Genetic complexity and multiple infections with more Parvovirus species in naturally infected cats

Parvoviruses of carnivores include three closely related autonomous parvoviruses: canine parvovirus (CPV), feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) and mink enteritis virus (MEV). These viruses cause a variety of serious diseases, especially in young patients, since they have a remarkable predilection for replication in rapidly dividing cells. FPV is not the only parvovirus species which infects cats; in addition to MEV, the new variants of canine parvovirus, CPV-2a, 2b and 2c have also penetrated the feline host-range, and they are able to infect and replicate in cats, causing diseases indistinguishable from feline panleukopenia. Furthermore, as cats are susceptible to both CPV-2 and FPV viruses, superinfection and co-infection with multiple parvovirus strains may occur, potentially facilitating recombination and high genetic heterogeneity. In the light of the importance of cats as a potential source of genetic diversity for parvoviruses and, since feline panleukopenia virus has re-emerged as a major cause of mortality in felines, the present study has explored the molecular characteristics of parvovirus strains circulating in cat populations. The most significant findings reported in this study were (a) the detection of mixed infection FPV/CPV with the presence of one parvovirus variant which is a true intermediate between FPV/CPV and (b) the quasispecies cloud size of one CPV sample variant 2c. In conclusion, this study provides new important results about the evolutionary dynamics of CPV infections in cats, showing that CPV has presumably started a new process of readaptation in feline hosts

Diagnosis of sepsis in dogs by measuring carbonylated proteins (PCOs) and paraoxonase (PON-1)

An early diagnosis of sepsis could allow a better prognosis and avoid the abuse of antibiotic administration; unfortunately, in veterinary medicine, specific and sensitive markers of sepsis are not available.Because Protein Carbonyls (PCOs), that result from protein oxidation, are widely used in human medicine as sepsis markers , the aim of our study was to validate an ELISA kit (Enzolifesciences, 3V Chimica, Roma) on canine serum and to measure PCOs, after a preliminary validation study, in three groups (homogeneous for age and size): healthy dogs without clinical or laboratory abnormalities (A, n=14), dogs with septic (B, n=14) and non-septic inflammation (C, n=12) at the first presentation and without previous treatments. Moreover, Paraoxonase-1, a negative acute phase protein with anti-oxidant properties (PON-1) was measured in each group with a method already validated in dogs.A Kruskal-Wallis test followed by a Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to evaluate differences between groups.The ELISA method for measuring PCOs showed a very good precision (coefficient of variation <12%) and a good accuracy in spiking-recovery tests.Compared with controls, the concentration of PCOs was significantly higher either in dogs with sepsis (P<0.001) or in dogs with non-septic inflammation (P=0.005) but no significant differences were found between the two groups of sick dogs. Conversely, PON-1 was significantly lower in sick dogs compared with controls (P<0.001 for both groups) and in septic dogs compared with dogs with non-septic inflammation (P=0.001).A negative correlation between the two markers was found (P<0.001, r=-0.594) Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrated that both markers may discriminate dogs with sepsis with the other groups. However, PCO was less sensitive than PON-1 in diagnosing sepsis.Future studies should be focused on the association of PCOs with other inflammatory markers, as well as the possible prognostic role of PCOs based on the outcome of the enrolled patients

Monitoring the Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance in Companion Animals: Results from Clinical Isolates in an Italian University Veterinary Hospital

The role of companion animals in the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is still not well known. As part of a wider surveillance system, this study aimed to provide data about AMR in bacterial isolates from infections in companion animals referred to an Italian University Veterinary Hospital (VUH) from November 2020 to September 2022. A total of 940 isolates were identified with MALDI-TOF MS and subsequently the antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) for 12 antimicrobials was performed. Urine was the most commonly submitted specimen (54.92%) and Escherichia coli was the most common bacterial species isolated (36.06%). Out of the 940 isolates, 747 (79.47%) were nonsusceptible to at least one drug (AMR), while 420 (44.68%) were considered multidrug resistant (MDR). The highest nonsusceptibility percentages were recorded for clindamycin (59.65 %), erythromycin (58.96 %), ampicillin (52.85%), and enrofloxacin (48.19%). Alarming percentages were recorded also for ceftiofur (25.51%), amoxicillin–clavulanate (22.99%), and piperacillin–tazobactam (15.85%). In multivariable risk factors analysis, previous use of invasive devices ( in both cases) and previous use of antimicrobials ( in both cases) were statistically related with higher AMR and MDR percentages. Apart from a general evaluation, the study focused on specific bacterial species (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.) and specimens (blood cultures, urine from suspected healthcare-associated urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections), showing in both cases higher AMR and MDR percentages compared to average. These data highlight the urgency to further investigate AMR spread in pets and how passive surveillance systems can be effective tools to monitor AMR and to optimize antimicrobial use

Classification of Septic Shock Phenotypes Based on the Presence of Hypotension and Hyperlactatemia in Cats

open8noBackground: Three different phenotypes of septic shock based on changes in blood pressure and lactate are recognized in people. Dysoxic shock, representing the combination of fluid-refractory hypotension and hyperlactatemia, is characterized by greater disease severity and mortality compared to cryptic shock (hyperlactatemia alone) and vasoplegic shock (hypotension with normal blood lactate). Little is known about septic shock and specifically its phenotypes in cats. Objective: To analyze the characteristics and prognostic implications of three septic shock phenotypes in cats with sepsis. Methods: Cats with septic shock were prospectively included. Septic shock was defined by the presence of hypotension (mean blood pressure <60 mmHg) requiring vasopressor support and/or persistent hyperlactatemia (>4 mmol/L) and classified in three subgroups: dysoxic shock, vasoplegic shock and cryptic shock. Clinical and clinicopathological variables including APPLEfast and APPLEfull scores, occurrence of multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS; presence of at least two dysfunctional organs simultaneously) and outcome were compared among subgroups. Cats with sepsis showing normal blood pressure and lactate concentrations hospitalized during the study period were included as uncomplicated sepsis, and compared to cats with septic shock for selected variables. Length of hospital stay and mortality were evaluated in the whole study population. Odds ratios for mortality were calculated using logistic regression analysis. Significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: The study enrolled 48 cats with uncomplicated sepsis and 37 cats with septic shock (dysoxic shock n = 17; vasoplegic shock n = 11; cryptic shock n = 7). Cats with dysoxic shock had significantly higher APPLEfast and APPLEfull scores compared to vasoplegic and cryptic shock. Mortality rates were not significantly different among cryptic (57%), dysoxic (65%) and vasoplegic shock (91%), while MODS occurrence was significantly lower in cats with cryptic shock (57%) compared to patients affected by dysoxic (94%) and vasoplegic (100%) shock. Cats with septic shock had higher frequency of MODS and greater mortality rate than cats with uncomplicated sepsis. Conclusion: Despite similar in-hospital mortality, cats with dysoxic and vasoplegic shock are characterized by having higher occurrence of multi- organ dysfunction compared to cats affected by cryptic shock. Results from this study suggest novel means of identifying high-risk subgroups of septic cats.openTroia R.; Buzzurra F.; Ciuffoli E.; Mascalzoni G.; Foglia A.; Magagnoli I.; Dondi F.; Giunti M.Troia R.; Buzzurra F.; Ciuffoli E.; Mascalzoni G.; Foglia A.; Magagnoli I.; Dondi F.; Giunti M

Remarks on the neutrino oscillation formula

We show that the neutrino oscillation formula recently derived in the quantum field theory framework holds true despite the arbitrariness in the mass parameter for the flavor fields. This formula is exact and exhibits new features with respect to the usual Pontecorvo formula, which is however valid in the relativistic limit.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX, revised version with comments adde

The biomedical piglet: establishing reference intervals for haematology and clinical chemistry parameters of two age groups with and without iron supplementation

Background: The similarities between swine and humans in physiological and genomic patterns, and the great correlation in size and anatomy, make pigs extremely useful in preclinical studies. New-born piglets can represent a model for congenital and genetic diseases in new-born children. It is known that piglets may have significant differences in clinicopathological results compared to adult pigs. Therefore, adult laboratory reference intervals cannot be applied to piglets. The aim of this study was to compare haematological and chemical variables in piglets of two ages and determinate age-related reference intervals for commercial hybrid young pigs. Blood samples were collected under general anaesthesia from 130 animals divided into five- (P5) and 30- (P30) day-old piglets. Only P30 animals were treated with parenteral iron after birth. Samples were analysed using automated haematology (ADVIA 2120) and chemistry analysers, and age-related reference intervals were calculated. Results: Significant higher values of RBC, Hb and HCT were observed in P30 animals when compared to P5, with an opposite trend for MCV. These results were associated with a reduction of the RBC regeneration process and the thrombopoietic response. The TSAT and TIBC were significantly higher in P30 compared to P5; however, piglets remained iron deficient compared to adult reference intervals reported previously. Conclusions: In conclusion, this paper emphasises the high variability occurring in clinicopathological variables between new-born and 30-day-old pigs, and between piglets and adult pigs. This study provides valuable reference data for piglets at precise ages and could be used in the future as historical control improving the Reduction in animal experiments, as suggested by the 3Rs principle

Neutrino oscillations from relativistic flavor currents

By resorting to recent results on the relativistic currents for mixed (flavor) fields, we calculate a space-time dependent neutrino oscillation formula in Quantum Field Theory. Our formulation provides an alternative to existing approaches for the derivation of space dependent oscillation formulas and it also accounts for the corrections due to the non-trivial nature of the flavor vacuum. By exploring different limits of our formula, we recover already known results. We study in detail the case of one-dimensional propagation with gaussian wavepackets both in the relativistic and in the non-relativistic regions: in the last case, numerical evaluations of our result show significant deviations from the standard formula.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, RevTe

Mixing and oscillations of neutral particles in Quantum Field Theory

We study the mixing of neutral particles in Quantum Field Theory: neutral boson field and Majorana field are treated in the case of mixing among two generations. We derive the orthogonality of flavor and mass representations and show how to consistently calculate oscillation formulas, which agree with previous results for charged fields and exhibit corrections with respect to the usual quantum mechanical expressions.Comment: 8 pages, revised versio

Lepton charge and neutrino mixing in pion decay processes

We consider neutrino mixing and oscillations in quantum field theory and compute the neutrino lepton charge in decay processes where neutrinos are generated. We also discuss the proper definition of flavor charge and states and clarify the issues of the possibility of different mass parameters in field mixing.Comment: 13 page

Non-abelian gauge structure in neutrino mixing

We discuss the existence of a non-abelian gauge structure associated with flavor mixing. In the specific case of two flavor mixing of Dirac neutrino fields, we show that this reformulation allows to define flavor neutrino states which preserve the Poincar\'e structure. Phenomenological consequences of our analysis are explored.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure