Babesiosis is a common tick born disease of dogs in tropical and subtropical regions of the world caused by different species of Babesia. The aim of the present study was to confirm the presence of oxidative stress by examining serum malondialdehyde (MDA), an end product of lipid peroxidation, in 35 dogs naturally infected with Babesia canis (B. canis). MDA was examined in 14 healthy dogs as well. Blood smears were prepared from peripheral blood and they showed the presence of B. canis in infected dogs. B. canis was confirmed using the PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) method. On the basis of clinical and laboratory data the 35 infected dogs were clinically classified into two groups, complicated (seven dogs) and uncomplicated (28 dogs). The noted complications were renal dysfunction (5/7), hepatic dysfunction (3/7), muscular involvement (2/7) and ARDS (1/7). Levels of blood urea nitrogen concentration (BUN), creatinin, total bilirubin, alanin aminotranspherase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (AP), and gammaglutamil aminotranspherase (GGT) were significantly increased in dogs with complicated versus uncomplicated babesiosis. Furthermore the uncomplicated group of dogs was, depending on the severity of anaemia, classified as suffering from severe, moderate or mild disease. Levels of serum MDA were significantly higher in sick dogs (36.90 μmol/l ± 13.95) than healthy animals (8.13 μmol/l ± 1.78). There was no significant statistical difference in serum MDA levels between dogs with complicated (38.48 μmol/l ± 12.11) and uncomplicated babesiosis (36.50 μmol/l ± 14.55). Comparison of the groups based on the severity of anaemia showed that there was no significant statistical difference in serum MDA levels between them. The study demonstrated the involvement of oxidative damage in dogs naturally infected with B. canis.

Urovagina is detrimental to the health and fertility of cows worldwide. Surgery, the only known treatment, is not economically pragmatic to dairy practice, and it has some medical drawbacks. The objective of this study was to determine whether reproductive problems associated with urovagina could be alleviated through more practical and less-invasive treatment options to allow successful conception and term-pregnancy. Cows diagnosed with urovagina (n = 1219) were divided into three treatment groups, each containing an equal number of cows with mild, moderate and severe urovagina. The groups received one of three treatment options: saline (group A, n = 400), streptomycin (group B, n = 400) or ozone (group C, n = 419) flush, regardless of the severity of the urovagina condition within the group. The ozone treatment was found to be the most effective treatment modality, resulting in the shortest period of days open (95, 89 and 79 days in groups A, B and C, respectively; p < 0.05), the fewest number of inseminations until pregnancy (2.38, 1.84 and 1.63 in groups A, B and C, respectively; p < 0.05) and the smallest number of culled cows (20, 23 and 12 in groups A, B and C, respectively; p < 0.05). The ozone flush coupled with intracornual insemination presents an effective treatment option for urovagina that can lead to successful conceptions and pregnancies in dairy cows.

The study was conducted in 2006 on 20 French alpine goat farms in Croatia. Milk samples were taken from each udder half, for the mastitis test and the bacteriological test, 2120 samples in total. Subclinical mastitis was diagnosed in 211 out of 1060 goats, or in 20% of the studied population. Mastitis of one udder half was diagnosed in 84% of the affected population, while mastitis of both udder halves was diagnosed in 16% of the affected goats. A positive mastitis test reaction was identified in 605 samples (28%), and the pathogenic bacterium was isolated from 244 of these samples (36%). From 22 samples (1.5%) which were negative to mastitis test, pathogenic bacteria, namely S. aureus (21 samples) and Streptococcus D (1 sample), were isolated. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 72% mastitis test positive samples, coagulase-negative staphylococci in 16%, other bacteria were isolated from a smaller number of samples: Streptococcus D (6%), Bacillus spp. (2%), and E. coli (2%). The results of the study lead to the conclusion that the subclinical mastitis in goats has a prevalence of 20% on average which increases with higher lactation number. Staphylococcus aureus is the primary causative agent of the inflammations

Croatia as a small country with GDP of 14.255 US $ per capita and 44.6 milliard Euro of gross external debt has a strong need for a development process and construction of production bases which, in the future, will be capable to generate revenue for the return of foreign debt. As a small country, with relatively low production potential, the service sector seems the only way for achieving the necessary income to servicing foreign debt, and to start new development cycle. In Croatia, tourism sector participates with approximately 3% in the structure of GDP, while revenues from tourism has been growing constantly, from 10.6% (1996) to 22% (2008) in GDP. This sector employs about 3.5 of total employees and has a significant multiplicative effect on the overall economy, where the multiplier of tourist consumption is around 2.5. According to statistics, tourism activity tends to grow faster than the total Croatian production. The high import dependence and the weak export propulsive of goods, in last decade, had a negative impact on external trade sector, furthermore, the trade deficit reached 7.3 billion Euros, while revenues from tourism amounted 6.4 billion Euros (2009). In the Mediterranean basin the most significant Croatian competitors are France, Spain and Italy, states that are also among the five most desirable destinations in the world, while Croatia with 11 million arrivals and 56.3 million overnights (2009), was ranked around 20th place. Tourism is a sector that involves a multiplicity of economic activities responding to differentiated demands with specific characteristics at the national and international levels. Identifying the main determinants of tourism demand is becoming imperative for the country whose development process depends heavily on tourist revenues. Tourism brings obvious economic benefits, with the two most important being the generation of foreign exchange and revenues as well as the creation of jobs. Therefore, it is no surprise that tourism is an important economic activity in many parts of the world, including Croatia. Given the importance of the tourism, the aim of this paper is to design the model of demand for Croatian tourist product.

This paper compares two different housing systems for laying hens producing table eggs, namely a conventional cage system and an aviary, during three summer months, starting from the 20^th week of the production cycle. Research was focused on airborne bacteria, fungi and dust levels and on the bacterial eggshell contamination. Levels of airborne bacteria determined in the aviary system were many times higher and ranged from 6.2 &times; 10⁴ CFU/m³to 8.9 &times; 104 CFU/m3, and the levels of airborne fungi ranged from 1.6 &times; 10⁴ to 1.9 &times; 104 CFU/m³, while the levels of airborne bacteria and fungi determined in the conventional cage system ranged from 1.6 &times; 10⁴ to 2.5 &times; 10⁴ CFU/m3 and from 0.8 &times; 10⁴ to 1.3 &times; 10⁴ CFU/m³, respectively. Microbial air contamination was associated with eggshell contamination, with the levels in the aviary ranging from 5.4 &times; 10³ to 9.6 &times; 103 CFU/eggshell and those in the conventional cage system ranging from 2.3 &times; 10³ to 3.6 &times; 10³ CFU/eggshell. Airborne dust levels in the aviary and conventional cage system ranged from 3.2 to 4.6 mg/m³ and from 0.7 to 1.2 mg/m³, respectively. From the aspect of animal welfare and behavioural requirements, alternative systems, i.e. aviaries, appear more acceptable; however, they are not satisfactory from hygienic aspects because of a higher content of airborne pollutants which can represent a greater risk of horizontal contamination of the egg content.