Frontiers in Veterinary Science最新文献

One alternative to early cow-calf separation is continuous foster cow-calf contact, where one cow nurses two to four calves without being milked. However, multiple sucklings may compromise teat and body condition and affect fertility. Therefore, the prevalence of dry teats, teat lesions, abnormal body condition scores (BCS >3.75 or <2.5), rapid BCS changes (>0.5 absolute range), calving intervals, and number of inseminations to conception were compared between 18 foster cows kept in two groups of 11-12 cows with 46-48 calves and 18 milked cows in a commercial Holstein-Friesian herd. Four scorings were conducted in approximately 4-week intervals from weeks 2 to 16 postpartum. The final scoring was performed during weaning in one foster group and after weaning in the other. Associations between foster cows' BCS and teat lesions were further analyzed. Teat lesion prevalence was significantly higher in foster cows between weeks 10 and 14 postpartum, but not during or after weaning, indicating increasing calf independence from milk. Given that teat lesions may cause pain, increase infection risk, and reflect negative cow-calf interactions, they represent a welfare concern. No significant differences were found in teat dryness, overall body condition, or fertility outcomes. However, foster cows showed a trend toward overconditioning compared to milking cows (BCS > 3.75) from weeks 6 to 16, and foster cows with lesions had a numerically higher BCS compared to foster cows without teat lesions (medium effect size). These results suggest that large-scale studies are needed to investigate the causes of teat lesions, particularly in relation to individual cow acceptance of multiple suckling in foster systems.

Snakebite envenomation poses a significant threat to both public health and animal welfare, resulting in substantial human suffering and economic burden worldwide. Recognized by the World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease, snakebites disproportionately affect impoverished rural regions across Africa, Asia, and South America, with an estimated 2.7 million envenomations and 81,000-138,000 deaths annually. In veterinary medicine, snakebites are similarly impactful, with up to 300,000 animals affected each year in the United States alone-primarily dogs and cats-while global veterinary cases likely number in the millions. Despite this, snakebites remain non-notifiable diseases, contributing to significant underreporting. The economic implications are profound, with treatment costs for human victims exceeding $200,000 per case and veterinary care ranging from $8,000 to $50,000 per case, often surpassing the financial capacity of pet owners. Beyond acute care, long-term sequelae such as chronic neuropathy and tissue damage further compound the burden. Current literature is limited in comparative analyses of envenomation mechanisms across species, particularly in livestock. This review will create a deeper understanding of pathophysiology, treatment modalities, and emerging therapies. Understanding of this background is essential to further advancements in science surrounding snake envenomation in both human and veterinary species.

Accurate identification of individual cattle is paramount in livestock insurance to combat fraud. However, the performance of existing muzzle recognition methods degrades in complex scenarios involving occlusion or multi-angle views. This study addresses this limitation by first constructing a comprehensive cattle muzzle image dataset encompassing frontal, multi-angle, and occluded conditions. We then propose CattleMuzzleNet, a lightweight recognition model that integrates a siamese network, an enhanced MobileViT backbone, and an Efficient Multi-scale Attention (EMA) mechanism for robust feature extraction and matching. Its efficacy is systematically validated through comparative experiments on feature extraction networks, ablation studies on the attention mechanism, and confidence threshold analysis. Evaluated on a dataset of 31,312 images from 658 cattle, CattleMuzzleNet achieved an accuracy of 97.87% and an F1-score of 98.89%, with a compact model size of 6.9 MB. The results demonstrate high accuracy and robustness in complex scenarios, providing an effective technical solution for identity verification in cattle insurance.

Although the carotid body (CB) has been widely examined in many animal species, its histological features in pigs have received comparatively little attention. This research presents the first integrative description of the porcine (CB), combining anatomical dissection, histological evaluation (H&E and Masson's trichrome), immunohistochemistry, and lectin histochemistry. In the study, four piglets were examined from which the carotid glomus was harvested, and it was described histologically. The organ displayed a multilobular structure embedded in connective tissue. Immunohistochemical labeling with GFAP, S100, and NSE demonstrated strong and consistent immunoreactivity, confirming the presence of neuroendocrine and glial-like cell populations. Complementary lectin histochemistry with Con-A and WGA revealed distinct glycosylation patterns that correlate with the presence of growth factor receptors (TrkA, TrkB, TrkC, p75NTR, and others), thereby offering insight into receptor biology and glycan-mediated signaling within the (CB).

Positive deviant (PD) farmers can be differentiated from the wider farming community by their inherent capacity to leverage farming innovations and technologies in addressing challenges faced in engaging in agricultural production. There is currently a limited body of literature on how positive deviance and entrepreneurial behavior allow some dairy farmers to develop strategies that enable them to cope better with and creatively overcome challenges faced by their peers. This study employed a positive deviance approach to identify innovative dairy farmers in urban and peri-urban areas of the Addis Ababa and Oromia administrative regions of Ethiopia. PD farmers were identified and selected through a descriptive study design, utilizing a purposive and snowball sampling approach based on the number of technologies adopted in a previous survey study and referrals from other farmers. Data were collected through key informant interviews and participant observation on selected farms. We observed that PD dairy farmers had adopted and/or modified a variety of technologies to overcome context-specific challenges faced, such as seasonal feed shortages exacerbated by climate change, reduced land size and availability of land for grazing and waste disposal, and restrictions on farming resulting from the development of urban areas. These technologies enabled farmers to improve feed production, manure disposal, breeding practices, the quality of livestock housing, and animal welfare and enabled them to control diseases and add value to milk production. This study underscores the important role that PD dairy farmers could play as social referents, not only for their peers in urban and peri-urban areas but also for policymakers, extension workers and academics who are interested in working with dairy farmers in co-identifying and co-developing solutions to challenges currently undermining the sustainability of the dairy sector in Ethiopia and beyond.

Johne's disease, caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), continues to pose a major global challenge for the livestock industry due to its long subclinical phase and the limitations of current diagnostics. Commercial antibody-based ELISA tests often fail to detect early-stage infections, while interferon (IFN)-γ assays, though considered more sensitive at early stages, are costly and logistically complex. We present a novel multiplex ELISA that incorporates multiple MAP antigens for the detection of MAP-specific IgG antibodies in bovine serum and milk. Using well-characterized positive and negative cohorts, the assay demonstrated strong concordance with IFN-γ responses and outperformed commercial monoplex ELISA kits (IDEXX and IDVET). Our findings support its potential as a practical, high-throughput alternative for early detection of MAP-specific antibodies and for herd-level disease management.

Introduction: Placental development in sheep involves closely coordinated morphological and endocrine processes. Ultrasonographic placentome measurements and maternal ovine placental lactogen (oPL) profiles reflect distinct components of pregnancy progression; however, their longitudinal relationship across gestation has not been clearly defined. This study aimed to characterize temporal changes in placentome diameter and maternal oPL concentrations and to evaluate how their association evolves throughout pregnancy.

Methods: Fifty clinically healthy, multiparous Kivircik ewes carrying singleton pregnancies were monitored longitudinally from Day 26 to Day 145 of gestation. Serial transabdominal ultrasonography was performed at two-week intervals to measure placentome diameter using consistent anatomical landmarks. Maternal blood samples collected at each examination were analyzed for serum oPL concentrations using validated immunoassays. Gestational changes were assessed using non-parametric repeated-measures analyses. Associations between structural and endocrine variables were examined using day-specific correlation analyses and within-ewe models that accounted for repeated observations and individual baseline variability.

Results: Placentome diameter increased rapidly during early gestation, rising from approximately 1.3 cm at Day 26 to around 3.5 cm by mid-gestation, after which values stabilised and showed only minor fluctuations toward term. Maternal oPL concentrations increased progressively from early pregnancy, reaching peak values of approximately 15-16 μg/mL in late gestation before declining near parturition. No significant association between placentome diameter and oPL concentration was detected during early gestation. Transient inverse relationships were observed at selected mid-gestational time points, whereas from late gestation onward, a consistent positive association emerged. Within-ewe analyses demonstrated a strong positive co-variation between placentome diameter and circulating oPL concentrations after controlling for inter-individual differences.

Discussion: These findings indicate that placentome growth and oPL secretion follow distinct yet interrelated developmental trajectories during sheep gestation, with increasing structural-endocrine concordance in late pregnancy. The integrated longitudinal evaluation of placentome biometry and maternal oPL profiles provides a refined framework for interpreting placental development and may support improved assessment of gestational progression in both research and clinical settings.

This review provides a comprehensive exploration of the applications and advancements in ultrasonographic techniques for evaluating the uterus in domestic canines. Conventional grey-scale ultrasonography remains a cornerstone for detecting anatomical and pathological changes, while emerging modalities such as Doppler ultrasonography, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), and ultrasound elastography (UEl) have expanded diagnostic capabilities by providing insights into vascularity, tissue stiffness, and microvascular perfusion. Recent innovations in three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) ultrasonography have further revolutionized imaging by enabling detailed visualization of fetal anatomy and dynamic intrauterine processes. While these techniques have been extensively studied in human and veterinary medicine for various organs, their application to the canine uterus, both non-pregnant and pregnant, remains underexplored. This review bridges gaps in existing literature by incorporating findings from related fields and outlining future directions for research to improve the diagnosis and management of reproductive uterine disorders in dogs.

The causative agent of chlamydiosis/psittacosis, the obligatory intracellular bacterium C. psittaci, infects various species of birds and humans. Infected birds occasionally excrete the pathogen through the respiratory and digestive systems, with nasal/ocular discharge and feces being the main sources of infection for other birds or humans. Humans are most often infected through close contact with positive parrots. In this case report of avian chlamydiosis/psittacosis, samples were taken from a dead cockatiel and two budgerigars, and from a child living in the same household as the birds. In all the samples examined, except the child's serum, C. psittaci was detected by real-time PCR. The phylogenetic analysis of the ompA gene from parrot isolates identified genotype A, confirming that parrots harbored the most virulent genotype of C. psittaci. To prevent the spread of avian chlamydiosis/psittacosis, it is necessary to procure birds from verified sources, monitor the signs of disease in parrots and humans, and strictly adhere to biosecurity measures to prevent further spread of the disease.