Diagnostic accuracy of positive contrast computed tomography arthrography for the detection of injuries to the medial meniscus in dogs with naturally occurring cranial cruciate ligament insufficiency

O bjective : To assess the usefulness of computed tomography arthrography of the stifle in diagnosing meniscal tears in dogs with cranial cruciate ligament insufficiency.
M ethods : A prospective clinical study was performed. Dogs were included if they had evidence of cranial cruciate ligament insufficiency or persistent or recurrent lameness following surgery for cranial cruciate ligament insufficiency. Dogs were sedated for a computed tomography scan of the affected stifle, orientated in the dorsal plane. A survey computed tomography scan was followed by a computed tomography arthrogram. A stifle arthrotomy was performed, and the surgical findings were recorded. The computed tomography scans were reviewed by three blinded reviewers, and the results were compared to the surgical findings.
R esults : Twenty-one computed tomography arthrograms from 20 dogs were included. At surgery, damage to the medial meniscus was identified in 14 stifles. Initial interpretation of computed tomography arthrography images was 57 to 64 per cent sensitive and 71 to 100 per cent specific for diagnosing medial meniscal injuries. Interpretation of the images on retrospective analysis was 71 per cent sensitive and 100 per cent specific, with an accuracy of 0·857.
C linical S ignificance : The accuracy of stifle computed tomography arthrography for the diagnosis of tears to the medial meniscus was found to be good. It is a minimally invasive and repeatable technique, which does not require general anaesthesia or specialist training to obtain the images. The ability to reliably diagnose meniscal injury without the need for surgery may be advantageous, particularly in dogs which had previously had surgery for cranial cruciate ligament insufficiency.     

Neonatal Clinical Evaluation, Blood Gas and Radiographic Assessment After Normal Birth, Vaginal Dystocia or Caesarean Section in Dogs

This study aimed to standardize signs and diagnostic criteria of respiratory function in newborn puppies delivered normally or after dystocia and caesarean operation. A total of 48 neonates were allocated into groups: eutocia (n = 20), dystocia (n = 8), caesarean (c)-section (n = 20). Neonatal health was assessed using the Apgar score and body temperature was determined at 0, 5 and 60 min after delivery. Venous blood gases (pO₂ and SO₂) was measured immediately and 60 min after delivery, and a thoracic radiograph was made between 0 and 5 min of life. The c-section group had significantly lower Apgar scores at birth and 5 min. Hypothermia was present at 5 min in the eutocia and c-section groups, and at 60 min in all groups. The eutocia group had an irregular respiratory pattern in 78% of puppies at birth, 27.7% at 5 min and 21% at 60 min compared with 87.5%, 62.5% and 12.5% of the pups in the dystocia group where there was irregular respiratory rhythm, moderate to intense respiratory sounds with agonic episodes. The c-section group had respiratory alterations in 70%, 45% and 16% of puppies at 0, 5 and 60 min, respectively. Radiographic abnormalities were present in 17% of the pups in the eutocia group, 25% of the pups in the dystocia group and 30% of the pups in the c-section group, respectively. The c-section group had significantly lower SO₂ values at 60 min than at birth. All puppies had hypoxaemia, but a significant decrease was observed in the c-section group. Newborn puppies had tissue hypoxia and irregular respiratory pattern at birth. Caesarean-section puppies had lower vitality; however, all developed satisfactory Apgar scores at 5 min of life, regardless of the obstetric condition.     

Influence of Ascorbic Acid and Glutathione Antioxidants on Frozen-Thawed Canine Semen

Poor sperm viability post-thaw has resulted in constant research into methods of cryopreservation of canine semen. One factor that may be involved in poor viability is sperm oxidative stress caused by excessive formation of reactive oxygen species. The present study was performed in order to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of ascorbic acid (AA) and glutathione (Glu) added to an extender for the freeze-thawing of dog sperm. Semen from five mature dogs was collected and frozen in two studies. Prior to and after freezing, sperm motility, morphology and membrane status were examined. In addition, sperm motility was examined up to 120 min after thawing to evaluate thermo-resistance. In study I, semen was collected twice from each dog. On both occasions, semen was divided into three aliquots: control, Glu 1 m m and Glu 5 m m . In study II, semen was collected twice and divided into three aliquots; control, AA 50 μ m and AA 250 μ m . Initial sperm motility was significantly higher in sperm diluted with AA 50 μ m ; sperm longevity, however, measured by a thermal-resistance test (TRT), was higher for Glu treatments. Higher concentration of Glu produced significant improvement in TRT and membrane status, whereas higher concentration of AA had a negative impact in sperm longevity. Antioxidant supplementation to semen freezing extenders improved semen quality post-thaw. Moreover, Glu had the most beneficial effect when supplemented at 5 m m .     

Evaluation of Trypsin Treatment on the Inactivation of Bovine Herpesvirus Type 1 on In Vitro Produced Pre-implantation Embryos

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of trypsin treatment on the inactivation of bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-1) on in vitro produced by fertilization and artificially infected bovine embryos. Bovine embryos on day 7 were exposed with 10 μl of BoHV-1, Los Angeles strain 10^7.5 TCID. These embryos and control embryos were divided in two groups: submitted to the sequential washes or to the trypsin treatment according to the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS) guidelines. The embryos and the last washing drop of each group were used as inoculum to infect Madin Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells and submitted to nested PCR reaction using the primer that encodes the gene conserved region of virus glycoprotein gB. The data have shown that the control embryos and their last washing drop were negative. The exposed embryos that were treated with trypsin have shown positive results on the n-PCR and MDBK culture, and their last washing drop were negative. Our data have demonstrated that the trypsin treatment was not able to eliminate the BHV-1 of the embryos, suggesting an interaction between virus and embryo.     

Babesia bovis--analysis and vaccination trial with the cryoprecipitable immune complex

Plasma samples from cattle recovering from acute Babesia bovis infection contain cryoprecipitable immune complexes (IC). Production of bovine and rabbit antisera to IC and subsequent serological assays indicated IC contained antigens of both babesial and erythrocytic origin. Vaccination of naive cattle with IC produced low titred antibody to B. bovis but the vaccinates did not survive challenge with a heterologous strain of B. bovis.