Abstract. Measurement of the acute phase serum protein, haptoglobin (Hp), is performed by biochemical methods based on haemoglobin binding, in many veterinary diagnostic laboratories. During attempts to develop a robust biochemical assay for serum Hp it was discovered that serum albumin interfered with the assay system increasing results by as much as 0.28 mg/ml, which could affect interpretation of results especially in species with low normal Hp concentrations. A reagent cocktail (SB-7) was devised which inhibited the interfering effect of albumin. An automated assay for Hp utilising SB-7 was developed for production as a biochemical assay kit and was evaluated for use in veterinary diagnosis. The intra-assay coefficients of variation were of 0.9%, 0.9% and 1.3% for Hp concentrations of 2.0, 1.0 and 0.23 mg/ml, respectively and interassay coefficients of variation of 1.7% and 4.5% for Hp of 2.08 mg/ml and 0.24 mg/ml, respectively. The lower limit of detection of was 0.02 mg/ml, linearity extended to 8 mg/ml and recovery was 101±7% (mean ± SD). The assay had correlation coefficients (R 2 ) of 0.96 and 0.90 when compared with immunodiffusion assays of canine Hp and bovine Hp, respectively. Lipaemia and bilirubinaemia caused no interference. Haemolysis did not affect measurement of low levels of Hp, but at serum Hp concentrations of 0.4 and 1.8 mg/ml the apparent Hp concentration was decreased. Elevated concentrations of Hp were measured in cattle with mastitis, dogs with polyarthritis and rats experimentally infected with Bordetella pertussis. The automated assay is precise and has negligible interference from albumin.

Two strains of reovirus (serotype 1 Lang/TIL and serotype 3 Dearing/T3D) were propagated in Vero cells grown in stationary or agitated cultures in a serum-free medium, M-VSFM. Solid microcarriers (Cytodex-1) were used to support cell growth in agitated cultures with a normal doubling time of 25 h. Cell yields of 1 x 10(6) cells/mL were obtained from an inoculum of 2 x 10(5) cells/mL in 4 days in microcarrier cultures. The growth profile and cell yield was not significantly different from serum-supplemented cultures. The virus titer increased by 3-4 orders of magnitude over a culture period of 150 h. The maximum virus titer in stationary cultures reached >1 x 10(9) pfu/mL for both strains of reovirus in M-VSFM. M-VSFM also supported high viral yields in microcarrier cultures. Both the specific productivity and final viral yield was higher in M-VSFM than serum-supplemented cultures. The high viral productivity suggests that this is a suitable system for the production of reovirus as an oncolytic agent for human therapeutic use.

Abstract. Measurement of the acute phase serum protein, haptoglobin (Hp), is performed by biochemical methods based on haemoglobin binding, in many veterinary diagnostic laboratories. During attempts to develop a robust biochemical assay for serum Hp it was discovered that serum albumin interfered with the assay system increasing results by as much as 0.28 mg/ml, which could affect interpretation of results especially in species with low normal Hp concentrations. A reagent cocktail (SB-7) was devised which inhibited the interfering effect of albumin. An automated assay for Hp utilising SB-7 was developed for production as a biochemical assay kit and was evaluated for use in veterinary diagnosis. The intra-assay coefficients of variation were of 0.9%, 0.9% and 1.3% for Hp concentrations of 2.0, 1.0 and 0.23 mg/ml, respectively and interassay coefficients of variation of 1.7% and 4.5% for Hp of 2.08 mg/ml and 0.24 mg/ml, respectively. The lower limit of detection of was 0.02 mg/ml, linearity extended to 8 mg/ml and recovery was 101±7% (mean ± SD). The assay had correlation coefficients (R 2 ) of 0.96 and 0.90 when compared with immunodiffusion assays of canine Hp and bovine Hp, respectively. Lipaemia and bilirubinaemia caused no interference. Haemolysis did not affect measurement of low levels of Hp, but at serum Hp concentrations of 0.4 and 1.8 mg/ml the apparent Hp concentration was decreased. Elevated concentrations of Hp were measured in cattle with mastitis, dogs with polyarthritis and rats experimentally infected with Bordetella pertussis. The automated assay is precise and has negligible interference from albumin.

Women with IBD are as likely as the general population to breastfeed their infants. Breastfeeding is not associated with an increased risk of disease flare and may even provide a protective effect against disease flare in the postpartum year.