Background
There are no reference intervals for urinalysis in cattle.
Hypothesis/Objectives
Characterize the urine of healthy cows, establish urine protein‐to‐creatinine ratio (UPC) reference ...intervals, and test possible differences among dairy and beef cattle, age groups, or stage of lactation.
Animals
Seventy‐seven dairy and 74 beef 2.5 to 17 year‐old cows of different breeds housed mainly in free stall.
Methods
In this prospective study, urine specimens were collected by catheterization. Complete urinalysis was performed within 1 hour including specific gravity, dipstick evaluation, visual urine pH evaluation with 0.3 pH unit graded strips, and microscopic evaluation of the sediment. Urinary protein and creatinine concentrations and protein electrophoresis were determined on frozen aliquots.
Results
Overall reference intervals were 1.020 to 1.045 for USG, 7.0 to 8.7 for pH, and 0.04 to 0.25 for UPC; because of differences in creatinine concentration, UPC was lower in beef (0.04‐0.14) than in dairy (0.05‐0.25) cows and in the latter in dry than lactating cows. With dipstick evaluation, most analytes were absent except for blood, ketone, and protein in 24.7, 16.0, and 64.7% of cases, respectively. Microscopic evaluation revealed less than 3 red blood cells, leukocytes, and epithelial cells in 84, 99.3, and 100% cows, respectively. No band was observed at electrophoresis, except in 1 case at MW ~66 000.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Creatininuria is higher in beef than dairy cows and proteinuria is likely more efficiently characterized by protein concentration than by UPC.
Mice overexpressing the prion protein (PrP) sequence from various host species are widely used for measuring infectious titers in prion disease. However, the impact that the transgene expression ...level might have on the susceptibility to infection raises some concerns about the final biological relevance of these models. Here we report that endpoint titration of a sheep scrapie isolate in sheep and in mice overexpressing the ovine PrP results in similar estimates of the infectious titer.
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•Efficacy of sainfoin on a multiresistant to anthelmintic strain of H. contortus.•Combining tannin-containing diet and oral administration of macrocyclic lactones could have negative ...consequences.•Need for further experiments to study the interactions between tannin containing diet and anthelmintic drugs.
The worldwide spread of resistance to anthelmintic (AH) drugs in gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) imposes to explore alternative solutions. Amongst those, the possible use of tannin-containing nutraceuticals appears as a relevant option to replace (or decrease the frequency of) chemical-based treatments. Our objectives were to test the AH efficacy of sainfoin pellets against a multiresistant strain of Haemonchus contortus in experimentally infected lambs and to examine possible interaction between ivermectin (IVM) and condensed tannins (CT)-rich ressource.
In vivo study was performed with twenty-four lambs were inoculated (Day 0) with multiresistant H. contortus infective larvae. On D21 Post-Infection, the lambs were assigned to two dietary treatments (sainfoin vs lucerne control pellets). On D39, half of the animals per group received 0.25ml/kg of an oral ivermectin treatment. On D47, animals were slaughtered to count worms. The consumption of sainfoin was associated with higher packed cell volume (PCV) values (P<0.05) and reduced faecal egg counts (FECs) (P<0.05). For the experimental feeding period, FECs were overall reduced by 50% in the sainfoin group. The diet did not have significant effect on the worm number but sainfoin significantly reduced female fertility. Decrease in plasma IVM concentrations was observed in the sainfoin-fed animals and was associated with a decrease of IVM efficiency when compared with the control group. Incubating tannin in vitro with ivermectin and rumen fluid showed a blocking of ivermectin by the tannins. This suggests that tannins lower the IVM intestinal absorption compromising thereby drug plasma bioavailability and efficacy.
Tannin-containing nutraceuticals alter the biology of multiresistant nematodes, thus representing an option for their sustainable control. In vivo and in vitro interactions between nutraceuticals and chemicals impose caution when both tannin-rich diet and drug-based treatments are combined. Further studies are required to clarify the mechanisms that support such interactions.
It is now clearly established that the transfusion of blood from variant CJD (v-CJD) infected individuals can transmit the disease. Since the number of asymptomatic infected donors remains ...unresolved, inter-individual v-CJD transmission through blood and blood derived products is a major public health concern. Current risk assessments for transmission of v-CJD by blood and blood derived products by transfusion rely on infectious titers measured in rodent models of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) using intra-cerebral (IC) inoculation of blood components. To address the biological relevance of this approach, we compared the efficiency of TSE transmission by blood and blood components when administrated either through transfusion in sheep or by intra-cerebral inoculation (IC) in transgenic mice (tg338) over-expressing ovine PrP. Transfusion of 200 µL of blood from asymptomatic infected donor sheep transmitted prion disease with 100% efficiency thereby displaying greater virulence than the transfusion of 200 mL of normal blood spiked with brain homogenate material containing 10³ID₅₀ as measured by intracerebral inoculation of tg338 mice (ID₅₀ IC in tg338). This was consistent with a whole blood titer greater than 10³·⁶ID₅₀ IC in tg338 per mL. However, when the same blood samples were assayed by IC inoculation into tg338 the infectious titers were less than 32 ID per mL. Whereas the transfusion of crude plasma to sheep transmitted the disease with limited efficacy, White Blood Cells (WBC) displayed a similar ability to whole blood to infect recipients. Strikingly, fixation of WBC with paraformaldehyde did not affect the infectivity titer as measured in tg338 but dramatically impaired disease transmission by transfusion in sheep. These results demonstrate that TSE transmission by blood transfusion can be highly efficient and that this efficiency is more dependent on the viability of transfused cells than the level of infectivity measured by IC inoculation.
A modified-live vaccine has been shown previously to prevent fetal infection with bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV)-2 and, to some extent BVDV-1, when used in association with an inactivated ...vaccine in a two-step vaccination protocol. In this challenge study, the modified-live vaccine used alone was able to protect 13 heifers between 49 and 96days of gestation at challenge from leucopenia and virus replication and, for a 4-month period, to prevent fetal infection. The efficacy of the BVDV-1f 22146/Han81 challenge was demonstrated by virus isolation from the fetuses of all nine non-vaccinated, control heifers. However, the small number of heifers tested meant that the vaccination failure rate could be as high as 10% in the field.
The PrP gene polymorphisms at codons 142 (I/M), 154 (R/H), 211 (R/Q), 222 (Q/K) and 240 (S/P) and their association with susceptibility to classical scrapie infection were investigated in five French ...goat herds displaying a high disease prevalence (>10%). On the basis of PrP(Sc) detection in the central nervous system and in various lymphoid tissues, 301 of 1343 goats were found to be scrapie infected. The statistical analyses indicated that while P(240) mutation had no direct impact on scrapie infection risk, the H(154), Q(211) and K(222) mutations were associated with high resistance to scrapie. The M(142) mutated allele was associated with a limited protection level against the disease. These results further reinforce the view that, like in sheep, the control and eradication of classical scrapie through the selection of certain PrP alleles could be envisaged in commercial goat population.
Atypical/Nor98 scrapie was first identified in 1998 in Norway. It is now considered as a worldwide disease of small ruminants and currently represents a significant part of the detected transmissible ...spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) cases in Europe. Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases were reported in ARR/ARR sheep, which are highly resistant to BSE and other small ruminants TSE agents. The biology and pathogenesis of the Atypical/Nor98 scrapie agent in its natural host is still poorly understood. However, based on the absence of detectable abnormal PrP in peripheral tissues of affected individuals, human and animal exposure risk to this specific TSE agent has been considered low. In this study we demonstrate that infectivity can accumulate, even if no abnormal PrP is detectable, in lymphoid tissues, nerves, and muscles from natural and/or experimental Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases. Evidence is provided that, in comparison to other TSE agents, samples containing Atypical/Nor98 scrapie infectivity could remain PrP(Sc) negative. This feature will impact detection of Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases in the field, and highlights the need to review current evaluations of the disease prevalence and potential transmissibility. Finally, an estimate is made of the infectivity loads accumulating in peripheral tissues in both Atypical/Nor98 and classical scrapie cases that currently enter the food chain. The results obtained indicate that dietary exposure risk to small ruminants TSE agents may be higher than commonly believed.
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