Survey of equine castration techniques,preferences and outcomes among Australian veterinarians

Objectives

(1) To collect the perceptions of veterinarians performing equine castrations in Australia on techniques, preferences and outcomes, (2) to investigate veterinarian use and experience with the Henderson castrating instrument and (3) to investigate potential associations between demographics, castration methods and techniques, and complications.

Design

Online survey of members of the Australian Veterinary Association’s Special Interest Group, Equine Veterinarians Australia (EVA).

Methods

A link to the survey was included in the EVA e‐newsletter and practices on the EVA website were contacted by telephone and follow‐up email. Fisher’s exact test was used to determine associations between ligation and complications. A generalised linear model with a negative binomial family was used to determine associations between count response variables and categorical independent variables.

Results

Responses were obtained from 138 veterinarians (response rate, 13.1%) who performed 5330 castrations over 12 months. Castrations were most commonly performed in the field, on anaesthetised horses, using emasculators, via an open approach and without ligation of the spermatic cord. Estimated complications after use of emasculators were swelling (25%), haemorrhage (5%) and infection (5%). The Henderson instrument was used by approximately 10% of respondents and its use for castration was associated with fewer reports of postoperative swelling compared with emasculators (P = 0.002). Rates of evisceration with the Henderson and emasculator methods were comparable (0.43% and 0.9%, respectively).

Conclusion

Castration preferences varied widely among survey participants. Reported complication types and rates were comparable to those reported previously in other countries. Perceptions that the Henderson instrument was associated with less swelling should be investigated further via a prospective controlled investigation.     

植酸酶对不同类型的断乳仔猪日粮粗蛋白、氨基酸和能量的消化率的影响

通过对4个安装了简易T型瘘管的断奶仔猪研究表明,添加植酸酶并没有提高玉米-豆粕型日粮(试验组1)、小麦-豆粕型日粮(试验组2)和大麦-豌豆-菜籽粕型日粮(试验组4)粗蛋白和氨基酸的回肠表观消化率(AID),而使小麦-豆粕-菜粕型日粮的粗蛋白和氨基酸回肠表观消化率或粗蛋白和消化能的总消化道表观消化率(ATTD)得到了显著的提高(P<0.05)或呈提高的势态(P<0.10)。这些结果表明,氨基酸对细菌性植酸酶的反应因子取决于日粮的组成。     

Nonabsorbable dietary fat enhances disposal of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether in rats through interruption of enterohepatic circulation

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers are lipophilic persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which accumulate in the environment, leading to human exposure. The compounds exert a negative impact on human health. Strategies to prevent or diminish their accumulation in humans are required. We investigated in rats whether the disposal rate of 14C-labeled tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) could be enhanced by increasing fecal fat excretion through dietary treatment with nonabsorbable fat (sucrose polyester, SPE). As compared to control rats, SPE treatment increased fecal excretion rates of fat (+188%, p < 0.05) and 14C-BDE-47 (+291%, p < 0.05). On the basis of biliary secretion and fecal excretion rates of 14C-BDE-47, SPE effectively inhibited the enterohepatic circulation of 14C-BDE-47. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of nonabsorbable fat can enhance excretion of hydrophobic POPs by interruption of their enterohepatic circulation. Our data indicate that this strategy could decrease concentrations of hydrophobic POPs in the human body and thereby their impact on human health.     

Canine protothecosis: review of the literature and report of an additional case

A review of protothecosis in dogs revealed that this malady usually begins in the gastrointestinal tract and progresses to systemic involvement. Clinical signs generally include bloody diarrhea or blood-stained feces as well as blindness, ataxia, and polyuria. Histologically, myriads of protothecal organisms in different stages of development are found in the granulomatous lesions. Two main species have been culturally identified: Prototheca zopfii and P wickerhamii. In the absence of cultural studies, species identification can be accomplished readily by immunofluorescence. The present case involved P zopfii infection in a 5-year-old female Cocker Spaniel that had bloody diarrhea, with a history of bloody diarrhea 6 months earlier.     

Effectiveness of capillary electrophoresis fluoroimmunoassay of blood PrpSc for evaluation of scrapie pathogenesis in sheep.

Management of prion diseases in livestock would benefit greatly from availability of a validated blood test. A promising immunocapillary electrophoresis technique (also known as capillary electrophoresis fluoroimmunoassay) to detect abnormal prion protein in blood from live sheep is evaluated here. Capillary electrophoresis fluoroimmunoassay was applied to analysis of extracted blood from scrapie-exposed sheep (n = 87; 347 samples) at various stages of incubation, and to control sheep (n = 194; 489 samples). Overall, test values for the control and test populations were not significantly different, and a similar proportion of control (7%) and test (10%) sheep were classified as positive. Over 2-3 month intervals from birth until clinical disease, test specificity and sensitivity ranged from 66.7% to 100% and 0% to 66.7%, respectively, indicating poor diagnostic performance at all stages of pathogenesis. In routine application, in its present form, the capillary electrophoresis fluoroimmunoassay procedure proved to be insufficiently robust for use as a blood test for scrapie diagnosis.     

Variation in infiltration with landscape position: Implications for forest productivity and surface water quality

Variation of infiltration rates with landscape position influences the amount, distribution, and routing of overland flow. Knowledge of runoff patterns gives land managers the opportunity to affect changes that optimize water use efficiency and reduce the risk of water quality impacts. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of landscape position and associated soil properties on infiltration in a small (147 ha) forest/pasture watershed in the Ozark Highlands. Three previously reported studies measured infiltration rates using double ring, sprinkling, single ring, and tension infiltrometers on soils at varying landscape positions. Although large variation in infiltration rates was observed among measurement techniques, upland and side slope soils (Nixa and Clarksville) had consistently lower infiltration rates compared to the soil in the valley bottom (Razort). A conceptual understanding of watershed runoff is developed from these data that includes infiltration excess runoff from the Nixa and Clarksville soils and saturation excess runoff on the Razort soil. Management of the soil water regime based on this understanding would focus on increasing infiltration in upland soils and maintaining the Razort soil areas in forest. Forest productivity would be enhanced by increasing plant-available water in upland soils and decreasing flooding on the Razort soil. Surface water quality would be improved by reducing the transport of potential water contaminants from animal manure applied to upland pastures.     

Effect of feeding level on ileal and total tract digestibility of nutrients and energy from soybean meal‐based diets for piglets

A total of 36 piglets with an initial body weight (BW) of 5.6 ± 0.7 kg, fitted with simple T‐cannulas at the distal ileum, were used to evaluate the effect of three graded feeding levels (50, 75 or 100 g/kg BW^0.75 day) on apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N) and energy, and on ATTD of organic matter (OM), ether extracts (EE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and digestible (DE), metabolisable (ME) and net energy (NE) content in soybean meal (SBM)–casein–cornstarch‐based diets. The AID of DM, N and energy and ATTD of NDF, ADF and EE in the diets were not affected (p > 0.05) by the feed intake (FI) level. There was a small decrease in ATTD of DM, N (CP), OM, ash and energy, and in DE, ME and NE content in the diets (p < 0.05) with increasing FI level. The net disappearance in the large intestine (in % of ileal recovery) decreased for DM, N and energy (p < 0.05) with increasing FI level. The design of the study allowed for estimating ileal endogenous loss of N and total tract endogenous loss of ash, N and EE, for estimating corresponding true ileal and total tract digestibility values, and for estimating urinary endogenous N loss. High variability in estimates of ileal endogenous N loss and total tract endogenous losses of N, EE and ash reflects great variation in individual endogenous losses between animals. Estimation of true total tract digestibility of N, EE and ash by regression analysis was affected by their decrease in ATTD with increasing FI level, as estimates for true digestibility were lower compared to their apparent values. The present results suggest that FI level can affect both apparent and true total tract nutrient digestibility in piglets.