Comparing Visual-Only and Visual-Palpation Post-Mortem Lung Scoring Systems in Slaughtering Pigs

Respiratory diseases continue to pose significant challenges in pig production, and the assessment of lung lesions at the abattoir can provide valuable data for epidemiological investigations and disease surveillance. The evaluation of lung lesions at slaughter is a relatively simple, fast, and straightforward process but variations arising from different abattoirs, observers, and scoring methods can introduce uncertainty; moreover, the presence of multiple scoring systems complicates the comparisons of different studies, and currently, there are limited studies that compare these systems among each other. The objective of this study was to compare validated, simplified, and standardized schemes for assessing surface-related lung lesions in slaughtered pigs and analyze their reliability under field conditions. This study was conducted in a high-throughput abattoir in Italy, where two different scoring methods (Madec and Blaha) were benchmarked using 637 plucks. Statistical analysis revealed a good agreement between the two methods when severe or medium lesions were observed; however, their ability to accurately identify healthy lungs and minor injuries diverged significantly. These findings demonstrate that the Blaha method is more suitable for routine surveillance of swine respiratory diseases, whereas the Madec method can give more detailed and reliable results for the respiratory and welfare status of the animals at the farm level

The use of antimicrobials in Italian heavy pig fattening farms

Data on antimicrobial use (AMU) in heavy pig production (>150 kg) are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the AMU in this production. Data from 2015 were collected for 143 fattening farms. The AMU was estimated through a treatment index per 100 days (TI100) using the defined daily dose animal for Italy (DDDAit). When possible, a comparison with the European Medicines Agency's defined daily doses for animals (DDDvet) was performed. The median TI100 was 10.7 (range, 0.2-49.5). Group treatments represented 94.6% of overall consumption. The AMU calculated using DDDAit and DDDvet were strongly correlated (rho = 0.976; p < 0.001). The AMU was negatively correlated with injectables use (rho = -0.46, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with oral products (rho = 0.21, p = 0.014), premixes (rho = 0.26, p = 0.002), and mortality (rho = 0.18; p = 0.027). Farm size was negatively correlated with AMU (rho = -0.29, p < 0.001). Smaller farms were more frequently above the median TI100 (odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval = 1.2-4.7), suggesting that they may have lower biosecurity and management standards. The results of this study should provide useful insights for the development of an Italian monitoring system

Pathology reporting in neuroendocrine neoplasms of the digestive system: everything you always wanted to know but were too afraid to ask

During the 5th NIKE (Neuroendocrine tumors Innovation in Knowledge and Education) meeting, held in Naples, Italy, in May 2019, discussions centered on the understanding of pathology reports of gastroenetropancreactic neuroendocrine neoplasms. In particular, the main problem concerned the difficulty that clinicians experience in extrapolating relevant information from neuroendocrine tumor pathology reports. During the meeting, participants were asked to identify and rate issues which they have encountered, for which the input of an expert pathologist would have been appreciated. This article is a collection of the most rated questions and relative answers, focusing on three main topics: 1) morphology and classification; 2) Ki67 and grading; 3) immunohistochemistry. Patient management should be based on multidisciplinary decisions, taking into account clinical and pathology-related features with clear comprehension between all health care professionals. Indeed, pathologists require clinical details and laboratory findings when relevant, while clinicians require concise and standardized reports. In keeping with this last statement, the minimum requirements in pathology datasets are provided in this paper and should be a baseline for all neuroendocrine tumor professionals

Commentary: Case Report: Abdominal Lymph Node Metastases of Parathyroid Carcinoma: Diagnostic Workup, Molecular Diagnosis, and Clinical Management

In the issue of March 2021, Lenschow et al. reported the case of a 46-year-old woman with recurrent, programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) negative, tumor mutational burden (TMB)-high parathyroid carcinoma (PC), who showed stable disease as her best response on imaging, and a three-fold drop in PTH after treatment with intravenous pembrolizumab. Given the remarkable results obtained by Lenschow et al. with the anti-PD-1 agent pembrolizumab in the above-mentioned case, we performed an extensive search for possible further relevant data sources, including a) full published articles in international online databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase); b) preliminary reports in selected international meeting abstract repositories (American Society of Clinical Oncology, ASCO; European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society, ENET; European Society for Medical Oncology, ESMO); c) registered clinical trials in the U.S. National Institutes of Health registry of clinical trials (http://clinicaltrials.gov) and in any primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)

Il macello come stazione di monitoraggio del benessere suino: valutazione delle lesioni alla coda e alla cute attraverso il sistema ClassyFarm

La morsicatura della coda nei suini è un grave problema non solo di tipo economico ma anche di benessere animale; Il macello potrebbe essere uno strumento utile per il monitoraggio della salute e del benessere in allevamento, andando a valutare quelli che vengono definiti indicatori iceberg come le lesioni alla coda e alla cute dei suini. Lo scopo di questo studio è stato quello di valutare al macello, attraverso appositi sistemi di scoring, la presenza di lesioni alla coda e alla cute in suini pesanti (165 Kg) allevati coda integra e, dove possibile, compararlo con altri lavori presenti in letteratura. Tail biting in pigs is a serious (severe) economic problem, but also of animal welfare. The slaughterhouse could be a useful tool for monitoring of health and welfare in farm, going to assess “iceberg indicators” such as injuries tail and skin lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of tail and skin lesions in heavy pigs with intact tail, means of specific scoring systems and, where possible, to compare with the results of other study

Annular Pigmented Macules on the Upper Trunk: A Quiz

Abstract is missing (Quiz

Intestinal Endometriosis: Mimicker of Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Endometriosis of the intestinal tract (IE) is thought to mimic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) both clinically and pathologically but robust data on a large unselected series are missing. Diagnostic problems arise both at colonoscopy as well as on resection specimens for IE when IBD-like features are encountered. The aim was to establish the frequency of IBD-like histology in IE and which type of histological lesions are shared by these two entities