A randomized controlled trial of misoprostol monotherapy for canine atopic dermatitis: effects on dermal cellularity and cutaneous tumour necrosis factor-alpha

Abstract In this blinded randomized placebo-controlled trial, 20 dogs with atopic dermatitis (AD) were given placebo (8 dogs) or misoprostol (12 dogs) at 5 µg kg⁻¹, orally, three times daily for 3 weeks. Administration of the active drug, but not of placebo, led to a significant decrease in lesional and pruritus scores. The median reduction from baseline of both scores was ≈30%. Misoprostol therapy did not lead to decreases of dermal cell counts or skin tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α mRNA copy numbers that were significantly different from those of placebo. Skin TNFα protein production, assessed using indirect immunofluorescence, decreased or remained unchanged in dogs receiving misoprostol. In contrast, post treatment TNFα fluorescence scores were higher in all but two dogs given placebo. The changes from baseline of TNFα fluorescence scores did not correlate significantly with those of lesional or pruritus indices. These observations confirm the modest efficacy of misoprostol for treatment of canine AD and suggest that its mild anti-allergic effects are not associated with either inhibition of inflammatory cell emigration or TNFα production.     

Outbreak of rabbit hemorrhagic disease in domestic lagomorphs

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) was diagnosed in domestic lagomorphs on a rabbit farm in Illinois. Clinical signs of RHD in affected rabbits included signs of depression, anorexia, fever, paddling, convulsions, and sudden death. Findings of necropsies and histologic evaluations of specimens of liver and spleen were indicative of RHD. In liver specimens obtained from dead rabbits, RHD viral antigen was detected via hemagglutination assay and viral antigen-detection ELISA. The source of the outbreak was traced to a rabbitry in Utah. As the disease spread, the outbreak involved rabbits in various regions of the United States; > 4,800 rabbits were euthanatized and buried as a result of the depopulation effort in several states. The economic impact of the disease can be considerable; if the disease is suspected, it is imperative that the appropriate state or federal veterinarian's office be contacted immediately.     

Characterization and functional analysis of skin-derived dendritic cells from swine without a requirement for in vitro propagation

A low-density cell population was isolated from skin explants of pigs and characterized as a highly enriched dendritic cell (DC) population based on phenotypical and functional properties. The skin-derived DCs were identified by their characteristic ultrastructural properties as well as by consistent co-expression of the CD1 and SWC3a antigens that clearly differentiate them from other porcine leukocytes. These cells exhibit higher expression of porcine MHC class II (SLAII) and CD80/86 antigens as compared to macrophage/monocyte cells. They consistently expressed the S100 beta antigen at high levels and did not express the lymphoid markers CD3, CD4 or CD8. Within this population of skin-derived DCs there was variable expression of CD11c, CD14 and CD16. Functional characterization of this DC population revealed that they are efficient in uptake and processing of soluble protein antigens and in endocytosis of small (0.02 microm) but not large (2 microm) polystyrene beads. Further, these cells were efficient inducers of primary allogeneic responses and in stimulating antigen-specific and mitogen-induced proliferation and IFN gamma responses in autologous lymphocytes. This study provides important information to further characterize the cutaneous DCs and develop models to analyze the role of these cells in immune responses in vivo.     

Nutritional value of quality protein maize and food corn for starter and growth pigs

Growth traits with starter and grower pigs and a digestion trial were conducted to compare the nutritional value of Quality Protein Maize (QPM), food corn and conventional feed corn. The QPM, food and feed corn contained .45, .31 and .29% lysine, respectively. The growth trials evaluated a QPM-soybean meal diet formulated on a lysine basis (.96% in starter and .7% in grower diets) and four diets arranged in a 2 (food corn vs feed corn) X 2 (low vs high soybean meal) factorial. Soybean meal was either added in the same amount as in the QPM diet or was added to provide the lysine content of the QPM diet. Performance was similar for pigs fed food corn and feed corn in both trials. The QPM diets resulted in greater performance than food and feed corn diets containing the same level of soybean meal supplementation; starter pigs were more (P less than .10) efficient and grower pigs had a higher (P less than .01) rate and efficiency of gain. However, performance of pigs fed the QPM diets was not equal to that of pigs fed isolysinic food and feed corn diets; growth rate was lower (P less than .05) in starter pigs and gain:feed was lower (P less than .05) in grower pigs. Diets in the digestion trial consisted of the corns plus 3.25% casein. Energy digestibility was similar for all diets. Ileal N and amino acid digestibilities were highest for QPM, intermediate for food corn and lowest for feed corn. In most instances, these differences were significant (P less than .05). Apparent biological value was highest (P less than .05) for QPM. These trials indicate that food corn and feed corn have similar nutritional value, and that starter and grower pigs can benefit from the higher protein quality of QPM.     

The response of sheep vaccinated with irradiated Trichostrongylus colubriformis larvae to impulse and sequential challenge with normal larvae

Sheep aged 9–10 months were vaccinated with three doses of 20 000 irradiated Trichostrongylus colubriformis larvae at fortnightly intervals. This gave 97–99% protection against subsequent “impulse” challenge with 40 000 normal larvae or “sequential” challenge with 2 000 larvae/week-day for 4 weeks.The sheep were protected against both types of challenge when worms from the immunizing infections were present at the time of challenge, and when these worms were first removed by anthelmintic treatment.     

Experimental equine herpesvirus-1 infection in llamas (Lama glama).

Three llamas (Lama glama) were experimentally infected intranasally with an isolate of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) from the brain of an alpaca that had experienced severe neurologic signs. Two of the 3 llamas developed severe neurologic disorders following inoculation; 1 died, and 1 was euthanized in a moribund state. The third llama showed only mild neurologic signs. The euthanized llama had preexisting antibodies to EHV-1, and the remaining 2 llamas were seronegative (virus neutralization titer less than 6) at the time of inoculation. One of the seronegative llamas died acutely without production of detectable antibodies, and the other developed antibodies typical of a primary immune response. The EHV-1 virus was recovered only from a sample of the thalamus of the llama that died acutely. Histopathologic lesions were observed in the brain and retina of the dead and euthanized animals. This study verifies the pathogenic potential of EHV-1 for llamas.     

Long‐term anesthetic protocol in rats: feasibility in electrophysiology studies in visual prosthesis

Electrical stimulation of excitable cells provides therapeutic benefits for a variety of medical conditions, including restoration of partial vision to those blinded via some types of retinal degeneration. To improve visual percepts elicited by the current technology, researchers are conducting acute electrophysiology experiments, mainly in cats. However, the rat can provide a model of a range of retinal diseases and possesses a sufficiently large eye to be used in this field. This article presents a long‐term anesthetic protocol to enable electrophysiology experiments to further the development of visual prostheses. Six Long‐Evans rats (aged between 14 and 16 weeks) were included in this study. Surgical anesthesia was maintained for more than 15 h by combining constant intravenous infusion of ketamine (24.0–34.5 mg/kg/h), xylazine (0.9–1.2 mg/kg/h), and inhaled isoflurane in oxygen (<0.5%). Overall heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature remained between 187–233 beats/min, 45–58 breaths/min, and 36–38 °C, respectively. Neural responses to 200‐ms light pulses were recorded from the superior colliculus using a 32‐channel neural probe at the beginning and before termination of the experiment. Robust responses were recorded from distinct functional types of retinal pathways. In addition, a platinum electrode was implanted in the retrobulbar space. The retina was electrically stimulated, and the activation threshold was determined to be 5.24 ± 0.24 μC/cm². This protocol may be used not only in the field of visual prosthesis research, but in other research areas requiring longer term acute experiments.     

Comparison of size vs. life-state classification in demographic models for the terrestrial orchid Cleistes bifaria

Recent studies using capture-recapture modelling in terrestrial orchids have shown relationships among survival, life-state, climate and dormancy, but to date, there has been no rigorous study of the effects of size on demographic rates. Here we use multistate capture-recapture models to investigate the relationships between survival, ramet size, life-state, and propensity for extended dormancy of Cleistes bifaria in two populations in Florida and West Virginia. Using estimated leaf area as a measure of ramet size, we investigated relative fit to the data of models in which ramets were classified by life-state alone (dormant, vegetative, and flowering), size alone (dormant, small, and large), or by a combination of size and state (dormant, small vegetative, large vegetative, small flowering, and large flowering ramets). This scheme allowed us to compare the effects of a size versus state classification on survival and transition probabilities, including the propensity for dormancy. For survival rates, the size-classified model was preferable in terms of parsimony (AIC) to models classified either by state or by a combination of size and state. In C. bifaria, annual survival rate for large ramets was close to 1.0 and for small and dormant ramets, 0.91 and 0.76, respectively. This highlights the importance of protecting large plants. In contrast, a model combining life-state with ramet size was most parsimonious for explaining variation in transition rates. As the ‘size + state’ classification is convenient, holds more information, and seems more closely tied to fitness than classification by either size or life-state alone, it may be particularly useful in planning and assessing conservation management of orchids.     

Trace Elements in Sediments of an Aging Reservoir in Rural Mississippi: Potential for Mobilization Following Dredging

Since 1948, the United States Department of Agriculture has assisted construction of over 10,000 flood control dams, many of which are reaching the end of their design life. Rehabilitation by dredging, or decommissioning by dam removal both have the potential to mobilize contaminants currently sequestered in the sediments. Plans to rehabilitate a small aging reservoir in a rural area of northern Mississippi led to a study characterizing the chemical composition of the reservoir sediments, and the potential for mobilizing contaminants if aerated. Sediment analyses included bulk and trace elements, and a suite of agrichemicals. Trace element concentrations are highly correlated with clay and Fe concentrations, with no elevated levels indicative of anthropogenic inputs. Batch leaching studies under reducing conditions simulating in situ conditions, and under mildly oxidizing conditions simulating disturbed sediments indicate that aeration should lead to a decrease in the aqueous concentration of trace metals currently found in sediment pore water. Decreased aqueous concentrations under oxidizing conditions are probably caused by precipitation of iron as amorphous oxides that scavenge released metals. Based on these results, dredging is a viable rehabilitation strategy for reservoir rehabilitation.