Left Displacement of the Abomasum in 4 Beef Calves

Citation: Oman, R. E., Streeter, R. N., Reppert, E. J., & Chako, C. Z. (2016). Left Displacement of the Abomasum in 4 Beef Calves. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 30(4), 1376-1380. doi:10.1111/jvim.14353BackgroundLittle is known about the occurrence rate, underlying etiology or treatment of left displacement of the abomasum in beef calves. ObjectiveDescribe the clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment of left displacement of the abomasum in 4 beef calves. AnimalsFour client-owned beef breed calves with left displaced abomasum (LDA). MethodsRetrospective case series. Hospital medical records were reviewed to identify all beef breed cattle under the age of 6 months diagnosed with LDA. ResultsFour beef calves were treated for left displacement of the abomasum. All four had a history of decreased appetite and left-sided abdominal distention. Two had recently been treated for necrotic laryngitis and one was being treated for clostridial abomasitis. Ultrasonography confirmed the abomasum to be displaced between the rumen and the left body wall in all calves. The calves were initially treated by rolling to correct the abomasal displacement. The abomasum redisplaced in 3 of 4 calves within 1 hour to 6 days; 1 calf developed a mesenteric volvulus. A right paramedian abomasopexy was performed in all cases. Three of 4 calves grew well and remained in the herd 6-18 months later; 1 calf was euthanized because of complications associated with necrotic laryngitis. Conclusions and clinical importanceLeft displacement of the abomasum should be considered as a differential diagnosis for beef calves with abdominal distention. Concurrent necrotic laryngitis can increase the risk of abomasal displacement in beef calves. Treatment should include surgical correction as rolling is not curative and might be associated with mesenteric volvulus

Swarming populations of Salmonella represent a unique physiological state coupled to multiple mechanisms of antibiotic resistance

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is capable of swarming over semi-solid surfaces. Although its swarming behavior shares many readily observable similarities with other swarming bacteria, the phenomenon remains somewhat of an enigma in this bacterium since some attributes skew away from the better characterized systems. Swarming is quite distinct from the classic swimming motility, as there is a prerequisite for cells to first undergo a morphological transformation into swarmer cells. In some organisms, swarming is controlled by quorum sensing, and in others, swarming has been shown to be coupled to increased expression of important virulence factors. Swarming in serovar Typhimurium is coupled to elevated resistance to a wide variety of structurally and functionally distinct classes of antimicrobial compounds. As serovar Typhimurium differentiates into swarm cells, the pmrHFIJKLM operon is up-regulated, resulting in a more positively charged LPS core. Furthermore, as swarm cells begin to de-differentiate, the pmr operon expression is down-regulated, rapidly reaching the levels observed in swim cells. This is one potential mechanism which confers swarm cells increased resistance to antibiotics such as the cationic antimicrobial peptides. However, additional mechanisms are likely associated with the cells in the swarm state that confer elevated resistance to such a broad spectrum of antimicrobial agents

First Neutrino Observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location, the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 10 figures, Invited paper at Neutrino 2000 Conference, Sudbury, Canada, June 16-21, 2000 to be published in the Proceeding

Sex differences in the Simon task help to interpret sex differences in selective attention.

In the last decade, a number of studies have reported sex differences in selective attention, but a unified explanation for these effects is still missing. This study aims to better understand these differences and put them in an evolutionary psychological context. 418 adult participants performed a computer-based Simon task, in which they responded to the direction of a left or right pointing arrow appearing left or right from a fixation point. Women were more strongly influenced by task-irrelevant spatial information than men (i.e., the Simon effect was larger in women, Cohen's d = 0.39). Further, the analysis of sex differences in behavioral adjustment to errors revealed that women slow down more than men following mistakes (d = 0.53). Based on the combined results of previous studies and the current data, it is proposed that sex differences in selective attention are caused by underlying sex differences in core abilities, such as spatial or verbal cognition

Biochemistry and physiology of gastrointestinal somatostatin

Somatostatin, a tetradecapeptide initially isolated from the ovine hypothalamus, is widely distributed throughout the gastrointestinal tract where it may act as a hormone, local chemical messenger, or neurotransmitter to elicit many physiological actions. Release of somatostatin from D cells in the gut is regulated by mechanisms that are both dependent on and independent of cAMP. In most cases somatostatin acts to inhibit the function of its target cells. It performs this action in part via pertussis-toxin-sensitive inhibitory guanine nucleotide-binding proteins that regulate adenylate cyclase activity. Other mechanisms may involve sites of action distal to intracellular second messenger systems .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44411/1/10620_2005_Article_BF01536041.pd