A retrospective study of clinical signs and epidemiology of chronic valve disease in a group of 207 Dachshunds in Poland

Background

Chronic mitral valve disease is frequently seen in the Dachshund. Dachshunds (n=207) made up 11.73% of the dogs admitted to the Cardiology Service at the Small Animal Clinic, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland (first visits only).

Results

Of these, 35 dogs had no clinically detectable heart disease while 172 had chronic valve disease with the mitral valve affected most often (130 dogs), both mitral and tricuspid valves infrequently (39 dogs) and rarely the tricuspid valve (3 dogs). Males were affected more frequently than females and the average age of dogs with chronic valve disease was 11.9 years for females and 11.3 years for males. A majority of the diseased Dachshunds were classified as ISACHC 2 (79), followed by ISACHC 1 (60). Most frequent clinical signs noted by owners included coughing, exercise intolerance, dyspnea and tachypnea. Heart murmurs were generally louder with increased disease severity; however there were 20 dogs in the ISACHC 1 group with no audible heart murmurs. The most frequent electrocardiographic abnormalities included an increased P wave and QRS complex duration, increased R wave amplitude and tachycardia. With increased disease severity, echocardiography revealed an increase in heart size. A higher ISACHC class was related to increased heart size (based on echocardiography) and increased percentage of patients exhibiting enlargement of both left atrium and left ventricle (based on radiography).

Conclusions

The Dachshund is often affected by chronic mitral valvular disease with a late onset of associated clinical signs and few cardiac complications.     

An Ibero-American inter-laboratory trial to evaluate serological tests for the detection of anti-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Neospora caninum</Emphasis> antibodies in cattle

We carried out an inter-laboratory trial to compare the serological tests commonly used for the detection of specific Neospora caninum antibodies in cattle in Ibero-American countries. A total of eight laboratories participated from the following countries: Argentina (n = 4), Brazil (n = 1), Peru (n = 1), Mexico (n = 1), and Spain (n = 1). A blind panel of well-characterized cattle sera (n = 143) and sera representative of the target population (n = 351) was tested by seven in-house indirect fluorescent antibody tests (IFATs 1–7) and three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs 1–3; two in-house and one commercial). Diagnostic performance of the serological tests was calculated and compared according to the following criteria: (1) the “Pre-test information,” which uses previous epidemiological and serological data; (2) the “Majority of tests,” which classifies a serum as positive or negative according to the results obtained by most tests evaluated. Unexpectedly, six tests showed either sensitivity (Se) or specificity (Sp) values lower than 90%. In contrast, the best tests in terms of Se, Sp, and area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were IFAT 1 and optimized ELISA 1 and ELISA 2. We evaluated a high number of IFATs, which are the most widely used tests in Ibero-America. The significant discordances observed among the tests regardless of the criteria employed hinder control programs and urge the use of a common test or with similar performances to either the optimized IFAT 1 and ELISAs 1 and 2.     

Environmental and personal risk factors for toxocariasis in children with diagnosed disease in urban and rural areas of central Poland

To investigate the epidemiology of human toxocariasis a field survey was carried out at homes of 194 children (80 of rural and 114 of urban origin) with diagnosed disease from central Poland. A questionnaire referring to the possible risk factors was directed to their parents. Overall contamination rate of soil by Toxocara eggs was 27.5% in rural and 21.1% in urban environment in the households examined, with difference not significant (chi2=1.08, p=0.2986). In rural settlements 29.3% of yards surrounding houses were found contaminated, whereas in urban 25.0% of family gardens, 26.4% of private yards and 10.7% of public sandpits were positive. Frequency of positive samples differs only for rural yards and urban sandpits (chi2=3.85, p=0.0499). The study showed a high risk of reinfection for the ill children in sites of their residence. Despite diagnosed toxocariasis kids were not adequately supervised by their parents with no measures undertaken to avoid further infection. These data present strong need for educational programs which should be implemented for prevention of Toxocara infections in children.     

European standards on durability and performance of wood and wood-based products – Trends and challenges

Abstract

Standardization work in the field of wood durability and preservation is managed, at the European level, by the technical committee TC 38 ‘Durability of wood and wood-based products’ of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Producing sustainable wood-based materials is challenging. A crucial aspect of their provision is reliable standards that take consideration of both the expectations of end-users and the broad set of parameters that may influence the service life of wooden components such as exposure to moisture, climatic variations and design. In order to reach these objectives, most CEN/TC 38 standards are currently being revised based on the recent scientific, technological and legal developments in the field of wood protection. There is an increasing need for performance classification of wood products in construction and to radically consider how wood durability test methods and standards can inform on service life and how they might be translated into a performance classification system. This paper describes the changes during the past 5–10 years in Europe and how the trajectory of standards development is now on a different pathway. Classification and service life demands are described as well as current approaches to consider key issues such as material resistance, moisture risk and adaptation of existing standards.     

Immunohistochemical localization of androgen and oestrogen receptors in canine hair follicles

Skin biopsies from seven different body sites were obtained from 21 dogs of different breeds (short, normal, long hair), which were presented for euthanasia. Commercially available polyclonal antibodies were used for the immunohistochemical detection of androgen and oestrogen receptors. Both receptors showed a similar distribution in canine skin, with specific intranuclear staining. In the epidermis, the percentage of androgen receptor (AR)-positive cells, but not that of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive cells, was significantly higher in samples from the thorax and the flank. In the dermal papilla, the percentage of ER-positive (but not AR-positive) cells was significantly lower in biopsies from the flank. No significant difference was found for both receptors between the locations in the outer root sheath, among the three different hair types, between sex and between intact and castrated dogs.     

Inclusion of intensively manipulated silage in total mixed ration to growing pigs – influence on silage consumption,nutrient digestibility and pig behaviour

ABSTRACT

This study investigated how intensively manipulated grass/clover silage (finer structure than chopped silage) fed in total mixed ration (TMR), influenced feed consumption, total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) and pig behaviour. Ten Yorkshire x Hampshire (YH) pigs were included in a digestibility experiment and 64 YH pigs in a behaviour experiment. Pigs received TMR with 20% dry matter inclusion of either intensively manipulated (SI) or chopped silage (SC). Behaviour was registered with instantaneous and continuous sampling. SI pigs consumed more silage (p?=?0.001) and spent more time eating from the through (p?<?0.01), however no significant difference in TTAD was found (p?>?0.05). Less social interactions prior to feeding (p?=?0.029) and less rooting after feeding (p?<?0.05) were found among SI pigs, indicating SI pigs being more satisfied for a longer time after feeding. We conclude that TMR with intensively manipulated silage benefits feed consumption and increases the opportunities for pigs perform feed-related behaviours.     

Cadophora luteo-olivacea isolated from apple (Malus domestica) fruit with post-harvest side rot symptoms in northern Italy

European Journal of Plant Pathology - Recently, Cadophora luteo-olivacea has been reported as a post-harvest pathogen of side rot of apple (Malus domestica) in Latvia, and of pear (Pyrus communis)...