Histological and immunohistochemical characterisation of uterine adenocarcinoma in an Asian elephant (Elephas Maximus).

A 56-year-old nulliparous female Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) living at the zoological garden of Naples (Italy), with a clinical history of recurrent colic, was found in agonal state and humane euthanasia was elected. At necropsy the uterine body was moderately increased in size and the lumen was reduced due to a poorly demarcated and infiltrative neoplasm. Furthermore, multiple, whitish, firm nodules were present in both lungs. Histological examination of the uterine mass revealed epithelial cells arranged in tubular or solid pattern infiltrating the endometrium and the muscular layer. Immunohistochemical examination showed immunoreactivity of neoplastic cells to oestrogen receptors antibody. Pulmonary lesions were histologically and immunohistochemically superimposable to the epithelial uterine neoplasm. A definitive diagnosis of uterine adenocarcinoma with pulmonary metastases was made.

Amyloid precursor protein, lipofuscin accumulation and expression of autophagy markers in aged bovine brain.

BACKGROUND: Autophagy is a highly regulated process involving the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic macromolecules and organelles in mammalian cells via the lysosomal system. Dysregulation of autophagy is implicated in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases and integrity of the autophagosomal - lysosomal network appears to be critical in the progression of aging. Our aim was to survey the expression of autophagy markers and Amyloid precursor protein (APP) in aged bovine brains. For our study, we collected samples from the brain of old (aged 11-20 years) and young (aged 1-5 years) Podolic dairy cows. Formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded sections were stained with routine and special staining techniques. Primary antibodies for APP and autophagy markers such as Beclin-1 and LC3 were used to perform immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: Histologically, the most consistent morphological finding was the age-related accumulation of intraneuronal lipofuscin. Furthermore, in aged bovine brains, immunofluorescence detected a strongly positive immunoreaction to APP and LC3. Beclin-1 immunoreaction was weak or absent. In young controls, the immunoreaction for Beclin-1 and LC3 was mild while the immunoreaction for APP was absent. Western blot analysis confirmed an increased APP expression and LC3-II/LC3-I ratio and a decreased expression of Beclin-1 in aged cows. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that, in aged bovine, autophagy is significantly impaired if compared to young animals and they confirm that intraneuronal APP deposition increases with age.

The Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS): Independent validation in a large sample of Italian patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: The Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) was developed to address the main limitations of the existing scales for the assessment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The initial validation of the scale by the group involved in its development demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity, and a factor structure confirming the two domains of negative symptoms (reduced emotional/verbal expression and anhedonia/asociality/avolition). However, only relatively small samples of patients with schizophrenia were investigated. Further independent validation in large clinical samples might be instrumental to the broad diffusion of the scale in clinical research. METHODS: The present study aimed to examine the BNSS inter-rater reliability, convergent/discriminant validity and factor structure in a large Italian sample of outpatients with schizophrenia. RESULTS: Our results confirmed the excellent inter-rater reliability of the BNSS (the intraclass correlation coefficient ranged from 0.81 to 0.98 for individual items and was 0.98 for the total score). The convergent validity measures had r values from 0.62 to 0.77, while the divergent validity measures had r values from 0.20 to 0.28 in the main sample (n=912) and in a subsample without clinically significant levels of depression and extrapyramidal symptoms (n=496). The BNSS factor structure was supported in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms that the BNSS is a promising measure for quantifying negative symptoms of schizophrenia in large multicenter clinical studies.

Neurocognitive indices of executive hypercontrol in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive impairment, more often involving memory and/or executive functions, has been reported in obsessive-compulsive (OC) patients. The present study aimed at: i) replicating, in an independent sample, previous findings by our group showing neurocognitive slowness limited to executive tasks; ii) assessing the influence of deficit in general cognitive abilities on executive dysfunction. METHOD: A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 30 drug-free OC patients and 30 healthy controls. RESULTS: Obsessive-compulsive patients performed worse on visuospatial tests, were slower on executive tasks, and performed worse on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. After covarying for Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised performance Intellectual Quotient, a lesser degree of executive dysfunction was observed. CONCLUSION: Obsessive-compulsive patients exhibit an impairment of executive functions, especially when tasks also require visuospatial abilities. The impairment might reflect a hyperactivity of the executive control.

Acute renal failure in McArdle's disease.

A 35-year-old man had acute renal failure and was subsequently diagnosed as having rhabdomyolysis secondary to McArdle's disease, a primary myopathy due to myophosphorylase deficiency. Although it is a recognized cause of intermittent myoglobinuria, it has, nevertheless, rarely been associated with acute renal failure. The most likely explanation is that patients with this myopathy, because of mild muscle symptoms early in life, recognize their exercise limitations and thus avoid severe myoglobinuric episodes. However, unusually vigorous anaerobic muscle activity may produce myoglobinuria sufficient to cause renal damage. When acute renal failure does occur, the clinical course is similar to that of patients with other types of myoglobinuric renal failure.