Prognostic Potential of Thrombocyte Indices, Acute Phase Proteins, Electrolytes and Acid-Base Markers in Canine Parvovirus Infected Dogs With Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.

Dogs with canine parvovirus enteritis (CPVE) that develop systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) frequently have a poor prognosis. The aim of the study was to assess the prognostic potential of thrombocyte indices, acute phase proteins, electrolytes, and acid-base markers in CPVE puppies with SIRS (CPVE-SIRS+) at admission. A case-controlled, prospective, and observational study was performed on 36 CPVE puppies. Mean concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin, thrombocyte count, mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), chloride (Cl-) and ionized calcium (iCa) were measured and strong ion difference 3 (SID3), ATOT-albumin and ATOT-total protein were determined in CPVE-SIRS+ survivors and nonsurvivors. A prognostic cut-off value for predicting the disease outcome was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The mean values of MPV, PDW and CRP were significantly higher and the mean values of albumin, Cl- and ATOT-albumin were significantly lower in CPVE-SIRS+ nonsurvivor than CPVE-SIRS+ survivor puppies on the day of admission, but the thrombocyte count, Na+, K+, iCa, SID3 and ATOT- total protein values did not differ significantly. The positive predictive values (PPVs) for survival using cut-off value of MPV (≤15.08 fL), PDW (≤14.85%), CRP (≤180.7 mg/L), albumin (≥1.795 g/dL), Cl- (≥96.00 mmol/L), and ATOT-albumin (≥7.539) were determined as 100%, 100%, 100%, 80%, 100%, and 80%, respectively with better area under ROC curve and sensitivity. Based on sensitivity, specificity, and PPVs from ROC analysis, it is concluded that the determination of Cl- concentration and MPV at admission followed by CRP will serve as the most appropriate biomarkers in predicting the disease outcome of CPVE puppies that develop SIRS.

The potentialities of omics resources for millet improvement.

Millets are nutrient-rich (nutri-rich) cereals with climate resilience attributes. However, its full productive potential is not realized due to the lack of a focused yield improvement approach, as evidenced by the available literature. Also, the lack of well-characterized genomic resources significantly limits millet improvement. But the recent availability of genomic data and advancement in omics tools has shown its enormous potential to enhance the efficiency and precision faced by conventional breeding in millet improvement. The development of high throughput genotyping platforms based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) has provided a low-cost method for genomic information, specifically for neglected nutri-rich cereals with the availability of a limited number of reference genome sequences. NGS has created new avenues for millet biotechnological interventions such as mutation-based study, GWAS, GS, and other omics technologies. The simultaneous discovery of high-throughput markers and multiplexed genotyping platform has aggressively aided marker-assisted breeding for millet improvement. Therefore, omics technology offers excellent opportunities to explore and combine useful variations for targeted traits that could impart high nutritional value to high-yielding cultivars under changing climatic conditions. In millet improvement, an in-depth account of NGS, integrating genomics data with different biotechnology tools, is reviewed in this context.

Antioxidant supplementation during treatment of outpatient dogs with parvovirus enteritis ameliorates oxidative stress and attenuates intestinal injury: A randomized controlled trial.

A prospective randomized controlled clinical study was conducted to determine whether antioxidant supplementation as an adjunct therapy alters hemogram, oxidative stress, serum intestinal fatty acid binding protein-2 (IFABP-2) level, fecal viral load, clinical score (CS) and survivability in outpatient canine parvovirus enteritis (CPVE) dogs. The dogs with CPVE were randomized to one of the five treatment groups: supportive treatment (ST) alone, ST with N-acetylcysteine (ST+NAC), resveratrol (ST+RES), coenzyme Q10 (ST+CoQ10) or ascorbic acid (ST+AA). The primary outcome measures were reduction of CS and fecal HA titre, and enhancement of survivability. Secondary outcome measures were reduction of oxidative stress indices and IFABP-2 level from day 0 to day 7. The mean CS and HA titre were significantly (P < 0.05) decreased from day 0 to 7 in ST and all antioxidant groups. The supplementations of NAC, RES and AA along with ST markedly (P < 0.05) reduced the concentrations of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide and IFABP-2 on day 7 as compared to ST alone. Additionally, NAC and RES supplementations markedly (P < 0.05) improved the total leukocyte count and neutrophil count in CPVE-affected dogs. NAC and RES could serve as better antioxidants for the amelioration of oxidative stress in CPVE but, the antioxidants did not confer any additional benefits in reduction of CS, fecal HA tire, or survivability when compared with ST alone.

Development and evaluation of a gold nanoparticle based Lateral Flow assay (LFA) strip test for detection of Brucella spp.

The widely used serodiagnostic test (RBPT, CFT, I-ELISA and FPA) for diagnosis of brucellosis cannot detect vertically infected or carrier animals that are seronegative, a persistent source of infection to other susceptible animals in the herd. For reducing transmission of disease within the herd, these animals must be detected using a rapid, sensitive, user friendly penside diagnostic test. In the present study, Lateral Flow immunoassay (LFA) strip test was developed for detection of Brucellaspp. from clinical samples (bovine aborted foetal stomach contents). The LFA strip was fabricated by printing anti-Brucella polyclonal antibodies (PAb) and anti-bovine antibodies IgG on test and control line, respectively. For conjugation, colloidal gold nanoparticles (30 nm GNP, Sigma, USA) were conjugated with anti-brucella PAb. The LFA strip test was able to detect 107 cfu/ml B.abortus S99 inactivated organism in PBS and it did not exhibit any cross reactivity with selected non Brucella pathogens. To further validate, 115 clinical specimens were tested using LFA strip test. The relative sensitivity (DSn) and relative specificity (DSp) of LFA strip test was determined by ROC curve analysis using PCR and culture method as reference standard. DSn and DSp of LFA strip test was observed as 78.57% (95%CI: 49.2-95.3); 93.07% (95%CI: 86.2-97.2) and 80.0% (95%CI:51.9-95.7); 94.0% (95%CI:0.795-0.925) using culture and PCR as reference diagnostic tests, respectively. It may be concluded that, the LFA strip test can be used as a rapid penside diagnostic test for screening of brucellosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on development of GNP based LFA strip test for detection of Brucella spp. from bovine aborted fetal content samples.

Development and Evaluation of Simple Dot-Blot Assays for Rapid Detection of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin-A in Food.

The present study was aimed to develop and evaluate dot-blot assays for rapid detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin-A (SEA) in food. Dot blots were developed in two formats, indirect and sandwich utilizing mouse monoclonal anti-SEA and rabbit polyclonal anti-SEA antibodies. In indirect dot-blot format, recombinant SEA was directly coated on NCM dot-blot strip and detection was carried out by anti-SEA antibodies. In sandwich dot-blot format, SEA was trapped between anti-SEA capture and detection antibodies. Both the dot-blot assays exhibited a sensitivity of ~48 ng ml-1 when tested in different food matrices. The developed assays were highly specific as no cross-reactivity was detected with other classical staphylococcal enterotoxins, toxigenic bacteria and foodborne pathogens. Sensitivity and specificity of developed indirect and sandwich dot-blot assays with respect to PCR was found to be 100 and 99%, respectively. The results shows that the developed dot-blot assays can be used as rapid preliminary screening tests for detection of SEA in food or determining the toxigenic potential of staphylococci, especially in resource-limited settings.