Clinical cases of infectious endocarditis in cats.

Infectious endocarditis (IE) is a contagious polyposis ulcerative inflammation of the endocardium, accompanied by lesions of the heart valve apparatus and endothelium by various pathogenic and opportunistic pathogens. Mainly mitral and aortic valves are affected, less often - tricuspid valve. The purpose of this study was to report two cases of IE in cats. Due to the low prevalence of the disease in cats, there is no clear diagnostic algorithm, so the diagnostic search is complicated. In both cases, autonomic lesions of the heart valve apparatus were observed. In the first clinical case, we could hardly diagnose the disease because of its rapid progression: initial echocardiogram result was normal, but after 48 hours, the cat's condition became much worse, and 18 hours later, it died. In the second case, histopathological examination confirmed an infectious inflammatory process of the endocardium and myocardium of unclear genesis. However, the presence of lower respiratory tract infection and the absence of additional laboratory tests, such as bacterial blood culture and PCR diagnosis, limited us in proposing a hypothesis about the origin and etiology of IE.

A endocardite infecciosa (EI) é uma polipose contagiosa inflamação ulcerativa do endocárdio, acompanhada de lesões do aparelho valvar cardíaco e do endotélio por diversos agentes patogênicos e oportunistas. Principalmente as válvulas mitral e aórtica são afetadas, com menos frequência a válvula tricúspide. O objetivo deste estudo foi relatar dois casos de EI em gatos. Devido à baixa prevalência da doença em gatos, não existe um algoritmo diagnóstico claro, por isso a busca diagnóstica é complicada. Em ambos os casos foram observadas lesões autonômicas do aparelho valvar cardíaco. No primeiro caso clínico, dificilmente conseguimos diagnosticar a doença devido à sua rápida progressão: o resultado inicial do ecocardiograma foi normal, mas após 48 horas o estado do gato piorou muito e, 18 horas depois, veio a óbito. No segundo caso, o exame histopatológico confirmou processo inflamatório infeccioso do endocárdio e miocárdio de gênese incerta. No entanto, a presença de infecção do trato respiratório inferior e a ausência de exames complementares de laboratório, como hemocultura bacteriana e diagnóstico por PCR, nos limitaram a propor uma hipótese sobre a origem e etiologia da EI.

Genes Encoding Transcription Factors TaDREB5 and TaNFYC-A7 Are Differentially Expressed in Leaves of Bread Wheat in Response to Drought, Dehydration and ABA.

Two groups of six spring bread wheat varieties with either high or low grain yield under the dry conditions of Central and Northern Kazakhstan were selected for analysis. Experiments were set up with the selected wheat varieties in controlled environments as follows: (1) slowly progressing drought imposed on plants in soil, (2) rapid dehydration of whole plants grown in hydroponics, (3) dehydration of detached leaves, and (4) ABA treatment of whole plants grown in hydroponics. Representatives of two different families of transcription factors (TFs), TaDREB5 and TaNFYC-A7, were found to be linked to yield-under-drought using polymorphic Amplifluor-like SNP marker assays. qRT-PCR revealed differing patterns of expression of these genes in the leaves of plants subjected to the above treatments. Under drought, TaDREB5 was significantly up-regulated in leaves of all high-yielding varieties tested and down-regulated in all low-yielding varieties, and the level of expression was independent of treatment type. In contrast, TaNFYC-A7 expression levels showed different responses in the high- and low-yield groups of wheat varieties. TaNFYC-A7 expression under dehydration (treatments 2 and 3) was higher than under drought (treatment 1) in all high-yielding varieties tested, while in all low-yielding varieties the opposite pattern was observed: the expression levels of this gene under drought were higher than under dehydration. Rapid dehydration of detached leaves and intact wheat plants grown in hydroponics produced similar changes in gene expression. ABA treatment of whole plants caused rapid stomatal closure and a rise in the transcript level of both genes during the first 30 min, which decreased 6 h after treatment. At this time-point, expression of TaNFYC-A7 was again significantly up-regulated compared to untreated controls, while TaDREB5 returned to its initial level of expression. These findings reveal significant differences in the transcriptional regulation of two drought-responsive and ABA-dependent TFs under slowly developing drought and rapid dehydration of wheat plants. The results obtained suggest that correlation between grain yield in dry conditions and TaNFYC-A7 expression levels in the examined wheat varieties is dependent on the length of drought development and/or strength of drought; while in the case of TaDREB5, no such dependence is observed.