Abstract The Nordic and Baltic countries and North-western Russia have >20 old native sheep breeds. These together with recently synthesized breeds and local populations of international breeds make up the northern European sheep diversity. Changes in agriculture threaten to erode genetic diversity in sheep. Molecular genetic variation was assessed to understand genetic diversity in northern European sheep. Distribution of maternal lineages were studied based on mitochondrial control region variation in 76 sheep breeds in northern Europe and in a wide neighbouring area extending to the Caucasus and Central-Asia. Autosomal microsatellite variation was studied in 37 northern European breeds, and autosomal blood protein variation was studied in six Finnish and Russian breeds. Four distinct maternal lineages were observed in Eurasian sheep. Their distribution agrees with sheep expansion starting from the Near East. Two most common distinct lineages were recorded in northern Europe. Majority of northern sheep have the lineage, which predominates in other parts of Europe. Results suggest that the main maternal origin of northern sheep is in the south. However, rare "Asian" lineage was observed in several old northern European breeds. The rare type in the Nordic sheep is descendant to the type observed in the Middle Volga region, which suggest that some sheep were brought to northern Europe from the east. Microsatellites showed clustering of geographically neighbouring sheep, when breed locations are corrected for the recent transportations. The analysis separated long and short-tailed sheep, although this macroscale structure explains a small proportion of breed differences. Differentiation among the northern European breeds is stronger than typically observed in sheep. Many native breeds are less inbred than the local populations of the international breeds, but some rare breeds and subpopulations of divided unofficial strains were inbred. Some breeds require more careful maintenance due to recent population size reduction. Maintaining prolificacy in breeds such as the Finnsheep and the Romanov may require efficient avoidance of inbreeding. The breeds were ranked for conservation using simultaneously within-breed variation and breed divergence. Set of important breeds included seven rare old native breeds or strains which merit efficient conservation measures urgently.

Molecular based species identification is a useful tool in forensic investigations as well as routine work. The ability to cheaply and quickly determine the species of origin of a sample has become increasingly necessary as incidents of wildlife poaching, illegal meat trade and the trade of wildlife products has increased. The current methods of species identification tend to be expensive, time consuming and unreliable. The use of species-specific primers designed to bind to specific areas in the mitochondrial DNA, has been published. This application has been developed for a small number of domestic animals, however the application of these primers to African wildlife species has yet to be done. This method is relatively simple and is based on specific fragment size amplification using polymerase chain reaction and genotyping. A total of thirty seven different species were analyzed with this method and 30 of these species were found to have species-specific fragment sizes. A number of different sample types and conditions were tested including uncommon diagnostic samples such as rhinoceros horn, teeth and claws. In addition, the sensitivity of the method was investigated and determined to be very high, detecting species at a DNA concentration of just 0.1 pg/μl. This method was found to be a highly sensitive, efficient and a fast way to determine species in a number of different sample types and would therefore be of great value in the wildlife trade as these samples can often be of a lower quality or only available in small amounts. The use of this method in forensic science must be done with care due to the problem of cross species amplification. In addition not all of the African Wildlife mammals were available to test, limiting the detection power and specificity of the test. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Production Animal Studies / unrestricted

Typescript (photocopy).

The radiosity method of radiant interchange analysis of enclosures was used to predict the intensity and the uniformity of thermal radiation within a controlled environment chamber. The chamber was designed for testing the effects of infrared radiation on young broilers. The walls of the chamber were assumed to be grey and separated by a radiatively non-participating medium. Also the black globe thermometer method was used to calculate the incident radiation at different locations in the chamber. Then, the results obtained by the two mentioned methods, were compared. Two separate experiments were designed for different purposes. The first experiment was to study the influence of infrared radiation on poultry. In this experiment, two levels of radiation were tested and the results were compared to those obtained by use of a conventional heat lamp brooding system. The second experiment was to compare a controlled temperature, warm air brooding system, to a conventional heat lamp brooding system. The relative effects in both sets of experiments were measured by use of the weekly growth rate index. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate

MA (Tshivenda) / M.E.R. Mathivha Centre for African Languages, Arts and Culture / See the attached abstract below

Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) is the most common nematode parasite of dogs. In parts of the United States 21% of all dogs are infected with this intestinal roundworm (Ehrenford, 1957). In Provo, Utah, where 97 adult dogs were examined, 17. 5% harbored T. canis adults (Fox, personal communication).

Orientador: Lizandra Amoroso / Resumo: A obesidade é o transtorno nutricional mais observado em cães. Em mulheres, esta condição corporal é fator predisponente para tumor de mama e é também responsável por diminuir os níveis séricos de vitamina D. Considerando as ações reguladoras e preventivas da vitamina D em células tumorais, objetivou-se pesquisar a influência da obesidade e os níveis séricos de vitamina D de cadelas com tumores mamários malignos. Para isso, foi realizada a triagem de cães, fêmeas, sem predileção por raça, com e sem tumor de mama, por meio de exames sanguíneos, cardiográficos e ultrassonográficos. Na ausência de alterações sistêmicas, os tutores foram entrevistados e dois grupos experimentais foram estabelecidos, sendo um grupo constituído por 12 cadelas saudáveis (grupo controle) e o grupo com tumor de mama maligno, por 11 cadelas de acordo com o perfil dos animais e com os resultados do Escore de Condição Corporal (ECC). Foram avaliados os níveis séricos de vitamina D, HDL, LDL, colesterol total e triglicérides; e a composição corporal no equipamento de absorciometria de raios-X de dupla energia. Após entrevista com o tutor, verificou-se que a maioria das cadelas com tumor não eram castradas, não praticavam atividade física e 18,3% apresentaram pseudociese. A análise estatística multivariada demonstrou que cadelas idosas com tumor de mama e alta porcentagem de gordura corporal apresentaram menores concentrações de 25(OH)D, quando comparadas ao grupo controle. Quanto à avaliação histopatológi... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Obesity is the most commonly observed nutritional disorder in dogs. In women, this body condition is a predisposing factor for breast tumor and is also responsible for lowering serum vitamin D levels. Considering the regulatory and preventive actions of vitamin D in tumor cells, the objective was to investigate the influence of obesity and the levels D serum levels of female dogs with malignant breast tumors. For this, dogs were screened, female, without race preference, with and without breast tumor, through blood, cardiogram and ultrasound exams. In the absence of systemic alterations, tutors were interviewed and two experimental groups were established: one group consisting of 12 healthy female dogs (control group) and the group with malignant breast tumor, 11 female dogs according to the animal profile and the results of the Body Condition Score (ECC). Serum levels of vitamin D, HDL, LDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides were evaluated; and body composition on dual energy X-ray absorptiometry equipment. After interview with the tutor, it was found that most of the female dogs with tumor were not castrated, did not practice physical activity and 18.3% had pseudocyesis. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that older female dogs with breast tumor and high body fat percentage presented lower concentrations of 25 (OH) D when compared to the control group. Regarding the histopathological evaluation, 63.7% of the tumors were multicenter, with tubular carcinoma being the ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Some ill. mounted. / Bibliography: leaves [473]-504. / xxxvi, 505 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Pathology, 1984

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:27:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:27:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / O presente trabalho teve como objetivos realizar um levantamento para identificar a entomofauna associada a rações na cidade São Paulo/SP bem como avaliar o efeito da radiação gama em rações para alimentação de animais domésticos infestadas por pragas. Amostras de 20 lojas Pet Shop de diferentes regiões da cidade São Paulo/SP foram submetidas a triagens de 1 e 45 dias para coleta de insetos com auxilio de aspirador entomológico e peneiras de diferentes granulometrias. As espécies Sitophilus zeamais, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Lasioderma serricorne e Oryzaephilus sp. apresentaram maior freqüência. Na avaliação dos efeitos da radiação gama utilizamos amostras de grãos de milho, sementes de girassol e mistura para roedores infestadas com insetos adultos das espécies Sitophilus zeamais, Lasioderma serricorne e Plodia interpunctella, após o periodo de 7 a 10 dias foram retirados os insetos e as amostras submetidas a doses crescentes de radiação gama. As espécies Sitophilus zeamais e Lasioderma serricorne foram submetidas as doses de 0,25 a 1,50kGy e a espécie Plodia interpuctella a doses de 0,10 a 2,0kGy. Decorridos 40 dias após irradiação avaliou-se o número de insetos emergidos. Os resultados dos bioensaios com Sitophilus zeamais como com Lasioderma serricorne demostraram que doses apartir de 0,5 kGy foram suficientes para causar letalidade dos ovos e larvas recém emergidas. Os resultados com a Plodia interpunctella a partir de 1,50 kGy, não emergiram insetos adultos, concluindo-se que essas doses foram suficientes para causar letalidade dos ovos e larvas. / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP