Anaerobic consumers of monosaccharides in a moderately acidic fen

16S rRNA-based stable isotope probing identified active xylose- and glucose-fermenting Bacteria and active Archaea, including methanogens, in anoxic slurries of material obtained from a moderately acidic, CH4-emitting fen. Xylose and glucose were converted to fatty acids, CO2, H2, and CH4 under moderately acidic, anoxic conditions, indicating that the fen harbors moderately acid-tolerant xylose- and glucose-using fermenters, as well as moderately acid-tolerant methanogens. Organisms of the families Acidaminococcaceae, Aeromonadaceae, Clostridiaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and Pseudomonadaceae and the order Actinomycetales, including hitherto unknown organisms, utilized xylose- or glucose-derived carbon, suggesting that highly diverse facultative aerobes and obligate anaerobes contribute to the flow of carbon in the fen under anoxic conditions. Uncultured Euryarchaeota (i.e., Methanosarcinaceae and Methanobacteriaceae) and Crenarchaeota species were identified by 16S rRNA analysis of anoxic slurries, demonstrating that the acidic fen harbors novel methanogens and Crenarchaeota organisms capable of anaerobiosis. Fermentation-derived molecules are conceived to be the primary drivers of methanogenesis when electron acceptors other than CO2 are absent, and the collective findings of this study indicate that fen soils harbor diverse, acid-tolerant, and novel xylose-utilizing as well as glucose-utilizing facultative aerobes and obligate anaerobes that form trophic links to novel moderately acid-tolerant methanogen

Fatal post-anaesthetic pneumothorax in a dog

No abstract available

Application of a modified form of the Glasgow pain scale in a veterinary teaching centre in the Netherlands

The Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale was developed to measure acute pain in dogs in a hospital setting. in this investigation a modified version of the scale was applied in a centre with a different surgical case load and analgesic protocols, and where English is not the first language, to test its validity in a different clinical environment. The modified scale was used to score pain in 60 dogs during the 24 hours after surgery. Their levels of sedation and a clinical impression of their pain were scored at the same time. Three questions were considered; first, how the modified pain score was related to the pain assessed subjectively, secondly, how it related to variables such as the surgical procedure and the dog's health and thirdly, how it changed over time. The mean modified pain scores for the dogs rated subjectively as having no, mild, moderate or severe pain were significantly different, indicating that the modified scale distinguished between pain of different severities. The changes in the dogs' scores also followed the expected changes in their level of pain with time, providing empirical evidence that the scale measures pai

The effect of neuromuscular blockade on canine laparoscopic ovariectomy: A double-blinded, prospective clinical trial

The Effect of Neuromuscular Blockade on Canine Laparoscopic Ovariectomy: A Double-Blinded, Prospective Clinical Trial Bart Van Goethem, Diplomate ECVS, Sebastiaan Alexander van Nimwegen, PhD, Ies Akkerdaas, DVM, Joanna Claire Murrell, BVSc., PhD, Diplomate ECVAA, and Jolle Kirpensteijn, PhD, Diplomate ACVS & ECVS Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 108, 3584CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands Corresponding Author: Bart Van Goethem, Diplomate ECVS, Department of Small Animal Medicine and Clinical Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Gent University, Gent, Belgium E-mail: [email protected] Submitted July 2010 Accepted November 2011 DOI:10.1111/j.1532-950X.2011.00962.x Objective: To evaluate the effect of neuromuscular blockade (NMB) on surgical time and various anesthetic variables during laparoscopic ovariectomy in dogs. Study Design: Prospective, double-blinded, randomized clinical trial. Animals: Female dogs (n = 40). Methods: Laparoscopic ovariectomy by bipolar electrocoagulation was performed by 1 surgeon using a standardized protocol, where 1 ovary was removed under NMB, and the other without NMB. Surgical and anesthetic (respiratory and circulatory) variables were recorded for predetermined procedural stages and were statistically evaluated. Results: Mean total surgical time was 25.1 ± 6.3 minutes (range, 16–47 minutes). With NMB, mean duration of surgical excision of the ovary (5.7 ± 2.3 minutes) was not significantly changed compared to ovariectomy without NMB (5.9 ± 1.9 minutes). Arterial blood pressure was the only recorded anesthetic variable that significantly changed under NMB (5% decrease). Occurrence of intraoperative complications did not differ. In obese dogs, total surgical time was increased by 22%. Other variables, including occurrence of intraoperative mesovarial bleeding did not influence surgical duration. Conclusions: NMB did not significantly improve laparoscopic ovariectomy times and except for a 5% decrease in arterial blood pressure did not change any of the evaluated anesthetic and surgical variables