Use of pooled serum samples to assess herd disease status using commercially available ELISAs.

Pooled samples are used in veterinary and human medicine as a cost-effective approach to monitor disease prevalence. Nonetheless, there is limited information on the effect of pooling on test performance, and research is required to determine the appropriate number of samples which can be pooled. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the use of pooled serum samples as a herd-level surveillance tool for infectious production-limiting diseases: bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) and Neospora caninum (NC), by investigating the maximum number of samples one can pool to identify one positive animal, using commercial antibody-detection ELISAs.

Differences in body temperature, cell viability, and HSP-70 concentrations between Pelibuey and Suffolk sheep under heat stress.

Pelibuey and Suffolk sheep were compared as to their capacity to regulate body temperature under environmental hyperthermia by measuring their differences in cellular response to heat stress (HS). In a first experiment, seven Pelibuey and seven Suffolk ewes were kept in a climatic chamber for 6 h daily during 10 days (temperatures within the 18 to 39.5 °C range).

Relationship between growth of the preovulatory follicle and its steroidogenic activity on the onset and expression of estrus behavior in CIDR-treated Bos indicus cows: an observational study.

Estrus synchronization induces cows to gather in sexually active groups (SAGs) composed of females displaying mounting activity. Although this technique promotes the enhancement of sexual behavior, there are cows in estrus (CE) that delay estrus expression and also cows not displaying estrus (CNDE) even in the presence of a preovulatory follicle (PF). To elucidate the physiological mechanisms of the delay in the onset of estrus or absence of estrus behavior, an observational study was undertaken in 17 Bos indicus cows treated with exogenous progesterone (CIDR) to synchronize estrus and to monitor follicular growth and its steroidogenic activity.