Cardiopulmonary depression of long-term constant rate infusion (CRI) administration of multiple analgesic drugs is important, especially in critically ill dogs. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of lidocaine, ketamine or combined lidocaine-ketamine combination CRI treatment on vital signs and left ventricular (LV) function in healthy dogs. Six adult Beagle dogs were administered either ketamine (initial loading dose of 0.5 mg/kg followed by $10{\mu}g/kg/min$ CRI), lidocaine (initial loading dose of 2 mg/kg followed by 0.025 mg/kg/min CRI), or combined lidocaine-ketamine intravenously. Arterial blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), body temperature (BT) and echocardiographic LV dimensions were measured before administration of medications, immediately after administration of drugs, and then every 10 min for 2 h. There were no significant changes in HR, RR, BT and BP after the administration of either lidocaine CRI, ketamine CRI, or combined lidocaine and ketamine CRI. There were also no significant changes in LV dimensions and stroke volume. The results revealed that treatment with either lidocaine, ketamine or combined lidocaine-ketamine may not cause cardiopulmonary suppression in healthy dogs.

This study evaluated the effects of alfaxalone (3 mg/kg, intravenously) on echocardiographic examination in healthy dogs using echocardiography. Six adult Beagle dogs were used for this study. Left ventricular dimensions with systolic indexes, trans-blood flow at all cardiac valvular annulus and trans-mitral tissue Doppler values were measured from routine transthoracic echocardiography. Although the changes were not statistically significant, heart rate, left ventricular end-systolic diameter, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, peak velocities of tricuspid A-wave and transpulmonic flow were increased after alfaxalone induction, while systolic blood pressure, fractional shortening, left ventricular ejection fraction, peak velocities of mitral E-wave, mitral A wave, tricuspid E-wave, transaortic flow and medial e'-, a'- and s'-peaks decreased after alfaxalone induction. No dogs showed hypoxemia during sedation, regardless of intubation and oxygen supply. Although alfaxalone showed mild cardiovascular depression, this protocol could be a good alternative sedative protocol for echocardiographic examination in healthy dogs because the cardiovascular depression was statistically and clinically insignificant. However, further studies in dogs with heart diseases should be conducted to confirm these findings after alfaxalone induction.

Akabane and bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) viruses cause vector-borne diseases. In this study, inactivated Akabane virus (AKAV)+Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) vaccines with or without recombinant vibrio flagellin (revibFlaB) protein were expressed in a baculovirus expression system to measure their safety and immunogenicity. Blood was collected from mice, guinea pigs, sows, and cattle that had been inoculated with the vaccine twice. Inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine induced high virus neutralizing antibody (VNA) titer against AKAV and BEFV in mice and guinea pigs. VNA titers against AKAV were higher in mice and guinea pigs immunized with the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine than in animals inoculated with vaccine containing revibFlaB protein. Inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine elicited slightly higher VNA titers against AKAV and BEFV than the live AKAV and live BEFV vaccines in mice and guinea pigs. In addition, the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine was safe, and induced high VNA titers, ranging from 1 : 64 to 1 : 512, against both AKAV and BEFV in sows and cattle. Moreover, there were no side effects observed in any treated animals. These results indicate that the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine could be used in cattle with high immunogenicity and good safety.

Although the effects of the rice bran have recently been investigated, there is no information regarding platelet physiology available. However, it is well known that fermented natural plants have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate whether fermented rice bran extract (FRBE) with several plants (Artemisia princeps, Angelica Gigantis Radix, Cnidium officinale, and Camellia sinensis) affected agonist-induced platelet aggregation, and if so, what the underlying mechanism of its activity was. We performed several experiments, including in vitro platelet aggregation, intracellular calcium concentration and adenosine triphosphate release. In addition, the activation of integrin ${\alpha}_{II}b{\beta}3$ was determined using fibrinogen binding. Thrombus formation was also evaluated in vivo using an arterio-venous shunt model. The FRBE inhibited collagen-induced platelet aggregation in a concentration-dependent manner. FRBE significantly and dose dependently attenuated thrombus formation using rat arterio-venous shunt. FRBE suppressed the intracellular calcium mobilization in collagen-stimulated platelets. We also found that FRBE inhibited extracellular stimuli-responsive kinase 1/2, p38-mitogen-activated protein kinases and c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylation. These results suggested that FRBE inhibited collagen-induced platelet aggregation, which was mediated by modulation of downstream signaling molecules. In conclusion, FRBE could be developed as a functional food against aberrant platelet activation-related cardiovascular diseases.

To develop a live vaccine strain against fowl typhoid and paratyphoid caused by Salmonella serovar Gallinarum biovar Gallinarum (Salmonella Gallinarum) and Salmonella serovar Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis), respectively, several nalidixic acid resistant mutants were selected from lipopolysaccharide (LPS) rough strains of Salmonella Gallinarum that escaped from fatal infection of a LPS-binding lytic bacteriophage. A non-virulent and immunogenic vaccine strain of Salmonella Gallinarum, SR2-N6, was established through in vivo pathogenicity and protection efficacy tests. SR2-N6 was highly protective against Salmonella Gallinarum and Salmonella Enteritidis and safer than Salmonella Gallinarum vaccine strain SG 9R in the condition of protein-energy malnutrition. Thus, SR2-N6 may be a safe and efficacious vaccine strain to prevent both fowl typhoid and paratyphoid.

Exercise is one of the most common stressors in horses. Although various physiological parameters such as cortisol respond to exercise, there is no reliable parameter for the measurement of exercise-induced stress in sport horses. This study was performed to discover a new biomarker with high sensitivity for exercise-induced stress. The expression of fos mRNA was increased more than 10-fold in horse blood samples collected after an hour of exercise, as compared with before the exercise. The plasma cortisol levels were also increased after the exercise, but only by about two-fold. The fos mRNA levels were well-correlated with plasma cortisol concentrations. These findings suggest that fos mRNA expression in blood may be useful for the measurement of exercise-induced stress in horses.

Oregano (Origanum vulgare) is an aromatic herb belonging to the Lamiaceae family. This study evaluated the therapeutic effect of oregano essential oil (OEO) on clinical bovine mastitis caused by Staphylococcus (S.) aureus and/or Escherichia (E.) coli. Thirty-two quarters from 18 lactating cows with subclinical mastitis were selected from a dairy farm and were divided into 4 groups (8 quarters/group): negative control (CON), positive control (GEN) and two OEO-treated groups (OEO-1 and OEO-2). Each group was intramammarily treated with saline, 10 g/tube of gentamicin ointment, and single and double doses of 0.9 mL OEO ointment twice a day for three days, respectively. After the treatments, physical udder conditions were greatly improved in GEN and OEO groups. In CON group, somatic cell counts (SCCs), number of white blood cells (WBC) and bacteria were increased. However, in OEO groups, SCCs and number of WBC were significantly decreased and S. aureus and E. coli were not detected in milk as compared with those before the treatments as well as GEN group. These results suggest that OEO may be a useful alternative to antibiotics for the control of subclinical bovine mastitis caused by S. aureus and/or E. coli.

The antibacterial effects of a combination of Coptidis rhizoma and Galla rhois extracts (CGE) were evaluated in piglets. The minimum bactericidal concentration of CGE was 2.0 mg/mL. Thirty 5-week-old piglets were challenged with Campylobacter (C.) coli after allocation to three different groups, a control and two treatment groups fed with CGE at 2.0 or 4.0 g/kg feed for 7 days. On day 7, C. coli in the feces of the CGE-treated groups were significantly lower than in the control (p < 0.01). These results suggest that CGE can be used to control C. coli in piglets.

A 13-year-old, spayed, female Chihuahua dog was referred for evaluation of fever, lethargy, and dyspnea. Hematologic evaluation revealed severe neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and mild anemia. The dog had been undergoing phenobarbital therapy for the past 7 weeks because of generalized seizures due to meningoencephalomyelitis of unknown etiology. After ruling out other possible causes of cytopenias, a tentative diagnosis was made of drug-induced blood cell dyscrasia. The neutropenia and thrombocytopenia resolved after discontinuation of phenobarbital (8 days and 15 days after discontinuation, respectively). This is the first case report in Korea to demonstrate blood dyscrasia associated with idiosyncratic adverse effects of phenobarbital.

A two-year-old spayed female pug presented with symmetrical hyperpigmented alopecic lesions on her axillary and inguinal regions. There were no remarkable findings in dermatologic examinations and hormonal assays. Histological examination of biopsied tissues revealed prominent lymphocytic perifolliculitis along with shrunk hair follicles. Immunohistochemistry for CD3, CD79a, CD4, and CD8 showed a positive stain for CD4 antigen around hair bulbs, suggesting CD4 positive T lymphocyte infiltration. This case suggests the possibility that CD4 T lymphocyte-mediated inflammatory reaction could be a main mechanism in canine alopecia areata. Additional studies are warranted to investigate the immunological mechanism in canine species.