Efficiency of the data generated by the robotic milking system for comprehensive diagnosis of mastitis in cows

Early mastitis diagnosis and treatment play a significant role in reducing the disease incidence in a dairy herd. Examination of the animals (n = 61) milked with VMS™ V300 automated voluntary milking system (DeLaval, Sweden) showed that mean milk yield was 15.03 kg (min – 4.50 kg, max – 24.52 kg); mean milking time in the group was 8 min 14 sec (min – 5 min 24 sec, max – 12 min 29 sec) during the observation period equal to 10,300 milkings. Milking time for the majority of the cows (67.2%) complied with the standards and equaled to 4–7 min, mean milking time for 32.7% of the animals was 8 minutes. Mean interval between milkings in the test animal group was 11 hours 30 minutes (min – 6 h 04 min, max – 18 h 54 min). Mean electrical conductivity of the milk was 4.14 1/Om.cm3 for the whole group of animals. Determined mean mastitis detection index (MDi) was 1.6 and varied in the range of 1.03 to 1.41. Minimal and maximal MDi was 1.0 and 11.1, respectively. Diagnostically representative increase in MDi within 1.8–2.2 was observed in 24.6% of animals. Significant MDi increase to more than 2.2 was found in 21.3% of high-yielding cows. All animals with MDi higher than 1.8 (28 animals) were examined for mastitis. Inflammatory reactions in udder were detected in 28.6% of the animals, clinical and latent inflammations were detected in 7.1 and 21.4% of the cows, respectively. Tests of mammary gland secretion showed that average somatic cell count was up to 200 and 201–300 ths cells/mL in 45.9 and 37.7% of the animals, respectively. Udder secretions of 4.9% of cows contained 301–400 ths somatic cells/mL. In 9.8% of tested animals average somatic count was 401–700 ths somatic cells/mL, and in 1.6% of the animals – more than 701 ths somatic cells/mL. Microbiological and PCR tests of mammary gland secretion samples taken from the animals with mastitis detected the following contagious and coliform mastitis agents: Staphylococcus spp. (St. epidermidis, St. saprophyticus, St. haemolyticus), Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecium. Various diagnostic techniques are found to be used for detection of mastitis in the herd and the data generated by robotic voluntary milking station such as mastitis detection index (MDi) can be used for earlier detection of changes in cow’s mammary gland

Биомедицинские аспекты применения бактериоцинов и глицеролатов – возможность использования для лечения мастита у коров

Domestic and foreign data on bacteriocin nisin's biomedical and veterinary use are analysed. The mechanism of action of Nisin is based on damage to the structures of the bacterial cell, which leads to the subsequent death of the target cell and makes it possible to reduce the development of microbial resistance. Like most bacteriocins, Nisin has high biological activity due to its effectiveness in the nanomolar range and is a lowtoxic substance. Unlike antibiotics, bacteriocin nisin is completely degraded in the body of humans and animals. An analysis of the sources revealed the safe and effective use of Nisin in clinical practice for treating respiratory, gastrointestinal and skin infections and inflammatory processes in the human oral cavity due to an antimicrobial effect against several microorganisms. It has been established that antimicrobial peptides exhibit synergistic and cytotoxic effects. The effective action of nisin against a wide range of pathogens of animal mastitis has been determined. A study of literary sources on using silicon-boron-containing glycerolates in medical and veterinary practice was carried out. The effective use of glycerolates in treating inflammatory diseases in humans and animals has been established due to their reparative and regenerative effects and high transcutaneous conductivity. The data analysis confirms the feasibility of using bacteriocin nisin with silicon glycerolates and boron bisglycerolates to develop pharmaceutical compositions.Проанализированы отечественные и зарубежные данные биомедицинского и ветеринарного применения бактериоцина низина. Механизм действия низина основан на повреждении структур бактериальной клетки, что приводит к последующей гибели клетки-мишени и дает возможность снизить развитие микробной резистентности. Низин, как и большинство бактериоцинов, имеет высокую биологическую активность за счет эффективности в наномолярном диапазоне и относится к малотоксичным веществам. В отличие от антибиотиков, бактериоцин низин полностью расщепляется в организме человека и животных. При анализе источников выявлено безопасное и эффективное применение низина в клинической практике лечения респираторных, желудочно-кишечных и кожных инфекций, воспалительных процессов полости рта человека за счет наличия антимикробного действия относительно ряда микроорганизмов. Установлено, что антимикробные пептиды проявляют синергетическое и цитотоксическое действие. Определено эффективное действие низина в отношении широкого спектра возбудителей мастита животных. Проведено изучение литературных источников по применению кремнийборсодержащих глицеролатов в медицинской и ветеринарной практике. Установлено эффективное применение глицеролатов в лечении воспалительных заболеваний человека и животных за счет их репаративного и регенерирующего действия, а также высокой транскутанной проводимости. Проведенный анализ данных подтверждает целесообразность применения бактериоцина низина совместно с глицеролатами кремния и бисглицеролатами бора для разработки фармацевтических композиций

CONCENTRATIONS OF IMMUNOREGULATORY PROTEINS AND SOME CYTOKINES IN BLOOD OF WOMEN DURING MENOPAUSAL THERAPY

It has been shown that the influence of hormonal and non-hormonal therapy of menopausal syndrome upon immune profile may be variable, and the results of appropriate studies may be often contradictory. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of hormonal and non-hormonal therapy in menopausal syndrome upon serum levels of some immunoregulatory proteins, i.e., alpha2-macroglobulin (a2-MG), pregnancy-associated alpha 2-glycoprotein (PAG), contents of some related cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, IFNγ, IL-2) as well as VEGF amounts. Administration of menopausal hormone treatment and nonhormonal therapy was associated with reduced IL-6 levels in serum, regardless of treatment duration, or type of drug applied. We have found a statistically significant decrease of IL-8 serum levels in the course of dynamic monitoring in the women taking a menopausal hormone preparation containing 1 mg of 17β-estradiol and 5 mg dydrogesterone, and a non-hormonal drug containing genistein (60 mg) for 3-6 months. The levels of VEGF demonstrated high individual variability during therapy of menopausal syndrome. Serum concentrations of immunoregulatory a2-MG were stable in climacteric syndrome, and did not differ from normal values. However, the content of PAG, a known immunosuppressive protein, was increased 3-4 times in serum of 33-50% of the women receiving menopausal hormonal therapy, regardless of progestogen dose (5 or 10 mg dydrogesterone), and duration of its use. These findings suggest a need for individualized drug selection in order to minimize a risk of immunodeficiency conditions in the patients receiving hormone therapy of menopausal syndrome

Producing valid statistics when legislation, culture, and medical practices differ for births at or before the threshold of survival: Report of a European workshop

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Antimicrobial resistance in clinical <I>Escherichia coli</I> isolates obtained from animals

The article presents data on the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of antimicriobial resistance in Escherichia coli clinical isolates recovered from bovine microbiota (secretions from mammary glands, cervical swabs). 127 Escherichia coli isolates were studied, i.e. 44 from mammary glands secretions and 83 from cervical swabs. Disk diffusion method was used to study antimicrobial resistance of the cultures; minimum inhibitory concentrations of antimicrobials were determined in a serial dilution method; resistance genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction. The carried out research demonstrates a wide distribution of the isolates belonging to the phenotype resistant to ansamycins (rifampicin), semi-synthetic penicillins (ampicillin and amoxicillin), tetracyclines (doxycycline). The isolates showed a lower level of resistance to macrolides (azithromycin), amphenicols (levomycetin) and aminoglycosides (tobramycin). It was found that Escherichia coli clinical isolates are sensitive to third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolone antimicrobials. However, since 28.46% of cultures demonstrate intermediate resistance to third-generation cephalosporins and 49.02% of Escherichia coli DNA samples isolated from mammal gland secretions had blaDHA gene associated with resistance to this group of antimicrobials, these antimicrobials could be hardly recommended as antibiotics of choice. Absence of VIM carbapenemase-encoding gene in the DNA of the recovered isolates and a low level of phenotypic resistance (10.22% of isolates from cervical swabs) can be one of the reasons for recommending first-line carbapenems as antibiotics of choice to treat animal diseases associated with Escherichia coli, along with fluoroquinolones as reserve antimicrobials. It was found that the recovered Escherichia coli isolates are more sensitive to combination antibiotics than to mono-antibiotics

Evolution of CpG-islands by means of tandem duplications

CG-rich islands (CpG-islands, or CGI) are important functional elements in a genome of vertebrates. In particular, they: a) initiate transcription as promoters in most (&gt; 50 %) genes of vertebrates, in some cases bi-directional, due to self-complement feature of cg dinucleotides; b) form a global methylation landscape; c) act as a transcription “switch” via methylation. The degenerate nature of CpG-island (elevated CG composition) implies an increase in the probability of tandem repeats and palindromes within CpG- island. This work is devoted to the identification of tandem duplications of complete CpG-islands, i. e. considering mega monomers of size 400–5 000 bp, in the human genome. We found a range of inter- and intragenic tandem duplications of CpG-islands. Intergenic CpGi duplication mediates through CG-rich telomeric satellites, as well as elements of the SINE. One of the most pronounced tandems are located in chromosome 19, known for its abundance of segment duplications and gene expansion. We also underline the unique genomic segment, which is DXZ4 mega satellite, in q arm of chromosome X, also falling into the category of CpG-islands which evolved by tandem duplications rounds