Antibiotic resistance and transferable antibiotica resistance Escherichia coli isolated from calves on a modern farm with therapeutic problems and unsatisfactory management conditions.

On a farm with therapeutic problems and unsatisfactory management conditions, the occurrence of antibiotic resistance and transferable antibiotic resistance has been studied in E. coli isolated from calves which were 5 and 30 days old. Strains with resistance to up to seven antibiotics as well as transferable resistance against up to five antibiotics were recorded. On an average, 4.2 strains with different patterns and 4.0 different strains with transferable resistance were isolated from each calf. The corresponding figures previously found for healthy control calves were 1.6 and 1.1 strains, respectively. Resistance and transferable resistance were most common against sulphonamide and penicillin.     

Studies on pentagastrin-induced hypocalcaemia in lactating cows.

During recent years it has been evident that a number of gastrointestinal hormones are potent calcitonin secretagogues, and it has been suggested that a gastrointestinal-thyroid C cell system exists as a part of post prandial calcium homeostasis. In the present study the hypocalcaemic effect of pentagastrin, a synthetic peptide with gastrin effects, was studied in lactating cows. Intravenous infusion of pentagastrin caused marked hypocalcaemia and hypophosphataemia in the cows. Thyroidectomy completely abolished the hypocalcaemic and hypophosphataemic effects of the peptide. The results thus suggested that the effects of the peptide were due to release of endogenous calcitonin.     

EFFECT OF REGION OF INTEREST SELECTION AND UPTAKE MEASUREMENT ON GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE MEASURED BY 99mTc-DTPA SCINTIGRAPHY IN DOGS

Determinations of different methods of measurement of uptake of 99mTc-DTPA using scintigraphy of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were made from 29 studies on 10 healthy beagle dogs. GFR was measured by calculating the percentage dose uptake (integral method) and rate of uptake (slope method) of 99mTc-DTPA using manual kidney regions of interest (ROI) and automatic kidney and background ROIs at different time periods of the uptake phase. These results were compared using linear regression analysis to the GFR obtained from 99mTc-DTPA plasma clearance using multiple blood samples. The best correlation coefficient between percentage DTPA uptake and GFR by DTPA clearance (r = 0.84, P < 0.001) was derived from time intervals between 30s-120s with a perirenal background ROI at 1 or 2 pixels out from the kidney ROI using automatic kidney ROI at 20% threshold. With the slope method, the best correlation coefficient (r = 0.85, P < 0.001) was obtained from time intervals between 30s-peak with the background ROI at 2 pixels out from the kidney ROI using automatic ROI at 35% threshold. The offset was higher, and the correlation varied more with different ROIs and the method was unreliable at time intervals extending beyond the peak radioactivity. Manual kidney ROIs with automatic background ROIs had slightly lower correlations. With DTPA renography both integral and slope uptake method with automatic kidney and background ROIs are accurate methods to estimate the GFR, but that the integral method is much more stable to variations in ROI size and the duration of the uptake phase of the renogram.     

A method for recording the motor activity of the reticulum in cattle

A method for recording the motility of the reticulum in normal cattle has been devised. The method is based on measurement of the pressure variations occurring in connection with the reticular contractions. The pressure is transferred through open, water-filled catheters via a pressure transducer to an electromanometer, from which it is recorded with the aid of a mingograf.Mean values for the interval, duration and amplitude of the reticular contractions in 10 normal cows are given.The method permits recording in intact animals without any preliminary measures, and can therefore be used in clinical cases.     

Studies on parturient paresis with special reference to the Downer cow syndrome

In addition to the classic form of parturient paresis characterized by hypocalcemia and somnolence, which responds rapidly to calcium therapy, it is not unusual to encounter other forms of this disease. The most common aberration would seem to be that in which the animals do not rise after calcium treatment. Many of these cows show little or no drowsiness, their appetite is often good, and the results of a clinical examination often negative. Some authors, Blood & Henderson (1960) for instance, consider that this “downer cow syndrome” is an indépendant disease not connected wiht milk fever.Although the downer cow syndrome is a common disease and is of considerable significance, remarkably little has been written about it. Garm in 1950 noted that the frequency of downers had increased as compared with the numbers registered a few years earlier. He had also noticed that in many of these cows hypocalcemia was present on the first day of illness but not on subsequent days, despite the fact that they had marked signs of milk fever. Osinga, in an investigation in 1963, compared two types of milk fever: a typical form in which the cow is drowsy, lies on her side, and has partial anorexia, and an atypical form in which the animal is alert and has normal or only slight loss of appetite. Osinga remarked that the atypical cases had in-creased in number and suggested as an explanation the fact that the amount of protein in the fodder has increased, with the result that auto-intoxication and damage to parenchymatous organs may occur.The object of the present investigation was to study the difference between cows that recover after treatment (“uncomplicated milk fever”) and those that have not risen 24 hrs. after the first treatment (“downers”). We also wanted to ascertain whether any changes occurred in the downers between the first and second, and second and third days. In addition, the difference between cows with blood-calcium levels equivalent to or over 8.0 mg/100 ml serum and those with corresponding values under 8.0 mg at the first examination was also studied.     

Recording of the reticular motility in cattle with experimental and spontaneous traumatic reticuloperitonitis

Using the method described in a previous publication for recording the reticulum action in normal cows the authors have investigated three cows with experimentally produced reticuloperitonitis as well as a group of cows with spontaneous peritonitis under treatment at the stationary clinic. The experimental animals were provided with permanent rumen fistulas.In the three cows with experimentally produced peritonitis the pointed object worked loose spontaneously during the first 24 hrs. The symptoms were mild after the first perforation and became aggravated after further perforations.An abnormally prolonged reticulum interval was recorded immediately after the perforation and continued to be clearly distinguishable for two to three days. In the cows with spontaneous peritonitis, this change was observed only in the acute stage.Prolongation of the second phase of the reticulum was the most pronounced finding from the recordings of the reticular movements, both in the cows with experimental peritonitis and in those in the spontaneous group. The change was at its height after two to seven days, and then subsided gradually in the experimental animals in which repeated recordings had been made.The pressure elevation in reticulum during the contractions was lower both in the animals with experimental peritonitis and in the spontaneous group than in the healthy animals.The cows with reticuloperitonitis also displayed impaired ability to pass the recording catheter from the atrium ruminis to the reticulum.