Analysis of auditory and neurologic effects associated with ventral bulla osteotomy for removal of inflammatory polyps or nasopharyngeal masses in cats

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether cats undergoing ventral bulla osteotomy (VBO) for removal of inflammatory polyps or nasopharyngeal masses have altered ability to hear and whether polyp or mass removal affects auditory function as measured via air-conducted brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER). DESIGN: Prospective case series. ANIMALS: 21 cats. PROCEDURES: Cats were sedated and had otic-oral examinations to confirm presence of nasopharyngeal masses; BAER testing was done immediately prior to and following the completion of a VBO and polyp or mass removal. Recheck examination, including otic examination and BAER in sedated cats, was performed when possible. Results-17 cats met final inclusion criteria, and long-term follow-up was available for 15. Six of 17 had deafness as measured via air-conducted BAER prior to surgery. Mean followup time was 161 days, and there was no change from presurgical status in auditory ability in any cat. Eleven of 17 developed ipsilateral Horner syndrome in the immediate postoperative period, and 1 of 16 had polyp regrowth. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggested that in cats, VBO for removal of inflammatory polyps or masses is unlikely to affect hearing as measured via air-conducted BAER. Most cats developed short-term Horner syndrome. Cats with deafness prior to surgery did not regain auditory function. Ventral bulla osteotomy to remove nasopharyngeal polyps or masses provided no functional advantage with regard to restoration of hearing, compared with other surgical techniques. Polyp recurrence and long-term adverse effects were uncommon.     

Habitat selection by spotted owls after a megafire reflects their adaptation to historical frequent-fire regimes

Context

Climate and land-use change have led to disturbance regimes in many ecosystems without a historical analog, leading to uncertainty about how species adapted to past conditions will respond to novel post-disturbance landscapes.

Objectives

We examined habitat selection by spotted owls in a post-fire landscape. We tested whether selection or avoidance of severely burned areas could be explained by patch size or configuration, and whether variation in selection among individuals could be explained by differences in habitat availability.

Methods

We applied mixed-effects models to GPS data from 20 spotted owls in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, with individual owls occupying home ranges spanning a broad range of post-fire conditions after the 2014 King Fire.

Results

Individual spotted owls whose home ranges experienced less severe fire (<?5% of home range severely burned) tended to select severely burned forest, but owls avoided severely burned forest when more of their home range was affected (~ 5–40%). Owls also tended to select severe fire patches that were smaller in size and more complex in shape, and rarely traveled?>?100-m into severe fire patches. Spotted owls avoided areas that had experienced post-fire salvage logging but the interpretation of this effect was nuanced. Owls also avoided areas that were classified as open and/or young forest prior to the fire.

Conclusions

Our results support the hypothesis that spotted owls are adapted to historical fire regimes characterized by small severe fire patches in this region. Shifts in disturbance regimes that produce novel landscape patterns characterized by large, homogeneous patches of high-severity fire may negatively affect this species.

     

Neither core nor periphery: The search for competitive advantage in the automotive semi-periphery

This article examines a heretofore underexplored category of automotive-producing nation known as the semi-periphery. These nations are neither “core” automotive nations whose power derives from hosting headquarters of major automakers, nor are they low-cost members of the automotive “integrated periphery” like Mexico or countries in Central and Eastern Europe or North Africa. Through a case study of one semi-periphery country, Canada, the paper assesses automotive semi-periphery countries' capacity to transition to knowledge-based activities more typically associated with “core” automotive nations. In so doing, it raises implications for other “semi-periphery” automotive-producing nations as well as those currently categorized as “core” or “integrated periphery.”     

High-throughput methods to assess lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidant capacity of food extracts in vitro

Assays comprising three probes for different mechanisms of antioxidant activity in food products have been modified to allow better comparison of the contributions of the different mechanisms to antioxidant capacity (AOC). Incorporation of a common format for oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and iron(II) chelating activity (ICA) assays using 96-well microplates provides a comprehensive and high-throughput assessment of the antioxidant capacity of food extracts. The methods have been optimized for aqueous extracts and validated in terms of limit of quantification (LoQ), linearity, and precision (repeatability and intermediate reproducibility). In addition, FRAP and ORAC assays have been validated to assess AOC for lipophilic extracts. The relative standard deviation of repeatability of the methods ranges from 1.2 to 6.9%, which is generally considered to be acceptable for analytical measurement of AOC by in vitro methods. Radical scavenging capacity, reducing capacity, and iron chelating properties of olive mill wastewaters (OMWW), oregano, and parsley were assessed using the validated methods. OMWW showed the highest radical scavenging and reducing capacities, determined by ORAC and FRAP assays, respectively, followed by oregano and parsley. The ability to chelate Fe (2+) was, in decreasing order of activity ( p > 0.05) parsley congruent with oregano > OMWW. Total phenol content, determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, correlated to the radical scavenging and reducing capacities of the samples but not to their chelating properties. Results showed that the optimized high-throughput methods provided a comprehensive and precise determination of the AOC of lipophilic and hydrophilic food extracts in vitro.     

Control of heat-induced aggregation of whey proteins using casein

The ability of alphas1/beta-casein and micellar casein to protect whey proteins from heat-induced aggregation/precipitation reactions and therefore control their functional behavior was examined. Complete suppression (>99%) of heat-induced aggregation of 0.5% (w/w) whey protein isolate (pH 6.0, 85 degrees C, 10 min) was achieved at a ratio of 1:0.1 (w/w) of whey protein isolate (WPI) to alphas1/beta-casein, giving an effective molar ratio of 1:0.15, at 50% whey protein denaturation. However, in the presence of 100 mM NaCl, heating of the WPI/alphas1/beta-casein dispersions to 85 degrees C for 10 min resulted in precipitation between pH 6 and 5.35. WPI heated with micellar casein in simulated milk ultrafiltrate was stable to precipitation at pH>5.4. Protein particle size and turbidity significantly (P相似文献   

Medical and surgical management of severe barium aspiration in a dog

Objective– To describe the medical and surgical management of a unique case of barium sulfate aspiration pneumonia in a dog. Case Summary– A 5‐year‐old spayed female black Labrador Retriever weighing 33 kg was presented for evaluation of barium aspiration pneumonia. Approximately 200 mL of barium had been instilled into the caudal lung lobes via an improperly placed orogastric tube. Right caudal, right middle, and accessory lung lobectomies were performed, and the dog was managed intensively for 19 days in the hospital. New or Unique Information Provided– This is the first report of a complete diagnostic work‐up including bronchoscopy, bronchoalveolar lavage, culture, thoracotomy, and pulmonary histopathology for severe barium sulfate aspiration in a dog with an excellent outcome.     

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis in three ferrets.

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE) is a rarely reported condition of ferrets. This article reviews three cases of suspected EGE in ferrets, summarizes the presenting signs, differential diagnoses, and treatment options, and discusses some question raised by this disease in ferrets. Immune suppression by means of prednisolone therapy is currently the treatment of choice.     

Investigating the in situ degradation of atrazine in groundwater

This study focused on whether or not atrazine could be degraded by indigenous groundwater bacteria as part of an in situ remediation approach. Groundwater was taken from an unconfined middle upper chalk site where concentrations of atrazine and nitrate were typically in the ranges 0.02-0.2 microg litre-1 and 11.6-25.1 mg NO3-N litre-1 respectively. Sacrificial batch studies were performed using this groundwater spiked with atrazine at a concentration of 10 microg litre-1 in conjunction with a minimal mineral salts liquid (Glu-MMSL) medium which contained glucose as the sole carbon source. Treatments comprised either the Glu-MMSL groundwater cultured bacteria or Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. Results from sacrificial batches indicated the occurrence of bacterial growth and denitrification as monitored by optical density (absorbance at 600 nm) and NO3-N content. Analysis of atrazine content by solid phase extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography showed no degradation of atrazine over a period of 103 days in either treatment. These results indicated that no acclimatised bacterial community featuring positive degraders to the herbicide atrazine had become established within this chalk aquifer in response to the trace levels encountered.     

Unilateral intraocular mastocytosis and anterior uveitis in a dog with subcutaneous mast cell tumors

A 9‐year‐old male castrated Scottish terrier was referred to the Radiation Oncology Service at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for palliative radiation therapy of an incompletely excised, recurrent subcutaneous mast cell tumor (MCT) located over the right scapula, and surgical removal of a perianal MCT. Three weeks after initial presentation and prior to the fifth radiation treatment, the patient was presented with cloudiness of the left eye of 3–7 days duration. Ophthalmic consultation revealed 3+ aqueous flare with a dependent, swirling component filling approximately one‐third of the anterior chamber. Aqueocentesis was performed under general anesthesia. Cytology revealed mast cells with highly atypical morphology and considered most consistent with neoplasia. The patient died 7 months after pathologic diagnosis of MCT on the right shoulder and 2 months after the cytologic diagnosis of malignant mast cells in the left anterior chamber. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of intraocular involvement in a mammal with MCTs, described here as intraocular mastocytosis.     

Evolution and development of inflorescence architectures

To understand the constraints on biological diversity, we analyzed how selection and development interact to control the evolution of inflorescences, the branching structures that bear flowers. We show that a single developmental model accounts for the restricted range of inflorescence types observed in nature and that this model is supported by molecular genetic studies. The model predicts associations between inflorescence architecture, climate, and life history, which we validated empirically. Paths, or evolutionary wormholes, link different architectures in a multidimensional fitness space, but the rate of evolution along these paths is constrained by genetic and environmental factors, which explains why some evolutionary transitions are rare between closely related plant taxa.