Atrial fibrillation management in a breeding stallion.

A 20-year-old warmblood breeding stallion presented to a University practice for semen collection and evaluation was incidentally diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF). Electrocardiogram recordings during breeding revealed inappropriately rapid tachycardia and occasional ventricular premature depolarizations/aberrant ventricular conduction. Transvenous electrical cardioversion was performed. After successful cardioversion the horse displayed supraventricular ectopy and atrial contractile dysfunction and was administered sotalol hydrochloride in an attempt to decrease the risk of AF recurrence. Supraventricular ectopy and echocardiographic evidence of atrial dysfunction gradually improved and normalized over 6 months. No direct adverse effects of the chronic anti-arrhythmic treatment were observed and libido and semen quality were unaffected. AF recurred 6 months after cardioversion and sotalol therapy was continued to control the ventricular ectopy/aberrant ventricular conduction during semen collection. Considerations regarding pathologic arrhythmias and inappropriately high heart rates in breeding stallions with AF may be similar to those in riding horses. Sotalol hydrochloride was a safe anti-arrhythmic drug in the management of this case.

Effect of long-term fluticasone treatment on immune function in horses with heaves.

BACKGROUND: Corticosteroids currently are the most effective pharmacological treatment available to control heaves in horses. Systemically administered corticosteroids have been shown to alter immune response in horses, humans, and other species. Aerosolized administration theoretically minimizes systemic adverse effects, but the effect of inhaled corticosteroids on immune function has not been evaluated in horses. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of prolonged administration of inhaled fluticasone on the immune system of heaves-affected horses. ANIMALS: Heaves-affected horses were treated with inhaled fluticasone (n = 5) for 11 months or received environmental modifications only (n = 5). METHODS: Prospective analysis. Clinical parameters and CBC, lymphocyte subpopulations and function, and circulating neutrophil gene expression were sequentially measured. Primary and anamnestic immune responses also were evaluated by measuring antigen-specific antibodies in response to vaccination with bovine viral antigen and tetanus toxoid, respectively. RESULTS: No clinical adverse effects were observed and no differences in immune function were detected between treated and untreated horses. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The treatment of heaves-affected horses with inhaled fluticasone at therapeutic dosages for 11 months has no significant detectable effect on innate and adaptive (both humoral and cell-mediated) immune parameters studied. These results suggest that prolonged administration of fluticasone would not compromise the systemic immune response to pathogens nor vaccination in adult horses.

[Cardiological monitoring of antipsychotic-treated patients: evaluation and evolution of a hospital protocol]. / Surveillance cardiologique des patients traités par neuroleptiques : évaluation et évolution d'un protocole hospitalier.

INTRODUCTION: Following the Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé (Afssaps) (French Health Authority) recommendations in 2001, which impose the rigorous follow-up (electrocardiogram [ECG] and ionogram) of patients treated with antipsychotics (AP), a monitoring protocol was elaborated and set up in the Caen psychiatric hospital in April 2002. Protocol evaluation compared with fixed aims was performed after two years' follow-up. AIM OF THE STUDY: This protocol had to answer a triple aim: better identification of patients at risk, ensure in-treatment monitoring, be simple and adapted to daily practice. INCLUSION CRITERIA: A systematic admission check-up (S0) which includes cardiological and biological controls and after one and six months' treatment control (S1 and S6) were recommended. The major risk factors (RF) researched were long QT interval, bradycardia and hypokaliemia. RESULTS: The initial monitoring was conducted in 601 patients (that only corresponded to 17% of hospital admission active files during the considered period). Means delays before obtaining an ECG were three times those obtained existing biological check-ups (11 days versus three days after date of admission). Systematic and integrated characterisation controls on admission were not respected. We noted that two-third of patients admitted during this period were hospitalized for only five days, although the mean time to obtain an ECG is of 11 days. This delay (approximately one week) between ECG and biological check-up is not compatible with a complete patient RF evaluation. Respectively, 83 and 68 patients were controlled under treatment at S1 and S6. Only half of the patients were controlled at the one-month (S1) and 16% at the six-months' theoretical dates (S6). These delays are inappropriate, notably with regard to the mean time of hospitalisation (15-17 days). The incidence of major RF was higher in treated (71%) than in non-treated patients. Major RF presence at S0 was not systematically associated with an AP treatment contraindication. The excessive delay before the first ECG could partially explain why this initial check-up was not able to detect a pretreatment contraindication. On the other hand, AP treated patients who presented at least one major RF at S0 were more frequently monitored at S1 than patients who did not (26% versus 13%, p=0.05). Among the 168 patients treated with AP or other drugs prolonging the QT interval at risk, 33 had at least one follow-up. This risk population was not better controlled than the initial cohort. DISCUSSION: Protocol evaluation is essential to improve its interest and feasibility. If systematic characterisation is simple, its application in practice is very difficult. The second version of the protocol presented here proposes to substitute the systematic ECG characterisation with the classification on admission of patients in "risk groups" that will condition the subsequent monitoring. Risk groups are identified into two RF types: those which are not related to AP treatment and those which are therapeutic attitude is adapted according to initial QTcorrigé (QTc), its progression between S0 and S (seven days) and kaliemia.

[Postnatal development of functional properties of the visual cortical cells of area 18 in kittens raised with or without visual experience]. / Développement post-natal des propriétés fonctionnelles des cellules visuelles corticales de l'aire 18 chez le chaton élevé avec ou sans expérience visuelle.

866 units were recorded extracellularly in area 18 of anaesthetized and paralysed kittens from 13 to 66 days of age. The development of their receptive field properties was studied in normally (EN) and dark-reared (EO) kittens. In addition to orientation selective (S) and non-selective (NS) cells, we found a number of non-selective units whose receptive field was surrounded by a peripheral zone (NSp) where stationary stimuli were effective. In EN kittens, the orientation selectivity developed with age and concomitantly, NS and NSp cells disappeared. Ocular dominance distribution was also gradually modified from a contralateral monocular dominance at 13 days of age to an adult-like binocularity at 58 days. In EO kittens, the early orientation selectivity began to decrease at the 5th week. From then on, the process of despecification started and progressed until nearly all cells were NS. Absence of visual experience also delayed the development of mature binocularity. In 6 week old EO kittens, a 6 hrs. visual exposure induced a fast but uncomplete specification with decrease of both NS and NSp cells and a slight modification of the ocular dominance distribution. The comparison of these results with those obtained in area 17 shows that functional properties vary more slowly in area 18 than in area 17.