Salpingitis Impairs Bovine Tubal Function and Sperm-Oviduct Interaction

Salpingitis is a common cause for subfertility and infertility both in humans and animals. However, the effects of salpingitis on tubal function and reproductive success are largely unknown. Therefore we set out to investigate the effects of inflammation on sperm and oocyte transport and gametomaternal interaction in the oviduct using the bovine as a model. For this purpose, oviducts revealing mild (n = 45), moderate (n = 55) and severe (n = 45) inflammation were obtained from cows immediately after slaughter and investigated by live cell imaging, histochemistry and scanning electron microscopy. Our studies showed that endometritis was always correlated with salpingitis. Moderate and severe inflammation caused a significant increase in the thickness of tubal folds (p < 0.05). Severe inflammation was characterized by luminal accumulations of mucus and glycoproteins, increased apoptosis, loss of tight junctions and shedding of tubal epithelial cells. The mean ciliary beat frequency (CBF) in the ampulla was significantly reduced as compared to the controls (p < 0.05). The higher the grade of inflammation, the lower was the CBF (p < 0.001). In severe inflammation, spermatozoa were stuck in mucus resulting in decreased sperm motility. Our results imply that tubal inflammation impairs proper tubal function and leads to reduced sperm fertilizing capacity

IIB or not IIB: Endometrial biopsy evaluation in horses using the Kenney-Doig scale

The Kenney-Doig scale is a histopathologic grading system used as the international standard for assessing endometrial pathology and communicating prognostic fertility information for equine breeding prospects. The descriptive modifiers used for the scale are potentially subjective and as such they may not produce repeatable results between different observers and may contribute to certain grades of the scale acting as a ‘catch all’. To investigate the frequencies of Kenney-Doig grades assigned at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and Prairie Diagnostic Services (hereafter referred to as WCVM/PDS), a retrospective analysis of all equine endometrial submissions was completed from records between 1998 and 2018. Of 726 biopsies, the following grading distribution was found: 46/726 (6.3%) as category I, 307/726 (42.3%) as category IIA, 326/726 (44.9%) as category IIB, and 47/726 (6.5%) as category III. For comparison purposes, a retrospective review of the literature was completed and six different studies reporting Kenney-Doig grading distributions were included. Chi-square analysis showed significant differences between the grading distribution found at WCVM/PDS and each grading distribution reported in the six studies. To account for differences in mare populations, individual grading distributions were generated for five pathologists at the WCVM/PDS. Fisher’s exact test between these five Kenney-Doig grading distributions revealed significant differences in grading tendencies, suggesting the presence of observer variation. While comparisons from the retrospective review were limited by differences in mare populations, a prospective study was then completed to directly test inter-rater and intra-rater agreement of eight American College of Veterinary certified pathologists who were recruited to blindly grade the same set of 63 digitized equine endometrial biopsy slides as well as blindly re-evaluating 21/63 of these slides at a later time point. Cohen’s kappa was used to measure inter-rater agreement and kappa values for pairwise comparison of final Kenney-Doig grades ranged from -0.052 to 0.458 (unweighted) and 0.082 to 0.638 (weighted), with an average Light’s kappa of 0.187 (unweighted) and 0.359 (weighted) across all eight pathologists, 0.143 (unweighted) and 0.330 (weighted) for pathologists practicing at different institutions, and 0.216 (unweighted) and 0.464 (weighted) for pathologists at the same institution. Intra-class correlations measuring intra-rater agreement ranged from 0.116 to 0.774 with an average of 0.553 for all eight pathologists. This study shows only slight to moderate inter-rater agreement and poor to good intra-rater agreement is produced by the Kenney-Doig scale, suggesting that the system may be unreliable and subject to significant observer variability

Nanotechnology in Animal Science

Recently, a revolution in nanotechnology has pervaded all fields related to animal science. This book collection focuses on the potential applications of nanotechnology in the field of animal science, particularly livestock production and medication. The studies/reviews published in this book show the preparation protocols and physiochemical and biological properties of the innovated nanoparticles, designated for different purposes. This is in line with the potential hazards of these materials. The book collection shows that nanoparticles and nanoparticle-based systems can be developed to serve different purposes in the field of animal production and veterinary, such as the management of reproduction and assisted reproductive techniques, rapid and robust disease diagnosis and treatment, drug delivery, and animal nutrition

Developing Modern Livestock Production in Tropical Countries

The Animal Production International Seminar (APIS) is the first international conference held by the Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Brawijaya. APIS was held for the first time in 2010 and was repeated every three years. In 2022, the 5th APIS was organized as an online meeting. The Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Brawijaya, is optimistic that the results of the 5th APIS will just be as successful as the 4th APIS in 2019. The theme of 5th APIS was ""Developing Modern Livestock Production in Tropical Countries"". The 5th APIS discussed matters related to strategies for developing modern livestock production in several tropical countries. The participants of 5th APIS, including keynote speakers and invited speakers, are from various countries (tropical and sub-tropical). These proceedings present the selected papers from the 5th APIS conference

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Sintesi delle Pubblicazioni : Anni 1988 - 1995

Repertorio delle pubblicazioni scientifiche negli anni dal 1988 al 1995 dei docenti e ricercatori della Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria. Digitalizzazione effettuata nel 2018 a cura della Biblioteca di Veterinaria "Ercolani". La digitalizzazione è stata autorizzata da Clueb, editrice della pubblicazione cartacea

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