Evaluation of static telepathology in veterinary diagnostic cytology

BACKGROUND: Telepathology is the process of diagnostic pathology performed on digital images viewed on a display screen rather than by conventional light microscopy with glass slides. At present, electronic mail (e-mail) attachment is the most common communication medium for telepathology, because it is relatively simple and incurs minimal cost. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to test whether telediagnosis through Internet e-mail could be applied to veterinary diagnostic cytology. METHODS: Using 20 cytology cases, on which a consensus diagnosis was reached by 3 experienced pathologists, a total of 130 images were digitized and sent as e-mail attachments from the Unit of Anatomic Pathology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Naples to the Unit of Pathology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Messina, Italy. The images were reviewed at the Unit of Pathology of Messina, where the consulting pathologist formulated his diagnoses by visualizing the images on the monitor of a computer. The telediagnoses were compared with the consensus diagnoses and with the consulting pathologist's interpretation using conventional light microscopy at a later date. RESULTS: The median time to capture images was approximately 30 minutes for each case. The median time to make a telecytodiagnosis was a few seconds for each case. Overall, there was good agreement (85%) between the consensus diagnosis and the consultant's telediagnosis. In 100% of the cases there was agreement between the consulting pathologist's telediagnosis and conventional glass slide diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Telepathology by e-mail provides acceptable efficacy and a faster turnaround time than post and can be applied to veterinary diagnostic cytology.     

First reports of Trichinella pseudospiralis in wild boars (Sus scrofa) of Italy

Trichinella pseudospiralis is a non-encapsulated species infecting both mammals and birds. In Italy, this parasite was reported only in two night-birds of prey of Central Italy. In January 2010, Trichinella larvae were detected in three wild boars (Sus scrofa) of two regions of Northern Italy by enzymatic digestion. The parasites were identified as T. pseudospiralis by multiplex-PCR. The first infected wild boar was hunted in the Emilia Romagna region and the other two infected wild boars were bred outdoors in a small family farm of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. These new epidemiological data reinforce the role of the wild boar as the main reservoir of T. pseudospiralis in Europe.     

Extranodal γδ-T-cell lymphoma in a dog with leishmaniasis

Abstract: An 8-year-old intact male mongrel dog with alopecia and weight loss was referred to the Veterinary Faculty of Naples. The dog had pale mucous membranes, enlarged prescapular lymph nodes, and splenomegaly. Laboratory abnormalities included anemia, thrombocytopenia, and hyperglobulinemia. Bone marrow aspirate smears contained numerous Leishmania amastigotes and an immunofluorescent antibody titer was strongly positive (1:1280) for leishmaniasis. The dog was treated with a combination of meglumine antimoniate and allopurinol for 60 days and showed clinical improvement. Two months after the end of treatment the dog was again referred because of relapse of leishmaniasis and the presence of a firm subcutaneous mass on the medial right thigh. Based on cytologic examination of fine needle aspirates of the mass, a diagnosis of large-cell lymphoma was made. Flow cytometry of tumor cells revealed γδ-T-cell lymphoma with a CD5+, CD3+, TCRγδ+, CD4−, CD8−, CD45RA+ immunophenotype. Using nested PCR, amastigotes were not detected in the neoplastic tissue. An association between leishmaniasis and hematopoietic tumors has been described rarely. γδ-T cells may be involved in the host response to this parasite, and prolonged antigenic stimulation and chronic immunosuppression (typical of leishmaniasis) play a crucial role in the etiopathogenesis of T-cell lymphoma.     

Exact and approximate arithmetic in an Amazonian indigene group

Is calculation possible without language? Or is the human ability for arithmetic dependent on the language faculty? To clarify the relation between language and arithmetic, we studied numerical cognition in speakers of Mundurukú, an Amazonian language with a very small lexicon of number words. Although the Mundurukú lack words for numbers beyond 5, they are able to compare and add large approximate numbers that are far beyond their naming range. However, they fail in exact arithmetic with numbers larger than 4 or 5. Our results imply a distinction between a nonverbal system of number approximation and a language-based counting system for exact number and arithmetic.     

Log or linear? Distinct intuitions of the number scale in Western and Amazonian indigene cultures

The mapping of numbers onto space is fundamental to measurement and to mathematics. Is this mapping a cultural invention or a universal intuition shared by all humans regardless of culture and education? We probed number-space mappings in the Mundurucu, an Amazonian indigene group with a reduced numerical lexicon and little or no formal education. At all ages, the Mundurucu mapped symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers onto a logarithmic scale, whereas Western adults used linear mapping with small or symbolic numbers and logarithmic mapping when numbers were presented nonsymbolically under conditions that discouraged counting. This indicates that the mapping of numbers onto space is a universal intuition and that this initial intuition of number is logarithmic. The concept of a linear number line appears to be a cultural invention that fails to develop in the absence of formal education.     

Core knowledge of geometry in an Amazonian indigene group

Does geometry constitute a core set of intuitions present in all humans, regardless of their language or schooling? We used two nonverbal tests to probe the conceptual primitives of geometry in the Mundurukú, an isolated Amazonian indigene group. Mundurukú children and adults spontaneously made use of basic geometric concepts such as points, lines, parallelism, or right angles to detect intruders in simple pictures, and they used distance, angle, and sense relationships in geometrical maps to locate hidden objects. Our results provide evidence for geometrical intuitions in the absence of schooling, experience with graphic symbols or maps, or a rich language of geometrical terms.     

Shading decreases the growth rate of young apple fruit by reducing their phloem import

This study investigates the effects of shading on the biophysical mechanisms of apple (Malus Domestica Bork.) fruit growth by assessing how vascular and transpiration flows to/from the fruit are affected by shading. At 30 days after full bloom, a 90% neutral shading net was applied to four trees of the cv. Gala, for seven days, while four more trees, chemically thinned, were used as control. Fruit vascular and transpiration flows were assessed from two days before, to the end of shading. The daily patterns of fruit relative growth rate (RGR) and of phloem, xylem and transpiration flows were determined by continuous monitoring of fruit diameter by automatic fruit gauges. Before shading application, no differences between the two groups of trees selected were found for any of the parameters measured. Despite shading induced an immediate drop in canopy photosynthesis, both fruit daily RGR and phloem flow decreased gradually, until reaching 20% of the before treatment values after 7 days of shading. Differences in RGR and phloem flow appeared especially during the afternoon and night, i.e. post carbon assimilation by the tree, and fruit growth rates were higher in control trees. In the same period no, or very small differences were found between treatments for transpiration rates, while xylem flow was affected later than phloem and only at specific times during the day. These results suggest that the decrease in fruit growth rate under shading should be attributed to the reduction of canopy photosynthesis, rather than to a direct effect of shading on fruit sink strength.     

Effect of soil moisture and transpiration on mineral content in leaves and berries of cabernet sauvignon grapevine

Leaf and berry transpiration ratio in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) was found to be affected by soil moisture. With the condition of diminished soil moisture, berry transpiration is higher prior to vèraison compared to conditions when the water content in the substrate is higher and berry transpiration decreases with an increase of leaf transpiration. Studies were conducted in 1993 and 1994 to investigate the link between soil moisture, traspiration, and accumulation of certain mineral elements in leaves and berries on plants of the Cabernet sauvignon cultivar grafted on Kober 5 BB rootstock. Leaf and berry transpiration and mineral accumulation were evaluated by gaseous exchange measurements, soil sampling and moisture analysis, and leaf and berry sampling and analysis of mineral content. Observations were repeated at about 15‐day intervals between full bloom and berry ripening. Transpiration per unit of surface area (mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1) was always higher in leaves than in berries. Leaf transpiration varied from 5.62 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 to 2.92 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 in 1993 in the period between the 8th and 86th day after full bloom (DAFB), and from 6.49 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 to 4.37 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 in 1994 between the 12th and 94th DAFB. Berry transpiration ranged between 3.86 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 and 1.04 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 in 1993 and between 4.34 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 and 0.5 mmol H₂O m^‐2 s^‐1 in 1994. Leaf transpiration was not correlated with the mineral element content in the leaves, whereas berry transpiration was directly correlated with the nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), and phosphorus (P) content in berries. Leaf mineral composition was affected only for iron (Fe) content by the variation on soil moisture, whereas the berry N, P, K, and Ca contents were positively correlated with soil water content. The leaf and berry Ca content appeared to be greater with high soil moisture, i.e., in conditions which favor intense metabolism of the whole plant.