A retrospective case‐series study evaluated the prognosis of 853 dogs with acute kidney injury (AKI) based on the RIFLE (Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss and End‐stage renal failure) criteria, derived from human medicine. The 30‐day mortality of dogs with AKI in each class was found to be 23.8 per cent (40 of 168) dogs for Risk, 41.0 per cent (107 of 261) dogs for Injury and 78.5 per cent (333 of 424) dogs for Failure. Using the dogs in the Risk class as the reference, the mortality of dogs in either the Injury or Failure class was significantly higher than that of dogs in the Risk class (P<0.05). The longest median survival time was observed in the Risk class (nine days) and the shortest median survival time was observed in the Failure class (three days). Using a multiple logistic regression model, a new score that simultaneously considered RIFLE class, diarrhoea status and serum phosphorus level was calculated to predict prognosis. Evaluation using the area under the receiver‐operating characteristic curve (AUROC) indicated that the new scoring method (AUROC 0.80) was a better prognostic indicator than using RIFLE criteria alone (AUROC 0.73).

Since the first discovery of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) in China in 2009, SFTSV has rapidly spread through other Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Pakistan, in chronological order. Taiwan reported its first discovery of SFTSV in sheep and humans in 2020. However, the prevalence of SFTSV in domestic and wildlife animals and the geographic distribution of the virus within the island remain unknown. A total of 1324 animal samples, including 803 domestic ruminants, 521 wildlife animals and 47 tick pools, were collected from March 2021 to December 2022 from 12 counties and one terrestrial island. The viral RNA was detected by a one-step real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Overall, 29.9% (240/803) of ruminants showed positive SFTSV RNA. Sheep had the highest viral RNA prevalence of 60% (30/50), followed by beef cattle at 28.4% (44/155), goats at 28.3% (47/166), and dairy cows at 27.5% (119/432). The bovine as a total of dairy cow and beef cattle was 27.8% (163/587). The viral RNA prevalence in ticks (predominantly Rhipicephalus microplus) was similar to those of ruminants at 27.7% (13/47), but wild animals exhibited a much lower prevalence at 1.3% (7/521). Geographically the distribution of positivity was quite even, being 33%, 29.1%, 27.5% and 37.5% for northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan, respectively. Statistically, the positive rate of beef cattle in the central region (55.6%) and dairy cattle in the eastern region (40.6%) were significantly higher than the other regions; and the prevalence in Autumn (September–November) was significantly higher than in the other seasons (p < 0.001). The nationwide study herein revealed for the first time the wide distribution and high prevalence of SFTSV in both domestic animals and ticks in Taiwan. Considering the high mortality rate in humans, surveillance of other animal species, particularly those in close contact with humans, and instigation of protective measures for farmers, veterinarians, and especially older populations visiting or living near farms or rural areas should be prioritized.

High levels of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) during the transition period lead to increased oxidative stress and immunosuppression in cows. Feeding them a vitamin-E-supplemented diet reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the blood and diminishes immunosuppression in the transition period. However, whether the restoration of immune cell function occurs through the direct action of vitamin E in cells is still a topic that requires further discussion. Therefore, in this experiment, we aimed to investigate the effect of NEFAs on peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) and whether vitamin E mitigates the impact of NEFAs. We employed three groups: (1) blank, (2) NEFA only, and (3) pre-culturing with vitamin E before NEFA treatment (VENEFA). In peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), there were no differences in vitamin E content among the three groups. However, in the vitamin E pre-treatment group, the vitamin E levels of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) were significantly higher than those in the other two groups. NEFA levels increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in PBMCs, but pre-treatment with vitamin E reduced accumulation of MDA levels. Regarding the expression of proinflammatory genes, NEFAs increased the expression of interleukin-1β in PBMCs and colony-stimulating factor 2 in PMNs. Vitamin E pre-treatment restored the increase in interleukin-1β levels caused by NEFAs in PBMCs. None of the groups affected the phagocytosis of PMNs. Few studies have confirmed that NEFAs cause oxidative stress in bovine PBLs. In summary, this study found that NEFAs induce oxidative stress in PBLs and alter the expression of inflammation-related genes; meanwhile, vitamin E can reduce some of the effects caused by NEFAs. This result may suggest that vitamin E can assist bovine PBLs in resisting the immune suppression caused by an NEB during the transition period.

In this preliminary study, we determined the effect of a modified method involving the administration of two low doses of prostaglandin F_2α (PGF_2α) at an interval of 24 h on luteolysis in dairy cows, and compared it with the standard single-dose method. Twenty-six cows were assigned to three groups treated with two low doses (TLD group, n = 10), one standard dose (SD group, n = 10), and one low dose (OLD group, n = 6) on day 9 to 10 of the oestrous cycle (day 0 = the day of PGF_2α administration). Their serum progesterone (P4) levels and corpus luteum (CL) sizes were measured daily from day 0 to 4 to assess CL regression. The results indicated that the proportion of complete luteolysis, indicating a P4 value ≤ 1 ng/mL on day 3, was higher in the TLD group (100.0%) than in the SD (60.0%) and OLD (66.7%) groups. Ultrasonically detected changes in the CL area correlated with the shifts in the P4 values in both the TLD and the SD groups. The remaining CL area was significantly smaller in the TLD group (17.8% ± 3.3%) than in the SD or OLD group on day 4. Thus, we concluded that the proportion of luteolysis in cows was increased with two low doses of PGF_2α as compared to a single PGF_2α dose, indicating the necessity of the second dose of PGF_2α. However, further studies with larger sample sizes in the field are required.