Canine Subcorneal pustular dermatosis (CSPD) represents a sterile, superficial, pustular skin disease of unknown cause but may be a variant of pemphigus foliaceus. A 7-year-old, intact female, mixed dog presented with 3-month history of pruritic multiple pustules and crusts. Direct smears from intact pustules revealed numerous nondegenerate neutrophils, some acantholytic cells, and bacterial culture was negative. Histologic examination of lesional skin showed subcorneal pustules filled with neutrophils and acantholytic cells. The direct immunofluorescence tests stained with IgG, IgA, IgM, C3 were negative. Oral administration of dapsone (1 mg/kg/q8h) was initiated and it was reduced to 1 mg/kg/q12h with good control of the lesions.

To report retinal image of in a 6-year-old male castrated poodle dog with a 2-month history of nyctalopia using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Ocular reflexes were present in both eyes and slit lamp examination showed anterior subscapular cataract in the right eye. There were fundus abnormalities in both eyes similar to retinal degeneration. Scotopic electroretinograms (ERGs) revealed significantly subabnormal amplitudes and prolonged implicit time, whereas photopic ERGs were better maintained, although far from normal. OCT of affected dogs revealed generalized retinal thinning much more than a normal age-matched dog. Therefore, OCT scanning is considered to be a useful method for retinal evaluation in dogs with retinal degeneration.

Ginsenoside Rp1 is one of ginseng saponins with chemotherapeutic activity. In this study, we investigated the effects of Rp1 on spleen cells. Spleen is a major immune organ consisted of crucial immune cells, such as T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, natural killer cells, and some antigen-presenting cells. Although the anti-tumor potential of Rp1 was studied, the effects of Rp1 on immune cells have not investigated yet. A viability assay using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), flow cytometric analysis, Western blot analysis were used to detect cellular changes on Rp1-treated spleen cells. MTT assay showed that Rp1 decreased the viability of spleen cells. To further investigate the effects of Rp1 on activated spleen cells, we treated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a representative inflammatory agent and Rp1 on spleen cells in a combination. The surface expression levels of activation markers for lymphocytes, CD25 and CD69 were measured. Apoptotic analysis revealed the cytotoxic effects of Rp1 on both na?e and activated cells, and the expression pattern of some apoptosis-related proteins was correlated to apoptotic events of cells. Taken together, ginsenoside Rp1 increases the cellular death of spleen cells and also inhibits the LPS-induced activation of spleen cells.

Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside-binding lectin that plays a role in neuroinflammation through cell migration, proliferation, and apoptosis. In the present study, regulation of galectin-3 was examined in the brain of mice infected with the Daniel strain of Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) at days 7 and 81 post-infection by immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemistry revealed that galectin-3 was mainly localized in ionized calcium-binding adapter 1-positive macrophages/activated microglia, but not in Iba-1-positive ramified microglia. Galectin-3 was also weakly detected in some astrocytes in the same encephalitic lesions, but not in neurons and oligodendrocytes. Collectively, the present findings suggest that galectin-3, mainly produced by activated microglia/macrophages, may be involved in the pathogenesis of virus induced acute inflammation in the early stage as well as the chronic demyelinating lesions in Daniel strain of TMEV induced demyelination model.

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are known to cause extraintestinal disease in poultry, leading to substantial losses in the industry. IutA, iron-regulated aerobactin receptor is firmly associated with APEC. To assess the potential of IutA to induce protective immune responses, attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium strain expressing IutA was constructed and administered orally to BALB/c mice. The IutA-specific immune responses were measured with sera, vaginal and fecal samples by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We found that the Salmonella-IutA vaccine induced significantly higher immune responses as compared to the control inoculated with the attenuated S. Typhimurium containing the plasmid only. The IutA-specific immune responses were increased by second immunization at third week after initial immunization, whereas triple immunization induced lower immune responses than those induced by the double immunization. The Salmonella-IutA vaccine induced a nature of immunity biased to the Th1- type, as judged by the ratio of IutA-specific IgG isotypes (IgG2a/IgG1). Overall, these results suggest that the Salmonella-IutA vaccine appear to be suitable candidate for a vaccine against APEC. Keywords :

Transgenic plants have been tested as an alternative host for the production and delivery of experimental oral vaccines. Here, we developed transgenic potatoes that express the major antigenic sites A and D of the glycoprotein S from transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV-S0.7) under three expression vector systems. The DNA integration and mRNA expression level of the TGEV-S0.7 gene were confirmed in transgenic plants by PCR and northern blot analysis. Antigen protein expression in transgenic potato was determined by western blot analysis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results revealed that based on a dilution series of Escherichia coli-derived antigen, the transgenic line P-2 had TGEV-S0.7 protein at levels that were 0.015% of total soluble proteins. We then examined the immunogenicity of potato-derived TGEV-S0.7 antigen in mice. Compared with the wild-type potato treated group and synthetic antigen treated group, mice treated with the potato-derived antigen showed significantly higher levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgA responses.

This study evaluated two different surgical techniques for the treatment of palmar annular ligament desmitis (PAL) in horses. The group 1 (G1) consisted of 11 Thoroughbred submitted to desmotomy, and G2 of 22 horses that underwent PAL desmectomy. There was no statistically significant difference between mean palmar annular ligament thickness in both groups evaluated (p = 0.800). In this study, the horses of G1 had 12 times more chance to return to physical activity, when compared to animals of G2 (p = 0.033; O.R. = 12.0; C.I.95% = 1,142-126,122). Desmectomy was more efficient in promoting the resolution of the injury and the return to sports activity.

The use of haematological techniques to assess fish health is generally accepted. The aim of the current study was to determine selected haematological changes that occur in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822). infected with trypanosomes. Blood films were prepared according to standard techniques to confirm trypanosome infections and whole blood was collected, the serum and plasma separated, and prepared for albumin and total protein concentration analysis. Plasma albumin levels were significantly higher in infected wild caught fish than in uninfected wild caught fish and uninfected breeding stock. Serum albumin levels were significantly lower in infected wild caught fish when compared to uninfected breeding stock. The total plasma and serum protein levels were within the normal range for C. gariepinus, that is, 3 g - 6 g/100 mL. The total plasma protein levels varied significantly between the three groups. However, the total serum protein levels were only significantly different between uninfected breeding stock and uninfected wild caught fish, as well as uninfected breeding stock and infected wild caught fish. The total protein levels were significantly higher in infected wild caught fish than in the other groups, a possible indication of an infection or inflammatory host response.

This study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant activity of ginger (zingiber officinale) in preventing oxidative stress ,lipid peroxidation and changes in trace elements induced by cadmium toxicity in male rabbits . For this purpose twenty four of adult male rabbits were divided randomly in to four groups ( 6 in each). Group 1 was given distilled water and considered as control group, group 2 received ( 10mg/kg B.w) of cadmium chloride , group 3 received ( 100mg/ kg B.w) of ginger extract plus (10mg/kg B.w) of cadmium chloride , group 4 received (200mg/ kg B.w) of ginger extract plus of cadmium chloride(10mg/kg B.w) . All treatments were orally given a single dose for 35 days. The water and food were provided add libitum. After the end of the treatment blood samples were taken for biochemical analysis to estimate serum Malondialdehyde ( MDA) , Antioxidant activity (Glutathione , Superoxide dismutase and Catalase ) and Trace elements (Zinc, Copper and Iron ) . The result showed that the administration of cadmium chloride resulted in a high concentration of malondialdehyde ( MDA) and caused a significant decrease in both superoxide dismutase and catalase and reduced glutathione. Serum levels of trace elements were also significantly decreased. While , ginger extract administration and cadmium chloride increased and restored their levels to near normal in comparing with cadmium chloride treated rabbits.

An investigation into ectoparasites of sheep and goats was carried out in Duhok province North West region of Iraq, during six months of a year, from January to June 2010. One thousand and two hundred forty eight (1248) sheep and 954 goats in 110 flocks from 80 villages were examined. Among them overall animals (66.89%) were infested with one or more species of ectoparasites. Of 720 (57.7%) and of 753 (78.9%) sheep and goats, respectively were infested. Five different types of ectoparasites, ticks (46.7%, 34.9%), lice (3.8%, 33.8%), mites (7.1%, 0.1%), fleas (2.8%, 7.75%) and ked (1.2%, 4.5%) were identified sheep and goats, respectively. Five species of hard ticks (Ixodidae) were identified in both sheep and goats, namely Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicun (48.37%, 13.5%), H. marginatum (18.01%, 8.1%), Rhipicephalus sanguineous (21.09%, 39.93%), R. turanicus (16.8%, 49.54%) and Haemaphysalis ssp. (2.5%, 0.9%). Two species of lice were infested each one of animal these namely, Damalinia Ovis (75%) and Linognathus stenopsis (33.3%) on sheep, and D. caprae (80.74%) and L.stenopsis (19.2%) on goats. Sheep were highly infested with two species of mites, Sarcoptes scabiei (25.84%) and Psoroptes Ovis (74.15%) than the goats, which one goat was found (0.1%) infested with S. scabiei. Three species of fleas were found infested both sheep and goats. Out of 106 collected fleas (47.2%, 43.4%, 9.4%) were Ctenocephalides felis felis, Pulex irritans and Xenopsylla cheopis, respectively. However, the only one species of Ked Melophagus ovinus were infested (1.2%) of sheep and (4.5%) of goats.