The diagnostic significance of different blood parameters and liver biopsy in chronic copper poisoning of sheep

In a flock of sheep to which food with excess copper (= Cu) had been fed for some months 39 animals died of chronic copper toxicosis. In 5 sheep of this flock the plasma concentrations of the enzymes glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), aspartate-amino-transferase (ASAT) and copper were measured several times over a period of 100 days. At day 23, 58 and 97 needle biopsies of the liver were taken. The biopsies were used for histological examination and Cu-analysis. After 100 days the sheep were slaughtered and chronic copper poisoning was diagnosed by raised Cu concentration and typical histological alterations in the liver. The activities of GLDH and SDH in the plasma of the 5 sheep were consistently above normal, ASAT activity and the plasma Cu level were raised only occasionally. The results of Cu determination in biopsy samples were of little predictive value compared with post mortem Cu analysis of the liver.     

Production of Lambs After the Transfer of Fresh and Cryopreserved in vitro Produced Embryos from Prepubertal Lamb Oocytes and Unsorted and Sex-sorted Frozen-thawed Spermatozoa

Cumulus-oocyte complexes from hormone-stimulated 3-4-week-old (n=43) and 6-7-week-old (n=12) prepubertal lambs were matured in vitro and incubated with unsorted, or X- or Y-spermatozoa separated with a high-speed cell sorter (SX MoFlo)frozen-thawed. Presumptive zygotes were then cultured to the blastocyst stage, and transferred to recipients fresh or after cryopreservation (frozen). Oocyte cleavage was higher (p <0.05) with unsorted (515/926, 55.6%) than X- or Y-spermatozoa (261/672, 38.8% and 229/651, 35.2%, respectively) and blastocyst formation (% zygotes) by Day 9 of in vitro culture was lower (p <0.05) for X- (102/261, 39.1%) than unsorted spermatozoa (249/515, 48.3%), but did not differ between Y-spermatozoa (103/229, 45.0%) and unsorted spermatozoa, or between X- and Y-spermatozoa (p >0.05). For fresh embryos, survival to term was 50.0% (3/6) for unsorted, 0.0% (0/6) for X- and 16.7% (1/6) for Y-spermatozoa-derived embryos (p >0.05), and for frozen embryos was 4.0% (2/50) for unsorted, 9.1% (2/22) for X- and 2.9% (1/34) Y-spermatozoa-derived embryos (p >0.05). Of the two lambs born from X-spermatozoa-derived embryos, one was female (50%), and from the two Y-spermatozoa-derived lambs, both were male (100%), demonstrating that lambs can be produced after the transfer of fresh and cryopreserved IVP embryos derived from prepubertal lamb oocytes and frozen-thawed sex-sorted sperm.     

The effect of the anesthetic Tilest in swine

The clinical signs and effects on the cardio-respiratory system of Tilest were checked out in weaners. The intramuscular injection of 10 mg/kg BW Tilest caused a rapid immobilisation on an average duration of 33.7 +/- 15 minutes. The muscle relaxation was generally good. Analgesia could not obtained. Heart- and respiratory-rates increased during lateral recumbency. Blood pressure decreased initially. The influence on the arterial blood pH-value and the blood gases are insignificant. In connection with trials to get up the lactate value and the body temperature increased. The CK- and ASAT-activities increased 2 to 6 hours after injection with a wide individual variation. During recovery the pigs were excited and salivated.     

Development and evaluation of a rapid absorbed enzyme immunoassay test for the diagnosis of Johne''s disease in cattle

An absorbed enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test for Johne's disease in cattle was developed in which absorption of cross-reacting antibodies occurred as a rapid reaction in solution rather than overnight with whole organisms and a subsequent centrifugation step. Total test time was reduced to less than 2 h with a minimum of manipulations. The test was evaluated in cattle herds from Johne's disease-endemic and Johne's disease-free regions of Australia. Specificity was 99.8%. Calculations of sensitivity were affected by the history of the herd under test. However, the EIA detected in excess of 80% of animals before onset of clinical disease and 65% of faecal shedders were EIA positive on, or before, first detection of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in their faeces. The test should aid epidemiological studies and be a useful tool in the management and control of Johne's disease.     

Eradication of ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma by motherless rearing of lambs

The principles of maedi-visna eradication programmes were applied to a field trial for the eradication of ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA). In two maternal flocks the prevalence of gross and histological lesions in slaughtered animals was 18.3 per cent and 29.8 per cent, respectively. The lambing period was supervised for three consecutive years from 1999 to 2001, during which the lambs were taken away from their mothers at birth, deprived of maternal colostrum, and hand-reared away from other sheep. Over the three-year period, 322 hand-reared animals, mainly male lambs between 10 and 14 months old, were slaughtered; their lungs were examined grossly, 52.5 per cent of them were examined histologically, and 105 samples of caudal mediastinal lymph nodes were examined by PCR. No OPA tumours were detected in the slaughter specimens from the derived flock, but one lamb had histological lesions in one lung location; intrauterine transmission was ruled out in this case. No clinical OPA has subsequently been observed in the hand-reared flock. Bronchoalveolar lavage samples from the breeding stock were examined by PCR in order to rule out further subclinical cases of OPA. No Jaagsiekte retrovirus was detected in any of the 488 samples.     

Genetic diversity within Australian wheat breeding programs based on molecular and pedigree data

124 wheat cultivars and breeding lines were screened with 19 microsatellite (SSR) loci generating 160 scorable bands which were used to construct a genetic distance (GD) matrix. A distance matrix based on coefficient of parentage (COP) scores was also generated for the cultivars for which good pedigree records were available. The SSR and COP data for 101 of the wheat cultivars were compared with genetic distance scores obtained using1898 scorable restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) bands previously generated. Phylograms were generated based on the SSR, RFLP,combined SSR and RFLP and COP data. The standardised Mantel's Z test showed that the distance matrices generated from all of the data sets were significantly correlated. Bootstrap analysis showed that, although the SSR and RFLP data were correlated, a large number of SSR loci are required for determining robust genetic relationships between large numbers of cultivars. In addition, accurate pedigree records are needed to determine genetic relatedness using COP. The molecular data were also used to determine the level of genetic variability within breeding programs and to assess the impact of the introduction of semidwarf and other germplasm. The results showed that the level of genetic diversity in Australian wheat cultivars has increased over time and that in particular, the introduction of semidwarf germplasm resulted in an increase in the overall diversity. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.