Diffuse alveolar injury in two dogs

Proliferative interstitial pneumonia of undetermined cause was diagnosed in 2 dogs. The clinical signs in both dogs consisted primarily of acute onset, rapid breathing, and raspy lung sounds. Radiography revealed a diffuse increase in pulmonary alveolar density. In both dogs, the primary pathologic process was diffuse alveolar pneumocyte injury, and the pulmonary lesions were similar. Proliferation of type II pneumocytes (some of which were atypical mononucleated, and others multinucleated) was a prominent feature of the interstitial pneumonia. Because of the atypical features of some pneumocytes in such cases, biopsy findings may suggest a neoplastic process. Proliferative interstitial pneumonia should be included in the differential diagnosis of a diffuse pulmonary disease that is poorly responsive to medical treatment.     

Temporal variance in lake communities: blue-green algae and the trophic cascade

Two examples, blue-green algal blooms and the fish-driven trophic cascade, illustrate important consequences of time scale dependency in lakes. Blue-green algae and fish populations are notably variable components of lake communities. The timing of colonization of the water column by blue-green algae, relative to population oscillations of grazers and other algal groups, determines the magnitude of subsequent blooms. Variability in colonization acts jointly with dynamic variability in herbivory to produce large fluctuations in blue-green algal concentration at time scales of weeks to years. Fishes exhibit high interannual variance in recruitment. Episodes of high recruitment cascade through lake food webs, inducing fluctuations in lower trophic levels at time scales of years to decades. Fishes, through their effects on herbivores, contribute to variability in blue-green algal blooms. Blue-green algae and fishes are foci of lake management, so analyses of their variable and scale-dependent interactions are important for applied limnology. Theories and models that address nonequilibrial dynamics, analyses of effects of time scale on correlations and experiments, and improved paleolimnological capabilities will yield valuable progress on temporal scale issues in limnology and ecology.     

A field trial to assess the therapeutic and prophylactic effect of a foot rot vaccine in sheep

An 18-week field trial was conducted on a sheep ranch to evaluate the therapeutic and prophylactic effect of a commercial foot rot vaccine. Two hundred sheep were included in the study, 100 with detectable foot rot lesions and 100 without. Approximately 50 sheep from each group were selected randomly and vaccinated twice against foot rot at a 6-week interval in the late spring 1984; the remaining sheep acted as nonvaccinated controls. Therapeutic effect of the vaccine was demonstrated by a cure rate of 53% in vaccinated, foot rot-affected sheep vs a cure rate of 19% in nonvaccinated, foot rot-affected sheep. Prophylactic effect of the vaccine was demonstrated by a foot rot prevalence at the end of the 18-week period of 9% for vaccinated sheep vs 53% for nonvaccinated sheep. Associations of foot rot lesions and vaccination with body condition were found to be significant, as was the association between foot rot lesions and mortality.     

Flexible system for the diagnosis of schizophrenia: report from the WHO International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia

Behavioral data on a large patient group were collected by investigators from nine countries in the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia, sponsored by the World Health Organization. The data on half the group were analyzed to derive a system of 12 signs and symptoms for the identification of schizophrenia, as this disorder is diagnosed in many centers throughout the world. The findings were replicated with the other half of the patient group. The criteria constitute an operational method for identifying patients who would be commonly considered schizophrenic in many centers.     

In planta transient expression as a system for genetic and biochemical analyses of chlorophyll biosynthesis

Background  

Mg chelatase is a multi-subunit enzyme that catalyses the first committed step of chlorophyll biosynthesis. Studies in higher plants and algae indicate that the Mg chelatase reaction product, Mg-protoporphyrin IX plays an essential role in nuclear-plastid interactions. A number of Mg chelatase mutants have been isolated from higher plants, including semi-dominant alleles of ChlI, the gene encoding the I subunit of the enzyme. To investigate the function of higher plant CHLI, bacterial orthologues have been engineered to carry analogous amino acid substitutions to the higher plant mutations and the phenotypes examined through in vitro characterization of heterologously produced proteins. Here, we demonstrate the utility of a transient expression system in Nicotiana benthamiana for rapidly assaying mutant variants of the maize CHLI protein in vivo.     

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of carfentanil and naltrexone in female common eland (Taurotragus oryx).

The pharmacokinetic parameters of carfentanil and naltrexone were determined in the common eland (Taurotragus oryx). Six adult females were immobilized with xylazine (0.23 +/- 0.03 mg/kg i.m.) and carfentanil (0.0169 +/- 0.0005 mg/kg i.m.) for a 45-min period, during which time routine health care procedures were performed. Heart and respiration rates and body temperatures were monitored throughout the immobilization period. A single intramuscular injection of naltrexone (1.66 +/- 0.08 mg/kg i.m.) was sufficient for reversal. The eland were intermittently restrained in a hydraulic squeeze chute for serial blood sample collection via jugular venipuncture during immobilization and up to 48 hr post-immobilization. The quantification of carfentanil and naltrexone in the plasma was performed by liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy methods. Carfentanil was rapidly absorbed following administration, with the peak plasma concentration (C(max)) at 13.8 min. Naltrexone was readily absorbed and reached C(max) at 23.4 +/- 16.8 min after administration. All animals stood 2.7 +/- 2.2 min after naltrexone administration. Carfentanil has a half-life of 7.7 hr, whereas naltrexone has a much shorter half-life of 3.7 hr. Although respiratory rates appeared to fluctuate widely among animals, heart rates and body temperature remained stable throughout the immobilization. Renarcotization was not noted as a major complication.     

Financial considerations of the sets technique in animal-disease surveillance

Disease-surveillance systems are designed to detect the presence of (or an unusual increase in) the ill health of populations. Once the system correctly identifies an increase in a disease or condition, appropriate preventive action may be taken to alleviate associated losses. However, criteria for determining when an action should be taken are typically subjective. The purpose of this paper was to present and evaluate a technique for detecting clusters or increases in incidence rates: the sets technique. In addition, this technique was modified to permit evaluation of an animal disease-surveillance system, based on the system's detection capability as well as financial impact of the disease and its control.This technique was sensitive to the number of temporally clustered cases and the case-rate increase required to "signal an alarm". A system requiring more vs. fewer clustered cases needed to signal an alarm was always preferred financially for a rare disease (P(Epidemic)=0.001) and (with one exception) for a common disease (P(Epidemic)=0.2). Requiring more temporally clustered cases to signal an alarm, however, resulted in increased costs if the detection level were designed for a 6-fold case-rate increase, or if the true case-rate increase were 2-fold and the system were designed to detect a 2-fold increase of a relatively expensive disease (epidemic cost=$10000 vs. $1000). Case frequencies, costs and other assumptions used in this model may be modified to evaluate specific diseases and their associated surveillance systems.