Systolic dysfunction by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography in dogs with parvoviral enteritis.

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES: Parvoviral enteritis (PVE) can cause either primary or secondary myocardial injury; the latter is associated with systemic inflammatory response syndrome and sepsis. Strain (St) and strain rate (SR) are relatively new speckle tracking echocardiographic (STE) variables used to assess myocardial function and are less influenced by preload and volume status than are conventional variables. The aim of this study was to evaluate systolic function in dogs with PVE using two-dimensional STE. ANIMALS: Forty-five client-owned dogs were included. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dogs were classified into four groups: healthy (n = 9), PVE-mild (n = 15), PVE-severe (n = 13) and PVE-died (n = 8). Left ventricular global and segmental myocardial St and SR were assessed in radial, circumferential and longitudinal axes in the right parasternal transverse and apical 4-chamber views. In the circumferential and longitudinal axes, the value of each segment was determined separately at the endocardial and epicardial levels. RESULTS: Compared to healthy animals, all dogs with PVE showed significantly impaired St and SR values, mainly for PVE-severe and PVE-died groups. Moreover, the lowest SR value was observed in the circumferential axis at the mid-septal epicardial segment in the PVE-died group. For this variable, a cut-off value of 0.95 s-1 demonstrated 100% sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing between PVE-severe and PVE-died groups. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, all dogs with PVE developed systolic dysfunction, which was more severe in non-survivors. Assessment of St and SR in dogs with PVE might be clinically useful for evaluating haemodynamic status and developing suitable therapeutic strategies to improve prognosis.

[Pre-embryo development in rats treated with oxcarbazepine in the first four days after insemination]. / Desenvolvimento pré-embrionário em ratas tratadas com oxcarbazepina nos quatro primeiros dias após a inseminação.

UNLABELLED: Oxcarbazepine is a highly efficacious antiepileptic drug which has very few side effects and has been poorly investigated as to its effects during human and animal gestation. PURPOSE: To verify if the administration of oxcapazepine to female rats in the first four days after fertilization alters the viability or development of the pre-embryo. METHODS: Wistar rats were treated with 20 or 200mg oxcarbazepine/Kg body weight by oral gavage, 1,2,3,or 4 days after insemination or, consecutively, from the first to de fourth day aiming at very fine the amount and the development up to the expanded blastocyst stage. Maternal body weight and signs such as hair bristling and alteration of the locomotion activity were observed in order to verify any signs of maternal toxicity. A number of corpora lutea and ovaries weight were noted for the analysis of the animal reproductive capacity. RESULTS: Neither maternal body weight losses nor any physical alteration indicative of discomfort to the rats was observed. Ovaries weight and number of corpora lutea did not differ between treated and control animals. The average of pre-embryos per mother, the index of embryonic losses, the proportion of expanded blastocysts in relation to the total number of pre-embryos and the average of expanded blastocyst/mother did not differ between treated and control animals. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that oxcarbazepine administered to female rats following the therapeutic procedure mentioned above, did not show any toxic effect on the mother and did not alter the pre-embryo development.

[A transference from somewhere else: reevaluation of the controversies between Melanie Klein and Anna Freud (of noise and silence)]. / Un transfert venu d'ailleurs: réévaluation des controverses entre Melanie Klein et Anna Freud (du bruit et du silence).

Starting from The Freud-Klein Controversies, the author explores the historical reality of these controversies and their transformations into myth which give them the appearance of titanic fights. The verification of the different periods, the description of the variations in themes and style of intervention of the principal actors of these debates show aspects of the way a psychoanalytic institute works and of the theoretical elaboration in psychoanalysis: these appear very different from what the myth suggests. The major function of myth is, as Freud noted and Strachey reminds us, to hide very trite, even shameful realities. History and myth, theoritical effort and institutional life are all organized from and around transference, a major axis of psychoanalytic thought. When we organize our psychoanalytic lives in societies, we have the pride or the vanity of participating in a great historical movement. This goes back to the work of transference in institutional life that involves primal objects in the crudeness of their sexuality. Such is the constraining strength of transference. Being fully conscious of it, like Stratchey or Balint show us, enables to alleviate its violence and stimulate creativity.