Detection of bacterial contamination and DNA quantification in stored blood units in 2 veterinary hospital blood banks

Blood transfusions in veterinary medicine have become increasingly more common and are now an integral part of lifesaving and advanced treatment in small and large animals. Important risks associated with transfusion of blood products include the transmission of various infectious diseases. Several guidelines suggest what infectious agents to screen for in canine and feline transfusion medicine. However, while the risk of bacterial contamination of blood products during storage and administration has not been documented in veterinary medicine, it has emerged as a cause of morbidity and mortality in human transfusion medicine. Clinical experience shows that the majority of blood component bacterial contaminations are caused by only a few species. Unlike other types of bacteria, psychrotolerant species like Pseudomonas spp. and Serratia spp. can proliferate during the storage of blood units at 4°C from a very low titer at the time of blood collection to a clinically significant level (> 10⁵ CFU/mL) causing clinical sepsis resulting from red blood cell concentrate transfusions in human medicine. The purpose of this report was to describe the detection and quantification procedures applied in 4 cases of bacterial contamination of canine and feline blood units, which suggest the need for further investigations to optimize patients’ safety in veterinary transfusion medicine.     

Consumer Versus Resource Control in Freshwater Pelagic Food Webs

Models predict that food-web structure is regulated by both consumers and resources, and the strength of this control is dependent on trophic position and food-web length. To test these hypotheses, a meta-analysis was conducted of 11 fish (consumer)-by-nutrient (resource) factorial plankton community experiments. As predicted, zooplankton biomass was under strong consumer control but was weakly stimulated by nutrient additions; phytoplankton biomass was under strong resource control with moderate control by fish. However, the phytoplankton and zooplankton responses to nutrient additions did not follow theoretical predictions based on the number of trophic levels in the food web.     

Evaluation of a regimen using a progesterone releasing intravaginal device (CIDR) and PMSG as a treatment for post partum anoestrus in dairy cattle

Anoestrous dairy cows in seasonally calving herds in the Macalister Irrigation District of Gippsland, Victoria were treated at the start of the mating period with a progesterone releasing intravaginal device (CIDR). The CIDR was inserted for 7 days and 400 IU of PMSG was injected intramuscularly at removal. There was no clinically useful difference among cows receiving the CIDR, a placebo and untreated cows in the interval from treatment to either first oestrus or conception, the conception rate to first service or percent pregnant by the end of mating. Analyses of data from 2-year-old cows, older cattle, cows calved at least 45 days or cows calved at least 55 days and cows treated 3 weeks after the start of mating did not show improved reproductive performance following treatment with the CIDR.     

Intrauterine Idiopathic Amputation of the Head of a Porcine Foetus

An anencephalic full‐term porcine foetus accompanied by a mummified head was submitted for examination. The neck almost entirely lacked skin and was covered by granulation tissue as were the exposed parts of the spine and spinal cord. The case represents a rare case of intrauterine amputation. A definitive cause could not be established because the placenta was not available. The most likely cause is strangulation of the neck. Such strangulation could be due to a defect of the allantoamnion with herniation of the foetal head or entanglement by amniotic constriction bands.     

Cardiac troponin I is elevated in dogs and cats with azotaemia renal failure and in dogs with non-cardiac systemic disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine if dogs and cats with renal failure, or other severe non-cardiac disease, and no antemortem evidence of cardiac disease on basic clinical evaluation, have elevated levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using 56 dogs and 14 cats with primary non-cardiac disease (39 dogs with azotaemic renal failure, 14 cats with azotaemic renal failure, 17 dogs with non-cardiac systemic disease); 7/25 dogs and 6/14 cats had murmurs detected on physical examination. Serum or heparinised plasma was collected and analysed for cTnI. RESULTS: Cardiac troponin I concentrations were elevated above reference intervals in 70% of dogs and 70% of cats with azotaemic renal failure and in 70% of dogs with a variety of systemic non-cardiac diseases. Cardiac troponin I concentrations did not correlate with the degree of azotaemia, presence of murmurs, hypertension or type of non-cardiac illness. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac troponin I concentration is often elevated in dogs and cats with azotaemic renal failure and in dogs with other systemic non-cardiac illness, suggesting that these conditions often result in clinically inapparent myocardial injury or possibly altered elimination of cTnI.     

Ultrastructure of the hydrophobic gastric surfactant barrier in the dog

OBJECTIVES: To confirm the hydrophobicity of the luminal surface of the canine stomach and to elucidate the ultrastructure of the lining imparting that property. DESIGN AND PROCEDURES: Gastric and duodenal mucosal samples from eight dogs were collected immediately after euthanasia and subjected to contact angle measurement using a goniometer. Other samples were examined by electron microscopy following a fixation procedure known to preserve phospholipids and oligolamellar structures. RESULTS: Contact angles for the canine gastric mucosal surface (85.1 +/- 5.5) were significantly greater (P < 0.0001) than for the duodenum (24.0 +/- 1.7). Electron microscopy revealed the existence of surfactant as abundant osmiophilic phospholipid material within the gastric and duodenal mucosae. CONCLUSION: We have confirmed the hydrophobic nature of the canine gastric mucosa whereas the luminal surface of the duodenum is hydrophilic. We propose that the water-repellent nature of the canine gastric lining contributes to the 'gastric mucosal barrier' and is imparted by an oligolamellar layer of surface-active phospholipid ('gastric surfactant') adsorbed to the surface. Both gastric and duodenal mucosae may also utilise phospholipids as an intercellular defense mechanism in the event that tight junctions are breached by acid. It is tempting to speculate that a deficiency of gastric phospholipids may predispose dogs to ulcers. Further, exogenous administration of phospholipids may be useful in preventing gastric ulceration.     

Validation of the BioPRYN enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay for detection of pregnancy‐specific protein‐B (PSPB) and diagnosis of pregnancy in American bison (Bison bison)

This study assessed the accuracy of the commercial BioPRYN^® ELISA for the detection of pregnancy‐specific protein‐B (PSPB) using a single blood sample to determine pregnancy status in American bison (Bison bison). A total of 49 bison cows were used in the study, and sampled at two time‐points during the gestation period, fall and spring, correlating with early‐ to mid‐term gestation (average 62.9 days post‐mating) and mid‐ to late‐term gestation (average 229.2 days post‐mating), respectively. Sensitivity of the test during early‐ to mid‐term gestation sampling period (fall) was 87.1%, while specificity was 100%; sensitivity of the test during late‐term gestation sampling period (spring) was 96.3%, while specificity remained at 100%. In total, the test showed a total sensitivity of 91.4%, specificity of 100% and total accuracy of 93.8%, similar to domestic cattle. Use of the single‐sample BioPRYN^® ELISA in American Bison for pregnancy diagnosis is economical and practical, minimizing animal handling time, frequency and subsequent stress while providing accurate results for pregnancy diagnosis at 62 days post‐mating. This method should be considered over more traditional pregnancy diagnosis methods for use in managed bison herds.     

Autoantibody profiles in the sera of patients with Q fever: characterization of antigens by immunofluorescence,immunoblot and sequence analysis

Recent reports have shown that some of the immunological aspects of Q fever, a rickettsiosis caused by Coxiella burnetii, could be related to self-antigen responses. The aim of this study was to determine the specificity of the autoantibody response of patients with acute and chronic Coxiella infections. Smooth muscle and cardiac muscle-specific autoantibodies were observed in significant percentages in acutely or chronically affected Q fever patients when compared to healthy volunteers. Moreover, the incidence of cardiac muscle-specific autoantibody was significantly higher among chronically ill patients compared to acutely ill patients. Moreover, a band of 50 kD of a HeLa extract was detected in most of the sera of individuals with chronic infections and previous sequence analysis suggests that this antigen presents a high degree of homology with the human actin elongation factor 1 alpha. Further research would be necessary to confirm if antibodies to human cytoskeletal proteins could be of clinical importance in chronically infected Q fever patients.