.New virus gets official name, influenza D.

A new influenza virus that affects cattle has an official name. influenza D. The executive committee of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Virus announced a new genus, Orthomyxovirdae, with a single species, Influenza D virus, because of its distinctness from other influenza types -- A, B and C. The executive committee of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses approved naming a new virus, influenza D, as the South Dakota State University researchers who discovered it proposed, according to professor Feng Li. The committee officially announced a new genus, Orthomyxovirdae, with a single species, Influenza D virus, because of its distinctness from other influenza types -- A, B and C. Though SDSU alumnus Ben Hause isolated the virus from a diseased pig in 2011, he later found that cattle were the primary reservoir for influenza D. Hause identified and characterized the new virus as part of his doctoral research under Li's tutelage. This is the first influenza virus identified in cattle, Li explained. "This contribution was made in South Dakota and our theory has been confirmed independently by other research groups." Ultimately, the goal is to determine whether influenza D, which has 50 percent similarity to human influenza C, can cause problems in humans, according to Kaushik. However, he noted, "the virus has not been shown to be pathogenic in humans. No one should be afraid of this." The research group showed that influenza D is spread only through direct contact and proved a guinea pig can be used as an animal model to study the virus. Influenza D antibodies have been identified in blood samples from sheep and goats, but the virus does not affect poultry.

Scientists cut whiskers off rats to learn more about how the rodents hunt..

When the rats' whiskers were removed, their ability to hunt dropped by a third.From cats to rats, many animals follow the wind to find food and a mate, as well as avoiding predators, but exactly how they do this had remained a mystery. Now, researchers have found these animals likely use their whiskers for each of these tasks. Experts at the University of Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering set up an experiment to test the abilities of rats’ whiskers, comprising five equally-spaced fans arranged in a semicircle on a specially-made six-foot table. In each trial, one of the five fans was randomly selected to blow air towards a “start-door” holding a rat, located on the opposite side of the table. The rat was tasked with running from the door towards the fan blowing air, and go down a rat-sized hole directly in front of it. Each of the five holes led to a tunnel beneath the table, where the rat was rewarded for choosing the correct fan. Cameras positioned above the table recorded the rats’ performance.With five fans on the table, the rats could perform at 20 per cent just by chance, but learnt how to gain rewards. This led them to choose the right burrow 60 per cent of the time or more, for 10 days in a row. After this, the researchers cut off the rats’ whiskers – a painless procedure - and looked for changes in their behaviour. They found the rodents’ performance dropped by 20 per cent. This indicates the rats chose to use their whiskers to follow the wind and find food above other sensory cues. “We didn’t require the rats to use their whiskers for this task,” PhD student and co-author of the study, Yan Yu explained.They could use many other sources of information, including movement of the fur, mechanical cues from the skin, or thermal cues from the eyes, ears, or the snout.” The use of multiple cues explains why rats were still able to perform above-chance levels after whisker removal, while the drop in performance suggests whiskers play a big part in detecting the source of wind.continue

Meat goes mobile with Wolf smartphone innovation

German meat and sausage manufacturer Wolf is offering consumers the chance to access detailed product information about its pre-packed products at point of sale via their smartphones.

New Study Shows That Our Dogs Understand What We Are Saying.

The study titled ‘Neural mechanisms for lexical processing in dogs’ recently published in the Journal of Science shown that our dogs have much more complex brains than previously thought- they ‘really’ think..even Irish Setters. The study used 13 dogs, including golden retrievers, border collies, a German shepherd. The dogs were trained to lie down and remain still for more than seven minutes while in a brain-scanning MRI. Dogs use the left hemisphere of the brain to process words, much the way we do, said Attila Andics, a research fellow at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and primary author of the study. The study also went on to suggest that dogs use a right hemisphere brain region to process intonation independently of words. What this means is that they may separate what you say from how you say it. The researchers used the machine to record and measure neural activity in the dogs’ brains while they listened to a woman trainer, whom they were familiar with, recite various words in various intonations. For instance, positive or meaningful words such as “well done,” “good boy” and “clever” were said in both a praising intonation and a neutral intonation. Neutral or meaningless words, such as “even if,” “although” and “however,” also were said in both intonations. The brain scans revealed that parts of the left hemisphere reacted the most to the meaningful words. In general, the brain’s left hemisphere is linked to language and speech processing in most humans. Meanwhile, parts of the right hemisphere reacted to intonation, suggesting that the dogs processed the meaning of words separately from the tone in which they were spoken, according to the brain scans. Only when a praise word was spoken to the dogs in a praising tone of voice did the brain’s reward center light up like a Christmas tree in the brain scans. The reward center is the part of the brain that responds to pleasurable stimuli, like food treats or being petted.

Teen accused of posing as vet tech, faces animal cruelty charges.

A 19-year-old woman faces felony charges, after allegedly cropping a puppy's ears without a license, and botching the job. Brandi Seipe appeared before a judge on Wednesday, charged with practicing veterinary medicine without a license and animal cruelty.Graphic pictures from Palm Beach County Animal Control show what the charges are all about - a pitbull puppy with his ears cropped unevenly too close to the head, says a real veterinarian. The cuts to the puppy's ears were apparently sutured with fishing line. "He was very drugged up," recalled Natalie Nunez, the owner of the puppy, named King. "He was scared and acting crazy." Nunez says she was given contact information for Seipe, who allegedly offered to crop King's ears for just $80. Nunez says Seipe told her she was a veterinary technician who worked at a vet's office, and performed ear croppings at her home on the side. When Nunez went to pick up King, she noticed something was wrong.Nunez then took King to a licensed veterinarian, who alerted Animal Control. "I feel bad that I put him in that situation," said Nunez, who adds King is doing well now. But Nunez says she's had many extra vet bills because of what happened."Very angry, very angry," said Nunez. "She says she's done other people's dogs. So I'm sure there's plenty of other people out there that don't know about the situation." The judge allowed Seipe's release from jail on Wednesday. If convicted as charged, Seipe potentially faces five years in prison, and a year in jail.more

Clipping the nails saga!!!

Simple stuff such as nail clipping could turn out wild see

AGRIBUSINESS: Coccidiosis in piglets.

AGRIBUSINESS: Coccidiosis in piglets. Coccidiosis is a major cause of diarrhea in piglets that have long-term effects on health and performance,though its relatively under-diagnosed its a global concern. The problems of piglet diarrhea, includes high mortality, poor performance and susceptibility to other diseases because of secondary bacteria infection. The diarrhoea is usually yellow or gray and pasty.. AGRIBUSINESS: Coccidiosis in piglets. The primary cause of coccidiosis in piglets is the parasite Isospora suis, which is a pig-specific coccidia. There are other coccidial species that can infect pigs, but they don’t commonly cause disease. Coccidial oocysts that are shed from infected animals can survive on the farm for months or even years. Ingesting oocysts still present in the environment, usually from previous litters by piglets is the common route of infection. When ingested, the oocyst in the small intestine undergoes some of developmental stages, which takes five to seven days before new oocysts are formed. Each stage invades and multiplies within cells then bursts out. This destroys the infected cells, which in turn damages the gut, leading to diarrhea. Once the new oocysts are shed in the feces, they go through a short maturation process in the environment before being ready to infect a new host. AGRIBUSINESS: Coccidiosis in piglets. Prevention strategies like hygiene and biosecurity will help to reduce the incidence of many types of diarrhea. However, it is important to know the cause in order to treat effectively and implement a specific control plan. Clinical signs of coccidiosis can be seen in pigs as early as six days of age to about three weeks old. This is consistent with them becoming infected soon after birth, which is when they are most susceptible. As coccidiosis is the most frequent cause of diarrhea in piglets between six and 15 days of age,they will have poor body condition, be dehydrated and with a rough coat . The diarrhea is pale yellow or grey and very pasty. Antibiotic treatment with sulphonamides ,treating animals with clinical signs is strongly advised. If the diagnosis is uncertain fecal samples can be taken for oocyst identification and count at the This is to prevent losses as well as reducing ongoing damage to the gut. In order to prevent clinical signs of coccidiosis, many pig producers treat all piglets on a farm at three to five days of age.