Fowl adenovirus induced different manifestations of the disease in two consecutive chicken breeding flocks in a poultry hall

This study investigated an adenovirus infection in two consecutive breeding flocks in the same poultry hall. Thirty-six thousand one-day-old chickens of the ROSS 308 hybrid broiler type were kept together in one hall. The chickens in the first breeding flock during fattening did not show any clinical signs of the disease or increased mortality. Typical clinical signs of the adenovirus infection were seen in the second breeding flock. The signs included: depression, apathy, somnolence, a crouched position with a droopy head, fuzzy feathers, anaemic combs and wattles, sporadic nervous signs, and reduced weight gain. Increased mortality was recorded from 18 to 25 days of age, the higher mortality rate resulted from dehydration and exhaustion. The surviving chickens showed growth slightly below average by the end of the fattening period. The necropsies of the chickens in the first flock showed characteristic lesions for inclusion body hepatitis (IBH). Adenoviral gizzard erosions (AGE) were found mainly in the chickens of the second consecutive breeding flock. In both breeding flocks, FAdV-A was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the liver and gizzard samples. The presence of fowl adenovirus B was not confirmed in the evaluated samples. The results showed lesions in the first flock typical for IBH, whereas the pathological changes in the second flock were characteristic of AGE

Spinal cord haemangiosarcoma in one dog - Case report

A 5-year-old intact female Shih Tzu was presented with acute onset of hind leg paralysis. The neurologic examination revealed severe T3-L3 myelopathy. The differential diagnoses included degenerative, anomalous, traumatic, inflammatory, vascular, metabolic, and neoplastic changes. The results of the paraclinical examinations and diagnostic imaging narrowed the list of differential diagnoses and, along with the patient's deteriorating condition, led to the owner's decision to euthanise the dog. The histologic findings of the spinal cord specimens indicated a tumour of the blood vessels formed by the proliferation of endothelial cells, which may present as either capillary or cavernous structures. In this case, the tumour was a capillary-type haemangiosarcoma. The primary site of proliferation could not be determined in this case because no mass formation was noted while performing the necropsy

Ninety-day oral toxicity studies on two genetically modified maize MON810 varieties in Wistar Han RCC rats (EU 7th Framework Programme project GRACE)

The GMO Risk Assessment and Communication of Evidence (GRACE; www.grace-fp7.eu) project is funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme. A key objective of GRACE is to conduct 90-day animal feeding trials, animal studies with an extended time frame as well as analytical, in vitro and in silico studies on genetically modified (GM) maize in order to comparatively evaluate their use in GM plant risk assessment. In the present study, the results of two 90-day feeding trials with two different GM maize MON810 varieties, their near-isogenic non-GM varieties and four additional conventional maize varieties are presented. The feeding trials were performed by taking into account the guidance for such studies published by the EFSA Scientific Committee in 2011 and the OECD Test Guideline 408. The results obtained show that the MON810 maize at a level of up to 33 % in the diet did not induce adverse effects in male and female Wistar Han RCC rats after subchronic exposure, independently of the two different genetic backgrounds of the event