0.05）。以上结果表明,环磷酰胺注射剂量在80~120 mg/（kg·BW）时可引起昆明小鼠肝脏和肾脏组织及细胞明显的病理损伤。该研究结果可为选择合适的环磷酰胺注射剂量用以制备动物肝脏免疫抑制模型提供试验依据。     

洛阳生生牧业犊牛健康管理经验

近年来,牧场逐步走向现代化、规模化发展,生产水平大幅度提高,后备牛的培育也提升到了新的高度。犊牛健康管理是牧场成败的关键,但如何做好犊牛健康管理,成为制约奶牛业健康发展的瓶颈之一。为此,本文对河南洛阳生生牧业有限公司的犊牛健康管理工作进行了认真总结,旨在了解犊牛管理现状,分析存在的问题,探索适合大型牧场应用的犊牛管理模式,促进奶业健康、可持续发展。     

两种无抗制剂对育肥猪生长性能及肠道健康的影响

本试验通过在生长育肥猪饲粮中添加两种不同的无抗制剂,探究其对育肥猪生长及肠道健康的影响。选取体重为（85.95±3.48） kg的LDY三元杂交猪60头,分为对照组、试验1、2组,每组5个重复,每个重复4头猪（阉公猪和母猪各半）。对照组饲喂基础饲粮,试验1组在基础饲粮中添加0.5%的红曲合生元酵母硒锗复合制剂,试验2组在基础饲粮中添加0.5%的复方中药提取物。结果表明：①3组间生长性能各项指标均差异不显著（P>0.05）。②与对照组相比,试验1组空肠的绒毛高度（VH）、绒毛高度/隐窝深度（V/C）以及回肠的绒毛高度均显著增加（P<0.05）,试验2组空肠和回肠的绒毛高度均显著增加（P<0.05）;试验1组空肠和回肠的绒毛高度显著高于试验2组（P<0.05）。③与对照组相比,试验1和2组盲肠菌群香浓指数均显著升高（P<0.05）、辛普森指数均显著降低（P<0.05）;试验1组的香浓指数显著高于试验2组（P<0.05）。④在门水平上,与对照组相比,试验1组盲肠菌群变形菌门和放线菌门丰度均显著升高（P<0.05）,厚壁菌门丰度显著降低（P<0.05）;试验2组厚壁菌门和变形菌门丰度显著升高（P<0.05）,拟杆菌门丰度显著降低（P<0.05）;试验1组放线菌门丰度显著高于试验2组（P<0.05）,厚壁菌门丰度显著低于试验2组（P<0.05）。在属水平上,与对照组相比,试验1组链球菌属丰度显著升高（P<0.05）,苏黎世杆菌属、uncultured_bacterium_f_Muribaculaceae和乳杆菌属丰度显著降低（P<0.05）;试验2组瘤胃菌属和链球菌属丰度显著升高（P<0.05）,苏黎世杆菌属、梭菌属_13、乳杆菌属丰度显著降低（P<0.05）;试验1组梭菌属_13和链球菌属丰度显著高于试验2组（P<0.05）,试验1组uncultured_bacterium_f_Muribaculaceae、瘤胃菌属显著低于试验2组（P<0.05）。⑤试验1组Occludin、Zo-1、Claudin-1表达量显著高于对照组（P<0.05）,Occludin、Claudin-1表达量显著高于试验2组（P<0.05）。以上结果表明,红曲合生元酵母硒锗复合制剂和复方中药提取物对育肥猪肠道健康均有改善作用,但红曲合生元酵母硒锗复合制剂组饲喂效果优于复方中药提取物组。