Symptomatic Capillaria plica infection in a young European cat

An 8-month-old owned European cat showing abdominal pain, fever, distended painful bladder and urinary blockage was presented. Intravenous fluids were immediately administered and, after sedation, a urinary catheter was applied. Blood and urine analysis revealed cystitis and a moderate-to-severe degree of renal failure. About 20 thread-like nematodes, identified as Capillaria plica larvae and fragments of adult stages, were found in the urine sediment. After treatment with an oral formulation of fenbendazole at 25 mg/kg q 12 h for 10 days, urinary signs and bladder worms disappeared. Cases of Capillaria species bladder worms in cats are rarely reported and most infected cats show no clinical signs, presumably because of a low parasite burden. In the present study, feline capillariosis was associated to urethral obstruction, severe difficulties in urination, cystitis and renal failures.     

Geomagnetic origin for transient particle events from nuclear reactor-powered satellites

Transient events observed since 1980 by the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer experiment on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite (SMM) have been identified with radiation emitted from 18 different Soviet nuclear reactor-powered satellites. Most of these satellites are similar to Cosmos 954 and 1402 which reentered the atmosphere. Gamma radiation from these satellites was detected when they passed within about 400 to 500 kilometers of SMM. Positron annihilation line radiation (511 kiloelectron volts) and charged-particle events were detected when SMM encountered clouds of positrons and electrons emitted by these satellites and stored up to tens of minutes in the geomagnetic field. The rate of these events varied from about 1 in 5 days to over 30 per day and was strongly dependent on the operating altitudes of the Cosmos satellites and density of the upper atmosphere.     

Pharmocokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation of intravenous morphine in dogs

Morphine is considered the prototypical opiate analgesic. Despite the common use of morphine in dogs, ideal dosing strategies have not been formulated due to the difficulty in assessing its analgesic effects. The purpose of this study was to: 1) evaluate a noninvasive mechanical threshold device (von Frey device) to measure antinociceptive responses (pharmacodynamics) of opiates in dogs and 2) evaluate the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of intravenous (IV) morphine in dogs. Six healthy Beagle dogs were used. The von Frey threshold (vFT) response was evaluated hourly for 8 hours in each dog to examine the effect of repeated testing (controls). PK and PD (vFT) measurements were then made following a 1 mg kg^–1 IV bolus of morphine sulfate. A two way blinded crossover consisted of an 8 hour IV constant rate infusion of saline or morphine with hourly PD measurements. The individual CRI was based on individual PK data and adjusted every 2 hours to attain targeted plasma concentrations of morphine of 10, 20, 30, and 40 ng mL^–1. Blood samples were taken hourly in all phases, except the controls. No significant (p > 0.05) intraindividual changes in vFT occurred in the controls over 8 hours. The morphine bolus produced increased vFT at 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours post injection (p < 0.05). The E_MAX and EC₅₀ following the IV bolus were 213 ± 104% (increase from baseline) and 13.9 ± 5.8 ng mL^–1, respectively. The CRI produced increased vFT at plasma concentrations >30 ng mL^–1, when compared to saline controls (p < 0.05). Targeted plasma concentrations were inconsistent at higher infusion rates, suggesting the PK of morphine may change during CRI. The actual mean ± SD CRI plasma concentrations (ng ml^–1) were 10.8 ± 3.0, 22.7 ± 7.4, 32.4 ± 13.9, 35.7 ± 16.9. Morphine dosing protocols should be re‐evaluated, as sufficient analgesia may not be obtained from published dosages. Intravenous boluses may be more predictable than CRI.     

Farmed Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) by-Products Valorization: Viscera Oil ω-3 Enrichment by Short-Path Distillation and In Vitro Bioactivity Evaluation

This study shows a pilot scale protocol aimed to obtain an omega 3-enriched oil after the processing of farmed gilthead sea bream viscera (SBV); this was oil was tested in vitro for bioactivity, attesting to the possibility to turn waste into profit The quality of the oil, in terms of requirements for animal and human consumption, was assessed by determining some chemical parameters, such as peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), ρ-anisidine (ρ-AV) content, total oxidation value (TOTOX), and phospholipids and free fatty acid (%), both in crude viscera oil (CVO) and refined viscera oil (RVO). Among the extraction conditions, the higher CVO yields were obtained at 60 °C for 10 min (57.89%) and at 80 °C for 10 min (67.5%), and the resulting oxidation levels were low when utilizing both extraction conditions. RVO, obtained from CVO extracted at 60 °C, showed the highest quality on the basis of the assessed parameters. The ethyl esters of the total fatty acid (TFA) contents extracted from RVO were enriched in the ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid fraction (PUFAE) up to almost 56% via short path distillation (SPD). Antioxidant activities and adipogenic properties were tested in vitro. PUFAE protected 3T3 L1 cells from oxidative stress and exerted an anti-adipogenic effect in Dicentrarchus labrax pre-adipocytes, attesting to the beneficial properties for both farmed fish and human health. These results could stimulate the adoption of solutions aimed to recover and utilize aquaculture by-products at a higher scale, turning “waste into profit” and indicating a strategy to reach more sustainable business models in aquaculture resource utilization according to the principles of the circular economy.     

Spirometra erinacei / S. erinaceieuropaei in a feral cat in Manawatu with chronic intermittent diarrhoea

CASE HISTORY: A feral cat captured in the Manawatu region of New Zealand was treated for worms and fleas, and kept confined in a metabolic cage. It showed good appetite and weight gain but had intermittent watery, yellow diarrhoea.

CLINICAL FINDINGS: Clinical examination under sedation was unremarkable and routine blood tests showed no significant abnormalities. The cat was negative for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukaemia virus (FeLV). Different canned cat foods did not alter the course of the diarrhoea, and the cat was euthanised 6 months after capture. At necropsy, two sections of adult Spirometra tapeworms were found in the jejunum and typical Spirometra eggs were found in colonic contents. Molecular identification of the parasite was undertaken, using the cytochrome- c oxidase subunit-1 gene (cox1) sequence.

DIAGNOSIS: Chronic intermittent diarrhoea associated with Spirometra erinacei / S. erinaceieuropaei infection.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Spirometra has not been reported in New Zealand before but has been associated with gastrointestinal disease in cats in other parts of the world. It requires speciestargeted treatment to be eliminated effectively, and is zoonotic. Diagnosis could be diffi cult for clinicians who are not familiar with the parasite and its life cycle.     

Distal aortic aneurysm presumed to be secondary to an infected umbilical artery in a foal

Abstract

CASE HISTORY:?A 3-month-old female Warmblood foal was presented after displaying signs of colic with pyrexia for 5 days.

CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS:?The foal continued to show signs of colic, frequently passed urine, and was pyrexic with an elevated white blood cell count. The umbilical stalk was thickened but there was no evidence of purulent material. Exploratory laparotomy revealed an enlarged left umbilical artery remnant tightly adhered to the bladder wall. The left umbilical artery continued to an aneurysm involving the distal aorta. The foal was subject to euthanasia and post-mortem examination confirmed a spherical aortic aneurysm, in the dorsal midline caudal to the kidneys that contained a large thrombus. Histopathological examination revealed inflammation and necrosis of the tunica intima and tunica media of the left umbilical artery with suppuration and bacterial colonies evident in the periarterial tissues.

DIAGNOSIS:?Infected aortic aneurysm presumably caused by an umbilical artery infection.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE:?A previously undetected umbilical infection appears to have resulted in an unusual delayed complication causing signs of colic in a foal. Veterinarians should be aware of this condition, and the possibility that it may be a cause of signs of colic in foals. Diagnosis based on ultrasonography should be possible, but may require sedation, visceral analgesia and careful examination.     

Expression of Apoptosis Regulatory Genes and Incidence of Apoptosis in Different Morphological Quality Groups of In Vitro‐produced Bovine Pre‐implantation Embryos

Apoptosis occurs during early development in both in vivo‐ and in vitro‐produced embryos, and is considered as one of the causes of embryonic loss. The objectives of this study were, therefore, investigating stage‐specific expression profiles of apoptosis regulatory genes in three quality groups of in vitro‐produced bovine pre‐implantation embryos; and analysing the relationship between cell number and DNA fragmentation with expressions of those genes. The relative abundance of mRNA of 9 pro‐ (Bax, caspase‐9, Bcl‐xs, P53, Caspase‐3 and Fas) and anti‐ (Bcl‐w and Mcl‐1) apoptotic genes was analysed. Differential cell staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick end labelling were performed to analyse the variation in cell numbers and detect apoptotic nuclei respectively. Expression of Bax and Caspase‐3 genes was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in poor quality pre‐implantation embryos as compared with that of morphologically good quality embryos of the same developmental stages. Moreover, Mcl‐1 expression was significantly higher in good quality immature oocytes than that in the poor quality group. Moreover, higher DNA fragmentation was evidenced in morphologically poor quality blastocysts. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that Bax, caspase‐3 and Mcl‐1 can be used as potential markers of embryo quality to evaluate in vitro‐produced bovine embryos. Further studies are required to investigate specific molecular signatures that can be used in evaluating in vivo‐derived embryos.     

A three‐dimensional alginate system for in vitro culture of cumulus‐denuded feline oocytes

In the case of high valuable individuals with very precious genetic material, widening the genetic pool including gametes with poor morphological characteristics, as cumulus‐denuded oocytes (CDOs), could be an option. To improve the in vitro culture of low‐competence feline CDOs, an enriched three‐dimensional (3D) system in association with competent cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) was developed. For this purpose, domestic cat CDOs were cultured with or without companion COCs in the 3D barium alginate microcapsules. The overall viability and the meiotic progression of feline CDOs cocultured with COCs or cultured separately in 3D or in 2D (traditional microdrops) system were compared. The 3D system was able to support viability and meiotic resumption of the feline oocytes, as well as the 2D microdrops. In 3D microcapsules, the presence of COCs resulted in a higher viability of CDOs (91.1%, p < .05), than that obtained without COCs or in 2D microdrops (71.2% and 67.3%, respectively), but the percentages of meiotic resumption were similar of those of CDOs cultured separately (55.4% vs. 40.4%, p > .05). It is notable that the presence of CDOs seemed to enhance the meiotic progression of the associated COCs. In conclusion, the 3D barium alginate microcapsules are a suitable system for feline oocytes in vitro culture, but more specific enriched conditions should be developed to improve the CDOs full competence in vitro.