Serum concentration of homocysteine in spontaneous feline chronic kidney disease.

Serum homocysteine (Hcy) increases in people and dogs with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) has also been associated with CKD-related hypertension and proteinuria. The aims of this study were to: (1) validate an enzymatic method for quantification of Hcy in feline serum; (2) evaluate whether HHcy was associated with the presence and severity of CKD, proteinuria or hypertension; and (3) determine whether HHcy could predict disease progression. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) and the recovery rates of linearity under dilution and spiking recovery tests of the enzymatic method were 3.1-6.7%, 11.6-12.5%, 96.9±5.4% and 96.9±5.4%, respectively. Healthy cats at risk of CKD (n=17) and cats with CKD (n=19) were sampled over a 6-month period (63 samples in total). Cats with CKD had significantly higher Hcy concentrations (P=0.005) than cats at risk. The concentration of Hcy was higher (P=0.002) in moderate-severe CKD than in mild CKD and correlated moderately with serum creatinine (P<0.0001; r=0.51). The concentration of Hcy increased with the magnitude of proteinuria and correlated weakly with urinary protein to creatinine ratio (P=0.045; r=0.26). HHcy was not associated with hypertension. At the time of enrollment, Hcy concentration was significantly higher (P=0.046) in cats that developed CKD compared to cats that remained stable. The enzymatic method for Hcy measurement in feline serum was precise and accurate. HHcy was relatively common in cats with advanced CKD and seemed to predict disease progression, but further studies are warranted.

Prevalence of Proteinuria in Owned Dogs from Italy: A Multicentric Study.

Even though proteinuria is related to different causes, when it is persistent and associated with inactive urinary sediment, it is primarily due to kidney disease. Early detection of proteinuria allows us to identify several pathological conditions. The aim of the study was screening a canine population not known as being proteinuric, by the urinary dipstick. The study was carried out in seven Italian veterinary clinics during a period of six weeks. Dogs were enrolled with no restriction of sex or age. Females in estrus, dogs with signs of genitourinary diseases, or those previously diagnosed with proteinuric nephropathy were excluded. Dogs were considered "nonproteinuric" (NP) in case of negative dipstick test or "suspected proteinuric" (SP), if positive at the dipstick. When possible, proteinuria was confirmed by UPC ratio. A total of 1156 dogs were evaluated: 414 were from northern Italy and 742 from southern Italy. Based on dipstick test, 655 (56.6%) dogs were NP, while 501 (43.3%) were SP. Among the NP dogs 225 out of 414 (54.3%) were in northern Italy and 430 of 742 (57.9%) in southern Italy. One hundred eighty-nine of 414 (45.7%) SP dogs were identified in northern Italy and 312 of 742 (42.1%) in southern Italy. No statistical difference was found between the North and the South of Italy. UPC was available in 412 out of 501 SP samples: proteinuria was confirmed in 263 (63.86%) samples. Results from our study showed a high percentage of suspected proteinuric dogs, apparently not affected by renal diseases, together with the absence of statistically significant differences based on geographical area.

Let's cut it short: Italian standardization of the MMSPE (Mini-Mental State Pediatric Examination), a brief cognitive screening tool for school-age children.

A pediatric cognitive screening tool has been shaped in three versions according to school class to assess spatial and temporal orientation, language, reading, writing, drawing, number knowledge, memory, praxis and executive functions in children aged 6-13. It has been standardized on an Italian sample of 807 children. Raw scores were adjusted for critical variables (child's age and parents' education) and a cut-off for the resulting global cognitive score was made available for clinical practice. In line with previous research, adapting the Mini-Mental State Examination to pediatric neuropsychological assessment turned out to be useful in estimating global cognitive functioning in children.

Preliminary Investigation of Cardiovascular-Renal Disorders in Dogs with Chronic Mitral Valve Disease.

BACKGROUND: Veterinary literature lacks data about cardiovascular-renal disorders (CvRD) and cardiorenal-anemia syndrome (CRAS) in dogs. HYPOTHESIS: A direct correlation exists between ACVIM class and IRIS stage; chronic kidney disease (CKD) complicates chronic mitral valve disease (CMVD) more often than does anemia in dogs. ANIMALS: One hundred and fifty-eight client-owned dogs with CMVD. METHODS: Signalment, physical examination findings, electrocardiography, thoracic radiographs, echocardiography, and blood analysis were retrospectively evaluated to assess the prevalence of CKD and anemia in dogs with CMVD and to investigate the relationships among ACVIM class, IRIS stage, and survival. RESULTS: The prevalence of CKD and anemia in dogs with CMVD was significantly higher than in the general population of dogs. Dogs being treated for heart failure had a significantly higher prevalence of CKD than did dogs that had not received treatment. A statistically significant direct correlation was found between ACVIM class and IRIS stage. Severe heart disease, severe renal disease or both, furosemide administration, and advanced age at diagnosis of heart disease were associated with shorter survival time. Survival time of dogs affected by CvRD was statistically shorter than survival time of dogs affected by CMVD alone. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Chronic mitral valve disease is associated with increased prevalence of CKD and anemia in dogs. Treatment for medical management of heart failure may play a role in inducing CKD. Class of heart disease and IRIS stage were directly correlated. Cardiovascular-renal disorders decrease survival time compared to the only presence of CMVD alone, whereas anemia does not play a central role in worsening heart function.

The effect of inter-laboratory variability on the protein:creatinine (UPC) ratio in canine urine.

Quantification of proteinuria is a fundamental step in staging dogs with chronic kidney disease and in monitoring the course of disease or the efficacy of anti-proteinuric treatments. Analytical precision and accuracy of the proteinuria assessment could be affected by several factors such as biological variability, different operators and quality control materials. The aim of this study was to assess whether inter-laboratory variability could affect the urinary protein to creatinine (UPC) ratio and whether this variability may affect patient classification according to the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) sub-staging system. The same urine samples were analysed in three different laboratories using different instruments and different reagent brands. The results of the three laboratories were highly correlated to each other although urinary protein (UP), urinary creatinine (UC) and the UPC ratio of one laboratory were found to be significantly higher than those of the other two. No significant differences between the other two laboratories were recorded. The concordance in classifying dogs according to the IRIS guidelines was good if all three proteinuria categories were analysed separately or if borderline proteinuric (BP) dogs were included in the proteinuric group, and very good if BP dogs were merged into the non-proteinuric group. The inter-laboratory variability in UPC ratio measurement was not so great as to impede the identification of proteinuric dogs, but may influence the estimation of the magnitude of proteinuria.

Echocardiographic values in clinically healthy adult dogue de Bordeaux dogs.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the influence of body surface area, age and gender on echocardiographic parameters and to establish echocardiographic reference values for dogue de Bordeaux dogs. METHODS: Thirty-nine healthy dogue de Bordeaux dogs of both sexes, older than one year, were recruited and 31 of these were included in the study. The classic linear regression model proved to be the best way to analyse the data. The reference limits of the echocardiographic measurements were calculated using the regression equations. The difference between the mean values of body surface area in both gender groups was evaluated by using one-way ANOVA. RESULTS: A significant correlation was seen between several echocardiographic parameters and body surface area or body surface area and age, and high coefficients of determination (R2) were found. No effect of gender was detected on echocardiographic variables, except for the thickness of the left ventricular posterior wall at end diastole. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The echocardiographic parameters related to body surface area, in the absence of correlation with other independent variables (gender and age) should be interpreted with caution because their variation could be significant for the presence of heart disease. The proposed statistical model allows estimation of echocardiographic parameters in dogue de Bordeaux dogs with different body surface areas and ages.

Comparison of methods for determining platelet numbers and volume in Cavalier King Charles spaniels.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare platelet concentration in cavalier King Charles spaniels (CKCS) measured by different methods commonly used in veterinary hospitals and commercial laboratories. METHODS: Blood samples obtained from 41 CKCS [corrected] were analysed by impedance cell counter, laser cell counter and microscopic estimation. Quantitative buffy coat analysis was performed only on 17 samples, selected from CKCS [corrected] that had low platelet counts detected by cell counters. Platelet counts, platelet estimations and platelet parameters using these different methods were compared. RESULTS: The median platelet number was lower when estimated using impedance cell counter (1363x10(9)/I) with respect to laser cell counter (1723x10(9)/I), microscopic estimation (238x10(9)/I) [corrected] or quantitative buffy coat analyser (292x10(9)/I) [corrected] (P<0.01). Although impedance cell counter, laser cell counter and microscopic estimation were positively correlated, there was no acceptable agreement among methods. CKCS [corrected] with macrothrombocytes in blood smears had significantly lower counts on impedance cell counter, laser cell counter and microscopic estimation. The percentages of CKCS [corrected] with platelet count < 100x10(9)/I [corrected] were 34.1 per cent (impedance cell counter), 26.8 per cent (laser cell counter), 22.0 per cent (microscopic estimation) (not statistically different) and 5.8 per cent (quantitative buffy coat analyser) (P<0.05). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: CKCS [corrected] with macrothrombocytosis have low platelet counts on impedance cell counters, laser cell counters and microscopic estimation. CKCS [corrected] with low platelet counts may have a normal platelet crit detected by a quantitative buffy coat analyser and thus a normal circulating platelet mass.

The O3-Vet project: a veterinary electronic patient record based on the web technology and the ADT-IHE actor for veterinary hospitals.

A veterinary electronic patient record, compliant with the IT standards (HL7, DICOM and IHE), was developed at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan (Italy) in order to improve the veterinary hospital workflows, making the stored clinical data more homogenous and sharable, thereby increasing the integration with current and future software applications. The system was developed by open-source software in order to reduce the implementation and maintenance costs and to make the system sharable with other veterinary hospitals or research centers without additional costs. The system was tested from May to October 2006. Results show that the majority of the veterinarians involved in the test agreed on the advantages obtained by the use of application software concerning the availability of all the useful clinical data [71.4%], the quality of the diagnostic procedures [78.58%] and the efficiency [85.58%] of hospital activities.

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type-I-like syndrome in two cats.

Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) embodies a group of diseases in human patients and domestic animals that are characterized by hyperplasia or neoplasia, or both, of two or more endocrine tissues. The MEN-1 syndrome is associated with menin gene mutations that induce various combinations of parathyroid, pituitary, and pancreatic endocrine tumors in humans. Two male, Domestic Shorthair cats developed symmetric alopecia, insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus, and pituitary-dependent hyperadrenocorticism at 12 and 13 years of age. Examination of skin biopsy specimens revealed atrophic dermatosis associated with hyperadrenocorticism. In one cat, cutaneous lesions consistent with paraneoplastic alopecia associated with pancreatic adenocarcinoma also were evident. Multiple invasive pancreatic beta cell carcinomas, pituitary corticotroph adenomas, and thyroid C-cell and parathyroid chief cell hyperplasia were diagnosed on the basis of results of gross, histologic, and immunohistochemical findings in both cats. Pancreatic exocrine adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in both cats. One cat also had hepatocellular carcinoma. Exons 1-8 of the feline menin gene were sequenced and were found to bear 93% homology with the human gene sequence, and the corresponding amino acid sequences shared 98% homology. Purification of total RNA and amplification of cDNA from lesional tissues to document mutations in the feline menin gene sequence were unsuccessful. The combination of lesions observed was consistent with the diagnosis of MEN-1-like syndrome in both cats.

Italian neuropsychological instruments to assess memory, attention and frontal functions for developmental age.

In this study, a series of tests exploring long-term verbal memory (the Short Story Test), attention (a modified version of Attentional Matrices and the Trail Making Test) and frontal functions (a modified version of the Frontal Assessment Battery) have been standardised on an Italian population of 283 children aged 5-14. Raw scores for each test have been adjusted for a series of variables (child's age, years of parents' education, handedness, gender) and transformed in equivalent scores enabling direct comparison across measures. This study was promoted by LICE (the Italian League Against Epilepsy) in order to provide Italian instruments standardised on the developmental age population and to study some of the most frequently impaired cognitive functions in epilepsy.

Left caloric vestibular stimulation ameliorates right hemianesthesia.

BACKGROUND: Left caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS) transiently reduces impairments of right-brain-damaged patients with left unilateral neglect, including left hemianesthesia, contralateral to the side of the lesion (contralesional). Conversely, no effect on right contralesional hemianesthesia in left-brain-damaged patients is seen with right CVS. This discrepancy is unexplained. METHODS: The authors explored the effect of CVS on right- and left-brain-damaged patients with hemianesthesia. One left-brain-damaged patient had an fMRI study during tactile stimulation before and after left CVS. The same fMRI touch study, without CVS, was performed in neurologically unimpaired subjects. RESULTS: A transient remission of right hemianesthesia associated with left brain damage was observed, provided that cold CVS was administered to the left ear. In the left-brain-damaged patient studied with fMRI, left CVS modulated the neural response to right hand tactile stimuli of a portion of the secondary somatosensory area (SII) of the right hemisphere. In neurologically unimpaired subjects, fMRI scans showed that the same part of area SII in the right hemisphere was activated by ipsilateral right-sided touches and to a larger extent than area SII in the left hemisphere by left-sided touches. CONCLUSIONS: Left caloric vestibular stimulation is effective on both left and right hemianesthesia because it modulates the hemisphere that has a more complete representation of, or is capable to attend to, the whole somatosensory surface of the body. These results suggest a hardwired hemispheric asymmetry in hand representation, starting from a somatotopically organized brain region such as area SII.

Serological survey of leptospiral infection in kennelled dogs in Italy.

Two hundred and forty-five dogs were examined serologically for the presence of antibodies against different serovars of Leptospira interrogans. The dogs belonged to five different groups: group 1 was composed of clinically healthy pet dogs referred for a regular veterinary check-up visit or for vaccination; group 2 was composed of stray dogs; and groups 3, 4 and 5 were composed of dogs maintained in three different kennels which had varying standards of hygiene. Seventy-two out of the 245 dogs examined were seropositive for leptospirosis. In group 1, there were 3-4 per cent seropositive dogs; in group 2, 30.3 per cent; in group 3, 13.8 per cent; in group 4, 38.6 per cent; and in group 5, 49.2 per cent. This study demonstrates that leptospiral infection is common in dogs housed in kennels, despite most of them being vaccinated, and that crowding of animals into unsanitary quarters is associated with a high prevalence of infection. The most common infecting serovars found were bratislava and grippotyphosa, confirming recent observations that demonstrate a significant change in the epidemiology of canine leptospirosis.

Cytogenetic effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields of different magnetic flux densities.

Cytogenetic investigations were performed in human peripheral blood lymphocytes following exposure to 50 Hz magnetic fields alone or in combination with the chemical mutagen mitomycin C or with X-rays. It was found that magnetic fields up to 2500 microT did not significantly influence the chromosome aberration and sister chromatid exchange frequency. Also, the combined treatments failed to indicate the presence of any synergistic, potentiating, or antagonistic effect between the ELF magnetic fields and the mutagens. However, there were two exceptions: Cells exposed to 504 microT magnetic fields before and during cultivation displayed a statistically significant decrease in sister chromatid exchange frequency. Also, when cells were cultivated in the presence of 88.4 microT magnetic fields following X-ray exposures there was a significant increase in chromosome aberration frequency compared to X-ray exposure alone.

50 Hz magnetic field exposure influence on human performance and psychophysiological parameters: two double-blind experimental studies.

Two double-blind studies were performed to examine magnetic field (MF) exposure effects and to determine the impact of temporal variation (continuous vs. intermittent exposure) of 100 mu T(rms) 50 Hz MF diurnal exposure on psychological and psychophysiological parameters in healthy humans. Three cephalic exposure sessions of 30-min, i.e., sham, continuous, and intermittent (15 s ON/OFF cycles) MF conditions, were involved. Each subject participated in all sessions, which were spaced at 1-wk intervals. In each session, mood ratings and performance measures were obtained before, during, or after exposure and several electrophysiological data (event-related brain potentials [ERP]) were recorded after each exposure session. These criteria were chosen to evaluate sensory functions as well as automatic and voluntary attentional processes. In experiment 1, 21 healthy male volunteers (20 to 27 years of age) were studied. Ten subjects were exposed at 13:30 h, and 11 subjects were exposed at 16:30 h. Statistically significant changes in the amplitude of ERP were observed after MF exposure in the dichotic listening task, indexing selective attention processes. Eighteen of the 21 original male volunteers took part in experiment 2, undertaken to better understand the results related to information processing involved in selective attention and control for ultradian rhythmicity. Exposure time for all the subjects was at 13:30 h. The analysis of the data again revealed significant amplitude changes of the ERP recorded in the dichotic listening task. Moreover, they demonstrated ERP latency and reaction time slowing in the oddball paradigm, a visual discrimination task after real MF exposure. These results also indicate that a low level 50 Hz MF may have a slight influence on event-related potentials and reaction time under specific circumstances of sustained attention.

EEG evaluation in children and adolescents with chronic headaches.

UNLABELLED: In order to establish the usefulness of EEGs for the diagnosis of headache in children and adolescents, we retrospectively reviewed the records of 425 patients referred to our Paediatric Neurology Service because of recurrent headache. EEG was recorded ictally in 40 patients and interictally in 412 subjects. CONCLUSION: Our results confirm that the EEG is a very helpful tool, particularly in migraine with aura during the ictal phase, because it shows transient abnormalities that may support the diagnosis of this form of headache. On the contrary the EEG performed during the interictal phase is most often normal or it shows aspecific abnormalities with no relationship with to features.

Development of muscle pathology in canine X-linked muscular dystrophy. I. Delayed postnatal maturation of affected and normal muscle as revealed by myosin isoform analysis and utrophin expression.

Canine X-linked muscular dystrophy (CXMD) is genetically homologous to Duchenne muscular dystrophy and shares the severe myopathy and lethal clinical development of the human disease. We used immunohistochemistry to characterize the time course of postnatal expression of adult fast, adult slow and developmental myosin in the muscle of CXMD dogs, carriers and healthy controls. We also characterized the expression of utrophin and dystrophin. This detailed immunolocalization study confirmed that postnatal muscle maturation is delayed in normal dogs compared to other animals and humans, and is only achieved at around 60 days. In CXMD dogs major derangement of myosin expression became evident from about 15 days; there was a selective loss of fibers expressing fast myosin and persistence of developmental fibers compared to controls. In carriers, the proportion of dystrophin-deficient fibers, which mainly expressed fast myosin, decreased with age. In controls and carriers utrophin was absent from muscle fiber surfaces in 2-day-old animals but present between 15 and 30 days, to mostly disappear by 60 days. In dystrophic animals, sarcolemmal expression of utrophin was more marked and persistent. That immature neonatal muscle from control dogs normally contains sarcolemmal utrophin may have implications for the success of utrophin up-regulation therapy to correct the dystrophic phenotype. The data of this study provide important baseline information for further studies on the development and progression of pathological changes in the muscle of CXMD dogs.