Assessment of a point‐of‐care cardiac troponin I test to differentiate cardiac from noncardiac causes of respiratory distress in dogs

Objectives – To (1) determine a reference interval for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) using a point‐of‐care device in normal dogs and compare the results with those published by the manufacturer and (2) determine if cTnI differs among dogs with cardiogenic and noncardiogenic respiratory distress. Design – Prospective observational study. Setting – Emergency and referral veterinary hospital. Animals – Twenty‐six clinically normal dogs and 67 dogs in respiratory distress. Interventions – All dogs underwent whole blood sampling for cTnI concentrations. Measurements and Results – Normal dogs had a median cTnI concentration of 0.03 ng/mL (range 0–0.11 ng/mL). Thirty‐six dogs were diagnosed with noncardiogenic respiratory distress with a median cTnI concentration of 0.14 ng/mL (range 0.01–4.31 ng/mL). Thirty‐one dogs were diagnosed with cardiogenic respiratory distress with a median cTnI concentration of 1.74 ng/mL (range 0.05–17.1 ng/mL). A significant difference between cTnI concentrations in normal dogs and dogs with noncardiogenic respiratory distress was not detected. Significant differences in cTnI concentrations were found between normals versus cardiogenic and cardiogenic versus noncardiogenic respiratory distress groups. Significant differences in cTnI concentrations were identified in >10 when compared with the <5 and the 5–10 years of age groups. Receiver operating curve analysis identified cTnI concentrations >1.5 ng/mL as the optimal “cut‐off point” having a sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 51.5%. The area under the receiver operating curve was 0.72. Overall test accuracy was 65%. Conclusions – cTnI concentrations were significantly increased in dogs with cardiogenic respiratory distress versus dogs with noncardiogenic respiratory distress and normal dogs. A significant difference between normal dogs and dogs with noncardiogenic causes of respiratory distress was detected. Although highly sensitive when cTnI concentrations exceed 1.5 ng/mL, the test has low specificity. Assessment of cTnI by the methodology used cannot be recommended as the sole diagnostic modality for evaluating the cause of respiratory distress in dogs.     

基于可控气流-激光检测技术的鸡肉嫩度评估方法

以鸡肉嫩度为研究对象,采用可控气流-激光检测技术的瞬态、蠕变回复和应力松弛等动静态检测模态,并使用支持向量机分类器和全局变量偏最小二乘算法,结合不同预处理方法,对鸡肉嫩度进行定性判别和定量预测。结果表明3个激励模态结合不同预处理算法均可实现鸡肉嫩度的定性定量评估。在定性方面,瞬态模态对嫩度具有最佳的分类效果;S-G卷积平滑算法表现出最佳的预处理性能,校正集嫩/老分类精度分别为1和0.98,马修斯相关系数为0.97;而验证集分类精度也达到了0.95和0.84。在定量预测方面,S-G卷积平滑算法在提升原始数据的信噪比上同样具有最佳效果;瞬态模态校正集和验证集模型相关系数分别为0.948和0.913,均方根误差分别为0.736N和1.013N。因此,在组织结构引起的品质预测动态模态较静态模态更适用。本研究开展的可控气流-激光技术在鸡肉嫩度评估的应用,为肉品检测领域提供了新的解决方案。     

Epidermal proteases of the Japanese eel

A fluorescent-sensitive assay was used to demonstrate the protease activity in the dorsal skin of Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica). Two distinct extracts were separately prepared from skin mucus and epidermal cell layers, with no mutual contamination. The epidermal extract was sensitive to various substrates, whereas there was no, or only marginal, susceptibility to the same substrates for the mucous extract. Optimum hydrolysis pHs of the epidermal extract was variable and below pH 7.0, and the optimum hydrolysis temperatures were between 40 and 50 °C. In addition, Tos-Phe-Ch₂Cl, chymostatin, CdCl₂, CuCl₂, HgCl₂ and ZnCl₂ inhibited protease activities to different extents. Several other reagents specifically affected the protease activities, and their induced effects were useful for the identification of epidermal proteases. The findings indicate that a proteolytic factor, exhibiting various enzymological specificities, is retained within epidermal cell layers of Japanese eel. This factor is composed of 4 distinct proteases, such as cathepsins L and B-like proteases, a serine protease and an aminopeptidase.     

Gastric dilation and air sacculitis in farmed chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum)

A syndrome affecting cultured chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum), characterized by distended abdomens, gastric dilation, air sacculitis (GDAS), increased feed conversion rates and increased mortality has been recognized in New Zealand. Affected fish were most obvious in sea cages but were also present in fresh water. Mortality rates associated with this condition were highest in late summer and approached 6% per month. A dilated and flaccid stomach, without visible rugal folds containing copious oil, watery fluid or undigested feed was typical. Gastric mucosal ulceration or inflammation were not present. The air sacculitis consisted of a thickened, dilated bladder with a mixed mucosal inflammatory infiltrate and a luminal exudate associated with large numbers of morphologically diverse bacteria. Gastric dilation or air sacculitis occurred alone or together in the same fish. In a group of 20 subclinically affected fish with or without gastric dilation, there were no significant differences in weight, length, serum osmolality, sodium, total protein or packed cell volume. Twenty-three severely affected fish had significantly ( P  < 0.05) higher serum osmolality but similar sodium and total protein to that of clinically normal fish.     

鲫肠道上皮细胞原代培养方法的研究

探讨了健康鲫(Carassius auratus)幼鱼肠道上皮细胞的原代培养方法。结果显示,用含有抗生素、胶原蛋白酶Ⅰ、EDTA和胶原蛋白酶Ⅳ组成的D-Hanks液消化无菌分离的鲫肠道可以获得大量细胞团及绒毛隐窝;用含有抗生素、胎牛血清(FBS)、表皮生长因子(EGF)、胰岛素的DMEM培养液进行培养,并根据肠道上皮细胞与成纤维细胞贴壁时间的差异进一步纯化,连续培养12d后可以得到纯化的肠道上皮细胞。     

Habitat configuration for an obligate shallow‐water delphinid: The Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin,Sousa chinensis,in the Beibu Gulf (Gulf of Tonkin)

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Analysis of the miRNA Expression Profiles in the Primary Neurons of Mice Infected with Japanese Encephalitis Virus

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