Detection and molecular characterization of the mosquito-borne filarial nematode Setaria tundra in Danish roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Setaria tundra is a mosquito-borne filarial nematode of cervids in Europe. It has recently been associated with an emerging epidemic disease causing severe morbidity and mortality in reindeer and moose in Finland. Here, we present the first report of S. tundra in six roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) collected between October 2010 and March 2014 in Denmark. The deer originated from various localities across the country: the eastern part of the Jutland peninsular and four locations on the island Zealand. With the exception of one deer, with parasites residing in a transparent cyst just under the liver capsule, worms (ranging from 2 to >20/deer) were found free in the peritoneal cavity. The worms were identified as S. tundra by morphological examination and/or molecular typing of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA and cox1 genes, which showed 99.1–99.8% identity to previously published S. tundra isolates from Europe. Roe deer are generally considered as asymptomatic carriers and their numbers in Denmark have increased significantly in recent decades. In light of climatic changes which result in warmer, more humid weather in Scandinavia greater numbers of mosquitoes and, especially, improved conditions for development of parasite larvae in the mosquito vectors are expected, which may lead to increasing prevalence of S. tundra. Monitoring of this vector-borne parasite may thus be needed in order to enhance the knowledge of factors promoting its expansion and prevalence as well as predicting disease outbreaks

Postprandial hyperlipemia in pigs

The ability to induce postprandial hyperlipemia is essential for using certain animal species as models for short-term consequences of fat intake in humans. We present the results from two studies on postprandial hyperlipemia and triglyceride metabolism in young slaughter pigs using the proprietary lipid-containing product, Intralipid®. In the first study we demonstrated that postprandial hyperlipemia in slaughter pigs was insignificant (p=0.16) when fed Intralipid® in doses of 2 g fat/kg administered in two fractions: the first 1/3 11/2 hours after feeding, and the second 2/3 11/2 hours later. In the second study, induction of postprandial hyperlipemia was performed by administering Intralipid® in single doses of 2 g fat/kg 51/2 hours after feeding, which resulted in the development of significant postprandial hyperlipemia (p<0.001). To assess the half-life (T1/2) of triglycerides in the circulation, Intralipid® was administered intravenously in doses of 0.1 g fat/kg, which gave T1/2 (mean ± std.)=13.3±3.7 minutes. Furthermore, inhibiting the lipoprotein lipase by administering Triton WR-1339 intravenously in doses of 150 mg/kg exerted a significant inhibitory effect on the triglyceride catabolism in the circulation as determined by increments in peak value (p<0.05), increased area under the curve (iAUC) (p<0.01), and T1/2 (p<0.05). In conclusion, the slaughter pigs developed significant postprandial hyperlipemia when fed Intralipid® in doses of 2 g fat/kg 51/2 hours after feeding, while it was difficult to induce significant postprandial hyperlipemia when the same amount of fat was administered in two fractions in close proximity to feeding. We hypothesize that the high activity of the endothelial lipases, determined by the T1/2, constitutes the physiological threshold counteracting the development of postprandial hyperlipemia in young slaughter pigs