Neoplasmas oculares e de anexos em cães e gatos no Rio Grande do Sul: 265 casos (2009 -2014) / Ocular and annexes neoplasms in dogs and cats in Rio Grande do Sul: cases 265 (2009-2014)

Neoplasias oculares causam desconforto, problemas de visão e podem refletir doenças sistêmicas. Um estudo retrospectivo foi realizado para identificar e analisar neoplasmas oculares e de anexos obtidos por biópsias enviadas ao Setor de Patologia Veterinária (SPV) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Durante o período de janeiro de 2009 a dezembro de 2014 realizou-se 265 diagnósticos de neoplasmas oculares e de anexos, destes 87,5% na espécie canina e em 12,5% na espécie felina. As neoplasias ocorreram mais em animais com idade superior a 12 meses e idosos, e os cães (52/232) e gatos (21/33) sem raça definida foram os mais acometidos. A pálpebra foi o local mais acometido na espécie canina (164/232) e felina (20/33), seguida pela terceira pálpebra em cães (20/232) e órbita nos felinos (5/33). O tumor mais diagnosticado nos cães foi o adenoma meibomiano (82/232) e nos gatos o carcinoma de células escamosas (10/33), ambos em pálpebras. Foram identificados nos cães 24 tipos tumorais e nos gatos 16. Em caninos as neoplasias benignas representaram o maior número de diagnósticos (56%) sendo que em felinos o maior número de casos foi de neoplasias malignas (75,8%)...

Ocular neoplasms cause discomfort, loss of vision or may also reflect systemic diseases. A retrospective study has been performed to identify and analyze ocular and annexes neoplasms obtained by biopsies sent to the Sector of Veterinary Pathology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (SPV/ UFRGS). 265 diagnoses of ocular and annexes neoplasms, 87.5% in canine species and 12.5% in feline species, were made from January 2009 to December 2014. Neoplasms occurred more in animals over the age of 12 months and animals of old age, dogs (52/232) and cats (21/33) mixed breed were the most affected. The eyelid was most commonly affected in dogs (164/232) and feline (20/33), followed by the third eyelid in dogs (20/232) and eye orbit in cats (5/33). The most common tumor diagnosed was meibomian adenoma in dogs (82/232) and squamous cell carcinoma in cats (10/33) both in the eyelids. Twenty four tumor types have been identified in dogs and 16 in cats. Benign neoplasms in dogs represented the largest number of diagnosis (56%) whereas in cats, there were more cases of malignant neoplasms (75.8%)...

Incubation of conditioning-specific reflex modification: implications for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Incubation of fear has been used to account for the delayed manifestation of symptoms of fear and anxiety including the delayed onset of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We have shown the utility of classical conditioning-specific modification of the rabbit nictitating membrane response (NMR) as a model of PTSD. This modification includes an exaggeration in the size and a change in the timing of the unconditioned NMR after several days of classical conditioning. To assess the effects of incubation on conditioning-specific modification, we measured changes in responding as a function of the time between classical conditioning and NMR testing. After just one day of classical conditioning resulting in modest levels of learning, increases in response size were an inverted-U shaped function of days of incubation with little if any change occurring one and ten days after training but significant change occurring after six days. The incubation effect persisted for a week. An unpaired control group showed no change in the size of the response confirming the incubation effect was associative. The results bear a striking resemblance to symptoms of PTSD that do not always occur immediately after trauma and become exacerbated over time and then persist. They point to a window when incubation can exacerbate symptoms and speak to the vulnerability of re-experiencing trauma too soon. This could be a serious problem for military or emergency personnel recalled to combat or a disaster site without sufficient time to deal with the effects of their initial experiences.

Dietary cholesterol impairs memory and memory increases brain cholesterol and sulfatide levels.

Cholesterol and sulfatides play many important roles in learning and memory. To date, our observations about the effects of cholesterol on learning have been assessed during response acquisition; that is, the learning of a new memory. Here, we report for the first time to our knowledge, on the effect of a cholesterol diet on a previously formed memory. Rabbits were given trace conditioning of the nictitating membrane response for 10 days, then fed a 2% cholesterol diet for 8 weeks, and then assessed for memory recall of the initially learned task. We show that dietary cholesterol had an adverse effect on memory recall. Second, we investigated whether dietary cholesterol caused an increase in brain cholesterol and sulfatide levels in four major brain structures (hippocampus, frontal lobe, brainstem, and cerebellum) using a technique for analyzing myelin and myelin-free fractions separately. Although our data confirm previous findings that dietary cholesterol does not directly affect cholesterol and establish that it does not affect sulfatide levels in the brain, these levels did increase rather significantly in the hippocampus and frontal lobe as a function of learning and memory.

Mycobacterial keratitis in a parrot.

Histologic examination revealed acid-fast organisms in a granulomatous lesion involving the cornea of an eye of a Maximilian's Parrot. Disseminated mycobacteriosis was also diagnosed. Antemortem attempts at determining the cause of the corneal lesion had been unsuccessful. Ocular involvement in birds with avian tuberculosis is uncommon. The corneal lesion in the parrot was likely initiated by a dysfunctional third eyelid.