The development of an indirect ELISA for the detection of antibodies to goose parvovirus in blood serum.

UNLABELLED: This work aimed to develop an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (i-ELISA), based on the structural protein VP2 of goose parvovirus (GPV), for the detection of antibodies to GPV in blood serum. In this study, the capsid protein VP2 of GPV was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by nickel chromatography. The purified protein was capable of reacting with GPV antibodies, as analysed by Western blot. An i-ELISA based on the protein VP2 was developed. For evaluation of the newly developed ELISA, 192 field sera collected from six goose herds were tested in parallel by the serum neutralization (SN) test. The result showed that 138 samples were positive and 49 negative in both cases. The agreement of the two tests was 97·3%. This i-ELISA has high sensitivity and good specificity and is an alternative serologic test for the detection of the antibodies to GPV in blood serum. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: In this study, we expressed and purified the capsid protein VP2 of GPV and developed a VP2-based i-ELISA for the detection of GPV antibodies. This i-ELISA can be used for evaluating the immune effects of GPV vaccine and for diagnosing of GPV infection.

Isolation and phylogenetic analysis of porcine deltacoronavirus from pigs with diarrhoea in Hebei province, China.

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a recently identified coronavirus in the genus Deltacoronavirus that can cause enteric disease with clinical signs including diarrhoea, vomiting, dehydration and mortality in neonatal piglets. Although evidence of the prevalence of PDCoV in China is accumulating, little published information about Chinese PDCoV isolates is available. In this study, we investigated the presence of PDCoV in 49 faecal/intestinal samples from piglets with diarrhoea on different farms in Hebei province. Five samples (10.2%) were positive for PDCoV, but no coinfection of PDCoV with other enteropathogens was observed. A PDCoV strain named HB-BD was successfully isolated from the intestinal contents of a diarrhoeic piglet and serially propagated in swine testicular (ST) cells for >40 passages. The complete genome of the HB-BD strain was sequenced and analysed. Genomic analysis showed that the HB-BD strain had a closer relationship with Chinese strains than those from other countries and was grouped within the Chinese PDCoV cluster. The results of this study will be valuable for further research of PDCoV genetic evolution and development of effective diagnostic reagents, assays and potential vaccines against newly emerged PDCoV strains.

Transport stress induces heart damage in newly hatched chicks via blocking the cytoprotective heat shock response and augmenting nitric oxide production.

Transport stress affects the animal's metabolism and psychological state. As a pro-survival pathway, the heat shock response (HSR) protects healthy cells from stressors. However, it is unclear whether the HSR plays a role in transport stress-induced heart damage. To evaluate the effects of transport stress on heart damage and HSR protection, newly hatched chicks were treated with transport stress for 2 h, 4 h and 8 h. Transport stress caused decreases in body weight and increases in serum creatine kinase (CK) activity, nitric oxide (NO) content in heart tissue, cardiac nitric oxide syntheses (NOS) activity and NOS isoforms transcription. The mRNA expression of heat shock factors (HSFs, including HSF1-3) and heat shock proteins (HSPs, including HSP25, HSP40, HSP47, HSP60, HSP70, HSP90 and HSP110) in the heart of 2 h transport-treated chicks was upregulated. After 8 h of transport stress in chicks, the transcription levels of the same HSPs and HSF2 were reduced in the heart. It was also found that the changes in the HSP60, HSP70 and HSP90 protein levels had similar tendencies. These results suggested that transport stress augmented NO generation through enhancing the activity of NOS and the transcription of NOS isoforms. Therefore, this study provides new evidence that transport stress induces heart damage in the newly hatched chicks by blocking the cytoprotective HSR and augmenting NO production.

[Clinical classification and the treatment of spastic torticollis].

A summary of 160 patients of spastic torticollis admitted for treatment from March 1980 to December 1990 are reported. The clinical classification of these patients is discussed. Antispasmodic operation designed by the authors was performed on them. The cure rate was 90.6%.