Chemical restraint for surgery in the standing horse.

Chemical restraint can be a useful pharmacologic tool to assist the veterinarian performing surgery in the standing horse. The agents discussed impose minimal adverse side effects and are considered relatively safe when administered in the doses described. Acetylpromazine, the most widely used tranquilizer, produces mild sedation but no analgesia. The use of tranquilizers for surgical procedures requires the combined use of either a local anesthetic technique or a sedative-hypnotic or opiate to provide analgesia. Sedative-hypnotics such as xylazine and detomidine or opiates such as morphine and butorphanol are commonly used. The sedative-hypnotics also can induce deep CNS depression and may be sufficient alone for many procedures. Opiates may be used to supplement the analgesia produced by sedative-hypnotics or provide analgesia to the tranquilized horse. Opiates are not useful alone because of their potential to cause CNS excitement in the horse. The combination of detomidine and butorphanol is probably the most effective drug combination to facilitate painful surgery in the standing horse.     

Feline urethral plugs and bladder uroliths: a review of 5484 submissions 1998-2003

The results of 5484 submissions from cats to the Canadian Veterinary Urolith Centre between February 1998 and February 2003 are presented. Of the submissions, 618 were urethral plugs and 4866 were bladder uroliths. The majority of the urethral plugs were from male domestic shorthair and longhair cats. Approximately 50% of the urolith submissions were oxalate, 44% were struvite. Oxalate uroliths were the most common mineral type in males and in Himalayan, Persian, and Siamese cats. Struvite uroliths were the most common mineral type in domestic shorthair and longhair cats. Females outnumbered males by 1.4:1 in struvite urolith submissions. A review of risk factors for urethral plugs and bladder uroliths is presented.     

UNEXPECTED TOXICITY FOLLOWING USE OF GEMCITABINE AS A RADIOSENSITIZER IN HEAD AND NECK CARCINOMAS: A VETERINARY RADIATION THERAPY ONCOLOGY GROUP PILOT STUDY

Gemcitabine (2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine) was given intravenously twice weekly to 10 cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 15 dogs with nasal carcinoma undergoing radiotherapy as a radiosensitizing agent. The average total radiation dose was 50 Gy for dogs and 54 Gy for cats given Monday-Friday (planned dose of 54 and 57 Gy, respectively). Dogs received an average of five doses of gemcitabine beginning at 50 mg/m2, and cats received an average of five doses of gemcitabine beginning at 25 mg/m2. Twelve of 15 dogs and five of 10 cats required chemotherapy dose reduction or postponement because of hematologic or normal tissue toxicity. The results herein do not support the use of gemcitabine at the studied dose and schedule, as significant hematologic and local tissue toxicity was observed in the studied patients. Pharmacokinetic data are necessary to best define the efficacy and optimal dose and schedule of gemcitabine in combination with traditional radiotherapy.     

Fungicides for the control of Mycogone perniciosa (Magn.), the cause of wet bubble on the cultivated mushroom

Two formulations of chlorothalonil (as Daconil 2787) were compared for their activity against Mycogone perniciosa Magn. on the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach. At the same does rates, the flowable formulation was more toxic than the wettable powder to both pathogen and host, but more marketable mushrooms were obtained from diseased plots treated with the flowable formulation at each dose rate (1.0, 0.5 and 0.1 g ai m^?2). Levels of disease control were related to dose rates, making it impracticable to lessen toxicity to mushrooms by reducing the dose rate. Fluotrimazole was less active than chlorothalonil against M. perniciosa and was more toxic to mushrooms.     

Effects of dietary fish oil and vitamin E supplementation on canine lymphocyte proliferation evaluated using a flow cytometric technique

Lymphocyte proliferation and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) production of PGE(2) were assayed in 15 healthy dogs fed a basal diet supplemented with either sunflower oil (Group Sunflower oil), sunflower oil and menhaden fish oil (Group Fish oil), or sunflower oil and menhaden fish oil plus alpha-tocopherol acetate for 12 weeks (Group Fish oil + E). Lymphocyte proliferation was determined by a flow cytometric technique utilizing the fluorochrome carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE). The PBMC supernatant PGE(2) concentration was assayed using a competitive enzyme-linked immunoassay. Group Fish oil had a significant decrease in lymphocyte proliferation at week 12. PBMC production of PGE(2) was decreased in all three groups but only significantly reduced in groups receiving fish oil supplementation. Based on these results, this level of fish oil supplementation appears to suppress the lymphoproliferative response in healthy, young dogs but this response can be attenuated by high levels of dietary vitamin E supplementation. Furthermore, fish oil-induced reduction in lymphocyte proliferation appears to manifest through a PGE(2)-independent mechanism and is not associated with increased lipid peroxidation.     

Limited genetic diversity across pathogen populations responsible for the global emergence of boxwood blight identified using SSRs

Boxwood blight is an emerging disease of ornamental as well as native boxwood. The disease became widely established in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century, prior to its more recent discovery in North America and Asia. Two sister-species of fungi cause the disease, Calonectria pseudonaviculata (Cps) and C. henricotiae (Che). Prior efforts to quantify intraspecific genetic polymorphisms of Cps and Che have yielded little information, limiting the ability to understand the evolution and migration of these pathogens. This study describes the development and implementation of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to analyse genetic diversity from a global collection of Cps and Che isolates, representing major blight outbreaks since the disease was first identified in the UK in the late 1990s. Analysis of the Cps CB002 genome sequence identified 180 single copy SSR loci using stringent search criteria, 11 of which were polymorphic and used to screen a global sample of 306 isolates. Fourteen multilocus genotypes of Cps and two multilocus genotypes of Che were identified. Twelve of the 14 Cps genotypes differed from each other by a single allele. The most common Cps genotype was found on all continents where boxwood blight is confirmed. Based on measurement of linkage disequilibrium, Cps showed no evidence of sexual recombination. Further in silico analysis identified 1594 SSRs using relaxed SSR definition criteria. Comparison of these SSR-containing loci with Cps and Che genome sequences representing three different genotypes demonstrated that single nucleotide polymorphisms might serve as informative genetic markers for future studies.     

Controlled Environment Cabinets for Experiments with the Cultivated Mushroom

Apparatus for the study of the effects of temperature, relative humidity and rate of ventilation on the initiation and development of sporophores of the cultivated mushroom is described.

At low rates of ventilation the initiation of primordia was delayed, the yield was reduced, and the sporophores were more spindly as compared with those given higher rates of ventilation.

The number and total weight of sporophores were greater at high relative humidities (80-95%) than at low (40-50%).

The number and total weight of sporophores were greater at 65° F. than at 70° F.