A qualitative screening method for 17 coccidiostats in eggs and animal muscle by QuEChERS-UPLC-MS/MS validated according to Regulation (EU) 2021/808.

Phenylalanine (Phe), an essential aromatic amino acid, is emerging as a potential biomarker of metabolic and health status in animals. Altered Phe concentrations reflect changes in metabolic, inflammatory, and disease processes. In companion animals, shifts in serum or biofluid Phe have been linked to hepatopathies, inflammatory enteropathies, and neoplastic conditions. In livestock, variations in milk or serum Phe accompany mastitis, metabolic stress, lameness, and other production-related disorders. Evidence for cats, horses, poultry, and aquaculture species remains limited. Interpretation is complicated by analytical variability, small sample sizes, and confounding factors such as diet, stress, and microbiome composition. Non-invasive sampling of milk, urine, saliva, and breath, shows promise for Phe monitoring across animal species. Advances in multi-omics, particularly metabolomics, proteomics, and microbiome analyses, can clarify mechanisms and support development of composite biomarker panels. This review evaluates current evidence on Phe as a biomarker across species, highlights gaps in research coverage and methodology, and outlines priorities for future work. Expanding studies to underrepresented species, standardizing measurement protocols, and conducting longitudinal research. Addressing these priorities is essential to establish Phe as a robust biomarker, for veterinary diagnostics, health monitoring, and the optimization of animal welfare and production systems. SHORT SUMMARY: This review looks at phenylalanine (Phe), an amino acid, as a possible health indicator in animals. Changes in Phe levels may show problems with metabolism, inflammation, or disease. Evidence is strongest for dogs and dairy cows, but limited for cats, horses, poultry, and fish. Results vary due to measurement methods and other factors. Future studies should standardize testing, include more species, and combine methods to improve Phe's usefulness in monitoring animal health.

Interleukin- 17A as an Immunomodulatory Cytokine in Animal Health and Diseases: A Systematic Review.

Viral metagenomics reveals the RNA viral composition of herbivorous wildlife on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Development of vertical transmission model for Bordetella bronchiseptica in pigs.

Molecular identification of trypanosome species and vertebrate blood meals in wild tsetse flies from Binoum in the forest area of the littoral region of Cameroon.

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a gram-negative bacterium contributing to respiratory diseases in many different animal species. In the swine population, it occurs frequently and plays a role in the Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex as well as in the pathogenesis of atrophic rhinitis. The dermonecrotic toxin (DNT) is involved in the destruction of the nasal conchae, a hallmark of atrophic rhinitis, and several studies have shown the effects of DNT on osteoblastic cells. Surprisingly, only little is known about the interactions of DNT and respiratory epithelial cells. Thus, we investigated the influence of DNT on porcine respiratory epithelial cells during mono- and co-infections in vitro. For this, we infected porcine precision-cut lung slices and air-liquid interface cultures with a DNT-positive B. bronchiseptica wild-type strain and its isogenic DNT-deficient mutant strain. For co-infection experiments, a Streptococcus suis serotype 2 wild-type strain was used. We evaluated cytotoxic effects and colonization of both pathogens, as well as the pro-inflammatory cytokine response of the host cells. Remarkably, DNT neither contributed to the cytotoxic effects of B. bronchiseptica nor did it affect bacterial colonization. Regarding the cytokine response, pro-inflammatory cytokines were expressed mainly upon infection with B. bronchiseptica but hardly after infection with S. suis, whereas co-infection with both pathogens had an amplifying effect on cytokine expression after prolonged infection, independently of DNT. Concluding, we found no evidence that DNT contributes to the early stages of infection with B. bronchiseptica and S. suis in in vitro models of the porcine respiratory tract.

Arthropods are the most diverse phylum on Earth, accounting for approximately 90% of animal species. The cuticular exoskeleton has played a vital role in their evolutionary success, but we know surprisingly little about the external factors influencing its development, structure and biomechanical properties. This omission is critical because cuticle is involved in almost every biological function in this massive group of organisms. In this study, we examined how an ecologically relevant difference in early adult diet affected the insect cuticle. We discovered that high-quality food provided to the leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae), over the first three weeks of adult life led to a 4.1 times thicker cuticle with 3.7 times greater injury resistance relative to those that consumed a poor diet. Cuticle thickness and injury resistance scaled positively with body size. Males kick and wrestle with each other in this species, and we found that the cuticle of males was more injury resistant than the cuticle of females. This work highlights that nutrition during adulthood can strongly influence the development and properties of the arthropod cuticle, a phenomenon that likely has profound fitness-related consequences for locomotion, predator-prey interactions and resource acquisition.

Veterinarians work with various species of animals, in many different work environments and have the potential to be exposed to sources of noise at levels that may be of concern. To undertake a scoping review to compile existing evidence and determine the extent of knowledge that exists on the topic of occupational noise in the veterinary setting, including the sources, exposure levels, health impacts and hazard controls that exist. A systematic search of five electronic databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Embase and CINAHL) as well as grey literature was undertaken to identify articles in accordance with the methodology developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute and using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. A total of 19 articles met the inclusion criteria. Various sources of noise were identified, including animals as well as equipment used. Personal noise exposures were found to exceed the commonly applied Occupational Exposure Limit (OEL)/upper exposure action value of LAeq,8 h 85 dB(A) for some workers, and audiometric testing found that some workers had hearing loss. Various noise controls were discussed that could be applied more widely to the veterinary sector. Noise is a hazard of importance in the veterinary sector, and further research is needed to ensure that veterinary workers are aware of the risks associated with occupational noise exposure, including what strategies can be implemented to reduce noise exposures.

The Altai Mountains, a complex mountain system of Central Asia, is particularly sensitive to global change. Under increasing human activities and continuing climate change, the range of animals may show expansion or contraction. In this study, we evaluated and predicted the distribution dynamics of 27 animal species and the resulted change of species richness in the Altai Mountains by using MaxEnt model in the current and future periods. The results show that most species are predicted to mainly distribute in the northwest of the Altai Mountains under current conditions. In the future, habitats located in the central region may be largely lost. Most species tend to shift their ranges towards higher altitudes or latitudes. Human activities, snow cover and precipitation of coldest quarter are the most important predictors explaining the potential distributions of most species. As global climate change continues to alter potentially suitable habitats, we recommend to establish a transboundary protected area across the four countries (China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia) in the central region of the Altai Mountains. Additionally, we suggest reducing potential anthropogenic impacts on wildlife and their habitats by regulating human activities.

Discovery of cold-tolerant phagocytic activity in polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) of marine mammals.

Assessing the impacts of changing environmental conditions on animal species requires thorough understanding of population dynamics, which can be difficult to estimate when animals aggregate into spatially discrete subpopulations. We used 39 years of fecundity, capture-recapture and abundance data in an integrated metapopulation model to study environmental drivers of demography in a declining migratory bird, the Greenland white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris). We found that low fecundity due to earlier spring vegetation phenology on staging areas and increased snow on breeding areas explained metapopulation decline, though the strength of these effects varied by subpopulation. Differential immigration and emigration rates affected local wintering abundance trends, highlighting the importance of quantifying subpopulation-metapopulation dynamics for understanding fragmented animal populations. We provide a framework for extending commonly used integrated population models to a metapopulation framework for testing novel ecological hypotheses about how changing environmental conditions within and among subpopulations drive changes in animal abundance.

Insects make up the majority of all animal species, with 70% occurring in the tropics1, yet the impacts of warming on tropical insects remain highly uncertain2. This stems from sparse, taxonomically biased data on thermal tolerance of tropical insects and an incomplete understanding of the underlying physiological mechanisms3. Here we compared environmental temperatures with field-measured upper and lower thermal tolerance limits of around 2,300 insect species along Afrotropical and Neotropical elevational gradients and identified genomic signatures of thermal tolerance across the insect tree of life. We show that thermal tolerances do not proportionally track environmental temperatures but approach an asymptote in tropical lowlands. Insects at high elevations utilize plasticity to cope with rising temperatures, whereas lowland species have limited plastic abilities. Heat tolerance showed strong differences among insect orders and families, reflected in the thermal stability of proteins, suggesting that variation in thermal tolerance is founded in the fundamental protein architecture. Up to 52% of future surface temperatures and 38% of air temperatures in the Amazonian lowlands can cause heat mortality in half of the studied community. Our data suggest a limited capacity of insects in the Earth's most biodiverse regions to bufferfuture warming.

Precise and tissue-specific delivery of proteins remains a major barrier to realizing their therapeutic potential. Here, we report a mass spectrometry-assisted high-throughput screening (MSHTS) strategy for rapid identification of lung-targeting lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). A combinatorial library of 46 thioketal-containing biodegradable lipids was synthesized via Michael addition, enabling multiplexed biodistribution profiling in a single animal. MSHTS identified BDMPA-TK12 with preferential lung accumulation for in vivo protein delivery. Proteomic analysis revealed the formation of a vitronectin-enriched protein corona that promotes receptor-mediated uptake of BDMPA-TK12 by pulmonary endothelial cells. The optimized LNP efficiently delivers functional proteins, including Cre recombinase and antioxidant DJ-1, to the lung across multiple animal species. Lung-specific delivery of DJ-1 activates MAPK signaling, mitigating ferroptosis, and inflammatory injury in acute lung inflammation. Our study establishes MSHTS as a scalable strategy for discovering tissue-selective nanoparticles and significantly advances LNP-mediated delivery of proteins for diverse biomedical applications.

Earth is experiencing a biodiversity crisis. Among the declining taxa are insects and arachnids, which account for most of the world's animal species, and are ecologically and economically vital. Thus, understanding the factors influencing insect and arachnid conservation policies is urgently needed. Here, we review conservation assessments for 46,257 North American insect and arachnid species and examine the factors that affect state and federal legal protections for species in the United States. We find the conservation status of 88.5% of described insect and arachnid species in North America is unknown, and that unassessed insect and arachnid species are unlikely to receive protection. Of US insects and arachnids known to be at-risk throughout their range, 94.7% are not protected by any state or federal law; only 2.5% are protected nationwide under the federal Endangered Species Act compared to 27.7% of range wide at-risk US bird species. Insect and arachnid protections are taxonomically biased, favoring dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) and butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) while overlooking other vulnerable taxa. We find that socioeconomic factors are the strongest predictors of state-level conservation policies: states with economies more reliant on mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction are less likely to protect insects and arachnids. In states where protections exist, more insect and arachnid species are protected when more residents hold eco-centric values. This quantitative assessment of US insect and arachnid conservation rectifies a previous dearth of data and highlights specific, addressable issues which have left countless species vulnerable to decline and possible extinction.

Herbicidal activity mechanism and ecotoxicological study of novel triazolinone PPO inhibitors based on plant-derived allelochemical cinnamic acid.

Analysis of predictive value of animal repeated dose toxicity study results for clinical safety of US FDA-approved anticancer drugs between 2019 and 2023.

Oxidative stress is an important aspect in retinal degenerations that could be targeted in various forms of currently untreatable diseases. It is generally believed that males are more predisposed to oxidative stress than females due to their higher metabolic activity and/or lower antioxidant capacity. However, studies using mouse disease models have demonstrated that photoreceptor degeneration progresses faster in females. Sex hormones likely play a role, but the cellular mechanism behind the sex difference is unclear. In the current study, we confirmed that the accelerated disease phenotype in female rd10 and P23H retinitis pigmentosa mice coincides with sexual maturity, and further, we found that it co-occurs with increased retinal lipid peroxidation. Instead, protein oxidation and inflammatory marker levels were similar between the sexes. Retinal lipid profiling revealed higher levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-containing lipids in healthy 2-month-old female mice compared to males, whereas before puberty the sex difference in retinal PUFAs was absent. However, the association between elevated long-chain PUFAs in female C57BL/6J mouse retinas and the increased lipid peroxidation in female RP mice on the same background remains correlative rather than causal. Analysis of open bulk retina transcriptomic data from middle-aged humans found supplemental evidence of sex-related differences in retinal energy metabolism pathways. In addition to mechanistic studies aimed at uncovering the causes of differential lipid peroxidation between sexes, further research is needed to investigate sex differences in retinal metabolism and lipid composition across animal species. Our findings highlight the importance of considering sex differences when conducting preclinical experiments using RP models.

The milk fatty acid (FA) profile is influenced by complex interactions among animal species, physiology, feeding, and management, resulting in modification to the nutritional and functional properties of milk fat. This study aimed to identify latent biological and nutritional factors influencing milk FA composition in ruminants using multivariate factor analysis (MFA), applied across 4 species: dairy cows (Holstein-Friesian and Brown Swiss), sheep (Sarda and Massese), Mediterranean buffaloes, and goats (Saanen). A total of 1,960 mid-lactation animals (150 ± 16 DIM for cows; 90 ± 5 DIM for sheep; 162 ± 14 DIM for buffalo; 86 ± 3 DIM for goats), raised under commercial farm conditions and subjected to diverse feeding regimens, were included in the study. All milk samples were analyzed by the same laboratory using GC under consistent analytical conditions. Factor analysis was carried out on 49 individual FA. An ANOVA on the factor scores was performed to assess the effects of species and feeding strategies, specifically lipid supplementation in cow milk and n-3 supplementation in sheep milk. The MFA was able to extract 7 latent factors with specific biologic meaning: synthesis of odd- and branched-chain fatty acids from ruminal bacteria (factor 1: "OBCFA"), de novo FA synthesis via acetate in mammary gland (factor 2: "Mammary activity"), biohydrogenation of linoleic acid (factor 3: "BH_1"), milk fluidity regulation (factor 4: "Milk fluidity"), mitochondrial Beta-oxidation of FA (factor 5: "Beta-oxidation"), biohydrogenation via vaccenic acid (factor 6: "BH_2"), ruminal 16:1c7 elongation (factor 7: "16:1c7 elongation"), regulation of branched (factor 8: "BCFA") and odd (factor 9: "OCFA") chain FA, n-6 metabolism (factor 10: "n-6 FA"), and synthesis of short-chain FA (factor 11: "SCFA"). According to a previous study on MFA, a variable was considered to be associated with a specific factor if the absolute value of its correlation with the factor was ≥0.60. Several factors reflected established metabolic processes, such as "OBCFA," "Mammary activity," and "BH_1." Others, such as "Beta-oxidation" and "16:1c7 elongation," captured novel pathways not previously described in single-species analyses. Importantly, this multispecies MFA approach revealed both conserved and species-specific metabolic signatures. For example, whereas core factors such as "SCFA" and "OCFA" appeared across all species and aligned with prior bovine-focused studies, certain factors (e.g., "n-6 FA" and "BCFA") showed species-dependent variation, likely reflecting differences in animal diet and ruminal microbial ecosystems. The extracted factor scores were useful to evaluate the effects of species (cow, goat, sheep, and buffalo) and different feeding regimens (applying the scores only to Holstein-Friesian cows for lipid supplementation and Sarda sheep for n-3 source supplementation). This approach allowed us to assess the influence of these dietary interventions on the latent factors affecting milk fatty acid composition. The resulting factors offer biologically meaningful, synthetic variables that can be used for future phenotypic, genetic, or nutritional modeling. Moreover, this approach enhances our understanding of mammary lipid metabolism across species and underscores the value of integrative multivariate methods in dairy science. These findings have implications for animal selection, feeding practices, and management strategies aimed at improving the nutritional quality of milk fat.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, furans (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are preferentially retained in animal liver and adipose but exact distribution is difficult to ascertain because of a limited number of studies which often use tissues from different animals. These limitation were mitigated by using paired liver/muscle tissues from the same animals and combining data from seven independent studies in the UK and Italy on three species. Additionally, the effects of variable (low, moderate, high) levels of pasture/housing contamination were also investigated. Combined PCDD/F and PCB toxic equivalents (TEQs) (range: 0.11-219pg/g fat) occurred to a significantly (P<0.001) higher level in livers of sheep and pigs (>15:1, liver:muscle), reducing to 4:1 for cattle, but supplementary data on chickens showed similar distribution. Occurrence levels in tissues were consistent with pasture contamination - highlighting the food safety and regulatory importance of pasture/housing locations for animals used in food production. Congener patterns in muscle and liver tissues were similar for chickens and pigs but notably different in sheep. Remarkably, across all 189 animals investigated, PCDD/Fs consistently dominated the combined TEQ in UK cattle, sheep and chickens showing highest contributions in pig tissues. Conversely, PCB-TEQ dominated in the tissues of Italian animals. This divergence may arise from feed, husbandry, geographical differences but elevated PCB contamination has been reported in Southern Italian locations. The higher liver contamination corresponds to the ability of PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs to induce and bind to the hepatic CYP1A2 enzyme, restricting CYP-mediated metabolism and resulting in liver retention or sequestration.