Detection of mad cow disease using cattle retina.

A study published in the peer-reviewed academic journal PLOS ONE shows that examining the retinas of cattle can give information about mad cow disease 11 months before signs are noticed. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy BSE, known more commonly as mad cow disease, is an untreatable neurodegenerative disorder caused by misfolded brain proteins known as prions . Classic BSE incubates for years before farmers,herdsmen or veterinarians notice symptoms, which is usually discovered when the animal can no longer stand on its own. The cow's retina could give secrets about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the retina is part of the central nervous system,the part of the brain that windows the outside world. Studies have shown that changes occur in the retina of animals that have prion diseases. The study used noninvasive technologies to access the retinas and determine the health status of the animal. This can easily be adapted for inspection and selection of animals both for import and slaughter to ensure food safety. Examination of retinas of cattle will be a much faster way to check for mad cow disease and prevent economic loses.

The CashMinder; helping you to track your money.

A new farm management tool has been launched to help farmers track and monitor their money and provide data quickly to their accountant. CashMinder, developed by Agrinet, is designed to work primarily around electronic data from online banking systems and also from online dairy co-op systems. The cashminder is a simple and quick farm cash management system that allows you to track your money and provide data quickly to farmers’ accountants, farm advisers and to the Teagasc eProfit Monitor. CashMinder has been developed using its own database with its own access username and password.It requires no names, addresses or contact phone numbers. There is no connection at all with any other Agrinet databases, for example, the Agrinet grass database. The software gives farmers the option to ask their accountant or farm adviser to sign them up on CashMinder and they may be the only people who know your identification on CashMinder. One of the benefits of the software are that it allows farmers to create a simple and quick cash flow budget, project the current account bank balance for the rest of the year and track cash flow via the bank as time passes and compare to the budget. The tool also allows banks realize and take a significant interest in seeing farmers ability to track the cashflow and projected cashflow. The CashMinder will allow the farmer,investors and would-be partners to access the state of business and projections of the venture. Its a simple farm management tool,see it

Food Safety : Use of banned drugs in food animal production and the health implication in man.

Animals raised and processed for food have a great deal of impact on the health and well being of man. The saying "you are what you eat" hold true ,as whatever you throw in or gulp down shows up in terms of fat or a trim frame. 

Now a days the term is modified to you are "what your animals eat", meaning if you feed crap,you get crap at the end. The business of raising animals for consumption is not a minor issue, aside the monetary issue(profit margin),the health status of the animals and by extension humans that consume these products is very important as the drugs used in the production line must be safe for the animals and humans as well. 

 The superbugs issue has actually been traced to misuse or overuse of antibiotics in food animal production and this has birthed the antibiotic free production movement ,everyone is alert and aware of nutrients,health benefits,side effects and most importantly,people are going organic. 

This awareness has helped to enforce certain regulation and formulation of new regulations regarding what drugs to use and what not to administer during production. The regulation coupled with surveillance and strict inspection during slaughter to test for residues has helped to prevent greedy producers from passing dangerous products to the public. 

 This is the case of a cattle breeder;Stanley Richardson (67) from Woodford, Newtowngore,convicted and fined €500 and ordered to pay costs of €5,000 after he was found guilty of selling an animal which had been given bute, a banned substance.

Richardson was found guilty of selling a bull which had been administered the banned substance phenylbutazone, also known as bute. 

 Phenylbutazone is known to induce blood dyscrasias, including aplastic anemia, leukopenia, agranulocytosis, and thrombocytopenia, and can result in death. Hypersensitivity reactions of the serum-sickness type have also been reported. 

 The banned substance has the potential to have a carcinogenic effect on humans, thus why it is prohibited in food producing animals. Bute can be used to treat horses, as it is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, provided horses treated are not intended for human consumption.

Insect bite hypersensitivity in horses.

Insect bite hypersensitivity is an allergic reaction to the saliva of biting insects such as Culicoides , mosquitoes, black flies, and horn flies. The bites elicit an allergic response from sensitive horses, resulting in hives (urticaria) and/or crusty patches. The effects of these bites in horses are not limited to hypersensitivity,but most of these insects are vectors causing severe diseases that may be fatal in horses. The mosquitoes are the top of the list of insects with roller coaster effect in horses. The Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (EEE, WEE, and VEE) and the West Nile virus are arboviruses, and all are transmitted by blood-feeding insects or ticks--and these pathogens can cause fatal neurologic disease in horses. The bites and sores are usually on a horse’s: ears,back,tail,belly and mane.It is very important to keep biting insects away from horses not only because of hypersensitivity but because of severe fatal diseases that the elicit in horses. The use of insecticides in stables,tags and repellents are just a few methods that keep the insects off. The pet protector when worn on animals produces a scalar wave that repels mosquitoes,ticks,fleas and other biting insects. The protection is a 4-year plan,which saves you money, labor and the possibility of losing horses to "brain fever". Pet Protector’s Scalar waves are harmless to people and animals, and they are only effective against external parasites repelling them from the shielded area. The Pet Protector Disc acts by preventing fleas, ticks and mosquitoes from getting the chance to infest your pet. The pet protector is made from high quality steel alloys,charged with a specific combination of Magnetic and Scalar waves. These waves are triggered by the animal’s movement to produce an invisible energy field around the entire animal’s body. A horse can be fully protected by the pet protector get it Horses with insect bite hypersensitivity(IBH) usually have intense itching,and severe scratching results in pulling out of their manes and tail in the process. These intense scratching damage the coat,this break predisposes to secondary bacterial infection. There is a genetic disposition of certain horses to the insect bite hypersensitivity,although horses of all breeds can be affected. When horses have insect bite hypersensitivity, the treatment usually involve use of topical preparations containing antihistamines and feed containing omega3-fatty acids have been reported to reduce inflammatory reactions associated with IBH. Horses can also be protected in stables or outside using any of the following methods

Management of rostral mandibular fracture with cerclage wire in the horse.

When a horse breaks the lower jaw the surgical intervention usually include repairs with screws and plates but with a downside of postoperative complications, but a new method has been described that uses cerclage wires to hold the jaw with no side effects. The study documented in the veterinary research forum explains the procedure by a team of Iranian doctors which showcases the surgical treatment and unique management of rostral mandibular fracture with cerclage wire in a horse. Hadi Naddaf, DVM, DVSc, of the Department of Clinical Sciences in the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz Faculty of Veterinary Medicine stated that the technique used in the study is really easier than others, as it can be accomplished with less handling of bone and by creating only two holes. The technique he developed was designed for transverse fractures of the rostral portion of the mandible or maxilla/premaxillae area of the mouth in the interdental space (essentially, the front part of the jaw just under the front teeth). Traditionally, surgeons repair such fractures using lag-screw fixation, applying an internal or external acrylic prosthesis, or using dynamic compression plating and wiring. These procedures are not only complex but also frequently associated with post-surgical complications. Horses can experience tooth loss, malocclusion (bad alignment of the teeth for chewing), osteomyelitis (bone infection), sequestration (death of part of the bone), and chronic discharge. The technique used in this study had no such complications; Naddaf and his fellow researchers threaded a cerclage wire through two holes in the jaw bone to close a 3-year-old Arabian’s mandibular fracture. The post operative care was as follows ;1) horse received antibiotic 2) anti-inflammatory therapy but did not need any stall rest or specific exercise program.3) diet was strictly liquid (energy-glucose mix) for the first five days followed by a 20-day diet of semi-solid food, mainly bran mash. 4) Handlers washed out the mouth daily to keep it clean from food residue, and surgeons removed the wires after six weeks. The major advantage of the procedure aside the simplicity is the fact that hospitalization is not required and there is no need for an exercise program

High stocking density predisposes broilers to necrotic enteritis.

Researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have shown that high stocking density has adverse effects on broiler welfare and intestinal health and predisposes the birds to necrotic enteritis (NE). The study was carried out as follows, the team randomly assigned 240 day-old broilers to one of four groups. Two groups had normal stocking density, defined as 15 birds/square meter (10.7 square feet), and two more groups had high stocking density, defined as 30 birds/square meter. Researchers challenged one of the normal and one of the high stocking-density groups with a 10-fold oral dose of an attenuated anticococcidal vaccine plus multiple oral inoculations with a strain of Clostridium perfringens. The remaining two groups were not challenged and were used as controls. The researchers then collected and scored the birds for gross lesions; they also collected intestinal digesta to test for pH and viscosity, and caeca for microbiological analysis. Investigators found a significant correlation between high stocking density and challenge based on their evaluation (p ≤ 0.05). Compared to unchallenged controls, high stocking density in challenged birds also increased the gross lesion score in the intestines.

Pneumonia and the iron connection.

This is how pneumonia affects the body; A new research has found that iron in the blood is targeted by the bacteria as a way to spread around the body as iron is essential for the bacteria to grow. The study published in the mBio journal research has shown that some strands of the pneumonia bacteria use iron to spread the disease round the body.This discovery could be used to inform how antibiotics can target the bacteria and prevent it spreading. Scientists from the University of Michigan Medical School discovered that the race for iron increases the risk we can face from Klebisella.pneumoniae, a bacteria that commonly causes pneumonia in patients in hospital. It also causes bloodstream, wound and urinary tract infections. When a body is infected with pneumonia, there is a competition for iron that both the bacteria and the host need for essential cellular processes. The study detailed how the k. pneumoniae sends out tiny iron-scavenging molecules, called siderophores, to grab the iron and potentially cause infection. The Siderophores are used as a soldiers to acquire iron for bacterial growth: they are secreted by the bacteria, they grab a molecule of iron from the host, and return to the cell to provide it as a nutrient. The siderophores from k. pneumoniae are hundreds of times more powerful at grabbing iron than the proteins that our own bodies produce,thus allowing the molecules to invade the rest of the body beyond their initial point of entry to bring on inflammation caused by the human immune system. The bacterium has evolved new ways to get iron, and the mechanism it uses also causes cellular stress during infections, as that response triggers an immune response that tells our bodies to fight the infection, but it also activates a mechanism that allows bacteria to escape and travel to the rest of the body. This mechanism that allows the bacteria to travel around the body is called HIF-1alpha, and is normally used in a positive way to help our bodies respond to low oxygen or low iron, but when it is activated by the k. pneumoniae siderophores, it worsens the infection. The researchers discovered the role that siderophores play in the infection by working out how to create bacteria that would not reproduce, while still producing siderophores.