A biological trial was conducted to investigate the effect of bacteriophage on carcass characteristics of commercial broilers with or without bacterial challenge. Totally 180 day old Vencobb broiler chicks were randomly allotted into five dietary treatments designated as T1 to T5 with each treatment replicated thrice. T1 and T2 served as negative and positive control respectively, while birds in T3, T4 and T5 were exposed to E. coli on different days during 35 days course. Dietary treatments included T1 - basal diet, T2 - basal diet with bacteriophage in feed (50 mg/bird/ day up to 7th day and 25 mg/bird/day up to 35th day), T3 without bacteriophage, T4-bacteriophage in feed (50 mg/bird/day up to 35th day) and T5 - bacteriophage in feed (50 mg/bird/day up to 7th day and 25mg/bird/ day up to 35th day). E. coli was introduced orally in groups T3 and T4 on day 10, while T5 on day 26 (106 CFU/ bird). The bacteriophage supplementation to E. coli challenged birds had significantly increased the weights of eviscerated carcass, giblets, ready-to-cook meat; the cut-up parts like breast, back and drumstick compared to non-supplemented group. Results shed light on the potential benefits of bacteriophage as a natural alternate approach to antibiotic growth promotors in broiler production.

A commercially procured flow cytometrically sorted semen was reanalyzed to validate the effect of flow cytometry on structural and functional viability of spermatozoa. Flow cytometric analysis of commercially procured sex sorted frozen thawed bull semen showed the percentage of X sperms to be 95.31± 0.21 and Y sperms to be 4.69 ± 0.27, respectively. As expected sexed sperm had lower post thaw motility than the non-sexed sperm. However, no significant differences in the percentage of sperms with intact acrosome and expression of ROS were observed. Interestingly, DNA fragmentation index was statistically lower for the commercially procured sorted than for unsorted frozen thawed bull semen.

A three year old, male, Dachshund dog, weighing 10 Kg was presented to Veterinary College Hospital, Hassan with the history of snake bite (Russell’s viper). On physical examination, animal was dull and depressed, face was swollen and fang marks were observed on the right side of the face and blood tinged fluid was oozing from the bitten area. Animal was evincing pain on palpation of swollen area. Haemato-biochemical findings were within the normal range except for thrombocytopenia. The case was diagnosed as snake envenomation and treated with polyvalent anti snake venom intravenously, along with 100 ml of 0.9 per cent normal saline, dexamethasone and antibiotics for 5 days. Animal made uneventful recovery after 5 days of treatment. 

A two-year-old female Dobermann dog was presented to the Veterinary Clinical Complex, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Orathanadu, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, with a history of unilateral epistaxis, dullness, and inappetence. Clinical examination revealed the presence of ticks all over the body surface and they were morphologically identified as Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Blood samples were analyzed for haemato-biochemical parameters and blood parasites. Giemsa stained blood smear revealed the presence of morulae inclusion over monocytes. The dog was treated with a triple therapy protocol, and supportive care was provided. The dog exhibited signs of recovery from the third day of treatment. Follow-up examination on the seventh day revealedthe absence of morulae stage of Ehrlichia spp. and a gradual increase in blood cells. 

Three cases of acrochordon were diagnosed by gross, cytological and histopathological examinations. Each case was an unique presentation, in which patient exhibited a soft, pendulous mass on the ventral thorax, right thigh and a small, firm growth on the tail. The affected animals were a six-year-old Rottweiler bitch, a four-year-old Labrador bitch and a six-year-old Labrador dog. All the animals appeared clinically normal. On gross examination, the growths were pendulous, soft and ulcerated. The cut surface appeared creamy white in colour. Cytological analysis of impression smears revealed individual to multiple spindle cells. Histopathological examination revealed a redundant dermal fibrous tissue covered by a hyperplastic epidermis. The stromal component appeared more prominent in these cases. Based on the gross and histopathological features, the cases were diagnosed as acrochordon.

A nine year old non-descript male dog was presented to Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital with a history of anorexia, weakness, and clinical signs of respiratory distress and pyrexia. TFAST (thoracic-focused assessment with sonography for trauma) of the lung was performed to rule out pleural effusion. Upon confirmation of pleural effusion, thoracocentesis was performed and sample was collected to identify the cause. The pleural effusion was confirmed as haemothorax and cytology of the sample wasconfirmed as mesothelioma. 

Di butyl phthalate (DBP) is a most important plasticizer which is suspected as reproductive toxicant and exposure to it has the  potential effect on the human as well as animal reproductive system. The research work was conducted to evaluate the repeated dose toxicity of di butyl phthalate in male wistar rats. The animals were divided in four different groups with 12 male rats in each group.  Group I served as control and was administered corn oil (2 ml/kg body wt.) while groups II, III, and IV were administered DBP orally at  the dose rate of 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg respectively for consecutive seven days. Three rats from each group were sacrificed at 24 hrs, 7th day, 14th day and 21st day after initial dosing. There was gradual decrease in WBC count, RBC count, Hb, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, gradual increase in albumin, gradual decrease in total protein, glucose values, gradual decrease in relative weights of the  testes, epididymis, prostate and seminal vesicles as well as increase in liver weight with increase in dose of DBP in group II, III and IV as compared to control group at different intervals of sacrifice. Grossly reductions in the size of testes were observed only in rats that belonged to high dose group IV on 21st day. The plasticizer DBP was found to produce histopathological lesions in male reproductive organs as well as in liver in dose dependent manner after oral administration. The finding suggested that DBP can cause toxicity  lesions in male reproductive organs especially in testes and epididymis at the dose rate of 500 to 2000 mg/kg body weight in wistar rats.

Diet of mud crab S.tranquebarica consists of crustaceans, mollusks, fish remains, detritus, debris and undigested flesh. Quantitative analysis of the gut contents contributed 53.18% crustaceans, 24.69% molluscan remains, 16.91% fish remains and 3.02% & 1.23% of detritus and debris respectively. The study indicated that this species is primarily predators of sessile and slow moving benthic macro invertebrates. The presence of detritus, debris and undigested flesh items in the stomachs suggested that the crabs are detritivorous consuming fresh and decaying flesh of all kinds. The sex wise and size wise of diet in these crabs may be largely due to relative abundance of prey species in the habitat or related to change in cheliped strength and foraging behaviour.

The study of the influence of aqueous and hydro alcoholic extracts of Tinospora cordifolia on human mammary tumor cell line MCF-7 is a common way of discovering potential therapeutics for treating people suffering from hormone-dependent problems and diseases. In the present study, the cells were treated with the extracts at three different doses viz., 200 μg/ml, 400 μg/ ml and 600 μg/ml. Both the extracts produced degenerative changes in the cell in dose-dependent manner with maximum effect being noticed at the dose level of 600 μg/ml. Thus, these findings suggest that the extracts from Tinospora cordifolia have potential for acting as an antiproliferative agent in mammary tumour.

The squat lobster, Munidopsis cylindrophthalma (Alcock, 1894) was recorded for the first time from the Indian main land coast while investigating the biodiversity of the squat lobster of Gulf of Mannar during April, 2013. One specimen of the said species was collected as an incidental by-catch in the deep sea trawl fisheries off Thoothukudi coast of Gulf of Mannar, between 08º 35’ 22.5" N lat. 78º 27’ 40.9" E long and 08º 31’ 91.2" N lat. 78º 25’ 32.7"E long at a depth of 305-310 m. The present records show its extended distribution from Gulf of Mannar to east of Andamans and further to South China Sea.