Kälberkastration: Eine Befragung von Schweizer Mutterkuhhaltern

In fall 2004, a survey of a representative sample of 1185 Swiss suckler beef farmers was carried out by questionnaire (return rate 51.9%). 32.7% of the respondents castrated their calves without the help of a veterinarian, 37.8% mandated a veterinarian to carry out the castrations and 29.4% did not castrate their bull calves at all. On average, 8 calves were castrated per farm and year at an average age of 7 days when the castration was carried out by a farmer or 34 days when the castration was carried out by a veterinarian. Almost all farmers castrated their calves with the rubber ring, and a majority considered no other method as feasible. 73.9% of the veterinarians used the Burdizzo technique, 14.9% applied rubber rings, and 11.2% performed a surgical procedure. 22.6% of the farmers and 85.4% of the veterinarians used sedation; local anaesthesia was performed in 32.1% of the castrations carried out by farmers and in 84.5% of the castrations carried out by veterinarians. 65.7% of the farmers were concerned by the change of the Swiss Animal Protection Ordinance (2001), when pain relief became mandatory. 47.6% of these farmers changed their castration routine: 53.1% now mandated a veterinarian, 33.0% used sedation or local anaesthesia and 8.9% abandoned castration of their calves. 59.8% of the farmers intended to participate in a future course for laymen, to study and train the technique of local anaesthesia for castration. Castration of their calves is for many suckler beef farmers an inevitable husbandry procedure. The political goal, that all calves shall be castrated with local anaesthesia can only be reached when livestock owners are informed about the distress caused by the castration and convinced of the benefit of the local anaesthesia. Veterinarians are important information carriers in this process. The implementation also produces work, be it the more complex castration procedure or the education of the farmers who want to carry out the local anaesthesia themselves.

Einfluss der Lokalanästhesie auf Schmerz und Stress verursacht durch unblutige Kastrationsmethoden beim jungen Lamm

Behavioural and cortisol responses of lambs were used as indicators of pain and distress to assess short- and long-term effects of bloodless castration methods with and without local anaesthesia. Eighty lambs, aged 2-7 days, were control handled or castrated by crushing- Burdizzo- or rubber ring method with and without local anaesthesia. Either 4 mg/kg diluted lidocaine, or corresponding volumes of physiologic sodium chloride solution were distributed in both spermatic cords and the scrotal neck. The serum cortisol response was monitored for 48 h, behavioural- and clinical traits over a 3-month period. The crushing castration method was excluded from the study after 10 lambs had been castrated, since this method showed severe local reactions. Local anaesthesia significantly reduced behavioural and cortisol responses after rubber ring castration and tendentially after Burdizzo castration. Prolonged or chronic pain after rubber ring castration with anaesthesia was not evident. If combined with local anaesthesia, both the rubber ring and the Burdizzo method are acceptable methods for castration of lambs up to one week of age.

Rumenozentese: Eine geeignete Methode zur pH-Bestimmung im Pansensaft beim Rind?

In the United States, rumenocentesis has been recommended especially for early diagnosis of subacute rumen acidosis (SARA). The objective of the current study was to evaluate health risks due to the technique ofrumenocentesis and to measure pH in ruminal juice using a commercial indicator paper (Pehanon) and a pH electrode (reference method). After 11 dairy cows underwent rumenocentesis, the clinical status of those animals was evaluated daily, and cows were slaughtered as well as pathologically--anatomically examined on day 7. During the observation period, the following pathological clinical signs were evident: forced inspiration (3 cows), transient episode of hyperthermia (2 cows), increased tension of the abdominal wall (8 cows) and positive foreign body tests (3 cows). One cow had to be culled on day 7 because of severe generalised septic peritonitis spreading from the site of rumenocentesis. At slaughter, hematoma formation in the area of the puncture site was found in 9 out of 10 cows. It was concluded that the severe complications encountered with this technique do not legitimate rumenocentesis as a routine procedure for collection of rumen juice samples in cows under Swiss conditions. The correlation between the pH reference method and the commercial indicator paper was the high (r = 0.926).

[Evaluation of an polyvalent footrot vaccine in a field trial]

OBJECTIVE

The footvax® vaccine should protect sheep from footrot for a period of about 10 weeks. This is slighly shorter than the duration of the Swiss alpine pasture season. Thus, the vaccine was evaluated for its prophylactic and therapeutic effectiveness for an Alpine pasture trial season.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Two flocks of 261 and 338 sheep were assessed in the spring for the prevalence and severity of footrot, and thereafter divided each into a vaccinated and a control group. At the end of the Alpine season, all sheep were reevaluated and the data were analyzed.

RESULTS

In both flocks, vaccinated groups showed an improvement during pasture. One flock had a significant reduction in the number of cases and improvement of case severity only in the vaccinated group. In the second flock, no significant difference between groups was found, because both groups improved while on pasture.

CONCLUSION

Vaccination improves footrot in flocks during the Alpine pasture season.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Vaccination with Footvax® is effective for footrot control, however, it cannot be used as the sole measure to control the disease during Alpine pasturing.

Der polyvalente Moderhinke-Impfstoff im Praxistest

Gegenstand und Ziel: Der Impfstoff Footvax® soll Schafe über einen Zeitraum von etwa 10 Wochen vor Moderhinke-Erkrankungen schützen, was der Dauer der Alpsaison knapp entspricht. Die Wirksamkeit der Impfung sollte daher unter Praxisbedingungen geprüft werden. Material und Methoden: Nach Untersuchung jedes Schafs von zwei Herden wurde die Hälfte der Tiere im Frühling geimpft, während die andere Hälfte als Kontrolle diente. Nach Alpabtrieb wurde jedes Tier erneut untersucht. Ergebnisse: In einer Herde bestand infolge der generellen Abheilung kein Unterschied zwischen Impf- und Kontrollgruppe. Bei der zweiten Herde wurde hingegen ein signifikanter Teilschutz der geimpften Tiere gegenüber den Kontrollen festgestellt. Schlussfolgerung: Die Impfung hilft, das Leiden zu reduzieren. Klinische Relevanz: Als unterstützende Maßnahme zur Bekämpfung der Moderhinke wird die Impfung mit Footvax® empfohlen, doch reicht sie als alleinige Maßnahme zur Tilgung der Krankheit während der Alpsaison nicht aus.

Metal organic chemical vapour deposition of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires using oxygen donor adducts

Vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) have been grown by liquid injection Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition, using oxygen donor adducts of Me2Zn. The growth and characterisation of the nanowires grown using [Me2Zn(L)] where L = monodentate ethers, tetrahydrofuran (C4H8O) (1), tetrahydropyran (C5H10O) (2), furan (C4H4O) (3) and the bidentate ethers, 1,2-dimethoxyethane (C4H12O2,) (4) 1,4-dioxane (C4H8O2) (5) and 1,4-thioxane (C4H8SO) (6) is discussed. Single crystal X-ray structures of (4), (5), (6) have been established and are included here. The ZnO NWs were deposited in the absence of a seed catalyst on Si(111) and F-doped SnO2/glass substrates over the temperature range 350-600 degrees C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data shows that the nanowires grown from all adduct precursors were deposited in the wurtzitic phase.

Induction of propranolol metabolism in the Hep G2 human hepatoma cell line

Metabolism of propranolol by the human hepatoma cell line Hep G2 was studied. Although metabolism qualitatively was similar to that in-vivo, the P450-mediated N-desisopropylation clearly predominated. Pretreatment of cells with 3-methylcholanth-rene increased the activity of this pathway 14-fold, whereas phenobarbitone had no effect. This is similar to the pathway-selective inductive response observed for cigarette smoking in-vivo. As in-vivo, secondary metabolism of N-desisopropylpropranolol was extensive. This could, however, be completely blocked by 0·1 μm clorgyline, a potent MAO type A inhibitor. As in human liver microsomes, the stereochemistry of propranolol metabolism demonstrated a preference for the R(+)-enantiomer. These observations emphasize the usefulness of the Hep G2 cell line as a model of man.

Streptococcus spp. and related bacteria: their identification and their pathogenic potential for chronic mastitis - a molecular approach

Streptococcus spp. and related bacteria form a large group of organisms which are associated with bovine intramammary Infections (IMI). Some of them are the well-known mastitis pathogens Streptococcus uberis and Streptococcus agalactiae. In addition, there are a considerable number of these gram-positive, catalase-negative cocci (PNC) with unclear mastitic pathogenicity such as Aerococcus viridans which make the conventional diagnostics of PNC difficult. One diagnostic, API 20 Strep (API, Biomérieux) is recommended which, as a phenotypic assay, involves a series of miniaturized biochemical tests. Recently, preference is given to genotypic identification methods. In particular, sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene allows highly reproducible and accurate identification of bacteria and permits discovery of novel, clinically relevant bacteria. As a consequence, the aim of the present study was to compare identification of IMI-associated PNC by the API method as well as by sequencing of their 16S rRNA gene (16S). Furthermore, the correlation of these bacteria to bovine chronic mastitis and their phylogeny was investigated. 102 PNC isolated from single quarter milk samples were identified by API and 16S sequencing. Considering Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae and Streptococcus agalactiae, both methods generated fully concordant results. In contrast, a very high disconcordance was observed for most of the other PNC, in particular Enterococcus spp., Aerococcus viridans and the viridans streptococci were shown as apathogenic. Lactococcus garvieae was found to be an opportunistic pathogen causing IMI during late lactation. In addition, PNC isolated from milk were frequently observed together with other bacteria, in particular with Staphylococcus spp. In these cases, the levels of somatic cell counts (SCC) were determined by the specific PNC present in the sample. Considering PNC phylogeny based on 16S sequencing, 3 major clusters were observed. They included all the common mastitis pathogens (cluster I), the Lactococcus spp., Enterococcus spp. and Aerococcus spp. (cluster II) and all the viridans streptococci (cluster III).

Epidemiological study of pestiviruses in South American camelids in Switzerland

BACKGROUND

In the context of the ongoing eradication campaign for bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in cattle in Switzerland, the role of South American camelids (SAC) as a possible virus reservoir needed to be evaluated.

OBJECTIVE

To assess and characterize the prevalence of pestivirus infections in SAC in Switzerland.

ANIMALS

Serum samples collected from 348 animals (40 herds) in 2008 and from 248 animals (39 herds) in 2000 were examined for antibodies against pestiviruses and for the presence of BVDV viral RNA.

METHODS

Cross-sectional study using stratified, representative herd sampling. An indirect BVDV-ELISA was used to analyze serum samples for pestivirus antibodies, and positive samples underwent a serum neutralization test (SNT). Real-time RT-PCR to detect pestiviral RNA was carried out in all animals from herds with at least 1 seropositive animal.

RESULTS

In 2008, the overall prevalence of animals positive for antibodies (ELISA) and pestiviral RNA or was 5.75 and 0%, respectively. In 2000, the corresponding prevalences were 3.63 and 0%, respectively. The seroprevalences (SNT) for BVDV, border disease virus or undetermined pestiviruses were estimated to be 0, 1.73, and 4.02% in 2008, and 0.40, 1.21, and 2.02% in 2000, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE

At the present time, SAC appear to represent a negligible risk of re-infection for the BVDV eradication program in cattle in Switzerland.

The Influence of Mammaplasty in Axillary Lymphatic Drainage Patterns and Sentinel Lymph Node Detection

Introduction: Controlateral mammaplasty is often necessary during the procedure of breast reconstruction after mastectomy.However the impact of this kind of surgery on axillary lymphatic drainage and sentinel node (SN) detection remains controversial. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as published a guideline in 2005 and recommended that SN biopsy should not be performed in patients with previous mammplasty or axillary surgery.However, because of insufficient evidence and lack of scientific studies, mammaplasty cannot be considered as an absolute contraindication for SN biopsy procedure. Therefore, the same panellists of the ASCO guideline suggested that a preliminary lymphoscintigraphy (LSG) could be done when considering a SN biopsy in patients with previous mammaplasty, with the objective of verifying the integrity of the mammary gland and axillary nodes.The aim of our study was to evaluate the lymphatic patterns and SN detection rates after mammaplasty by using lymphoSPECT-CT (LS).Methods: ten patients who underwent mammaplasty were evaluated by LSG immediately after intradermal periareolar injections of 99mTc -labelled sulphur colloid (NanoCIS*) at two time points: before mammaplasty (Pre-LS) and between 40 to 60 days after mammaplasty (Post- LS).Results: all breasts drained primarily to the axillary SN. The binomial test did not show statistical difference in lymphatic drainage patterns between Pre-LSG and Post-LSG.The average number of hot SN was 1.28 in Pre-LS, 1.14 in Post-LS.The localisation of hot SN was evaluated by:- antero-posterior distance was estimated in centimeter from SN region to dorsal vertebrae spine center-SN's coronal position was compared to grill rib.The preservation of axillary lymphatic drainage after mammaplasty was allowed for SN detection in all studied breasts and the localisation of the sentinel node was the same after surgery than before.Conclusion: after evaluating the impact of the previous mammaplasty surgery on the accuracy of SLN biopsy, we observed that this kind of surgery did not significantly affects the accuracy of lymphatic mapping and that it may be possible to propose sentinel node biopsy after mammaplasty.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 1028.

Effects of the two production programs 'Naturafarm' and 'conventional' on the prevalence of non-perforating abomasal lesions in Swiss veal calves at slaughter

Non-perforating abomasal lesions are a considerable problem affecting more than half the population of veal calves. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of pyloric and fundic abomasal lesions in Swiss veal calves at slaughter and to compare the occurrence of non-perforating abomasal lesions between two different production programs ('Naturafarm' and 'conventional'). 'Conventional'-production settings met the minimal standards as defined by the Swiss animal welfare legislation, whereas 'Naturafarm' production complied with increased animal welfare requirements. In order to identify risk factors for the development of abomasal lesions, information on management, housing, and feeding was obtained by a questionnaire. A total of 125 abomasa were randomly selected in one large abattoir. They were examined macroscopically, and the occurence of lesions in either the fundic or pyloric region of the abomasum was recorded separately. Animals raised in the 'conventional'-production setting revealed a significantly higher prevalence of lesions in the fundic part. Factors significantly affecting the prevalence of non-perforating lesions in the fundic part were the 'conventional'-production environment, including missing access to an outside pen, missing access to water and straw as the only roughage, feeding by bucket and the liquid milk by-product Protofit in combination with the powder Sprayfit.