Perfil bioquímico sérico de bezerros bubalinos no período neonatal

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Soroprevalência, isolamento e diagnóstico molecular para leptospirose em bovinos de fazendas de cria e de centrais de receptoras de embrião da região de Bauru- SP: Diagnóstico de leptospirose bovina em Bauru - SP

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Soroprevalência de anticorpos anti- Leptospira spp. e anti- Toxoplasma gondii em quatis (Nasua nasua) provenientes do Parque Ecológico do Tietê, São Paulo, Brasil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Produção de oócitos e embriões bubalinos: efeitos da época do ano e da adição de óleo essencial de Lippia origanoides na maturação in vitro

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Wildlife Tuberculosis in South African Conservation Areas: Implications and Challenges

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, was first diagnosed in African buffalo in South Africa’s Kruger National Park in 1990. Over the past 15 years the disease has spread northwards leaving only the most northern buffalo herds unaffected. Evidence suggests that 10 other small and large mammalian species, including large predators, are spillover hosts. Wildlife tuberculosis has also been diagnosed in several adjacent private game reserves and in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, the third largest game reserve in South Africa. The tuberculosis epidemic has a number of implications, for which the full effect of some might only be seen in the long-term. Potential negative long-term effects on the population dynamics of certain social animal species and the direct threat for the survival of endangered species pose particular problems for wildlife conservationists. On the other hand, the risk of spillover infection to neighboring communal cattle raises concerns about human health at the wildlife–livestock–human interface, not only along the western boundary of Kruger National Park, but also with regards to the joint development of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area with Zimbabwe and Mozambique. From an economic point of view, wildlife tuberculosis has resulted in national and international trade restrictions for affected species. The lack of diagnostic tools for most species and the absence of an effective vaccine make it currently impossible to contain and control this disease within an infected free-ranging ecosystem. Veterinary researchers and policy-makers have recognized the need to intensify research on this disease and the need to develop tools for control, initially targeting buffalo and lion.

EC28-36 Spraying Tree Fruits (Revised March 1932)

The production of sound, clean fruit is unquestionably one of the major problems facing the modern fruit grower. Culture may be neglected and pruning delayed for a time but the omission of sprays for even a single season demonstrates their absolute necessity. This applies equally to the commercial grower and to the farmer or gardener who has only a few trees. Spray materials, equipment, management, schedules, insect pests and orchard diseases are discussed in this 1928 extension circular.

VS - Bovine Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) Surveillance Standards 11/2001

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious and communicable granulomatous disease caused by the acidfast bacilli bacteria of Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). It is commonly a chronic, debilitating disease, but occasionally may assume an acute, rapidly progressive course. M. bovisis a widespread zoonosis that is global in magnitude and affects nearly all species of vertebrates (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, bison, buffalo, and camelids.) Disease is spread by direct contact, inhalation of infected droplets expelled from infected lungs, and ingestion of contaminated feed or milk. In most countries, TB is a notifiable disease. Overall, TB has an important world-wide impact on animal industries and human health. Control measures are based on prevention and eradication. Surveillance is a key element for management of preventions and control programs. Surveillance for TB serves the purpose of enabling Veterinary Services to obtain an accurate picture of the scope of the disease in the US livestock populations; in the event of a disease outbreak, the course TB follows in livestock and wildlife populations for a given area over time; and permits timely intervention if the trend observed deviates from what is expected.

Review of Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait by Matt White

Nowadays, the Blackland Prairies of north Texas are the kind of landscape most people think of as great for subdivisions and strip malls: generally flat, easily bulldozed, and not too far from Dallas-Fort Worth. Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait traces a similar utilitarian vision of the prairie in 19th-century pioneer descriptions as well: good for plowing, grazing, and-once the buffalo and Native Americans are exterminated-not too far from outposts of commerce. The book serves as an environmental jeremiad for a place too easily seen as useful and thus too often ignored for preservation. Matt White gives readers a context in which to begin to value the Blackland Prairie by combining a heartfelt story with a thorough sense of its ecological wonder, our post-settlement history and its environmental impact on the land, and some remarkable stories of current preservationists working to find and save remnant gems of unplowed prairie.

HEALTH RISKS TO HUMANS AND DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK POSED BY FERAL PIGS (Sus scrofa) IN NORTH QUEENSLAND

A sample of 608 adult pigs from Cape York and adjacent islands was examined for parasites and their serum tested for livestock diseases associated with the Queensland tropics. Feral pigs from North Queensland pose a significant health threat to humans with the incidence of Spargana (the plerocercoid of Spirometra erinacei) through the consumption of undercooked pork. Meliodosis (Pseudomonas pseudomalleO. Leptospirosis (L. yar. pomona). and Brucellosis (Brucella suis) are capable of infecting humans directly during unhygienic butchering of infected carcasses. In North Queensland, the widespread intermingled distribution of feral pigs and cattle increases the potential for the transmission of Actinobacillus, Leptospirosis, and Brucellosis from feral pigs to cattle. Both Europeans and Aborigines on Cape York also raise wild-caught feral pigs for meat. It is important to realize that parasites and diseases are present in young pigs and that poor husbandry practices increase the risk of infection from several parasites, i.e., Lungworm (Metastrongylus sp.) Stomach worm (Physocephalus sexalatus. Hvostrongvlus rubidus). Thorny headed worm (Macracanthorrhynchus hirudinaceus) and Kidney worm (Stephanurus dentatus). Heavy infection of these parasites reduce growth rates and cause unthriftiness in infected ani¬mals.

Prevalência e fatores de risco de leptospirose bovina no Estado do Maranhão

Silva F.J., Conceicao W. L. F., Fagliari J.J., Girio R.J.S., Dias R. A., Borba M. R. & Mathias L. A. 2012. [Prevalence and risk factors of bovine leptospirosis in the State of Maranhao, Brazil.] Prevalencia e fatores de risco de leptospirose bovina no Estado do Maranhao. Pesquisa Veterineria Brasileira 32(4): 303-312. Departamento de Medicina Veterinaria Preventiva e Reproducao Animal, Faculdade de Ciencias Agrarias e Veterinarias, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Via de Acesso Professor Paulo Donato Castellane s/n, Zona Rural, Jaboticabal, SP 14884-900, Brazil. E-mail: fjsepi@gmail.com Prevalence and risk factors of bovine leptospirosis in the State of Maranhao were investigated. Based on production parameters that vary across different production systems, management practices, the purpose of exploitation, the average size of herds and market systems, the state was divided in four sampling circuits. The study aimed to investigate the epidemiological features of bovine leptospirosis in the State of Maranhao, in order to determine the prevalence of the infection in cattle and herds, to determine the occurrence of serovars of Leptospira spp., to identify risk factors associated with leptospirosis in cattle and to differentiate the livestock circuits itself regarding the prevalence of leptospirosis. The survey was conducted in 136 herds in the circuit I, in which 841 >= 24 months old females were analyzed; 238 in the circuit II and 2,582 females were analyzed; 122 in the circuit III and 869 females were analyzed; 77 in the circuit IV and 540 females were analyzed; a total of 573 herds and 4,832 females were analyzed. The presence of antibodies against Leptospira spp. was verified by microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Of the 4,832 cows examined, 1,904 (35.94%, CI 95% = 33.01% -38.98%) were positive. Of the 573 herds, 380 (64.81%, CI 95% = 61.10% -68.35%) were positive. Serovars Hardjo and Wolffi were the most frequent in the state. The circuit III showed the lowest prevalence of leptospirosis in all comparisons. The variables presence of horses (p = 0.000), presence of capybaras (p = 0.034) and herds with up to 32 adult females (p = 0.002) were identified as risk factors for leptospirosis.

In vitro evaluation, in vivo quantification, and microbial diversity studies of nutritional strategies for reducing enteric methane production

The main objective of the present work was to study nutritive strategies for lessening the CH4 formation associated to ruminant tropical diets. In vitro gas production technique was used for evaluating the effect of tannin-rich plants, essential oils, and biodiesel co-products on CH4 formation in three individual studies and a small chamber system to measure CH4 released by sheep for in vivo studies was developed. Microbial rumen population diversity from in vitro assays was studied using qPCR. In vitro studies with tanniniferous plants, herbal plant essential oils derived from thyme, fennel, ginger, black seed, and Eucalyptus oil (EuO) added to the basal diet and cakes of oleaginous plants (cotton, palm, castor plant, turnip, and lupine), which were included in the basal diet to replace soybean meal, presented significant differences regarding fermentation gas production and CH4 formation. In vivo assays were performed according to the results of the in vitro assays. , when supplemented to a basal diet (Tifton-85 hay sp, corn grain, soybean meal, cotton seed meal, and mineral mixture) fed to adult Santa Ines sheep reduced enteric CH4 emission but the supplementation of the basal diet with EuO did not affect ( > 0.05) methane released. Regarding the microbial studies of rumen population diversity using qPCR with DNA samples collected from the in vitro trials, the results showed shifts in microbial communities of the tannin-rich plants in relation to control plant. This research demonstrated that tannin-rich , essential oil from eucalyptus, and biodiesel co-products either in vitro or in vivo assays showed potential to mitigate CH4 emission in ruminants. The microbial community study suggested that the reduction in CH4 production may be attributed to a decrease in fermentable substrate rather than to a direct effect on methanogenesis.

OmpL1 Is an Extracellular Matrix- and Plasminogen-Interacting Protein of Leptospira spp.

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis with multisystem involvement caused by pathogenic strains of the genus Leptospira. OmpL1 is an outer membrane protein of Leptospira spp. that is expressed during infection. In this work, we investigated novel features of this protein. We describe that OmpL1 is a novel leptospiral extracellular matrix (ECM)-binding protein and a plasminogen (PLG) receptor. The recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) Star/pLysS as inclusion bodies, refolded, and purified by metal-chelating chromatography. The protein presented a typical beta-strand secondary structure, as evaluated by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The recombinant protein reacted with antibodies in serum samples from convalescent leptospirosis patients with a high specificity compared to serum samples from individuals with unrelated diseases. These data strengthen the usefulness of OmpL1 as a diagnostic marker of leptospirosis. The characterization of the immunogenicity of recombinant OmpL1 in inoculated BALB/c mice showed that the protein has the capacity to elicit humoral and cellular immune responses, as denoted by high antibody titers and the proliferation of lymphocytes. We demonstrate that OmpL1 has the ability to mediate attachment to laminin and plasma fibronectin, with KD (equilibrium dissociation constant) values of 2,099.93 +/- 871.03 nM and 1,239.23 +/- 506.85 nM, respectively. OmpL1 is also a PLG receptor, with a KD of 368.63 +/- 121.23 nM, capable of generating enzymatically active plasmin. This is the first report that shows and characterizes OmpL1 as an ECM-interacting and a PLG-binding protein of Leptospira spp. that may play a role in bacterial pathogenesis when expressed during infection.

Lsa30, a novel adhesin of Leptospira interrogans binds human plasminogen and the complement regulator C4bp

Pathogenic Leptospira is the etiological agent of leptospirosis, a life-threatening disease that affects populations worldwide. Surface proteins have the potential to promote several activities, including adhesion. This work aimed to study the leptospiral coding sequence (CDS) LIC11087, genome annotated as hypothetical outer membrane protein. The LIC11087 gene was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coil BL21 (DE3) strain by using the expression vector pAE. The recombinant protein tagged with N-terminal 6XHis was purified by metal-charged chromatography and characterized by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The recombinant protein has the ability to mediate attachment to the extracellular matrix (ECM) components, laminin and plasma fibronectin, and was named Lsa30 (Leptospiral surface adhesin of 30 kDa). Lsa30 binds to laminin and to plasma fibronectin in a dose-dependent and saturable manner, with dissociation equilibrium constants (K-D) of 292 +/- 24 nM and 157 +/- 35 nM, respectively. Moreover, the Lsa30 is a plasminogen (PLC) receptor, capable of generating plasmin, in the presence of activator. This protein may interfere with the complement cascade by interacting with C4bp regulator. The Lsa30 is probably a new surface protein of Leptospira as revealed by immunofluorescence assays with living organisms and the reactivity with antibodies present in serum samples of experimentally infected hamsters. Thus, Lsa30 is a novel versatile protein that may play a role in mediating adhesion and may help pathogenic Leptospira to overcome tissue barriers and to escape the immune system. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Induction of TNF-alfa and CXCL-2 mRNAs in different organs of mice infected with pathogenic Leptospira

The role of innate immune response in protection against leptospirosis is poorly understood. We examined the expression of the chemokine CXCL2/MIP-2 and the cytokine TNF-alpha. in experimental resistant and susceptible mice models, C3H/HeJ, C3H/HePas and BALB/c strains, using a virulent strain of Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni. Animals were infected intraperitoneally with 107 cells and the development of the disease was followed. Mortality of C3H/HeJ mice was observed whereas C3H/HePas presented jaundice and BALB/c mice remained asymptomatic. The infection was confirmed by the presence of leptospiral DNA in the organs of the animals, demonstrated by PCR. Sections of the organs were analyzed, after H&E stain. The relative expression of mRNA of chemokine CXCL2/MIP-2 and cytokine TNF-alpha was measured in lung, kidney and liver of the mice by qPCR. The concentrations of these proteins were measured in extracts of tissues and in serum of the animals, by ELISA. Increasing levels of transcripts and protein CXCL2/MIP-2 were detected since the first day of infection. The highest expression was observed at third day of infection in kidney, liver and lung of BALB/c mice. In C3H/HeJ the expression of CXCL2/MIP-2 was delayed, showing highest protein concentration in lung and kidney at the 5th day. Increasing in TNF-alpha transcripts were detected after infection, in kidney and liver of animals from the three mice strains. The expression of TNF-alpha protein in C3H/HeJ was also delayed, being detected in kidney and lung. Our data demonstrated that Leptospira infection stimulates early expression of CXCL2/MIP-2 and TNF-alpha in the resistant strain of mice. Histological analysis suggests that the expression of those molecules may be related to the influx of distinct immune cells and plays a role in the naturally acquired protective immunity. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brazilian spotted fever: Real-time PCR for diagnosis of fatal cases

Suspicion of Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) should occur in endemic regions upon surveillance of the acute febrile icteric hemorrhagic syndrome (AFIHS). However, limitations associated with currently available laboratory tests pose a challenge to early diagnosis, especially in fatal cases. Two real-time PCR (qPCR) protocols were evaluated to diagnose BSF in 110 fatal AFIHS cases, collected in BSF-endemic regions in 2009-2010. Of these, 24 were positive and 86 negative by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) assay (cutoff IgG and/or IgM >= 128). DNA from these samples was used in the qPCR protocols: one to detect Rickettsia spp. (Citrate synthase gene) and another to determine spotted fever group (SFG) Rickettsia species (OmpA gene). Of the 24 IFA-positive samples, 5 (21%) were positive for OmpA and 9 (38%) for citrate synthase. In the IFA-negative group (n = 86), OmpA and citrate synthase were positive in 23 (27%) and 27 (31%), respectively. These results showed that the 2 qPCR protocols were about twice as sensitive as the IFA test alone (93% concordance). In conclusion, qPCR is a sensitive method for the diagnosis of fatal BSF cases and should be considered for routine surveillance of AFIHS in places like Brazil, where spotted fever-related lethality is high and other endemic diseases like dengue and leptospirosis can mislead diagnosis. (C) 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.