Effect of coccidial challenge and vaccination on the performance, veterinary postmortem scores, and blood biochemistry of broiler chickens.

A total of 960 male Cobb 500 broilers were used in a growth performance study to explore the effect of coccidial vaccination and/or coccidial challenge on blood biochemistry and veterinary postmortem metrics. Day-old chicks were randomly divided into one of the 4 experimental treatments. Treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with the factors being without or with vaccination (administered on day 1) or coccidial challenge (oral gavage on day 7). Growth performance was monitored on a weekly basis. Blood sample collection, as well as full veterinary necropsies, were carried out on days 6, 8, 13, 20, 27, and 34. Birds that did not receive the vaccination but were challenged with coccidiosis had higher feed conversion ratio, lower body weights, and higher mortality than the other experimental groups, and this effect was particularly evident from day 13 to day 20. Birds challenged with coccidiosis had lower plasma sodium and total carotenoid concentrations and higher potassium and globulin concentrations than nonchallenged birds. Significant interactions between age and experimental treatment for these blood parameters were observed, particularly on day 13. The necropsy results confirmed the effectiveness of the challenge and vaccination treatments, wherein birds that were challenged had higher coccidiosis scores on day 13 and day 27 than birds that were not challenged. These results demonstrate the potential for plasma sodium, potassium, total protein, total carbon dioxide, globulin, and carotenoid analysis for early diagnosis of coccidiosis in growing broiler chickens. Further work is necessary to establish whether the changes in blood biochemistry observed in the present study are transferable to alternative flocks of chicken and whether early diagnosis and intervention may mitigate performance losses associated with this disease.

Effect of broiler genetics, age, and gender on performance and blood chemistry.

A total of 640 broilers were used to determine the effects of strain, sex, and age on hematology and blood chemistry using rapid detection devices. Day old chicks from two genetic lines of common fast-growing and high-yield broiler strains were sexed and allocated to 40 pens (16 birds per pen) containing either male or female and Ross or Cobb strains (n = 10). Venous blood was analyzed weekly using 2 broilers from each pen (n = 20) using the i-STAT® Alinity Handheld Clinical Analyzer, Zoetis Vetscan VS2, and iCheck™ Carotene devices at 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 d, as well as growth performance. Post-mortem health tracking metrics were also recorded on 42 d. Broilers were deemed healthy based on posting data results and performed in accordance with industry standards with males presenting greater BW and reduced FCR than female broilers. Ross broilers displayed greater BW to 14 d with similar FCR compared with Cobb birds. Day of age had a highly significant impact on blood calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, carotene, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, bile acids, uric acid, total protein, albumin, globulin, total carbon dioxide, hematocrit, and malondialdehyde. Male broilers had reduced blood sodium, chloride, carotene, uric acid, albumin, and increased total protein, glucose, and total carbon dioxide. Ross broilers had greater blood potassium, and sodium, as well as reduced uric acid, total protein, globulin, and malondialdehyde, compared with Cobb birds. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of point-of-care devices in measuring blood chemistry and hematology in modern broilers. These data can be utilized to determine normal healthy blood ranges in these types of broilers when accounting for strain, sex, and age.

Helminths and skewed cytokine profiles increase tuberculin skin test positivity in Warao Amerindians.

The immune regulatory mechanisms involved in the acquisition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children are largely unknown. We investigated the influence of parasitic infections, malnutrition and plasma cytokine profiles on tuberculin skin test (TST) positivity in Warao Amerindians in Venezuela. Pediatric household contacts of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) cases were enrolled for TST, chest radiograph, plasma cytokine analyses, QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) testing and stool examinations. Factors associated with TST positivity were studied using generalized estimation equations logistic regression models. Of the 141 asymptomatic contacts, 39% was TST-positive. After adjusting for age, gender and nutritional status, TST positivity was associated with Trichuris trichiura infections (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.1-11.6) and low circulating levels of T helper 1 (Th1) cytokines (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.33-0.79). Ascaris lumbricoides infections in interaction with Th2- and interleukin (IL)-10-dominated cytokine profiles were positively associated with TST positivity (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.1-8.9 and OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.04-5.7, respectively). A negative correlation of QFT-GIT mitogen responses with Th1 and Th2 levels and a positive correlation with age were observed (all p < 0.01). We conclude that helminth infections and low Th1 cytokine plasma levels are significantly associated with TST positivity in indigenous Venezuelan pediatric TB contacts.

Carriage and invasive isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Caracas, Venezuela: the relative invasiveness of serotypes and vaccine coverage.

The introduction of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Venezuela needs previous studies to assess vaccine efficiency. We conducted a survey of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage in urban children in Caracas and studied the distribution of serotypes. We compared these data with survey data available for invasive strains isolated in the same area and in the same time period. An overall pneumococcal carriage rate of 27% was observed. The most predominant capsular serotypes among carriage isolates were 6B (29%), 19A (13.8%), 23F (10%), 14 (8.3%), 6A (8.3%) and 15B/C (3.3%) and among invasive isolates 6B (25%), 14 (15%), and 19A, 6A, 7F, and 18 (7.5% each). The serotypes/groups 1, 5, 7F and 18, jointly covering 30% of the invasive strains, represented less than 0.7% of the carrier strains. The theoretical coverage of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine PCV13 for carriage and invasive strains was calculated to be 74% and 90%, respectively. Our study demonstrates important differences for the serotype distribution in disease and carriage isolates and provides a key baseline for future studies addressing the prevalence and replacement of invasive and carriage serotypes after the introduction of the PCV 13 vaccine in Venezuela in the year 2010.

Fibrosis hepática tras tratamiento con psicofármacos / Hepatic fibrosis after antidepressant treatment

No disponible

Fluconazol versus nistatina en niños con candidiasis orofaríngea / Fluconazole versus nystatin in children with oropharingeal candidiasis

La candidiasis orofaríngea constituye una patología frecuente en la población pediátrica. Con la finalidad de ofrecer una alternativa terapéutica segura y eficaz, se realizó un estudio multicéntrico, prospectivo, comparativo, simple ciego y de asignación aleatoria, donde se incluyeron 181 pacientes con diagnóstico clínico y micológico de candidiasis orofaríngea; fueron asignados al azar para recibir Fluconazol suspensión a 5mg/kg dosis única diaria o Nistatina suspensión 50.000 unidades/kg cada 6 horas. Se obtuvo una respuesta clínica satisfactoria al final del tratamiento con una diferencia estadística altamente significativa (p<0.001) en el grupo tratado con fluconazol (97.8 por ciento) frente al grupo de Nistatina (84.3 por ciento); y de 98.4 por ciento versus 87.9 por ciento respectivamente, un mes después de la terapia, siendo la diferencia muy significativa (p<0.01). La erradicación micológica reportó una alta significancia (p<0.0002) a favor del Fluconazol con un 74.7 por ciento contra un 35.5 por ciento de los tratados con Nistatina. El uso del Fluconazol suspensión oral, se presenta como una terapéutica eficaz, bien tolerada y de comodidad posológica en la edad pediátrica. La candidiasis albicans fue aislada en el 92 por ciento de los casos

[Activation of coagulation cascade in children during an idiopathic nephrotic syndrome relapse]. / Aktywacja ukladu krzepniecia u dzieci w trakcie rzutu idiopatycznego zespolu nerczycowego.

UNLABELLED: The objective of this study was to assess concentrations of selected markers of coagulation in children with relapse of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome during a 6-week therapy. Study groups: 22 subjects (32 relapses)--14 males, 8 females (mean age 7.15 +/- 1.5 y.) with no thrombotic complications were included into the study. All children were clinically steroid-sensitive. METHODS: Coagulation markers (platelet count, thrombin time, APTT, INR, fibrinogen 1 + 2 fragments (F1 + 2), thrombin-antithrombin complexes (TAT), serum levels of D-dimer (DD), fibrin monomers (FM) and antithrombin activity (ATIII)) were measured three times: on admission, after 2 and 6 weeks. The control group consisted of 13 healthy children. RESULTS: Serum concentration of TAT or F1 + 2 did not differ between 3 stages (p > 0.05). However, values at 0 and 2 weeks were significantly higher than in control group (p < 0.05). We found no correlation between TAT or F1 + 2 and FBG, ALB, TCH, TG levels. [table: see text] CONCLUSIONS: The coagulation cascade in relapse of NS was activated during first 6 weeks of therapy whereas metabolic disturbances (low ALB, high FGB, TCH, TG, high platelets) normalized. It is speculative whether it was caused by active immunological process but definitely it resulted in "prothrombotic state" in INS patients.