Risk factors for treatment‐related adverse events in cancer‐bearing dogs receiving piroxicam

Piroxicam has antitumour effects in dogs with cancer, although side effects may limit its use. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively identify factors predisposing cancer‐bearing dogs to adverse events (AEs) following piroxicam therapy. Medical records of dogs presented to the Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital between 2005 and 2015 were reviewed, and 137 dogs met the criteria for study inclusion. Toxic effects of piroxicam in these dogs were graded according to an established system. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the extent to which certain factors affected the risk for AEs. Age [odds ratio (OR) 1.250, P = 0.009; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.057–1.479] and concurrent use of gastroprotectant medications (OR 2.612, P = 0.025; 95% CI 1.127–6.056) significantly increased the risk for gastrointestinal AEs. The results of this study may help inform the risk versus benefit calculation for clinicians considering the use of piroxicam to treat dogs with cancer.     

In vitro Fertilizing Capacity of Deep Frozen Boar Semen Packaged in 0.5 and 5 ml Straws

The aim of this study was to evaluate the straw size effect used for freezing on the in vitro fertilizing capacity. Twenty-one ejaculates from seven fertile boars were frozen under controlled conditions in 0.5 and 5 ml straws. Thawed semen was compared to fresh semen. For fresh and thawed semen in 0.5 and 5 ml straws, the results were: 92.18, 77.38 and 79.04% sperm penetration; 80.68, 66.89 and 69.33% monospermy; 11.51, 10.49 and 9.74% polyspermy; 86.19, 47.14 and 47.02% motility and 75.52, 48.19 and 46.81% normal apical ridge (NAR), respectively. Analysis of variance and test of multiple comparisons showed that under the conditions employed, penetration, monospermy, motility and NAR were significantly reduced by freezing–thawing, but polyspermy was much less affected. The results obtained suggest that frozen boar semen is adequate for in vitro fertilization. In addition freezing in 5 ml straws did not have any detrimental effect on either penetration, monospermy, polyspermy, motility and NAR, in comparison with freezing in 0.5 ml straws.     

Effect of Different Doses of Prostaglandin on the Area of Corpus Luteum, the Largest Follicle and Progesterone Concentration in the Dairy Cow

Lactating dairy cows with a mature corpus luteum (CL) (diameter of ≥17 mm determined by ultrasonography) and having a follicle with a diameter of 10 mm (n = 49) were randomly assigned to three groups. The first group was treated with a single dose of exogenous prostaglandin (25 mg), while the second group was treated with 35 mg on day 0, and the third group served as control in order to evaluate the effect of rectal manipulation on the CL during ultrasonographic examination. Blood samples were collected daily for analysing progesterone (P4) concentrations. In group 1 the incidence of oestrus and artificial insemination (AI) in 10 days after treatment was 95% (19 of 20). The conception rate was 31.6%, and the average time to oestrus after treatment was 3.7 day. In group 2 the incidence of oestrus and A.I. was 84.2% (16/19). The conception rate was 31.2%, and the average time to oestrus after treatment was 2.8 day. In the untreated group only two cows (2/10) exhibited oestrus during the examined period and none of them became pregnant. There were no significant differences between the two treated groups in terms of reduction in the area of CL and P4 concentrations and of an increase in the area of the dominant follicles. At the same time, the decrease in the percentage changes relative to the area of CL and to the concentrations of P4 were statistically significant in both treated groups.     

Meningoencephalitis associated with disseminated sarcocystosis in a free-ranging moose (Alces alces) calf

A wild moose (Alces alces) calf was presented for necropsy due to severe neurologic signs. Histopathologic examination revealed multisystemic inflammation with intralesional mature and immature schizonts. Schizonts in the brain reacted positively to Sarcocystis spp. polyclonal antibodies. Gene sequencing of PCR-amplified DNA identified the species as Sarcocystis alceslatrans.     

A 0.5-million-year record of millennial-scale climate variability in the north atlantic

Long, continuous, marine sediment records from the subpolar North Atlantic document the glacial modulation of regional climate instability throughout the past 0.5 million years. Whenever ice sheet size surpasses a critical threshold indicated by the benthic oxygen isotope (delta18O) value of 3.5 per mil during each of the past five glaciation cycles, indicators of iceberg discharge and sea-surface temperature display dramatically larger amplitudes of millennial-scale variability than when ice sheets are small. Sea-surface temperature oscillations of 1 degrees to 2 degreesC increase in size to approximately 4 degrees to 6 degreesC, and catastrophic iceberg discharges begin alternating repeatedly with brief quiescent intervals. The glacial growth associated with this amplification threshold represents a relatively small departure from the modern ice sheet configuration and sea level. Instability characterizes nearly all observed climate states, with the exception of a limited range of baseline conditions that includes the current Holocene interglacial.     

Deep-Sea coral evidence for rapid change in ventilation of the deep north atlantic 15,400 years Ago

Coupled radiocarbon and thorium-230 dates from benthic coral species reveal that the ventilation rate of the North Atlantic upper deep water varied greatly during the last deglaciation. Radiocarbon ages in several corals of the same age, 15.41 +/- 0.17 thousand years, and nearly the same depth, 1800 meters, in the western North Atlantic Ocean increased by as much as 670 years during the 30- to 160-year life spans of the samples. Cadmium/calcium ratios in one coral imply that the nutrient content of these deep waters also increased. Our data show that the deep ocean changed on decadal-centennial time scales during rapid changes in the surface ocean and the atmosphere.     

Distribution of thiobacillus ferrooxidans and leptospirillum ferrooxidans: implications for generation of acid mine drainage

Although Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans are widely considered to be the microorganisms that control the rate of generation of acid mine drainage, little is known about their natural distribution and abundance. Fluorescence in situ hybridization studies showed that at Iron Mountain, California, T. ferrooxidans occurs in peripheral slime-based communities (at pH over 1.3 and temperature under 30 degreesC) but not in important subsurface acid-forming environments (pH 0.3 to 0.7, temperature 30 degrees to 50 degreesC). Leptospirillum ferrooxidans is abundant in slimes and as a planktonic organism in environments with lower pH. Thiobacillus ferrooxidans affects the precipitation of ferric iron solids but plays a limited role in acid generation, and neither species controls direct catalysis at low pH at this site.     

Transition rule complexity in grid-based automata models

Grid-based automata models have been widely applied in simulating ecological process and spatial patterns at all spatial scales. In this paper, we present methods for calculating the effects of number of states, size of the neighborhood, means of tallying neighborhood states, and choice of deterministic or stochastic rules on the complexity and tractability of spatial automata models. We use as examples Conway's Game of Life and models for successional dynamics in a mesquite savanna landscape in south Texas. The number of possible neighborhood state configurations largely determines the complexity of automata models. The number of different configurations in Life, a two-state, deterministic, voting-rule model with an eight-cell Moore neighborhood is 18. A similar model for the seven-state savanna system would have 21,021 different neighborhood configurations. For stochastic models, the number of possible state transitions is the number of neighborhood configurations times the number of possible cell states. A stochastic, unique neighbor model for the savanna system with a Moore neighborhood and seven possible states would have 282,475,249 possible neighborhood-based state transitions. Stochastic models with an eight-cell Moore neighborhood are probably most appropriate for ecological applications. The best options for minimizing the complexity of ecological models are using voting rather than unique neighbor transition rules, reducing the number of possible states, and implementing ecologically-based heuristics to simplify the transition rule table.