Effect of feeding various dosages of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product on health, reproduction, and costs in multiparous dairy cows

The transition period is a time of increased nutritional demands and risk to metabolic and infectious diseases in dairy cows due to a suppressed immune system. These problems lead to reproductive challenges, increased culling rates, and decreased milk production postpartum, which leads to decreased profits. Feeding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) or its fermentation product during the transition period may counteract some of those challenges by improving appetite, nutrient utilization, and immune function. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a single and a double dose of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product (Diamond V Original XP™; XP) on the risk of metabolic and infectious diseases, reproductive function, and variable net gain in multiparous Holstein dairy cows on a commercial dairy. A total of 160 multiparous Holstein cows, housed in the same pen, were fed a supplementation mixture of 0 (n = 54), 56 (n = 52), or 112 g/d (n = 54) of XP, corn, and molasses, provided as a top dressing starting 28 d before the expected calving date and ending 28 d postpartum. The supplement consisted of 0, 56, or 112 g of XP mixed with 84 g of molasses and 168, 112, or 56 g of corn meal, respectively. The incidence and duration of retained placenta, metritis, mastitis, ketosis, laminitis, udder edema, spent time in the hospital pen, or was sold or died in the first 100 d postpartum were recorded. Somatic cell count was analyzed from DHIA records. Body condition scores (BCS) were recorded weekly -28 to 28 d with relation to calving, plus at 7 and 14 wk postpartum. To indicate ovarian activity, serum progesterone concentrations were determined at 28, 35, 42, and 49 d postpartum. Conception rates, number of services, and days open were recorded as indicators of reproductive success. Variable net gain was defined as the difference between total costs/losses and total income. Total costs/losses included expenses for XP, medical treatment, and milk profit lost due to discarded milk and culling, whereas total income was calculated from milk and cow cull sales. Feeding XP improved supplement intake at parturition (P = 0.02) and decreased the incidence and treatment length of clinical mastitis (P = 0.02 and P = 0.08) and somatic cell scores in milk (P = 0.08). Feeding a double dose of XP additionally tended to decrease the incidence and duration of udder edema (P = 0.09 and P = 0.07) and days lost due to early culling or death (P = 0.05). Serum progesterone concentrations were higher at d 42 and 49 postpartum in cows fed XP (both P = 0.04), whereas indicators of reproductive success were not significantly altered. A double dose compared with a single dose of yeast fermentation product increased variable net gain during the supplementation period in 2nd lactation cows by decreasing costs (both P = 0.05). Our results suggest that feeding Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product during the transition period may improve appetite, mammary health, ovarian activity and, ultimately, profit margins in multiparous dairy cows

Identification of Vancomycin Resistance in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in two macaque species and decolonization and long-term prevention of recolonization in Cynomolgus Macaques (Macaca fascicularis)

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a S. aureus strain with resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, making it a global human and veterinary health concern. Specifically, immunosuppressed patients have a remarkably higher risk of clinical MRSA infections with significantly increased rates of prolonged clinical recovery, morbidity, and mortality. The current treatment of choice for MRSA is vancomycin. Importantly, we report the first known vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) carriers in a cohort of Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (CM) imported to the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), with a MRSA carrier rate of 76.9% (10/13 animals). All MRSA isolates also demonstrated resistance to vancomycin with prevalence of vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) at 30% (3/10 MRSA-positive CMs) and VRSA at 70% (7/10 MRSA-positive CMs). Additionally, we identified VRSA in a rhesus macaque (RM) housed within the same room as the VRSA-positive CMs and identified a MRSA/VISA carrier rate of 18.8% in RMs (3/16 positive for both MRSA and VISA) in unexposed recently assigned animals directly from the ONPRC RM breeding colony. Considering that the MRSA and VRSA/VISA-positive CMs future study aims included significant immunosuppression, MRSA/VRSA/VISA decolonization treatment and expanded “MRSA-free” practices were employed to maintain this status. We report the first controlled study using in-depth analyses with appropriate diagnostic serial testing to definitively show an MRSA decolonization therapy (90% success rate) and expanded barrier practice techniques to successfully prevent recolonization (100%) of a cohort of CMs MRSA-free (up to 529 days with a total of 4,806 MRSA-free NHP days)

Correction: Mitigation of endemic GI-tract pathogen-mediated inflammation through development of multimodal treatment regimen and its impact on SIV acquisition in rhesus macaques.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009565.]

Mitigation of endemic GI-tract pathogen-mediated inflammation through development of multimodal treatment regimen and its impact on SIV acquisition in rhesus macaques.

Here, we assessed the efficacy of a short-course multimodal therapy (enrofloxacin, azithromycin, fenbendazole, and paromomycin) to eliminate common macaque endemic pathogens (EPs) and evaluated its impact on gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota, mucosal integrity, and local and systemic inflammation in sixteen clinically healthy macaques. Treatment combined with expanded practices resulted in successful maintenance of rhesus macaques (RM) free of common EPs, with no evidence of overt microbiota diversity loss or dysbiosis and instead resulted in a more defined luminal microbiota across study subjects. Creation of a GI pathogen free (GPF) status resulted in improved colonic mucosal barrier function (histologically, reduced colonic MPO+, and reduced pan-bacterial 16s rRNA in the MLN), reduced local and systemic innate and adaptive inflammation with reduction of colonic Mx1 and pSTAT1, decreased intermediate (CD14+CD16+) and non-classical monocytes (CD14-CD16+), reduced populations of peripheral dendritic cells, Ki-67+ and CD38+ CD4+ T cells, Ki-67+IgG+, and Ki-67+IgD+ B cells indicating lower levels of background inflammation in the distal descending colon, draining mesenteric lymph nodes, and systemically in peripheral blood, spleen, and axillary lymph nodes. A more controlled rate of viral acquisition resulted when untreated and treated macaques were challenged by low dose intrarectal SIVmac239x, with an ~100 fold increase in dose required to infect 50% (AID50) of the animals receiving treatment compared to untreated controls. Reduction in and increased consistency of number of transmitted founder variants resulting from challenge seen in the proof of concept study directly correlated with post-treatment GPF animal's improved barrier function and reduction of key target cell populations (Ki-67+ CD4+T cells) at the site of viral acquisition in the follow up study. These data demonstrate that a therapeutic and operational strategy can successfully eliminate varying background levels of EPs and their associated aberrant immunomodulatory effects within a captive macaque cohort, leading to a more consistent, better defined and reproducible research model

Underlying Data.

The quantitative data underlying Figs 4–10 and Fig S1. (XLSX)</p

Evaluation of acquisition of intrarectal challenged SIVmac239X and enumeration of transmitted/found variants in multimodal treated and untreated rhesus macaques.

Evaluation of acquisition of intrarectal challenged SIVmac239X and enumeration of transmitted/found variants in multimodal treated and untreated rhesus macaques.</p