Differences in exterior conformation between primitive, Half-bred, and Thoroughbred horses: anatomic-breeding approach.

The study included 249 horses belonging to 3 horse breeds. Konik horses, comprising the first group, is an example of a breed similar to the extinct Tarpan. In our study, these horses were taken to be a primitive anatomical model of the horse body. The other groups comprised the Polish Half-bred horse and Thoroughbred horse. The biometric characteristics of the horses were compared based on 24 indices. The aim of the paper was to find a reduced set of indices that can be used to determine group membership of the horses. To do this, we used statistical methods to find the most important indices that best discriminate breeds from each other. Chi-squared statistics, linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression, and 1-way ANOVA showed that the discrimination among groups of horses is connected with these 5 indices: scapula, smaller trunk (distance between tubercle of humerus and coxal tuber), greater trunk (distance between tubercle of humerus and ischial tuberosity), metacarpus circumference, and hind autopodium-smaller trunk. Thoroughbred and Half-bred horses are clearly different in exterior conformation from Konik horses. The differences between Thoroughbred and Half-bred horses are more subtle. The conformation of Thoroughbreds is jointly determined by relatively small differences in a range of features.

Bovine neonatal pancytopenia in calves in Poland.

Bovine neonatal pancytopenia (BNP), a newly emerged syndrome of discussed etiology in calves, has been diagnosed since 2006. Here we describe first cases of BNP in Poland. Between September 2008 and April 2011, 62 cases of BNP were diagnosed in dairy calves. Bleeding skin lesions were mostly pronounced in summer and early autumn. Severe thrombocytopenia was observed in all sick animals. All calves came from herds vaccinated against BVDV infection with PregSure BVD vaccine (Pfizer). Substitution of colostrum from dams of BNP positive calves with colostrum from dams from herds free of BNP was the only effective measure to avoid new cases in affected herds.

Coronary arteries of the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus; Linnaeus 1758) heart.

A study of the coronary arteries of the roe deer heart was performed on 21 hearts of animals of both sexes and various ages. The roe deer heart is supplied by two arteries: the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery. The left coronary artery arises from the left aortic sinus and forms a short common trunk. The left coronary artery reaches the coronary groove, then divides into the paraconal interventricular branch and the circumflex branch. The circumflex branch gives off several branches to the left ventricle wall and terminates in the subsinuosal interventricular groove as the subsinuosal interventricular branch. The right coronary artery is less pronounced than the left coronary artery. It arises from the right aortic sinus and enters the coronary groove as the right circumflex branch. We found the left arterial cone branch in 75% and the right arterial cone branch in 80% of the cases investigated. The coronary arteries of the heart run subepicardially. In 9 cases we found muscular bridges over the coronary arteries, mostly on the paraconal interventricular branch. In conclusion we affirm the left type of the arterial vascularisation in the roe deer heart.

Comparative morphological study on the tongue and lingual papillae of horses (Perissodactyla) and selected ruminantia (Artiodactyla).

A common characteristic of horses, Rocky Mountain goats, and cattle is that they all have a well developed lingual prominence on the dorsal surface of the posterior area of the tongue. Foliate papillae were found in the horse studied but not in the goat or in cattle. The horse filiform papillae had a long and slender external form with a thin and slender CTC, while in the goat and cattle the external form consisted of a large thick main process and the CTC consisted of a bundle of numerous rod-shaped protrusions. The special papilla found on the lingual prominence resembled larger filiform-like papillae in the horses; however, in the goat and cattle it was a very thick and large tongue like papillae. The horses had two large vallate papillae, while the goat and cattle had 15 or more vallate papillae at the posterior area of the lingual prominence. This suggests that the fine structure of horse tongues may display a more primitive pattern than that present in goats and cattle.

Brain basal arteries in various species of Felidae.

Observations of the branching pattern of head and brain arteries in 10 species of the Felidae family were performed in casts prepared by filling the blood vessels of interest with appropriate kind of plastics. Arterial casts supported by bone structures were obtained as a result of biological maceration of animal heads, in which arteries were filled with vinyl superchloridae, whereas the preparations which were produced by means of Technovit resin were macerated chemically. As may be judged from the results obtained the brain blood supply in Felidae is characterized by obliteration of the extracranial segment of the internal carotid artery and by simultaneous formation of the rete mirabile of the maxillary artery. The arterial circle of the brain in animals from various subfamilies of Felinae and Pantherinae differed in shape. Vascular variation was found in the animals investigated. The arterial pattern of blood supply to the brain of Felidae differs from the vascular pattern of this region in other animals from the Carnivora order.

The caroticobasilar artery in species of order Perissodactyla.

The caroticobasilar artery was investigated in animals of order Perissodactyla, in species of Equidae family, and in lowland tapir of Tapridae family. It was found that the caroticobasilar artery forms homolateral or bilateral anastomosis between the basilar and internal carotid arteries or in horse and other species of Equidae family between basilar and caudal intercarotid arteries. The caroticobasilar artery was found in all species of Equidae family, in all zebras and in one tapir.

[The rete mirabile of the maxillary artery of the lion (Panthera leo, L. 1758)]. / Das Rete mirabile der Arteria maxillaris des Löwen (Panthera leo, L. 1758).

Seventeen lion heads were examined. Their arteries were injected with colored supervinyl-chloride (dissolved in acetone) after which the heads were macerated biologically. The rete mirabile of the maxillary artery was located extracranially and was formed by numerous arteries that arose from the dorsal and medial surfaces of the maxillary artery. The rete released branches (rami retis) which entered the cranial cavity through the orbital fissure where they anastomosed with the intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery. The extracranial portion of the internal carotid was found to be obliterated. Some other arteries leaving the rete anastomosed with the internal ophthalmic artery before it entered the optic canal. The following further arteries left the rete: A. ethmoidalis externa, A. ophthalmica externa, rami musculares and ramus pterygoideus. The rete mirabile of the maxillary artery in the lion provides the principal source of the blood for the brain; it also supplies the orbit.