Serology-based approach in the clinical evaluation of neonatal viral eye diseases in kittens: calicivirus, herpesvirus and panleukopenia virus

This study aimed to examine the distribution of feline calicivirus (FCV), feline herpesvirus (FHV), and feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV), which cause neonatal feline viral diseases in kittens aged one to three months, using a Dot-ELISA bases antibody test kit. The studied parameters included the animals" sex, clinical signs and the Dot-ELISA test kit values. Twenty kittens had eye lesions and 20 were without eye lesions. Basic ophthalmologic examinations were performed, including pupil, corneal, palpebral and menace response reflexes, direct ophthalmoscopy, and fluorescein staining. The study population consisted of 40 kittens (25 female and 15 male); 3 of them are British shorthaired and the rest is 37 tabby kittens. In half of the 20 kittens with eye lesions, the lesions were bilateral and the most common clinical lesions were conjunctivitis, mucopurulent discharge, and blepharospasm. Other notable clinical findings were iris staphyloma, corneal opacity, symblepharon, and panophthalmitis. A higher rate of seropositive results was determined against Calicivirus in kittens. The severity and appearance of the cases could vary depending on the virus accompanying the lesions. In conclusion, the Feline Calicivirus was the most frequently detected virus in 1 to 3-month-old kittens in this study and the clinical presentation may change according to the accompanying virus titers

Presence of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in samarella (tsamarella), a traditional dried-cured meat of Cyprus

Dietary exposure to mycotoxins is a matter of great concern in terms of public health and regulatory bodies worldwide. Contamination of meat products with mycotoxigenic fungi and production of aflatoxins (AFs), ochratoxin A (OTA) and other mycotoxins can occur at different points of the manufacturing steps, from farm to fork. Among all microorganisms, moulds (mycobiota) are groups of microorganisms that can contaminate dry-cured meats, so they may carry the risk of mycotoxicosis. Samarella (tsamarella in Greek) is one of Cyprus's traditional, sun-dried and salted meat products. Mycological studies on this product have not been reported, and the risk of AFs or OTA has not been studied. This point of view aimed to conduct a survey study in terms of mycotoxin risk in samarella. With this aim, samples (n = 30) were collected from all commercial brands from markets in Northern Cyprus and analysed by ELISA. According to the results of this study, 14 of 30 and 9 of 30 samples were above Quantitative Measurement Limits (LOQ) for Total AFs, and AFB1, respectively. On the other hand, no result was obtained above LOQ for OTA. It was obtained that among all detectable results for total AFs, even the min result (5.3 mu g/kg) was above 4 mu g/kg, defined as a critical limit for directly consumed foods. None of the AFB1 and OTA results was above the determined critical limit

NMR based serum extracts’ metabolomics for evaluation of canine Ehrlichiosis

Ehrlichiosis is an infection caused by obligate, intracellular organisms that primarily affect cells of the immune system in dogs, cats, and people. The objective of this study was to determine the changes in the plasma lipidome profiling of dogs with canine Ehrlichiosis and try to identify potentially useful metabolic markers. Our study animals included infected (92) and healthy (17) dogs. Indirect fluorescentantibody assay (IFA) was used for the diagnosis of Ehrlichiosis. Anorexia, depression, hemorrhagic tendencies, enlarge lymph nodes are variable clinical signs of Ehrlichia. The hemogram reflected anemia and thrombocytopenia. There were no significant changes in other biochemical parameters. The individually identified metabolites seemed to be not effective in the characterization of the canine Ehrlichiosis. However, lipid fractions lead to the hypothesis that considerable differences among diseased and healthy animals could be found in their lipidome instead of the metabolome. This reflects a great systemic energy deficit during the infection

The Effect of Comfort- and Hot-Period on the Blood Flow of Corpus Luteum (CL) in Cows Treated by an OvSynch Protocol

The values of luteal blood flow (LBF), total corpus luteum (CL) area (TAR), and progesterone (P4), during and after OvSynch (OvS) protocol in comfort (CP; n = 40) and hot periods (HP; n = 40) were compared. We investigated how low and high P4 values obtained before the application affected the parameters above during CP and HP periods. Blood samples were collected before the OvS application on day 0 (OVSd0), day 9 (OeG), and day 18 (9th day after OeG: OvSd9). The P4 (ng/mL) values of the animals exhibiting dominant follicles were between 0.12–0.82 in HC and 0.1–0.88 in CP (P4-2: 4.36–4.38 and P4-3: ≥7.36 ng/mL). The LBF values were measured on days 7 (OvSd7) and 9 (OvSd9) after the OeG. The P4 mean values at day 0 (OvSd0) were classified as low (P4-1), medium (P4-2), and high (P4-3). The LBF and the TAR values in the P4-2 and P4-3 on OeG day 9 were higher than in HP (p < 0.05; 0.001), but there was no significant difference in the P4-1. In conclusion, when the OvS program was initiated with low P4 values, no difference was observed between HP and CP in terms of LBF values; however, when the program was started with high P4 values, there were significant increases in LBF and TAR values in the CP compared to the HP