Denisa S Perez is a Veterinarian and she has completed her PhD from the National University of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina). She is performing Postdoctoral Studies at the Toxicology Area in the Physiopathology Department of Tandil Veterinary Research Center. She is also a Professor at Veterinary Sciences Faculty. She has published an important amount of research articles in reputed journals.rn

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a mycotoxin which inhibits protein synthesis and causes cytotoxicity. Fosfomycin (FOS) is a bactericidal broad-spectrum antibiotic used in human and veterinary medicine with some extra antimicrobial properties. We have demonstrated that after 4 hours of incubation, FOS was able to prevent the cytopathic effect of DON on Hep2 cells. To corroborate these results and to determine whether the effect of DON was due to the induction of apoptosis, Hep2 cells were seeded in 6 well-plates and after 24 hours, cell monolayers were treated with DON (2.8 μg/mL) alone or with DON (2.8 μg/mL) and FOS (550 μg/mL). The presence of nuclear morphological changes representative of apoptosis was evaluated by DAPI staining under immunofluorescence microscope, the percentage of apoptotic cells was determined and the results were evaluated by ANOVA/Tukey test. Cell cultures incubated with DON and FOS were similar to control wells showing the absence of cytotoxicity. Apoptotic cells percentage was significantly higher (5.64+0.27) (p<0.01) for cells treated with DON than for cells incubated with both the mycotoxin and the antibiotic (0.65+0.5). To determine whether DON was able to induce apoptosis in different cells lines and at lower concentrations, MDBK and BHK cells were also treated with DON at 1 μg/mL for 24 hours. Results show that the mycotoxin induces apoptosis in all the assayed cell lines. Further studies are needed to confirm that the protective effect of the antibiotic occurs in all cell lines and its implications under in vivo conditions.

Grammato Evangelopoulou is a Military Veterinarian specialized in Food Microbiology. Currently she is carrying out her Doctoral studies in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, Greece. Her Research interests focus on pig salmonellosis and its impact to Public Health. She is a Member of the American Society for Microbiology. Her work is supervised by Professor A R Burriel, Director of The Microbiology and Parasitology Laboratory, University of Thessaly.

The ability of a microorganism to produce H2S is an important taxonomic characteristic within the family of Enterobacteriaceae with Citrobacter spp., Proteus spp. and Salmonella spp. considered major H2S-producers. H2S is a very toxic compound for mammalian cells helping perhaps, bacteria producing it to colonize or damage tissues thus playing a role in the development of gastroenteritis and ulcerative colitis. The toxicity of H2S to mammalian cells is comparable to that of cyanide when their LD50 is determined using rodents. About 97.7% of Salmonella spp. serovars other than S. choleraesuis and S. typhi produce H2S. Loss of H2S production is observed in environmental strains of Salmonella spp. resulting from mutations or its \"masking\" by acid production during sugar fermentation on frequently used culture media. In this study, five (5) lactose positive Salmonella spp. and three (3) E. coli isolates recovered using ISO 6579:2002 (Annex D), appeared H2S negative when cultured on XLD and SS agars but they produced it when co-cultured with typically strong H2S-producing Salmonella isolates. This observation emphasizes possible failures in the identification of Salmonella pathogenic serovars and the possibility of a synergistic increase in the pathogenicity of less pathogenic serovars or other enterobacteria.

M Sayed-Ahmed earned his BVSc degree from College of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura, Egypt in 2001, and he received his MVSc degree in 2005 and PhD/DVM in Virotherapy and Viral Oncolysis in 2011 from School of Veterinary Medicine, Hanover, Germany (TIHO). Since 2011, he is Assistant Professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura, Egypt. He is currently Assistant Professor at college of Pharmacy, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. His main area of research is on the pathogenesis and diagnosis of Infectious Diseases. He is a member of ESVP and ECVP since 2011.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate of the vaccination program and immune response of vaccinated animals with Brucella vaccine in Sharqyia Province. The study was applied on 4772 lactating and non-lactating cattle from 2008 to 2011. Sera were collected from animals during routine diagnosis and control program. Brucella serological tests namely Buffered Acidified Plate Antigen (BAPA), Rose Bengal Plate (RBP), Tube Agglutination (TAT) and Rivanol test (Riv.T), Complement fixation test (CFT) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were applied. Furthermore, milk and tissues especially lymph nodes were collected from some reactor animals for bacteriological isolation and identification of the causative microorganism. Brucella was isolated using polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Our results revealed that the prevalence of Brucella were 3.06 % of private farms compared to 2.82 % for individual animals. Bacteriological examination revealed that B. Melitensis biovar-3 was isolated. These reflect the role of cattle in transmission and spreading of Brucella.

Fernando García Lacy received his degree of Veterinary Doctor and Master´s from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He is dedicated to private practice in sport horses. He is a Professor at the same University.

Horse has approximately 6,000 years of being domesticated, also it has been used by man- kind for several athletic activities, from which we have the different equine sports today. However, these activities make horse an athlete, making it more prone to excessive loads to the bones and soft tissues, and therefore injuries, and because of that, equine sports medicine has been developing several combinations of treatments for those conditions in order to maintain their health for sports. Insulin has been used empirically for intra-articular injection without really knowing both its local joint and systemic effects and therefore, its dose. There is scientific evidence that insulin produces mitosis in equine chondrocytes in vitro with concentrations 150 ng/ml, also it enhances type II collagen production. In this study, we managed to adapt the dosage used in cell cultures to the actual joint, by measuring the articular surface from a specimen, also we determined if there were changes in sinovial fluid composition, blood and synovial glucose levels, insulin concentration in synovial fluid by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to know its area Under the Curve (AUC), half-life (T1/2), Time of Maximum Concentration (TC max) and Residence Time (RT). Previous clinical studies were performed which include insulin resistance and radiology evolving the radio-carpal joint to all 6 mixed breed horses that were used in this study; three different doses were used: 10, 15 and 20 IU of insulin, obtaining significant changes through time in blood glucose levels for the 3 doses (P<0.0001); no significant difference was found between synovial fluid protein and cell count in both treated and control (SSF) joints (P>0.05); also, no significant difference was found regarding synovial glucose levels between treated and control joints (P>0.05). HPLC revealed that the pharmacokinetic parameters are dose dependent, however, there was no significant difference when compared with the three different doses (P=0.9851). Insulin used in this study proved to be innocuous to the equine joint, however, since the lowest blood glucose level was seen one hour post injection, it is recommended to monitor the horses’ signs for about one hour and use no more than 20 IU for a 350-400 kg horse. To this day, there are not studies of insulin used intra-articularly in human or veterinary medicine, thus this is the first in vivo study.

Jose Antonio Guerra Palos has completed his Masters from School of Veterinary Medicine at UNAM University in Mexico City, Mexico. He is a Professor at UAEM and UNAM Veterinary School and has a company of equine ambulances and mobile practice with horses in Mexico City and loves horseback riding.

Proximal suspensory desmitis (PSD) of the pelvic limbs is a common cause of lameness in the horse and neurectomy of the deep branch of the lateral plantar nerve (DBLPN) has become a commonly performed procedure for treatment of horses for PSD. The cross-sectional area of the proximal aspect of the suspensory ligament (SL) has been observed to decrease after surgery and this decrease was reported to occur in one horse because of neurogenic atrophy of muscle fibers within the SL. The aim of this study was to prove the hypothesis that neurectomy of the DBLPN causes neurogenic atrophy of the muscular portion of the PSL and to show that muscle fibers are replaced with collagen fibers and fat tissue. We compared 10 SL harvested from pelvic limbs of 5 horses that had undergone neurectomy of the DBLPN of the pelvic limbs (i.e., treated SLs) with 10 SLs harvested from 5 horses that had not undergone neurectomy of the DBLPN (i.e., control SLs). Before the ligaments were harvested they were examined ultrasonographically with the horse standing after the horses with euthanized. After the ligaments were harvested, they were measured with a Vernier caliper and histologically evaluated using Masson´s tricrome stain. Significant histological abnormalities were observed in the neurectomized ligaments including atrophy of muscle fibers and increased deposition of collagen and fat tissue. The neurectomized ligaments were smaller as determined by using a caliper than the non-neurectomized ligaments. This investigation demonstrates that neurectomy of the DBPLN induces neurogenic atrophy of the muscular portion of de PSL changing the morphology of the ligament. Rapid atrophy of muscle after denervation explains the postoperative reduction in size of the proximal aspect of the SL.

Fábio Pereira Leivas Leite is currently working at Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil.

There have been significant efforts toward the development of more efficient vaccines. Several efforts have been made to produce effective vaccines against bovine herpes virus 5 (BoHV-5). We examined the use of the probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii (Sb) as a potential adjuvant to improve vaccine efficiency. We found that the supplemented animals exhibited an enhanced systemic IgG antibody response toward Th1 in favour of IgG2 and increased mRNA expression levels of the cytokines IFN-y, IL-12, IL-17 and IL-10 in the spleen. These results suggest that Sb may provide a promising means for improving the efficiency of vaccines.

Damian Knecht is the Head of Department of Pig Breeding in Institute of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Biology and Animal Breeding, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences. He is the Author of more than 300 publications, 3 academic books and 2 scripts. He has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of journals. His research interests focus on improving pig production parameters.

Porcine production still incurs huge losses due to seasonal variations in the reproductive performance of sows. Among a range of solutions, the application of proactive substances progestagens, gonadotropins, prostaglandin and its derivatives directly into the organism of sows or as a component of semen has also been used. Artificial insemination excludes proper stimulation of mechanoreceptors located in the vagina which during natural mating results in the release of oxytocin. The application of 0.5 mL oxytocin to 100 mL insemination doses just before insemination has a positive effect on the reproductive performance and litter parameters of sows inseminated in different seasons. The highest increase in the farrowing rate was recorded in the summer and for this season the average litter size also increased. The administration of oxytocin in the autumn resulted in a large increase in the farrowing rate and fecundity index but did not affect either positively or negatively the other tested parameters. In the spring season, despite an almost identical farrowing rate, better indicators for Oxytocin group were observed in terms of average litter size, birth weight, fecundity index and weaning weight. It is concluded that the use of oxytocin directly affects the farrowing rate of sows or litter parameters. In the absence of negative effects, year-round insemination with oxytocin addition into seminal doses is recommended which effectively improves the production performance and reduces the problem of seasonality in reproduction.

Anna Jankowska-Mąkosa has completed her PhD at the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences. She is the Author or Co-author of 18 scientific publications of which 6 were recognized by Journal Citation Reports. She also participates in the project, “Mentoring-innovative method of activation”.

The population of wild boar has been systematically growing. The increase in number of boars causes the migration of the species to urbanized areas posing a real threat not only for forestry-involved people but as well for residents of cities. Endoparasites disseminate along with their hosts’ migration posing a growing threat for people. The aim of the study was to determine the species composition and the intensity of endoparasites contagion among free-living wild boar. The parasitological diagnosis was conducted on the basis of coproscopic methods (flotation and the McMaster). The coproscopic was study carried out for 50 wild boars during spring 2014. The presence of parasites was detected in 91% of the examined population. The most abundant parasite was Coccidia prevalence-74% then Ascaris suum prevalence-46% next Strongyloides ransomi prevalence-33%, Oesophagostomum spp. prevalence-24% and Trichuris suis prevalence-5%. The average EPG was the highest in number for Ascaris suum (12326) and respectively for Trichuris suis (6522), Oesophagostomum spp. (2162) and Strongyloides ransomi (2608). The average Coccidia was determined at the level of 34 mean numbers of samples. The most current knowledge regarding the level of endoparasites contagion among wild boar seems to be insufficient. Periodic wild boar examination and efficient determination of parasitic morbid entities will not only help in valuation of the condition of the game but as well in providing sufficient treatment and minimizing the risk of contagion for people.

Karima Galal Abdel Hameed has completed her PhD at the age of 31 years from Polish Academy of Science, Institute of Genteics and Animal breeding. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Hygiene. She has published more than 23 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute. She published 14 abstracts in national and international conferences.

The effect of Natamycin on the survival of P. zopfii using different concentrations of Natamycin (0.2%, 0.4%) in feta cheese which was laboratory prepared, inoculated with the previously isolated and identified P. zopfii to yield a concentration of 2×108 cfu/ml or gm at room temperature (25+2o C) and refrigerator temperature (5+2o C). P. zopfii counts were demonstrated and pH values were determined every twelve hours. P. zopfii could not be detected after 24 hours and after curd in the samples of feta cheese containing Natamycin of 0.2%, 0.4% in storage at room and refrigerator temperature, respectively. The public health significance of the organism and the precautions which should be taken to control this organism in dairy industry as well as the recommended sanitary measures were also discussed.