Anna Wolc

INTRODUCTIONAdvancements in clinical veterinary medicine have resulted in portable diagnostic tools that provide rapid, cost-effective means to investigate metabolic disturbances using blood samples. The handheld i-STATR 1 (2006) analyzer (Abbott Laboratories, East Windsor, NJ) requires a relatively small blood sample (∼100 μL), can be performed “pen-side,” and may be useful in ...

1. Introduction Newcastle disease is considered the number one disease constraint to poultry production in low and middle-income countries [1]. In these areas, chickens often serve as important protein sources and commodities to be sold or traded. Pathogens are not the only challenge in small-scale poultry production in these resource-limited settings. Heat stress also has a negative impact [2]. I ...

BackgroundAvian influenza (AI) is a devastating disease and the current approach that is used to control it is based on isolation and extermination of affected flocks in order to stop the spread of the virus. Alternative approaches, including the use of vaccines, have been only 60% effective in chickens [1, 2] due to the high mutation rate of the virus and lack of cross-protection between viral st ...

BackgroundThe major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a polymorphic gene region that is conserved in all jawed vertebrates. The MHC is characterized by the presence of a number of conserved genes that have remained together during evolution. In chickens, MHC genes are divided into two large gene clusters, MHC-B and MHCY, which are located in separate haplotypes but on the same chromosome [1]. Ma ...