Dead Kids Research Articles

Insemination timing influences reproductive performance rather than eCG (Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin) or synchronisation protocol in Murciano-Granadina does

Counteracting goat reproduction seasonality and ensuring acceptable fertility rates are critical points of the success of selection of synchronisation protocols. The present study aims to investigate the factors that affect the performance of specific protocols to increase the probability of pregnancy results in the Murciano-Granadina breed within the official breeding program and way in which such factors interrelate. This study evaluated 11,008 artificial inseminations carried out between 2010 and 2013, using three different synchronisation protocols and eCG combinations. A categorical regression model (CATREG) was used to determine the impact of farm, doe age, birth number, kidding type, kid number, number of alive and dead born kids, synchronisation protocol, kidding month, type of semen, kidding season, eCG concentration, and their inter-actions. Results indicated that all variables, except for the number of alive and dead kids and semen type, significantly (p < 0.05) contributed to explaining the variability in pregnancy rates. Conclusively, rather than the role of eCG levels and artificial insemination (AI) protocol separately, Farm x eCG x AI Protocol interaction and the multifactorial influences on pregnancy rates should be considered when selecting does for insemination to maximise the outcomes of reproductive performance.

Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt and the Double Time of Motherhood

Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt and the Double Time of Motherhood

“Gundamentalism”

“They talk about gun rights. What about Chris's right to live?”—Richard Martinez, after his son Chris was killed in the 2014 Santa Barbara spree shootings“Your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional rights.”—Joe “the Plumber” Wurzlebacher, responding to Richard MartinezFirearms and ballistics are at the center of public debate in the United States today. They are technologies that are associated both with danger (in the form of gun violence) and safety (in the form of claims that firearms offer personal protection). This essay explores our understanding of the role of gun rights in American society through history: an issue which recent Supreme Court rulings have moved to the forefront of political debates in the face of efforts to regulate firearms and stem the tide of gun violence in the United States.

Incidence of iodine deficiency and congenital goitre in goats and kids of Darreh Garm region, Khorramabad, Iran.

One of the thyroid disorders of ruminants is goitre, which is triggered by iodine deficiency. This study evaluates goitre in the goats of the Darreh Garm region in the vicinity of the Khorramabad city. Three goats with congenital enlarged thyroid glands were referred to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the Lorestan University with signs of arrhythmia, dyspnea and anorexia. Clinical examination, radiographic and sonographic evaluations were performed. Afterward, a comprehensive visual observation was accomplished in the outbreak region and blood samples were taken for thyroid hormones measurement in does and kids. Moreover, soil and forage samples were collected to assess the iodine concentration and soil parameters. Results indicated that the thyroid hormone concentration in the serum of the affected does and kids were significantly lower than healthy and treated animals. Treatment with sodium thyroxine significantly increased the concentration of T3 and T4 hormones. Pasture (5.28 ± 1.57 mg/kg) and soil (11.0 ± 1.49 mg/kg) iodine levels were lower than normal levels in this region. Histopathological slides of the thyroid glands from the dead kids indicated thyroid follicles with different sizes and hyperplasia of the glands. Overall, a 0.5 mg/kg iodine in the diet meal of the goats needs to be considered for prevention of the iodine deficiency.

Understand the art and science of Clery Act compliance

MILWAUKEE — “I'm tired of talking to families of dead kids because I don't know what to tell them anymore,” said Jim Moore, director of the Clery Act Compliance Division of the United States Department of Education. “We're out of excuses. There are things we have to do better,” he added.

Shadow House: The Gathering by Dan Poblocki

Reviewed by: Shadow House: The Gathering by Dan Poblocki April Spisak Poblocki, Dan Shadow House: The Gathering. Scholastic, 2016 [224p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-545-92550-1 $12.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-545-92575-4 $12.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-7 Five preteens (one of whom turns out to be a ghost) receive invitations to a mysterious house that seems like it holds the key to each of their dreams—for Marcus the invitation describes a music school, for Dash and Dylan, a new acting opportunity, for Azumi, distance from the loss of her sister, and for Poppy, raised in an orphanage, the promise of family. When they all arrive, they realize their time at this creepy estate will be far from wish-fulfilling, and in fact, they may not even survive to complain about having been tricked. Other than one gripping and surprisingly poignant subplot (the aforementioned ghost who is presented as a living teen for most of the book), the real meat of this book is horror. Dead kids in masks that grow back when torn off, haunting notes from a horrible man who experimented on them, and a ramshackle setting do their scaring work, and readers will enjoy barreling through to the end just to escape their own imagination about what could happen next. The book ends with the kids still in the house (though they at least now have a solid plan about how to escape), but readers likely won’t mind a return visit to see how they fare in a sequel. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Factors Affecting Pre-weaning Survivability of Kids in an Organized Goat Farm

A study was carried out to find out the factors influencing kid survivability in an organized goat farm with more than 500 breedable Tellicherry does at Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu. Detailed study was carried out in all the 52 kids died out of 551 live kids born during the study period of nine months. The influence of dam weight at kidding, birth weight, dam’s milk yield, litter size, kid sex, age of susceptibility and parity on kid survivability were studied. The chi square analysis of the data revealed that significantly higher survival rate were recorded in kids born to dams of 25-40 kg body weight with 300-500 ml of milk yield per day with more than 1.5 kg birth weight, kids born as singles and after third parity survived better (P< 0.01). On detailed laboratory examination of dead kids revealed Clostridium perfringens type D was found to be the single major cause of mortality in kids accounting 65.38% of total mortality in this farm.

Identification of transgenic cloned dairy goats harboring human lactoferrin and methylation status of the imprinted gene IGF2R in their lungs.

Dairy goat is a good model for production of transgenic proteins in milk using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). However, animals produced from SCNT are often associated with lung deficiencies. We recently produced six transgenic cloned dairy goats harboring the human lactoferrin gene, including three live transgenic clones and three deceased transgenic clones that died from respiratory failure during the perinatal period. Imprinted genes are important regulators of lung growth, and may be subjected to faulty reprogramming. In the present study, first, microsatellite analysis, PCR, and DNA sequence identification were conducted to confirm that these three dead kids were genetically identical to the transgenic donor cells. Second, the CpG island methylation profile of the imprinted insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF2R) gene was assessed in the lungs of the three dead transgenic kids and the normally produced kids using bisulfite sequencing PCR. In addition, the relative mRNA level of IGF2R was also determined by real-time PCR. Results showed that the IGF2R gene in the lungs of the dead cloned kids showed abnormal hypermethylation and higher mRNA expression levels than the control, indicating that aberrant DNA methylation reprogramming is one of the important factors in the death of transgenic cloned animals.

Bócio congênito em caprinos no Noroeste do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Os aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos e anatomopatológicos de um surto de bócio congênito em caprinos são descritos. A etiologia dessa condição foi associada à ausência de suplementação mineral com iodo para as cabras prenhes, e constituiu o fator responsável pela natimortalidade nesse surto. Clinicamente, todos os natimortos apresentaram marcado aumento de volume na região cervical ventral cranial e alopecia difusa. Na necropsia de um dos cabritos natimortos, observou-se acentuado aumento de volume simétrico de ambos os lobos da glândula tireoide, que eram firmes, compactos e vermelho-escuros. Histologicamente, as lesões eram características de bócio hiperplásico difuso e consistiam de: 1) marcada hiperplasia e hipertrofia do epitélio folicular; 2) formação de folículos tireoidianos marcadamente heterogêneos, devido principalmente à quantidade variável de coloide intraluminal; e 3) presença de vacúolos endocíticos, que representam a endocitose do coloide e demonstram a atividade da glândula tireoide

Isolation of bluetongue virus serotype 1 from aborted goat fetuses.

Abortions and stillbirths were noticed in pregnant goats on a farm in the state of Gujarat, India. About 50% of the pregnant goats aborted or gave birth to dead kids. Bluetongue virus (BTV) antibody in the sera of affected goats was detected using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Viral antigen in the blood of these goats and in the aborted fetal spleens was detected using a sandwich ELISA. Two viruses (SKN-9, SKN-10) were isolated in cell culture from aborted fetal spleens and were confirmed as Orbivirus by demonstration of ten bands in RNA polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and identified as BTV-1 by sequencing of the VP2 gene. Sequence analyses revealed thatthese isolates were very closely related to a BTV-1 (strain SKN-8) isolated from Culicoides vectors captured on the same farm one month after the occurrence of abortion. Isolation of BTV-1 from fetuses is probably evidence of transplacental transmission of the wild-type strain, because attenuated or laboratory-adapted BTV-1 strains have never been used in this region. This may have important implications in the epidemiology of bluetongue, considering the presence of many BTV serotypes in India.

Q Fever in Pregnant Goats: Pathogenesis and Excretion of Coxiella burnetii

Coxiella burnetii is an intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes Q fever. Infected pregnant goats are a major source of human infection. However, the tissue dissemination and excretion pathway of the pathogen in goats are still poorly understood. To better understand Q fever pathogenesis, we inoculated groups of pregnant goats via the intranasal route with a recent Dutch outbreak C. burnetii isolate. Tissue dissemination and excretion of the pathogen were followed for up to 95 days after parturition. Goats were successfully infected via the intranasal route. PCR and immunohistochemistry showed strong tropism of C. burnetii towards the placenta at two to four weeks after inoculation. Bacterial replication seemed to occur predominantly in the trophoblasts of the placenta and not in other organs of goats and kids. The amount of C. burnetii DNA in the organs of goats and kids increased towards parturition. After parturition it decreased to undetectable levels: after 81 days post-parturition in goats and after 28 days post-parturition in kids. Infected goats gave birth to live or dead kids. High numbers of C. burnetii were excreted during abortion, but also during parturition of liveborn kids. C. burnetii was not detected in faeces or vaginal mucus before parturition. Our results are the first to demonstrate that pregnant goats can be infected via the intranasal route. C. burnetii has a strong tropism for the trophoblasts of the placenta and is not excreted before parturition; pathogen excretion occurs during birth of dead as well as healthy animals. Besides abortions, normal deliveries in C. burnetii-infected goats should be considered as a major zoonotic risk for Q fever in humans.

Cerebral infarction and meningoencephalitis following hot-iron disbudding of goat kids

CASE HISTORY: Twelve of 150 goat kids, 4–10 days old, died 3 days after disbudding with a hot iron. Another 18 kids had been ill the previous day but survived following antibiotic therapy. Five of the dead kids were necropsied. PATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS: There was necrosis and haemorrhage of the skin, subcutaneous tissues and frontal bone at disbudding sites in all five kids examined post mortem. Beneath disbudding sites in 4/5 kids there were bilateral, dark red, often cavitated areas of necrosis extending deep into the frontal cortex of the brain. Histologically, these areas consisted of coagulation necrosis, haemorrhage, vascular thrombosis and suppurative inflammation. Numerous bacteria, predominantly large Grampositive rods, were present in the necrotic brain tissue. In the remaining kid, bilateral areas of yellow discolouration and flattening of gyri in frontal lobes corresponded histologically to extensive polioencephalomalacia. A mixed growth of aerobes and anaerobes was cultured from the brain of one kid with suppurative lesions. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Thermal disbudding of neonatal kids is widely practised in dairy goat herds and is considered the method of choice for disbudding in New Zealand. However, the skull of goat kids is much thinner than that of calves and the safety margin for thermal injury to the brain is markedly reduced. This report highlights the risks associated with the technique and its potential as a welfare issue.

An outbreak of neurofilariosis in young goats

An outbreak of cerebrospinal microfilariosis in 23 kids, representing a whole kid crop, occurred on a farm in Qassim, Central Saudi Arabia. The morbidity and mortality rates were 100%. Clinical signs, in kids from the fourth to sixth week of age, manifested as weakness in the hind legs followed by incoordination of movement and feet dragging. Seven to ten days later, the hind legs were completely paralyzed, and within a week the front legs were also paralyzed. The animals continued to feed, drink and suckle normally, and were in good health. Paralyzed kids were helped to suckle by the farm attendants. With time, loss of control of motor functions occurred and the ability to hold the head in upright position was lost, ability to eat or drink was lost. The infected kids health deteriorated and they eventually died. Two dead kids were postmortemed. With the exception of a meningeal haemorrhage seen in one kid, no obvious macroscopic lesions were seen in any of the autopsied animals. Histopathological examination of the spinal cord and brain showed different microfilaria of different sizes between the meninges and the nervous tissue. This indicated that development of the parasite occurred in the nervous tissue. The larger microfilaria contained black deposits, most likely to be digested blood, in their guts. It is likely that the parasites are haematophagus. The main lesions caused by the microfilaria were migratory traumatic haemorrhagic tracts in the spinal cord and the brain. These sometimes contained parts of the microfilariae. In the brain malacic lesions and sporadic aggregates of lymphocytes were also noted.

Disease caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides LC in Hungarian goat herds.

The occurrence of a goat disease caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides LC in Hungary is reported. The disease occurred in two goat herds in the spring of 1999. In one herd 25% of the 4-12 weeks old kids (10 animals) while in the other herd 33% of the 6-12 weeks old kids (20 animals) became affected. The goat kids developed polyarthritis. The most severe lesions developed in the carpal joints. All animals died after 3-8 days of disease. Four dead kids were necropsied. All of them had serofibrinous and purulent polyarthritis, and in two animals bronchopneumonia, fibrinous pleuritis and meningitis were also found. In the articular exudates the presence of mycoplasmas was detected by PCR using a general mycoplasma primer. Mycoplasmas were cultured from the joints of all animals, from the abdominal parenchymal organs of two kids and from the lungs of one animal. The cultured mycoplasmas grew in strikingly large colonies, proved to be glucose positive, arginine negative and phosphatase positive, and liquefied the coagulated serum. They survived incubation at 45 degrees C for more than 24 h. Based upon their biochemical properties, the results of the immunofluorescence (IF) and growth inhibition tests and the sequence analysis of the PCR product, the cultured strains were identified as M. mycoides subsp. mycoides LC. Animals purchased in the previous autumn had been introduced to both farms. The disease may have been introduced with asymptomatic carrier animals, as earlier no similar disease had been observed at either farm.

Multilevel modelling of pre-weaning kid mortality during the cold, dry season 1991–1992 in the outskirts of N'Djamena, Chad

The pre-weaning kid mortality during the dry, cold season in the outskirts of N'Djaména (Chad) was studied by means of data collected during an observational cohort survey of goat pneumopathies. The data set concerned 1006 kids belonging to 51 herds. Forty-eight kids died during the period of the survey (4 months). A two-level logistic model was elaborated on the basis of mixed effects models. Both individual and herd covariates were included in the model. Random effects were investigated for levels 1 and 2. Three risk factors were identified: exposure to peste des petits ruminants virus, low weight and insufficient floor space in the night housing. Half of the individual cases of mortality were poorly fitted by the model. The level-1 random parameter was significantly higher than 1, giving evidence of an extra-binomial variation. The level-2 random parameter showed that for most herds, the predicted number of dead kids was close to the observed number. Preventive measures, such as peste des petits ruminants vaccination, are proposed. The main advantages of the multilevel models are outlined.

Estimation of genetic and phenotypic parameters of some reproductive traits of African Common goats in Rwanda

Records of 2239 African Common does were collected in the French project in Masaka-Kigali during 1989 to 1992. All does were artificially inseminated with semen from selected Alpine bucks from France. Age of does affected significantly ( P < 0.05) rates of fertility, abortion and litter size, percent of dead kids at birth. It also affected significantly ( P < 0.05) number of females born alive (NFBA), number of kids alive (NKA) and number of kids born (NKB). Year of kidding affected significantly ( P < 0.05) NFBA, NKA and NKB, while there was no significant ( P < 0.05) effect of the interaction (age of does x year of kidding). All phenotypic correlations between reproductive traits studied were significantly ( P < 0.01) high and positive, and the genetic correlation coefficients between NKA, NKB and index of fertility were also positive ( P < 0.05). The estimates of heritability of reproductive traits studied were low and ranged between 0.02 and 0.06.

Serum immunoglobulin concentrations of newborn goat kids and subsequent kid survival through weaning

Serum immunoglobulin (Ig) levels were measured in 39 consecutively newborn goat kids on an intensively managed dairy goat farm in New England using a quantitative, spectrophotometric zinc sulfate turbidity assay. The health and performance of these kids was monitored through weaning at 6–7 weeks of age. By weaning time, 24 kids were healthy, four had required treatment, and 11 had died. The mean serum Ig concentration for all kids was 1170 mg/dl. Mean serum Ig level for healthy kids was 1439 mg/dl, for treated kids, 706 mg/dl, and for dead kids, 750 mg/dl. There was a statistically significant difference in mean serum Ig levels between the group that died and the group that remained healthy ( P<0.05). No differences were observed in either death rates or mean serum Ig levels between male and female kids. Among kids that remained healthy through weaning, there was no identifiable correlation between initial serum Ig concentration and average daily weight gain. It was concluded that the failure of passive transfer of maternal antibodies to kids via colostrum at birth leads to increased morbidity and mortality from infectious disease in young goats. Results from this study suggest that in intensively managed dairy goat herds in New England (USA), failure of passive transfer in newborn kids can be defined by the presence of circulating serum Ig levels less than 1200 mg/dl.

Reproductive Failure in Goats in Norway: An Investigation in 24 Herds

Twenty-four flocks comprising 2370 breeding goats were examined. Three hundred-and-sixty-nine (15.6%) of the goats either aborted or delivered dead kids at full term, or were barren. In 23 of the herds the rate of reproductive loss ranged from 2% to 36%, whereas in one herd all of 54 mated goats had live kids. A loss of greater than or equal to 20% was found in 9 herds comprising 799 goats. In 11 herds comprising 946 goats the rate of reproductive failure was less than or equal to 10%. The incidence of reproductive failure was higher in older goats than in those in their first or second pregnancy. The causes were identified in only about 3% of the goats that aborted. It is concluded that reproductive failure in many flocks probably is associated with non-infectious causes such as nutritional and environmental factors.

Prevention of Toxoplasma gondii abortion in goats by vaccination with oocysts of Hammondia hammondi.

Nineteen does (female goats) were dosed with 500,000 oocytes of Hammondia hammondi prior to breeding. At about 90 days of gestation these, and 18 uninoculated does were challenged with 25,000 Toxoplasma gondii oocysts. The 19 H. hammondi--inoculated does produced 26 live and one dead kid (newborn goat). The 18 does not given H. hammondi produced 12 live and 19 dead kids. However, examination of all of the kids by isolation of T. gondii in mice, serology and histology revealed that they were all infected with T. gondii. Thus, while H. hammondi "vaccination" is protective against the deleterious effects of T. gondii on pregnant does, perhaps by reducing the severity of placental lesions, it does not prevent foetal infection.