Detection of Candida species by nested PCR method in one-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius)

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Systemic fungal diseases are the infections caused by false treatment protocols and generally are not taken into consideration especially in the veterinary...     

Antibodies to Schmallenberg virus in domestic livestock in Turkey

This, partly retrospective study, was designed to determine the seroprevalence of Schmallenberg virus (SBV), a new Orthobunyavirus first reported in Germany in late 2011, in domestic ruminants from the Middle Black Sea, West, and Southeast regions of Turkey. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to screen serum samples collected from slaughterhouse animals between 2006 and 2013. The overall seroprevalence was 335/1,362 (24.5 %) with 325/816 (39.8 %), 5/307 (1.6 %), 3/109 (2.8 %), and 2/130 (1.5 %) recorded in cattle, sheep, goats, and Anatolian water buffalo, respectively. This is the first study to demonstrate the presence of antibodies to SBV in Turkish ruminants; it indicates that cattle are more susceptible to infection than sheep, goats, or buffalo and that exposure of domestic ruminants to SBV in Turkey may have occurred up to 5 years prior to the first recorded outbreak of the disease in 2011.     

Evaluation of the relationship between serum paraoxonase-1 activity and superovulation response/embryo yield in Holstein cows

In this study, the effect of serum paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) activity on superovulation response and embryo yield was evaluated. The study material comprised 50 Holstein cows aged 3–4 years on postpartum day 90–120 with a body condition score of 3–3.25. A progesterone-based estrus synchronization protocol was initially administered to the selected donors. For this purpose, progesterone source was inserted intravaginally (day 0) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone injection was performed (day 6). Seven days after the insertion of progesterone device, follicle-stimulating hormone injections (total dose of 500 µg in decreasing doses for 4 days) were administered for superovulation. On the morning of the ninth day, prostaglandin (PG) F2α was administered, and the progesterone device was removed from the vagina in the evening on the same day. Two days after PGF2α administration, fixed-time artificial insemination was performed in the morning and in the evening. On the day of artificial insemination, blood samples were taken from the donors to determine the serum PON-1 activity. Uterine flushing was performed seven days after insemination. The results revealed that the serum PON-1 activity (mean ± SD, 562.71 ± 140.23 U/l) of the cows that responded to superovulation (donors with total corpus luteum count of ≥3 in both ovaries) was higher than those (389.91 ± 80.51 U/l) that did not (P<0.05). On the day of insemination, a positive correlation was determined between serum PON-1 activity and the counts of total corpus luteum (r=0.398), total oocyte/embryo (r=0.468), transferable embryo (r=0.453), and Code I embryos (r=0.315, P<0.05). Unlike the Code I embryos, there was no significant correlation between serum PON-1 activity and the number of Code III embryos. Moreover, no significant difference in the number of Code III embryos between the two PON-1 groups was observed. However, embryo yield and quality were found to have increased with increased PON-1 activity. Therefore, it was concluded that serum PON-1 activity may be associated with superovulation response, embryo yield and quality in donor cows.     

Effects of prolonged fasting on levels of metabolites,oxidative stress,immune-related gene expression,histopathology, and DNA damage in the liver and muscle tissues of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Fish Physiology and Biochemistry - This study was conducted to assess the impacts of prolonged fasting (70 and 120&nbsp;days) on the morphological, biochemical, oxidative stress responses,...     

Effect of embryo quality and developmental stages on pregnancy rate during fresh embryo transfer in beef heifers

Tropical Animal Health and Production - The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of embryo quality and developmental stages on pregnancy rate in beef heifer recipients. The present...     

Lung toxicity of nitrogen mustard may be mediated by nitric oxide and peroxynitrite in rats

Nitric oxide (NO) has previously been shown to be responsible for nitrogen mustard (NM)-induced tissue toxicity. Excessive amounts of NO are known to be able to produce peroxynitrite, an important reactive nitrogen compound, by reacting with superoxide. Previous studies reported that NO synthase inhibitors are able to prevent NM toxicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether peroxynitrite is also responsible for NM-induced lung tissue damage in rats. Wistar rats were divided into four groups. NM was injected intratracheally and was treated with the selective inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor aminoguanidine (AG) (intraperitoneal) or the peroxynitrite scavenger ebselen (intragastric). Control animals were exposed to saline only. NM injection caused both oxidative and nitrosative stress, reflected by dramatically increased levels of the lipid peroxidation end product malondialdehyde (MDA), iNOS activation and urine nitrite-nitrate (NOx) values. Histopathological evaluation demonstrated lung damage with NM exposure. AG blocked iNOS activation and decreased urine NOx levels, and resulted in less histopathological changes in the lung. Although the histopathological outcome was found to be similar to AG, ebselen did not change urinary NOx or lung iNOS levels. Furthermore, ebselen was more able than AG to protect against MDA accumulation. In conclusion, the ability of ebselen to prevent against lung damage without blocking NO synthesis suggests that peroxynitrites may have an important role in the pathogenesis of NM toxicity in addition to NO.     

Effects of safflower oil supplementation in diet on growth performance and body fatty acid composition of turbot (Psetta maxima)

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of the diets that contain safflower oil and fish oil as lipid sources, on growth, feed conversion and body composition in turbot (Psetta maxima). Two iso-nitrogenous and iso-lipidic diets (55 % protein and 14 % lipid) were prepared that include 100 % fish oil (FO group) and 100 % safflower oil (SFO group) for turbots with average weight of 62.21 ± 1.28 g, and fish were fed with these diets for 104 days. At the end of the experiment, the weight gain, specific growth rate and feed conversion ratio were the highest in SFO group than in FO group (p < 0.05). Fatty acid composition of fish body reflected the fatty acid composition determined in the experimental diets. The amounts of palmitic acid (PA; C16:0), oleic acid (OA; C18:1n-9), linoleic acid (LA; C18:2n-6) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22:6n-3) were dominant fatty acids in fish body. It was confirmed that the usage of safflower oil instead of fish oil in turbot feed did not generate any negative effects on growth, feed conversion and the values regarding the growth performance.     

Effect of flunixin meglumine treatment during and after embryo transfer on the pregnancy rate in cattle

This study aimed to determine the effect of flunixin meglumine treatment during and after the transfer of in vivo produced embryos to Angus (cows) and Holstein (cows and heifers) breeds of cattle on pregnancy rate. Holstein cows were used as donors in the study. A double dose of prostaglandin F2α was administered to the recipient animals for synchronization. Uterine flushing was performed in donors on day 7 after artificial insemination. A total of 295 transferable embryos were obtained. These embryos were transferred to Angus cows (n = 85), Holstein heifers (n = 80) and Holstein cows (n = 130). After the transfer, these animals were divided into three subgroups. The first subgroup (TI) was administered flunixin meglumine during embryo transfer, and the second subgroup (TII) was administered flunixin meglumine both during embryo transfer and on days 8 and 9 after the transfer. The third subgroup (TIII) was not administered anything and it was considered the control group. Pregnancy examination of the recipients was performed on days 30–35 after the transfer using real-time ultrasonography. The pregnancy rates after embryo transfer were found to be 43.52% in Angus cows, 42.5% in Holstein heifers, and 24.61% in Holstein cows (p < .05). When the animals were not classified according to breed, the pregnancy rates in subgroups TI, TII and TIII were found to be 29.29%, 45.10% and 29.79%, respectively (p < .05). In addition, the pregnancy rates were higher in TII and TIII subgroups of Angus cows and Holstein heifers compared to that of Holstein cows (p < .05). As a result, the pregnancy rates obtained after embryo transfer in Angus cows and Holstein heifers were found to be higher than that in Holstein cows. In addition, it was concluded that the administration of flunixin meglumine during and during/after embryo transfer has a positive effect on pregnancy rates in Angus cows and Holstein heifers.     

Prediction of the optimum veneer drying temperature for good bonding in plywood manufacturing by means of artificial neural network

Veneer drying is one of the most important stages in the manufacturing of veneer-based composites such as plywood and laminated veneer lumber. Due to the high drying costs, increased temperatures are being used commonly in plywood industry to reduce the overall drying time and increase capacity. However, high drying temperatures can alter some physical, mechanical and chemical characteristics of wood and cause some drying-related defects. In this study, it was attempted to predict the optimum drying temperature for beech and spruce veneers via artificial neural network modeling for optimum bonding. Therefore, bonding shear strength values of plywood panels manufactured from beech and spruce veneers dried at temperatures of 20, 110, 150 and 180 °C were obtained experimentally. Then, the intermediate bond strength values based on veneer drying temperatures were predicted by artificial neural network modeling, and the values not measured experimentally were evaluated. The optimum drying temperature values that yielded the highest bonding strength were obtained as 169 °C for urea formaldehyde and 125 °C for phenol formaldehyde adhesive in beech plywood panels, while 162 °C for urea formaldehyde and 151 °C for phenol formaldehyde in spruce plywood panels.