Prevalence and diversity of Campylobacter jejuni in pig herds on farms with and without cattle or poultry

The prevalence and diversity of Campylobacter jejuni was investigated in pig herds on farms with and without cattle or poultry production. A bacteriological screening of pig cecal samples from 247 finisher herds was carried out at the slaughter-house. Subsequently, a follow-up study was conducted in 24 herds (either with or without prior C. jejuni isolation from pigs) in which fecal samples were collected from pigs and, if present, cattle and poultry. Samples were analyzed for presence of Campylobacter, and subsequent analysis included species identification, serotyping, and, for selected strains, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing. In the slaughterhouse screening, C. jejuni was isolated from pigs in 21 (8.5%) herds, but no significant difference in prevalence was found between herd types (pigs, pigs and cattle, pigs and poultry). At the slaughterhouse, C. jejuni and Campylobacter coli prevalence in pigs was 2.3 and 90.1%, respectively. In the follow-up study, herd prevalence of C. jejuni was 8.3%, whereas C. jejuni and C. coli were isolated from 0.8 and 92.0% of pigs, respectively. In mixed production herds, C. jejuni predominated in cattle (42.7%) and poultry (31.6%), whereas C. jejuni was only isolated from 1.3 to 2.5% of pigs in these herds. There were no significant differences in C. jejuni or C. coli prevalence in pigs, cattle, and poultry between herds with and without prior C. jejuni isolation at the slaughterhouse. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing did not yield evidence of C. jejuni transmission between cattle or poultry and pigs in mixed production herds. In contrast, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis showed indistinguishable serotypes of C. coli in pigs and cattle in two herds. Verification of C. jejuni-positive pig samples showed that individual pigs can excrete high levels of C. jejuni and that mixed infection with C. jejuni and C. coli was common in C. jejuni-positive pigs. The results of our study suggest that transmission of C. jejuni between pigs and cattle or poultry in mixed production herds occurs infrequently. Detection of indistinguishable C. coli isolates in two herds, however, might indicate the existence of low-level transmission between pigs and cattle in herds of mixed production.     

Short communication: Relationship between body condition score and plasma adipokines in early-lactating Holstein dairy cows

We hypothesized that plasma adipokine concentrations of early-lactation dairy cows are related to body condition score (BCS) at calving and to markers of metabolic status of the cow. As part of a larger study with 117 multiparous Holstein dairy cows, which had high BCS (BCS >4.0) or normal BCS (3.25–3.5) at calving, 22 cows were randomly selected (n = 11 per group) to be enrolled in this study. Cows were divided into 2 groups based on their BCS at calving: (1) normal BCS with BCS of 3.35 ± 0.13 (mean ± SD) and (2) high BCS cows with BCS of 4.14 ± 0.17. The 22 selected animals did not have a clinically diagnosed health problem after calving. Blood samples were taken right after calving (d 1) and before morning feeding on d 8, 15, and 21 postpartum concurrently with body condition scoring for all cows. Blood samples were analyzed for plasma adiponectin, leptin, tumor necrosis factor-α, and IL-6. The mean BCS remained highest in high-BCS cows during the first 21 d in milk. Leptin concentrations decreased progressively for all cows after calving. However, differences in BCS at calving were not related to leptin concentrations. Adiponectin, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α concentrations were neither influenced by days in milk nor BCS after calving. Leptin and the leptin-to-adiponectin ratio did not show any correlation at any time point during the first 21 d in milk with plasma concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids or β-hydroxybutyrate, which are considered as markers of metabolic status. Only for IL-6 at d 8 did we find a strong correlation with metabolic status indicators. In conclusion, plasma adipokine concentrations during the first 3 wk postpartum were not related to BCS in lactating Holstein cows that were clinically healthy at calving.     

Dairy cows with prolonged calving seek additional isolation

In modern calving facilities, dairy cows either calve in a group pen or are moved to a separate individual pen when calving is imminent. In practice, cows are often moved too close to calving, which poses a health risk to cow and calf. Thus, a need exists for new calving facility designs and management practices that better align with the motivations of the cow. This study examined dairy cow preferences for individual calving pens by offering 3 different levels of isolation (tall and narrow, low and wide, and tall and wide) by analyzing the association between precalving behavior, choice of degree of isolation, and the progress of calving. The hypotheses were that cows would prefer the highest level of isolation when giving birth, and that calving in a high level of isolation would be associated with less restlessness and a shorter calving duration. Contrary to these hypotheses, no specific preference between degrees of isolation or difference in calving behavior in the different calving pens was found. However, cows experiencing a longer calving duration chose to calve in the most secluded calving pen (tall and wide). These results cannot determine cause and effect, but may suggest that interactions between motivation for isolation seeking and calving behavior exist.     

Effect of specific wavelengths on light-induced quality changes in Havarti cheese

The effects of exposure of slices of Havarti cheeses to monochromatic light of wavelengths 366 nm, 405 nm, and 436 nm, respectively, were studied by tristimulus colorimetry, solid-phase microextraction gas chromatographic analysis of volatiles, and open-end fluorescence spectroscopy. Having determined the photon fluxes of the three wavelengths by ferrioxalate actinometry, it was possible to quantify the effects of light exposure in an absolute manner. For all analyses, the most severe effects were caused by visible light, leading to colour bleaching, change in hue, riboflavin degradation, and formation of the secondary oxidation products hexanal, 1-pentanol, and 1-hexanol. Apparent quantum yields for formation of hexanal and 1-pentanol were found to be insignificantly different for 405 nm and 436 nm exposures, having values of (3-5) x 10(-5) mol x einstein(-1) and (9-13) x 10(-5) mol x einstein(-1), respectively. These compounds were not formed when exposed to 366 nm light. In contrast, 1-hexanol was formed when exposing cheese to all three wavelengths, resulting in apparent quantum yields of (2-6) x 10(-5) mol x einstein(-1). The results obtained are discussed in relation to the interplay between inherent product colorants, light sources, and transmission characteristics of the packaging materials.     

Changes in rumen bacterial and archaeal communities over the transition period in primiparous Holstein dairy cows

In the present study, we hypothesized that the rumen bacterial and archaeal communities would change significantly over the transition period of dairy cows, mainly as an adaptation to the classical use of low-grain prepartum and high-grain postpartum diets. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of rumen samples from 10 primiparous Holstein dairy cows revealed no changes over the transition period in relative abundance of genera such as Ruminococcus, Butyrivibrio, Clostridium, Coprococcus, and Pseudobutyrivibrio. However, other dominant genus-level taxa, such as Prevotella, unclassified Ruminococcaceae, and unclassified Succinivibrionaceae, showed distinct changes in relative abundance from the prepartum to the postpartum period. Overall, we observed individual fluctuation patterns over the transition period for a range of bacterial taxa that, in some cases, were correlated with observed changes in the rumen short-chain fatty acids profile. Combined results from clone library and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses, targeting the methyl-coenzyme M reductase α-subunit (mcrA) gene, revealed a methanogenic archaeal community dominated by the Methanobacteriales and Methanomassiliicoccales orders, particularly the genera Methanobrevibacter, Methanosphaera, and Methanomassiliicoccus. As observed for the bacterial community, the T-RFLP patterns showed significant shifts in methanogenic community composition over the transition period. Together, the composition of the rumen bacterial and archaeal communities exhibited changes in response to particularly the dietary changes of dairy cows over the transition period.     

Electrical stimulation of pigs-effect on pH fall, meat quality and Cathepsin B+L activity

This work was performed to evaluate the effect of electrical stimulation (ES) on pH fall and meat quality of LD and BF in Danish halothane free pigs stunned with CO(2). ES resulted in a significant drop in pH of 0.3 units in both LD and BF and 3 h lairage resulted in 0.1 units lower pH at 20 min post mortem. Lairage time did not affect and did not interact with the effect of ES on any of the measured meat quality parameters. ES did not affect the ultimate pH in LD, BF, SM and SC or internal reflection value in LD. However, ES caused higher internal reflection and drip loss in BF and increased the PSE frequency in LD (2 to 7%) and in BF (2 to 49%). The frequency of PSE areas in the centre of SM was 70% for ES pigs compared to 9% for control pigs. ES and ageing improved the tenderness and reduced the hardness in LD as well as shear force of unaged BF. The effect of ES on tenderness and hardness was approximately half the effect of ageing, but the effect of ES and ageing were additive. ES significantly increased the activities of cathepsin B+L in the myofibrillar fraction, but there were no differences in proteolytic activity in the other fractions. It is concluded that ES improves tenderness in LD and BF, but has a negative effect on the quality of BF and SM. Therefore ES is not an economically attractive alternative for improvement of tenderness in LD compared to ageing in Danish pigs. ?     

Glycogen content, buffering capacity and resting pH in live muscles of pigs of different halothane genotypes (a pilot project)

The development of PSE (pale, soft and exudative) meat is characterized by a rapid decrease in pH post-mortem and/or a low ultimate pH. We investigated some physiological properties of the live muscle (the glycogen content, the non-bicarbonate buffering capacity and 'resting pH'), which could influence both the decrease in pH and the ultimate pH. Measurements were performed on three halothane genotypes, hal(N)hal(N), hal(N)hal(n) and hal(n)hal(n), with their known predispositions for PSE meat. It was demonstrated that the glycogen content in both the groups of double recessive and heterozygous individuals was higher than the levels in the group of homozygous dominant pigs. No difference was found in non-bicarbonate buffering capacity between the groups. The groups with the highest glycogen levels also had the lowest 'resting pH' values. The results indicate that measurement of glycogen content in vivo may be superior to the halothane test in detecting PSE-prone individuals. The lower pH values of carriers of the hal(n) gene further indicate that the characteristic rapid decrease after slaughter may not be as fast as generally accepted, as even very low pH values can be observed in the muscles of live pigs.     

Tissue degradation,amino acid liberation and bacterial decomposition of bulk stored capelin

Bulk stored capelin with high contents of feed in the gut is easily solubilised because of high proteolytic activity. The amino acids most quickly liberated are arginine, serine, histidine, leucine, lysine and tyrosine; glycine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid are liberated at a slower rate. Bacterial activity results in a rapid and considerable decrease in total amounts of tyrosine, lysine, serine, arginine and histidine. The main products formed by bacterial decomposition of lysine, histidine and arginine are cadaverine, histamine and putrescine, respectively. Storage of capelin in the presence of antibiotics increased the amounts of free amino acids and total amino acids. After 10 days' storage at 6°C, about 30% of the total amino acid content in fish treated with antibiotics were fee amino acids.     

The incidence of male hermaphroditism in girls with inguinal hernia

The incidence of male hermaphroditism in girls with inguinal hernias is estimated to be 1.4 per cent. From 1961 to 1972, 340 girls were admitted to the Department of Surgery at St. Josephs Hospital for hernial repair. One hundred and two patients had menstruated prior to the follow-up study. Buccal smears from the remaining patients were examined for Y chromatin-positive cells. We observed a zero per cent rate of male hermaphroditism, which is not significantly different from the aforementioned frequency, p greater than 0.05. Large scale prospective studies must be available before any conclusion can be drawn as to whether or not determination of the genetic gender prior to hernial repair in girls should be conducted as a routine procedure.     

The elastic cartilage in the normal rat epiglottis. I. Fine structure

Unilateral electrolytic lesions of the locus coeruleus in rats result in spontaneous ipsiversive rotation, which is then replaced by contraversive rotation. One week after lesioning, when spontaneous turning ceases, apomorphine and d-amphetamine elicit contraversive circling behaviour, which was not affected by noradrenergic receptor blockade but was abolished by dopamine receptor blockade. The drug-induced contraversive circling response was also reproduced by piribedil but not clonidine. Combined unilateral electrolytic locus coeruleus and substantia nigra lesions on the same side resulted in apomorphine- and d-amphetamine-induced ipsilateral rotational behaviour which was indistinguishable from that seen with substantia nigra lesions alone. In rats with unilateral locus coeruleus lesions, the dose of intrastriatally injected apomorphine required to produce circling was less on the lesioned than the non-lesioned side. Direct injection of noradrenaline into one substantia nigra caused contraversive circling. Direct injection of phenoxybenzamine into one substantia nigra followed by apomorphine caused ipsiversive circling. The results suggest that the circling behaviour seen after unilateral locus coeruleus lesions depends on an asymmetry of striatal dopamine receptor activity and are consistent with a proposed coeruleus-nigral noradrenergic pathway, which enhances impulse flow in the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system.