α-chloralose poisoning in a cat

A five-year-old domestic cat with acute unexplainable neurological signs was presented for postmortem examination. Clinically, the cat showed an acute onset of ataxia, depressed mentation and continuous twitching/ seizure activity in the morning after having been outside overnight. Despite immediate treatment, the cat# progressed within 24 hours to a comatose state, opisthotonus and severe miosis unresponsive to light. Given a poor prognosis, euthanasia was elected. Gross findings were disappointing and consisted of a nonspecific lung oedema and congested lungs and spleen. Surprisingly, within the stomach and intestines, fragments of cockshafers were found. Histological examination confirmed the gross findings and additionally showed evidence of mild brain oedema, but failed to identify a cause for the severe clinical signs. In a final attempt to solve the case, a urine sample was tested for toxic substances and it was found to contain a significant amount of α-chloralose. This finding was unexpected

Fumonisin B1 Toxicity in Grower-Finisher Pigs: A Comparative Analysis of Genetically Engineered Bt Corn and non-Bt Corn by Using Quantitative Dietary Exposure Assessment Modeling

In this study, we investigate the long-term exposure (20 weeks) to fumonisin B1 (FB1) in grower-finisher pigs by conducting a quantitative exposure assessment (QEA). Our analytical approach involved both deterministic and semi-stochastic modeling for dietary comparative analyses of FB1 exposures originating from genetically engineered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-corn, conventional non-Bt corn and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) derived from Bt and/or non-Bt corn. Results from both deterministic and semi-stochastic demonstrated a distinct difference of FB1 toxicity in feed between Bt corn and non-Bt corn. Semi-stochastic results predicted the lowest FB1 exposure for Bt grain with a mean of 1.5 mg FB1/kg diet and the highest FB1 exposure for a diet consisting of non-Bt grain and non-Bt DDGS with a mean of 7.87 mg FB1/kg diet; the chronic toxicological incipient level of concern is 1.0 mg of FB1/kg of diet. Deterministic results closely mirrored but tended to slightly under predict the mean result for the semi-stochastic analysis. This novel comparative QEA model reveals that diet scenarios where the source of grain is derived from Bt corn presents less potential to induce FB1 toxicity than diets containing non-Bt corn

Variation in The Vitamin D Receptor Gene is Associated With Multiple Sclerosis in an Australian Population

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) resulting in accumulating neurological disability. The disorder is more prevalent at higher latitudes. To investigate VDR gene variation using three intragenic restriction fragment length polymorphisms (Apa I, Taq I and Fok I) in an Australian MS case-control population, one hundred and four Australian MS patients were studied with patients classified clinically as Relapsing Remitting MS (RR-MS), Secondary Progressive MS (SP-MS) or Primary Progressive MS (PP-MS). Also, 104 age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched controls were investigated as a comparative group. Our results show a significant difference of genotype distribution frequency between the case and control groups for the functional exon 9 VDR marker Taq I (p_Gen = 0.016) and interestingly, a stronger difference for the allelic frequency (p_All = 0.0072). The Apa I alleles were also found to be associated with MS (p_All = 0.04) but genotype frequencies were not significantly different from controls (p_Gen = 0.1). The Taq and Apa variants are in very strong and significant linkage disequilibrium (D' = 0.96, P < 0.0001). The genotypic associations are strongest for the progressive forms of MS (SP-MS and PP-MS). Our results support a role for the VDR gene increasing

Influence of mycotoxin zearalenone and its derivatives (alpha and beta zearalenol) on apoptosis and proliferation of cultured granulosa cells from equine ovaries

BACKGROUND: The mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEA) and its derivatives, alpha and beta-zearalenol (alpha and beta-ZOL), synthesized by genera Fusarium, often occur as contaminants in cereal grains and animal feeds. The importance of ZEA on reproductive disorders is well known in domestic animals species, particularly in swine and cattle. In the horse, limited data are available to date on the influence of dietary exposure to ZEA on reproductive health and on its in vitro effects on reproductive cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ZEA and its derivatives, alpha and beta-ZOL, on granulosa cells (GCs) from the ovaries of cycling mares. METHODS: The cell proliferation was evaluated by using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test after 3 days exposure at different concentrations of ZEA and its derivatives (from 1 × 10-7 to 0.1 microM). The apoptosis induction was evaluated after 1 day exposure, by DNA analysis using flow cytometry. RESULTS: An increase in cell proliferation with respect to the control was observed in the presence of ZEA at 1 × 10-3 and 1 × 10-4 microM and apoptosis was induced by all mycotoxins at different concentrations. CONCLUSION: The simultaneous presence of apoptosis and proliferation in GC cultures treated with zearalenones could indicate that these mycotoxins could be effective in inducing follicular atresia. These effects of zearalenones may result from both direct interaction with oestrogen-receptors as well as interaction with the enzymes 3alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD), involved in the synthesis and metabolism of endogenous steroid hormones. These cellular disturbances, described for the first time in equine GCs cultured in vitro, could be hypothesized as referred to reproductive failures of unknown ethiology in the mare