Mandibular osteosarcoma in a goat

Introduction-A few large surveys on tumour prevalence in goats indicate that tumours in general are quite common in this species. Reviews of neoplastic diseases in goats indicate a prevalence ranging from 0,8 to 11%. However, osteogenic tumours arising from facial bones in goats are rare. Regarding oral localization only a few mesenchymal tumours have been described arising from the gengiva. Case presentation-A 4-year old, female crossbred goat was referred with a history of dysorexia and a slow growing painful mass on the face. On physical examination the animal showed poor body condition and the left side of the face was deformed by a voluminous mass which, at the inspection of the oral cavity, displaced the maxillary teeth. Differential diagnoses included os-teomyelitis and benign (osteoma, chondroma, ossifying and non ossifying fibroma, odontogenic tumours) as well as malignant (osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma) mesenchymal tumours arising from either the connective tissue and bone. The goat was euthanized because of the extension of the lesion and a complete necropsy was performed. Grossly, the face was deformed by the presence of a hard mass arising from the branch of the left mandible. Histologically the oral mass was composed of heterogeneous proliferation of malignant osteoblasts intermigled with brightly eosinophilic strands or island of osteoid matrix. Neoplastic cells, interpreted as malignant osteoblasts, were characterized by plump to round or spindle-shape morphology, with moderate basophilic cytoplasm and an eccentrically located voluminous nucleus containing a large prominent nucleolus. Mitotic figures were found and were either bipolar and atypical. At necropsy no metastases were found and the final diagnosis was non-metastasizing mandibular osteoblastic osteosarcoma. Conclusion-In conclusion, regardless the type of tumour, the goat was euthanized because of the extension and the severity of the lesion. Necropsy and histological examination were necessary to correctly classify the tumour as a non-metastasizing mandibular osteosarcoma

Tuberculosis in roe deer from Spain and Italy

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is a chronic infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Mycobacterium (Grange and others 1990). The detection of wildlife reservoirs of disease is important, particularly in areas where there is a relatively low incidence of the disease in domestic animals. Tuberculosis cases in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) are reported only sporadically, despite the wide distribution and the abundance of this cervid. Roe deer with TB have been reported in Germany (Schmidt 1938), Switzerland (Bouvier 1963), France (Zanella and others 2008) and the UK (Gunning 1985, Delahay and others 2007). This short communication is the first report of TB in roe deer in Spain and Italy, and discusses the implications of these findings for wildlife and livestock disease control. The prevalence of mycobacterial infections, such as TB and paratuberculosis, seems to be increasing in Spain. Wildlife species may act as disease reservoirs, so this short communication also elucidates the epidemiology of mycobacterial infections in species such as roe deer

Humoral and T-Cell Mediated Response after the Third Dose of mRNA Vaccines in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus on Belimumab

Objective: To evaluate humoral and T-cell cellular-mediated immune response after three doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) under Belimumab. Patients and methods: 12 patients on Belimumab and 13 age-matched healthy volunteers were recruited. Patients were in remission or in low disease activity, and they were taking no corticosteroids or only low doses. None of the patients and controls had detectable anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies due to previous exposure to the virus. All the patients received three doses of mRNA anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the humoral and cellular-mediated response were tested 4 weeks after the second dose (T0), 6 months after the second dose (T1) and 4 weeks after the third dose (T2). Comparison with the control group was performed at time T0 (i.e., 4 weeks after the second dose). Total anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibodies were analyzed using a diagnostic assay, while cellular-mediated response was evaluated using the interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). Results: A humoral response was documented in all the patients at T0 (median 459; IQR 225.25–758.5), but the antibody titer significantly declined from T0 to T1 (median 44.7; IQR: 30.3–202; p = 0.0066). At T2, the antibody titer significantly increased from T1 (median 2500; IQR: 2500–2500), and it was not different from T0 (respectively p < 0.0001, p = 0.66). Cellular-mediated response significantly declined from T0 to T1 (p = 0.003) but not from T0 to T2 (p = 0.3). No differences were found between patients and controls at T0 as regards both humoral and cellular responses (p = 1.0 and p = 0.09 for humoral and cellular responses, respectively). Conclusion: The third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine can restore both humoral and cellular immune response in SLE patients on Belimumab

Reduction of the ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (IF1) leads to visual impairment in vertebrates

In vertebrates, mitochondria are tightly preserved energy producing organelles, which sustain nervous system development and function. The understanding of proteins that regulate their homoeostasis in complex animals is therefore critical and doing so via means of systemic analysis pivotal to inform pathophysiological conditions associated with mitochondrial deficiency. With the goal to decipher the role of the ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (IF1) in brain development, we employed the zebrafish as elected model reporting that the Atpif1a−/− zebrafish mutant, pinotage (pnttq209), which lacks one of the two IF1 paralogous, exhibits visual impairment alongside increased apoptotic bodies and neuroinflammation in both brain and retina. This associates with increased processing of the dynamin-like GTPase optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), whose ablation is a direct cause of inherited optic atrophy. Defects in vision associated with the processing of OPA1 are specular in Atpif1−/− mice thus confirming a regulatory axis, which interlinks IF1 and OPA1 in the definition of mitochondrial fitness and specialised brain functions. This study unveils a functional relay between IF1 and OPA1 in central nervous system besides representing an example of how the zebrafish model could be harnessed to infer the activity of mitochondrial proteins during development

Educare alla mobilit\ue0 consapevole. Il continuum formativo nella didattica del progetto SicuraMente

Il contributo illustra i presupposti pedagogici, il percorso di ricerca-azione e i risultati del progetto triennale di educazione alla mobilit\ue0 svolto nelle scuole di ogni ordine e grado del Friuli Venezia Giulia

Osteocyte lacunae features in different chicken bones

Directive 2003/126/EC defines the method for the determination of constituents of animal origin for official control of feedingstuffs. One of the hardest problems for microscopist is the differentiation between mammalian and poultry bones on the basis of some characteristics as colour and borders of the fragments, shape and density of osteocyte lacunae. The shape of osteocyte lacuna in poultry and mammals is often described in different way, elliptic or roundish according with the Author(s). The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics of lacunae in chicken bones of different type. For this purpose, smashed fragments and histological sections of the same bone were compared in order to evaluate the microscopic aspect of lacunae in different breaking and trimming planes. According to the observations carried out, it was possible to infer that chicken osteocyte has a biconvex lens shape; however the different arrangement and some size variation of the osteocytes in the several bone segments influence the microscopic features of corresponding lacunae. Chicken bone is made of a parallel-fibered tissue, without osteons. This structure probably determines the plane fracture of the bone and consequently the different aspect of lacunae (from spindle-shaped to elliptic-roundish) we can see in chicken derived PAP (processed animal protein). For example, in the fragments obtained from smashed diaphysis, the prevalence of spindle-shaped lacunae is depending on the preferential breaking of the bone along longitudinal plane. Likewise, for the epiphysis, being made mostly by bone trabeculae with strange directions, the breaking happens along different planes, creating lacunae of various shape. Performing the official check of animal feedingstuffs, the presence of bone fragments with roundish or elliptic osteocyte lacunae induces the analyst to thinking that the meat and bone meal comes respectively from mammals and poultry or vice versa depending to the reference Author(s); apart from the final evaluation (also based on some other features of the fragments), it is important to consider that the chicken bones could show lacunae of different shapes (spindle, elliptic and roundish), in accordance with the type and the breaking of the involved skeleton segments