Isolation of Clostridium limosum from an outbreak of metritis in farmed mink

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of sudden death of pregnant farmed mink in Finland occurred during the busiest whelping period in the spring of 2013. The affected farms were all located in western Finland in a rather narrow geographic area, Ostrobothnia. Dead mink from 22 farms were submitted for laboratory diagnostics to the Finnish Food Safety Authority (Evira). The carcasses were necropsied and tissue specimens were prepared for histology. Samples of internal organs and peritoneal fluid were cultured bacteriologically. RESULTS: Major pathological findings included hemorrhagic vaginal discharge, severely inflamed uteri with luminal hemorrhagic exudate and dead fetuses. Dead fetuses were present in the peritoneal cavity and associated severe peritonitis occurring as sequela of uterine rupture were found in most minks. Histological findings included hemorrhages, neutrophil infiltrations, degenerative inflammatory cells, edema, fibrin and rod-shaped bacteria on all layers of the uterine wall. In most samples abundant and pure anaerobic bacterial growth of Clostridium limosum was found. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of C. limosum associated metritis in farmed mink. Disease was only observed in pregnant females and the uterus was the primary site of infection. The source of infection and the route of transmission remained unclear, but feed borne transmission was suspected

Demographic histories and genetic diversities of Fennoscandian marine and landlocked ringed seal subspecies

Peer reviewe

Characterization of a New Epidemic Necrotic Pyoderma in Fur Animals and Its Association with Arcanobacterium phocae Infection

Peer reviewe

Scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping : a new tool for the study of laminated sediment records

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 9 (2008): Q02016, doi:10.1029/2007GC001800.The utility of elemental mapping by scanning X-ray fluorescence (XRF) in the study of annual laminated sedimentary records was investigated on eight annually laminated sediment types. The examples were chosen to illustrate the potential of this approach in environments dominated by terrigenous, biological and chemical deposition. Individual laminae were identifiable in elemental maps of all sediment types and were enhanced through the use of data reduction techniques (e.g., principal components transformation). Laminae were least apparent in clastic dominated systems with no seasonal changes in sediment sources. In biologically dominated systems, element maps provided insights into the composition of the varve subcomponents, related to alternating terrigenous and biologically dominated seasonal periods of deposition. Chemically precipitated structures were more prevalent than expected from visual investigations alone and may provide an underutilized paleoenvironmental signature of changing limnological conditions. Elemental mapping offers a valuable tool for the study of laminated records that complements existing techniques (e.g., SEM, digital image analysis).Funding was provided through NSF Earth System History grants and an NSF Instrumentation grant awarded to J.T.O

Deformational structures in the First Salpausselkä end moraine, Joutsenonkangas, south-eastern Finland

Deformational structures in glaciofluvial deltaic sand of the First Salpausselkä end moraine have been described and their origin interpreted on the basis of the palaeogeographical setting of the site. The structures, including a »load wedge», formed quickly after the accumulation of the sediment as a result of vertical loading pressure. It is perhaps reasonable to expect such structures in a variety of depositional environments

The Flandrian history of Lake Höytiäinen, eastern Finland

The present paper on the Flandrian history of Lake Höytiäinen, eastern Finland, is based on stratigraphical and shore morphological investigations. Lake Höytiäinen is situated on the proximal side of a great end moraine, Jaamankangas. The final retreat of the ice during the Weichselian glaciation started from Jaamankangas about 10 000 years B.P. Lake Höytiäinen was isolated from the final stage of the Yoldia Sea 8 500—8 900 years B.P. This age is compatible with the result of Sauramo and Auer (1928). The diatom analysis does not show any influence of salt water before the isolation. After the isolation a transgression started on the SE-side of the isolation threshold and a regression on the NW-side of it. The shore-line displacement of the lake is studied only stratigraphically because no raised beach before the clear shore of 1859 has been found. In 1859 the water of Lake Höytiäinen forced a dam of the canal being built in Jaamankangas and eroded a new outlet through it to Lake Pyhäselkä. The water level fell in a month about 9.5 metres

Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis of laminated sediments from Lake Valkiajärvi, Finland

Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry is applied to the study of thinly laminated organic sediments of the iron-meromictic Lake Valkiajärvi, Finland. Si, Fe, Ca, K, S, (and Cl as an artefact) are present in detectable quantities. It is concluded that the main reason for the occurrence of such annual laminations (i.e. varves) in this lake is the seasonal variation in the deposition of mineral matter. Iron remains low throughout the year and does not play any important role in varve formation

Note on a clay deposit at Pienempi Kuivajärvi, Finnish Lapland

A clay deposit occurring on the eastern side of Pienempi Kuivajärvi, southeast of Ivalo, is described. The clay was accumulated in a proglacial lake. Mineralogical analysis indicates a mineral content not closely similar to those found earlier in Finnish argillaceous sediments and shows a derivation from local granulitic bedrock. Most if not all of the pollen and diatoms are reworked. The pollen spectra include elements which may have originated from Eemian deposits. The diatom flora consists of freshwater small-lake forms