An investigation was undertaken to determine the general clinical prevalence of diseases and disorders in cattle and goats at the Upazilla Veterinary Hospital, Mohammadpur, Magura during the period from January to December 2010. A total of 536 clinical cases (327 cattle and 209 goats) were recorded and analyzed. Diagnosis of each of the clinical cases was made on general examination, physical examination, clinical examination, microscopic examination and using common laboratory techniques. The clinical cases were divided into three groups on the basis of treatment required viz. (1) Medicinal, (2) Gynaeco-obstetrical and (3) Surgical cases. Among the three types of ruminant cases, medicinal cases constituted highest percentage (cattle 86.5% and goats 90.4%) in comparison to gynaeco-obstetrical (cattle 6.1% and goats 0.9%) and surgical (cattle 7.3% and goats 8.6%) cases. Among the medicinal cases, gastrointestinal nematodiasis (cattle 37.8% and goats 19.6%), diarrhoea (cattle 13.4% and goats 19.6%), fascioliasis (cattle 12.4% and goats 1.6%), paramphistomiasis (cattle 8.8% and goats 2.6%), fever (cattle 7.8% and goats 12.7%) were recorded major disease problems in cattle and goats. Among the gynaeco-obstetrical cases, retained placenta (cattle 30% and goats 50%) and repeat breeding (cattle 70% and goats 50%) were recorded as major gynaeco-obstetrical problems in cattle and goats. Abscess (cattle 45.8% and goats 5.6%), myiasis (cattle 20.8% and goats 20.8%), navel ill (cattle 12.5), urolithiasis (cattle 20.8% and goats 44.4%) and overgrown hoof (goats 33.3%) and gid disease (goats 5.6%) were recognized as the main disorders which required surgical interventions. It may conclude that a number of diseases have been occurring in the Mohammadpur upazila and this report may help to develop control strategies against major diseases reported in this study.

Glutamate acts as the excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and is mediated largely by the vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs). The objective of the study was to determine the distribution of VGLUT2 mRNA in the turtle brain by in situ hybridization. Intense expression was observed in the olfactory bulb, cerebral cortex, nucleus dorsomedialis thalami, nucleus dorsolateralis thalami, dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, nucleus reuniens and nucleus periventricularis hypothalami. Moderate expression was noticed in the nucleus rotundus, area lateralis hypothalami, reticular nucleus, cerebellar nucleus and nucleus cochlearis. In conclusion, this study reveals many glutamatergic neurons in the turtle brain.

Fixation is a crucial step in processing of tissue specimen for preservation of cellular architecture and composition of cells. Alcohol-based fixatives are considered some of the most promising alternatives to formalin. We evaluated the performance of alcohol-based fixatives (EthMeth and methacarn) and formalin as a comparator fixative in the research laboratory. Following 24 hours of fixation, tissue morphology and cellular details of the liver, spleen and brain (cerebral cortex) were evaluated. Morphological characteristics were evaluated by gross observations and analyzing cellular details, tissue architecture and overall staining characteristics (Hematoxylin and Eosin). EthMeth and methacarn fixation gave generally comparable and satisfactory results on the tissue morphology and subsequent identification of tissue characteristics. Particularly, tissues were well preserved and all nuclear as well as cytoplasmic details were clearly visible. However, formalin fixed tissues showed some peculiarity such as improper fixation, mild shrinkage, and alterations of tissue components. These results confirm that alcohol-based fixation is the superior alternative to formalin for preservation of tissue morphology. However, it is required to standardize the formalin-free methods and harmonize diagnosis in the laboratory worldwide.

Glutamate acts as the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and plays a vital role in physiological and pathological neuronal functions. In mammals, glutamate can cause detrimental excitotoxic effects under anoxic conditions. In contrast, Trachemys scripta, a freshwater turtle, is one of the most anoxia-tolerant animals, being able to survive up to months without oxygen. Therefore, turtles have been investigated to assess the molecular mechanisms of neuroprotective strategies used by them in anoxic conditions, such as maintaining low levels of glutamate, increasing adenosine and GABA, upregulating heat shock proteins, and downregulating KATP channels. These mechanisms of anoxia tolerance of the turtle brain may be applied to finding therapeutics for human glutamatergic neurological disorders such as brain injury or cerebral stroke due to ischemia. Despite the importance of glutamate as a neurotransmitter and of the turtle as an ideal research model, the glutamatergic circuits in the turtle brain remain less described whereas they have been well studied in mammalian and avian brains. In reptiles, particularly in the turtle brain, glutamatergic neurons have been identified by examining the expression of vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs). In certain areas of the brain, some ionotropic glutamate receptors (GluRs) have been immunohistochemically studied, implying that there are glutamatergic target areas. Based on the expression patterns of these glutamate-related molecules and fiber connection data of the turtle brain that is available in the literature, many candidate glutamatergic circuits could be clarified, such as the olfactory circuit, hippocampal–septal pathway, corticostriatal pathway, visual pathway, auditory pathway, and granule cell–Purkinje cell pathway. This review summarizes the probable glutamatergic pathways and the distribution of glutamatergic neurons in the pallium of the turtle brain and compares them with those of avian and mammalian brains. The integrated knowledge of glutamatergic pathways serves as the fundamental basis for further functional studies in the turtle brain, which would provide insights on physiological and pathological mechanisms of glutamate regulation as well as neural circuits in different species.