Research on this economically important disease of ruminants, especially sheep, which had been named bluetongue by farmers in the 19th century, has been part and parcel of the activities at Onderstepoort ever since its establishment in 1908 and therefore covers a full century of the OVI's existence. In view of Onderstepoort's centenary celebration a brief overview of this research is given in terms of the historic milestones which influenced and guided global research on this and other viral diseases of animals.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine tick infestation, and udder and teat damage in 286 lactating cows and heifers at six properties in the smallholder and commercial sectors in Gwanda district of Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe. Eight tick species were identified: Amblyomma hebraeum, Hyalomma truncatum, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus zambeziensis and Rhipicephalus simus. Overall, 81.5 % of the cattle were tick infested; prevalence of tick-infested cattle was significantly higher on communal land (93.8 %) and recently claimed land (85.1 %) than on commercial farms. The mean tick load on infested cattle on communal land was significantly higher than in the other two sectors. Although 53 % of the sampled cattle had some degree of udder and teat damage, very few farmers (2.6 %) treated their cattle for these conditions. Udder damage was ca. two times and three times, respectively, more likely to occur in cattle on communal land compared to cattle on recently claimed land and commercial farms. The occurrence of R. appendiculatus and R. zambeziensis indicate that the cattle population in the study area is at high risk of a theileriosis outbreak, a tick-borne disease that has not been reported from this area.

This study describes the distribution and aspects of the ecology of Lamproglena hoi. Bushveld smallscale yellowfish, Labeobarbus polylepis (Boulenger, 1907) were collected during June 2006 from the Phongolo and Assegaai rivers, March 2005 and October 2006 from the Elands River, and January 2007 and June 2008 from the Komati River in Mpumalanga, South Africa and examined for the presence of parasites. Lamproglena hoi specimens were collected from the gill filaments of the host. Specimens were fixed with warm AFA (alcohol-formaldehyde-acetic acid) and preserved in 70 % ethanol. The identification of parasites took place in the laboratories of the University of Johannesburg. Twenty-five copepods (prevalence 21 %, mean intensity = 4.17, abundance = 0.86) were collected on 29 fish in the Phongolo River and 46 copepods (prevalence 40 %, mean intensity = 3.83, abundance = 1.53) were collected on 30 fish in the Assegaai River. One hundred and sixty eight copepods (prevalence 52 %, mean intensity = 12.92, abundance = 6.72) were collected on 25 fish in 2005, and 527 copepods (prevalence 95 %, mean intensity = 27.74, abundance = 26.35) were collected on 20 fish in the Elands River. One hundred and sixteen copepods (prevalence 75 %, mean intensity = 7.73, abundance = 5.80) were collected on 20 fish in 2007, and 273 copepods (prevalence 63 %, mean intensity = 16.06, abundance = 10.11) were collected on 27 fish in 2008 in the Komati River. Labeobarbus polylepis from these four rivers was found to have a relatively high L. hoi infection. Inseminated L. hoi females (immature) attach to the host in winter and their ovaries become conspicuous (mature). In spring fertilized eggs are stored in egg sacs hanging from the body (gravid), indicating that fertilized eggs start to hatch in spring and continued hatching into summer. Parasites prefer the median part of the second gill arch for attachment. No correlation exists between the number of parasites recorded on the gills and the sizes (total lengths) of yellowfish sampled.

When large numbers of crocodile skins were downgraded because of the presence of small pin pricklike holes, collapsed epidermal cysts were found deep in the dermis of juvenile crocodiles while forming cysts were observed in hatchlings. Histopathology of these forming cysts showed the presence of intracytoplasmic inclusions in proliferating and ballooning epidermal cells. Pox virions were seen in electron microscope preparations made from the scabs of such early lesions. The partial sequencing of virus material from scrapings of these lesions and comparison of it with the published sequence of crocodile poxvirus showed the virus associated with the deep lesions to be closely related, but different. To differentiate between the two forms of crocodile pox infection it is suggested that the previously known form should be called ''classical crocodile pox'' and the newly discovered form ''atypical crocodile pox''. The application of strict hygiene measures brought about a decline in the percentage of downgraded skins.

The ubiquitin-proteasome mediated protein degradation pathway plays an important role in regulating both cell proliferation and cell death. Proteasome inhibitors are well known to induce apoptosis in various human cancer cell lines. We investigated the effect of combined treatment with proteasome inhibitor and TRAIL, and a possible mechanism of the enhancing apoptosis by the both treatment, on TRAIL-resistant non-small cell lung cancer. A549 cells were exposed to the N-Acetyl-Leu-Leu-Norleu-al(ALLN) as a proteasome inhibitor and then treated with recombinant TRAIL protein. In A 549 cells under proteasome inhibition conditions by pretreatment with ALLN, TRAIL treatment significantly decreased cell vibility compared to that ALLN and TRAIL alone treatment. Also, the both treatment induced cell damage through DNA fragmentation and p53 expression. In addition, the combined treatment of both markedly increased caspase-8 activation, especially the exposure for 2h, and Bax expression and induced the dissipation of mitochondrial transmembrane potential in A549 cells. Taken together, these findings showed that proteasome inhibition by ALLN enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis via DNA degradation by activated P53 and mitochondrial transmembrane potential loss by caspase-8 activation and bax expression. Therefore, our results suggest that proteasome inhibitor may be used a very effectively chemotherapeutic agent for the tumor treatment, especeally TRAIL-resistant tumor cell.

The present study was carried out to examine the sustained release effect of the implantable bovine somatotropin (SRI-BST) formula. In the blood profile test in steers, the bovine somatotropin concentration in serum by radioimmunoassay showed the peak concentration on the first day after the implantation of the SRI-BST formula, and concentration proceeded for 5 days (p less than 0.05). The insulin-like growth factor-1 concentration showed the peak concentration on the seventh day after implantation of the SRIF-BST formula, and concentration proceeded for 10 days (p less than 0.05). The glucose showed the peak concentration on the first day after implantation of the SRI-BST formula, and concentration continued for 3 days (p less than 0.05). The blood urea nitrogen showed the lowest concentration on the third day after implantation of the SRI-BST formula, and concentration continued for 7 days (p less than 0.05). these results proved that the SRIF-BST formula was the sustained release effects in steers.

Transmission of avian viruses both bird-to-bird and from birds to non-avian species is a major health concern. Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an economically important avian virus that poses substantial risks to the poultry industry. Rapid and sensitive diagnostic methods, such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), are required to track such infections. To develop an ELISA for detecting anti-NDV antibody in avian sera, the nucleocapsid protein (NCP) gene of the NDV La Sota strain was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli and the 513-amino acid recombinant NCP was purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. To evaluate its ability to replace NDV whole virus antigen as a coating antigen, NCP-coated and whole NDV-coated ELISAs were tested and compared using a panel of NDV positive antisera from chickens. Results using purified NCP were highly correlated with those obtained using whole NDV (r=0.927), demonstrating that recombinant NCP expressed in Escherichia coli is a suitable substitute antigen for whole NDV in a diagnostic ELISA.

Susceptibility to chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervid species has been associated with polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (PRNP). The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found in the PRNP of the Korean subspecies of Chinese water deer via analyses of the DNA sequences obtained from 34 individual deer. Two SNPs were detected at codons 77 and 100. One SNP at codon 77 encoding Glycine was determined to be a silent mutation but the other SNP detected at codon 100 induced an amino acid change, from Asparagine to Serine. The prion protein (PrP) amino acid sequence of the water deer showed 98.8-99.2% homology with those of American elk, white-tailed deer and mule deer. The PrP of the water deer contained amino acid residues closely related with CWD-susceptibility. This study is the first to describe genetic variations in the PRNP of the Korean subspecies of Chinese water deer.

Cutaneous leiomyomas (leiomyosarcomas) are smooth muscle tumors that occur single or as multiple lesions. They usually arise from the arrector pili muscles (piloleiomyomas) and less commonly from the muscle of veins (angioleiomyomas). This report describes histologic and immunohistochemical features of one cutaneous piloleiomyoma and two angioleiomyosarcomas. Three 7-12-year-old female dogs were presented with single or double cutaneous nodules. Histologically, the neoplastic masses were composed of densely or loosely arranged interlacing bundles. The neoplastic cells were ovoid to elongate, and had eosinophilic cytoplasms and perinuclear cytoplasmic vacuolation. Nuclei were central to eccentric, cigar shaped, oval to elongate. In two cases high mitotic index in high power field, multifocal necrosis and local invasion were also noted. Masson's trichrome and van Gieson staining revealed muscle origin tumors in these cases. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were strongly positive for smooth muscle actin. In our best knowledge, this is the first report of cutaneous smooth muscle tumors in dogs in Korea.

A 6-year-old, spayed female Miniature Pinscher dog with chronic vomiting lasted for 7 weeks was referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of Chungnam National University. Physical examination, complete blood counts, serum chemistry, gastroscopy, upper gastrointestinal series, endoscopic biopsy and histopathological examination were performed for the diagnosis. The complete blood counts and serum biochemistry revealed no remarkable effect to the patient's general condition. Gastroscopy revealed erosion, erythema in mucosal surface of gastric lesions and endoscopic biopsy performed. No significant findings in upper gastrointestinal series were observed, and histopathologic examination revealed infiltration of lymphocyte in the gastric mucosa. Based on these findings, the dog was diagnosed with lymphocytic gastritis. The dog were treated by metronidazole and ranitidine with hypoallergenic diet, and then the patient showed no vomiting or other complications.