A comparison of the effects of carbon dioxide and medical air for abdominal insufflation on respiratory parameters in xylazine-sedated sheep undergoing laparoscopic artificial insemination

AIMS: To determine if abdominal insufflation with medical air will improve oxygenation and ventilation parameters when compared to insufflation with CO₂ in xylazine-sedated sheep undergoing laparoscopic artificial insemination (AI).

METHODS: Forty-seven sheep underwent oestrus synchronisation and were fasted for 24 hours prior to laparoscopic AI. Each animal was randomised to receive either CO₂ or medical air for abdominal insufflation. An auricular arterial catheter was placed and utilised for serial blood sampling. Respiratory rates (RR) and arterial blood samples were collected at baseline, after xylazine (0.1?mg/kg I/V) sedation, 2 minutes after Trendelenburg positioning, 5 minutes after abdominal insufflation, and 10 minutes after being returned to a standing position. Blood samples were collected in heparinised syringes, stored on ice, and analysed for arterial pH, partial pressure of arterial O₂ (PaO₂), and CO₂ (PaCO₂). The number of ewes conceiving to AI was also determined.

RESULTS: Repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated temporal effects on RR, PaO₂, PaCO₂ and arterial pH during the laparoscopic AI procedure (p<0.001), but no difference between insufflation groups (p>0.01). No sheep experienced hypercapnia (PaCO₂>50?mmHg) or acidaemia (pH<7.35). Hypoxaemia (PaO₂<70?mmHg) was diagnosed during the procedure in 14/22 (64%) ewes in the CO₂ group compared with 8/23 (35%) ewes in the medical air group (p=0.053). Overall, 15/20 (75%) ewes in the CO₂ group conceived to AI compared with 16/22 (72.7%) in the medical air group (p=0.867).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: There were no statistical or clinical differences in RR, PaO₂, PaCO₂, pH, or conception to AI when comparing the effects of CO₂ and medical air as abdominal insufflation gases. None of the sheep experienced hypercapnia or acidaemic, yet 42% (19/45) of sheep developed clinical hypoxaemia, with a higher percentage of ewes in the CO₂ group developing hypoxaemia than in the medical air group. Based on the overall analysis, medical air could be utilised as a comparable alternative for abdominal insufflation during laparoscopic AI procedures.     

The use of ultrasonography in the reproductive evaluation of boars

The objective was to study the use of ultrasound as a complementary test in the breeding soundness evaluation in male pigs and study the pattern of echogenicity of the testicular parenchyma in boars of different racial groups. Twenty‐six adult boars from four different racial groups were used, 10 from the Piau breed (group 1), four from the commercial and finishing group (group 2), six Pietrain breed (group 3) and six from the Duroc breed (group 4). All animals were evaluated for breeding soundness evaluation and the ultrasound examination of the testicles. The groups of animals that were evaluated showed no difference in the main semen parameters that were evaluated, except for the sperm volume, concentration of the ejaculated sperm and the supravital staining; the lowest figures were for the animals from the Piau breed (group 1). In relation to the testicular biometrics, Duroc animals (group 4) had a greater scrotal width compared to the other groups. But when we assessed the intensity of pixels of the testicles, there was a difference between groups. The groups 2 (finishing animals), 3 (Pietrain) and 4 had no difference between themselves. Group 3 had greater pixel intensity in relation to group 1. Of the 26 animals studied, five showed an abnormality during ultrasound evaluation, like hydrocele, hyperechoic mass in the testicular parenchyma, cyst in the head of the epididymis and the presence of fluid in the head and tail of the epididymis. The various animal groups studied did not differ in the principal reproductive parameters evaluated, showing that despite the great variability of reproductive traits between breeds and within the same breed, the breeding soundness evaluation, the more complete it is, is essential for the selection of breeders and the ultrasonography of the reproductive system becomes an important addition in this examination.     

Ion cyclotron resonance spectroscopy. Cyclotron double resonance provides a new technique for the study of ion-molecule reaction mechanisms

Ion cyclotron resonance spectroscopy yields information on many aspects of ion-molecule chemistry. The method is ideally suited for experiments involving ion energies below several electron volts, and hence provides a valuable complement to other techniques (27). eyclotron double resonance is uniquely suitable for establishing relationships between reactant ions and their product ions in complex ion-molecule reaction sequences. The double-resonance experiments with isotopic species yield information on reaction mechanisms and the nature of intermediate species. Ion-molecule reactions which occur at low energies are quite sensitive to the nature of functional groups and the details of molecular structure (28). Reactions of ions or neutral molecules with specific reagents in the cyclotron spectrometer can thus be used to characterize unknown species. Once the systematic ion-molecule chemistry of useful reagents has been worked out, it should be possible to proceed in a manner directly analogous to classical chemical methods. Suppose, for example, that reagents A(+), B(+), C(+), and D(+) each have characteristic reactions with different functional groups. Then these reagents can all be mixed with an unknown neutral species, X, and each of the reactions, X + A(+) --> ?, X + B(+) --> ?, . . . . can be examined. In contrast to solution chemistry, all the reagents can be added simultaneously to the unknown, since each of the specific reactions can be examined by cyclotron double resonance. The reactions which occur, the species synthesized , and the products of degradation then characterize X. The same methodology can be applied to characterize an unknown ionic epecies X(+), through use of neutral reagents A, B, C, and D. For example, proton transfer reactions to neuteal species have been applied in studying ions of mass 45 produced from various sources (29). The order of the proton affinities of the neutral reagent molecules are as follows: NH(3) isobutylene propene. Ions of mass 45 can be produced by the protonation of ethylene oxide (see structure III), the protonation of acetaldehyde (see structure IV), and the fragmentation of dimethyl ether (see structure V). Those ions might be expected to have, respectively, the three structures: Proton transfer from the mass-45 ions from sources III and IV to NH(3) and to isobutylene occurs readily, but not proton transfer to propene. For the ion from source V, proton transfer to NH3 occurs, but not proton transfer to isobutylene or propene. Thus the proton transfer reactions to various neutral reagents demonstrate that the mass-45 ions from the various sources are different. This example is only a rudimentary version of an approach to the characterization of unusual ionic species; niore sophisticated applications can follow when the systematic chemistry of more reagents is available. This approach should be ideal for comparing nonclassical carbonium ions produced by different routes. Some very interesting ionic species are produced by rearrangements in the fragmentation of molecules, following electron impact. Such molecular rearrangements frequently result in the fragmentation of an ion radical to another ion radical with the elimination of a small neutral species (30). It should be possible to run these reactions in reverse to check the postulated mechanisms. An interesting result of the systematic study of proton transfer to various functional groups is the finding that the proton affinity of various amines and pyridine is extremely high (31). Species such as VI and VII: might be expected to be very stable; they are in fact so stable that they are unreactive with respect to subsequent chemistry at the charge center. Thus, if there are other functional groups on the ion, the important reactions should occur at these functional groups. It should be possible to design species for which the presence of the charge has little influence on the reactivity of a neutral functional group. In this case the charge functions simply as an inert label which makes the study of neutral-neutral reactions accessible by cyclotron resonance: Various routes for development of the basic technique also appear to be very promising. Echo phenomena following sequences of pulsed excitation have been observed in electron cyclotron resonance (32). Analogous transient phenomena should also occur in ion cvclotron resonances (33). Pulsed-cyclotron-resonance techniques of course have intriguing analogies to nuclear-magnetic-resonance spin-echo experiments (34) and may be the technique of choice for making accurate measurements of ion-molecule-reaction cross sections as a function of energy for low ion energies. Finally, many ion-molecule reactions yield products in excited electronic states (35). For example, the reaction N(2)- + CO --> N(2) + CO- (46) has been studied by beam techniques (36). A straightforward procedure is to observe optical emission from the cyclotron spectrometer by placing a window at the end of the cyclotron cell (37). The emission can be analyzed with a crude set of optical filters, or with a high-speed spectrograph. Optical emission from the cyclotron cell can of course originate from many sources. The radiation from a specific excited product ion can be selected by a radio-frequency-optical double-resonance experiment. If, in the generai reaction A+ + B --> *C+ + D, (47) ion A+ is irradiated at its cyclotron resonance frequency, the number density of optical emitters *C+ is changed. If the irradiating frequency is modulated, then the number of optical emitters will be modulated, so that the intensity of emission from *C+ will also be modulated. When the optical emission from *C+ is analyzed in a spectrograph with a photoelectric cell, the output of the photoelectric cell can be detected with a phase sensitive detector referenced to the modulation frequency. This highly specific modulation-detection scheme should discriminate against other sources of light in the cyclotron cell.     

Simulation study of the competitive ability of erect, semi-erect and prostrate cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes

Ecophysiological simulation models provide a quantitative method to predict the effects of management practices, plant characteristics and environmental factors on crop and weed growth and competition. The INTERCOM interplant competition model was parameterised, calibrated by monoculture data for three cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes that differed in growth habit, common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and common purslane (Portulaca oleracea), and used to simulate competition of cowpea cover crops with sunflower or purslane. The simulation results were compared with observations from field competition experiments in 2003 and 2004. INTERCOM more accurately simulated actual field data for the competition of cowpea genotypes and sunflower than companion field experiments for the competition of cowpea and purslane. The validated simulation model of cowpea and sunflower at two densities was used to study the effects of cowpea growth habit on final biomass production of cowpea and sunflower. The model suggested that erect growth habit was more competitive than semi‐erect and prostrate growth habit, when cowpea genotypes were grown with sunflower. Cowpea leaf area distribution was important to higher cowpea biomass production, while cowpea height growth was important to reduce sunflower biomass. Our simulation approach is suggested as a method for crop breeders to gauge the likely success of selection for competitive crops before undertaking expensive long‐term breeding experiments.     

Cryopreservation of Piau‐Breed Wild Boar Sperm: Assessment of Cooling Curves and Centrifugation Regimes

This study aimed to assess the effects of different cooling curves and centrifugation regimes used in cryopreservation protocols on the post‐thaw viability of Piau‐breed wild boar (Sus scrofa) sperm using in vitro assessment tests. Two centrifugations (800  g for 10 min and 2400  g for 3 min) and two cooling curves (conventional cooling using nitrogen vapour – freezing 1 and automated cooling using a programmed freezing machine – freezing 2) were tested. Therefore, the treatments were divided into M3 – centrifugation at 2400  g for 3 min and freezing 2; M10 – centrifugation at 800  g for 10 min and freezing 2; R3 – centrifugation at 2400  g for 3 min and freezing 1; and R10 – centrifugation at 800  g for 10 min and freezing 1. No significant differences (p > 0.05) between treatments occurred post‐thawing regarding the total sperm motility means recorded. The mean values of the different treatments were not different from each other regarding the supravital staining (SV), hypo‐osmotic test (HO), sperm–egg binding assay or sperm morphology. This study showed that both the cooling curve and the centrifugation regime affected the quality of post‐thaw sperm, and centrifugation for shorter times and cooling curves using automated cooling are the most suitable for minimizing sperm injury.     

Oral transmission of transmissible gastroenteritis virus by muscle and lymph node from slaughtered pigs

A study was conducted in the USA to determine whether transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) virus could be transmitted from carcases of slaughtered pigs. Transmissible gastroenteritis virus was transmitted to 6-day-old piglets by dosing with homogenates of muscle and lymph node collected from 500 clinically normal pigs at the time of slaughter. All piglets in 2 separately housed litters showed clinical signs of TGE with 5 piglets dying within 10 d of oral dosing with homogenates. Transmissible gastroenteritis virus was isolated from 2 of these piglets and all piglets developed TGE antibody. Transmissible gastroenteritis virus was not isolated in tissue culture from muscle and lymph node homogenates, but was isolated from 4 (0.8%) of 500 tonsil samples collected from the same pigs. A survey of 250 serum samples provided an estimate of the prevalence of slaughtered pigs with TGE antibody of 34.8% in the sample population. The results indicate that carcases of some pigs from TGE endemic areas contain viable TGE virus, and that there would be a substantial risk of introducing TGE virus into Australia by the importation of uncooked pig meat from these areas.