Efficacy of high-throughput transthoracic ultrasonographic screening for on-farm detection of ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-throughput on-farm transthoracic ultrasound (TUS) to screen for ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), an infectious ovine disease of increasing concern. No other routine diagnosis of preclinical OPA is available, or any vaccine or treatment.

Methods: More than 80,000 rapid TUS scans were applied on farms with a history of OPA.

Erratum to: 'Clinical presentation, auscultation recordings, ultrasonographic findings and treatment response of 12 adult cattle with chronic suppurative pneumonia: case study'.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/2046-0481-66-5.].

Osteoarthritis of the temporo-mandibular joint in free-living Soay sheep on St Kilda.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease of synovial joints with the potential to cause pathology and welfare issues in both domestic and wild ruminants. Previous work has identified OA of the elbow joint in domestic sheep, but the prevalence of OA of the jaw and in particular the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) has not been previously reported. Following up a previous report of a single case of TMJ OA in a free-living population of Soay sheep on St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides, an archive of 2736 jaw bones collected from this population between 1985 and 2010 was surveyed.

Evidence of a high incidence of subclinically affected calves in a herd of cattle with fatal cases of Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP).

Background: Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP) is a disease of calves characterised by bone marrow trilineage hypoplasia, mediated by ingestion of alloantibodies in colostrum. Suspected subclinical forms of BNP have been reported, suggesting that observed clinical cases may not represent the full extent of the disease. However to date there are no objective data available on the incidence of subclinical disease or its temporal distribution.

Clinical presentation, auscultation recordings, ultrasonographic findings and treatment response of 12 adult cattle with chronic suppurative pneumonia: case study.

Auscultation is considered the critical component of the veterinary clinical examination for the diagnosis of bovine respiratory disease but the accuracy with which adventitious sounds reflect underlying lung pathology remains largely unproven. Modern portable ultrasound machines provide the veterinary practitioner with an inexpensive, non-invasive tool with which to examine the pleural surfaces and superficial lung parenchyma. Simultaneous recording of sounds overlying normal lung and defined pathology allows critical assessment of auscultated sounds in the same animal removing confounding factors such as respiratory rate and thickness of the chest wall (body condition).

Treatment and control of respiratory disease in sheep.

Respiratory diseases in sheep result in poor live weight gain and mortality, thus causing considerable financial losses for lamb producers. The disease is also an important animal welfare concern. Respiratory diseases in sheep and goats often result from adverse weather conditions and physiologic stress combined with viral and bacterial infections.

Integrin-alphavbeta6, a putative receptor for foot-and-mouth disease virus, is constitutively expressed in ruminant airways.

Evolved functions of integrin-alpha(v)beta(6) include roles in epithelial cell-extracellular matrix protein interactions and in the binding and activation of latent TGF-beta(1). Integrin-alpha(v)beta(6) is also exploited as a receptor by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and may play a significant role in its transmission and pathogenesis. The ovine beta(6) integrin subunit was cloned and sequenced (EMBL accession no.

Diagnostic techniques and clinicopathologic findings in ruminant neurologic disease.

In ruminant species, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collection and analysis provide rapid (in some situations, instant) information to the veterinary clinician investigating a disease problem in the living animal. CSF analysis is particularly useful with respect to confirming the presence of an inflammatory lesion involving the leptomeninges,such as bacterial meningoencephalitis, and in investigating potential compressive lesions of the spinal cord. When correctly performed under local anesthesia, lumbar CSF collection in ruminants is a safe procedure and there are no harmful sequelae.