Concurrent gastrointestinal signs in hypothyroid dogs

Few observations about prevalence and features of gastrointestinal (GI) signs in hypothyroid dogs (hypoT-dogs) are available.The study aimed (1) to evaluate concurrent GI signs in hypoT-dogs; (2) to analyze clinico-pathological and ultrasound features ofhypoT-dogs with and w/out GI signs, and (3) to analyzed GI signs follow-up after thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT).Medical records of hypoT-dogs from two Veterinary Teaching Hospitals were retrospectively reviewed. Dogs were classified ashypothyroid if TT4 or fT4 were low/normal with normal/high TSH or inadequate TSH-stimulation test response. Clinical history, GIsigns (vomiting, diarrhea, constipation), hematobiochemical parameters and abdominal ultrasound were collected. HypoT-dogs were divided based on the presence of at least one GI signs (GI group and not-GI group). Twenty-seven GI dogs had 3-4 weeks recheck from the beginning of THRT and information on GI signs were recorded. A total of 166 dogs were included (GI group, n=45, 27%; not-GI group, n=121, 73%). GI dogs showed nausea (42%), vomiting(40%), constipation (22%), large bowel diarrhea (40%), small bowel diarrhea (4%) and aspecific diarrhea (40%). No significant difference between GI and not-GI groups on hematobiochemical parameters was found. GI group had significantly higherfrequency (20%) of large intestine involvement than not-GI group at the ultrasound (P = 0.03; Chi-square test). Twenty-one out of27 GI dogs had a resolution of GI signs at recheck (P = 0.0001; McNemar test). Most of hypoT-dogs had concurrent GI signs mainly due to large bowel involvement. After THRT beginning the concurrent GI signs in hypoT-dogs seem to be reduce

Protective Human Leucocyte Antigen Haplotype, HLA-DRB1*01-B*14, against Chronic Chagas Disease in Bolivia

Chronic Chagas disease consists of four different forms categorized on the basis of their clinical manifestations, namely; cardiac, digestive, cardiodigestive and indeterminate. In Latin America, there are 8–10 million seropositive persons who are at risk of, or have already developed serious clinical complications and who have limited access to effective treatment. The cardiac and digestive forms are characterized by tissue damage caused by persistent infection of Trypanosoma cruzi and are thought to be modulated by host immunity. In our large scale screening for chronic Chagas disease in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, hearts and colons of 229 seropositive patients were examined. We found 31.4% of patients had abnormal electrocardiograms (ECGs), 15.7% presented with megacolon, 5.2% had a combination of abnormal ECG and megacolon, and 58.1% were of indeterminate status. Previously, we attempted to ascertain whether parasite genetic polymorphism might account for the differences in clinical manefestations, by analyzing parasite DNA taken from the same study group (with the addition of a further 62 megacolon post-operational patients). We found no relationships between parasite lineages and clinical disease form. The present study reveals that host HLA polymorphisms associate with clinical manifestations of Chagas

Profound Depletion of HIV-1 Transcription in Patients Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy during Acute Infection

Early intervention resulted in profound depletion of PBMC expressing HIV-1 RNA. This is contrary to chronically infected patients who predominantly showed continuous UsRNA expression on cART. Thus, antiretroviral treatment initiated during the acute phase of infection prevented establishment or expansion of long-lived transcriptionally active viral cellular reservoirs in peripheral blood

Feline low-grade alimentary lymphoma: an emerging entity and a potential animal model for human disease

Background: Low-grade alimentary lymphoma (LGAL) is characterised by the infiltration of neoplastic T-lymphocytes, typically in the small intestine. The incidence of LGAL has increased over the last ten years and it is now the most frequent digestive neoplasia in cats and comprises 60 to 75% of gastrointestinal lymphoma cases. Given that LGAL shares common clinical, paraclinical and ultrasonographic features with inflammatory bowel diseases, establishing a diagnosis is challenging. A review was designed to summarise current knowledge of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of feline LGAL. Electronic searches of PubMed and Science Direct were carried out without date or language restrictions. Results: A total of 176 peer-reviewed documents were identified and most of which were published in the last twenty years. 130 studies were found from the veterinary literature and 46 from the human medicine literature. Heterogeneity of study designs and outcome measures made meta-analysis inappropriate. The pathophysiology of feline LGAL still needs to be elucidated, not least the putative roles of infectious agents, environmental factors as well as genetic events. The most common therapeutic strategy is combination treatment with prednisolone and chlorambucil, and prolonged remission can often be achieved. Developments in immunohistochemical analysis and clonality testing have improved the confidence of clinicians in obtaining a correct diagnosis between LGAL and IBD. The condition shares similarities with some diseases in humans, especially human indolent T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Conclusions: The pathophysiology of feline LGAL still needs to be elucidated and prospective studies as well as standardisation of therapeutic strategies are needed. A combination of conventional histopathology and immunohistochemistry remains the current gold-standard test, but clinicians should be cautious about reclassifying cats previously diagnosed with IBD to lymphoma on the basis of clonality testing. Importantly, feline LGAL could be considered to be a potential animal model for indolent digestive T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, a rare condition in human medicine

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services

United States Geological Survey Report Bulletin 931-C

Abstract: The tin and copper deposits at Majuba Hill, Pershing County, Nevada are in a partly brecciated plug of Tertiary rhyolite porphyry, which is altered nearly everywhere to quartz and sericite and in some places is intensely tourmalinized. The tin mineral, cassiterite, appears to be associated with the alteration, for the single concentration of it was formed by replacement of altered breccia. Brecciated and altered rock is, however, only a general guide to potentially tin-bearing ground, and not a specific guide to ore shoots, for most of such rock appears to contain only small amounts of cassiterite, widely and unevenly distributed. The known deposit, which is exposed only underground, is at most 20 by 20 by 10 feet in size, and may contain about 12,000 pounds of metallic tin. The deposit is cut off by a normal fault, which apparently is of small displacement, and the footwall segment has not been found. The copper deposit is in the same normal fault, about 300 feet south of the earlier-formed tin deposit. From it about 4,000 tons of 12 percent copper ore was mined in 1915-18, but none has been mined since and no copper ore is now in sight