Cerebrospinal fluid lactate in dogs with inflammatory central nervous system disorders.

BACKGROUND Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate is frequently used as a biomarker in humans with inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) disorders including bacterial meningitis and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. HYPOTHESIS Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations are increased in a subset of dogs with inflammatory CNS disorders. ANIMALS One hundred two client-owned dogs diagnosed with inflammatory CNS disease. METHODS Case series. Cases were identified both prospectively at the time of diagnosis and retrospectively by review of a CSF biorepository. Cerebrospinal fluid lactate was analyzed with a commercially available, handheld lactate monitor. Subcategories of inflammatory disease were created for comparison (eg, steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis, meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology). RESULTS Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations were above reference range in 47% of dogs (median, 2.5 mmol/L; range, 1.0-11.7 mmol/L). There was no significant difference in lactate concentrations between disease subcategories (P = .48). Significant but weak correlations were noted between CSF lactate concentration and nucleated cell count (r = .33, P < .001), absolute large mononuclear cell count (r = .44, P < .001), absolute small mononuclear cell count (r = .39, P < .001), absolute neutrophil cell count (r = .24, P = .01), and protein (r = .44, P < .001). No correlation was found between CSF lactate concentration and CSF red blood cell count (P = .58). There was no significant association of CSF lactate concentration with survival (P = .27). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations could serve as a rapid biomarker of inflammatory CNS disease in dogs

Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations in dogs with seizure disorders.

BACKGROUND Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate concentrations increase after seizure activity in many human patients independent of the underlying disease process. The effect of seizure activity on CSF lactate concentration in dogs is unknown. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentration is unaffected by seizure activity in dogs and is more dependent on the underlying disease process causing the seizures. ANIMALS One-hundred eighteen client-owned dogs with seizure disorders. METHODS Case series. Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentration was determined using a commercially available lactate monitor. Seizure semiology, time from last seizure to CSF collection, number of seizures within the 72 hours preceding CSF collection, and clinical diagnosis were recorded. RESULTS Dogs with focal seizures had higher CSF lactate concentrations than did those with generalized seizures (P = .03). No differences in lactate concentrations were found among dogs with single seizures, cluster seizures or status epilepticus (P = .12), among dogs with CSF collection at different time points after the last seizure activity (P = .39) or among dogs having different numbers of seizures within the 72 hours preceding CSF collection (P = .42). A significant difference (P = .001) was found in CSF lactate concentrations among diagnostic groups, and dogs with inflammatory and neoplastic disease had higher concentrations than did dogs with idiopathic or unknown epilepsy. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentration is minimally affected by seizure activity in dogs and increased concentrations are more likely associated with the underlying disease process

Cerebrospinal fluid lactate in dogs with inflammatory central nervous system disorders

BACKGROUND Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate is frequently used as a biomarker in humans with inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) disorders including bacterial meningitis and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. HYPOTHESIS Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations are increased in a subset of dogs with inflammatory CNS disorders. ANIMALS One hundred two client-owned dogs diagnosed with inflammatory CNS disease. METHODS Case series. Cases were identified both prospectively at the time of diagnosis and retrospectively by review of a CSF biorepository. Cerebrospinal fluid lactate was analyzed with a commercially available, handheld lactate monitor. Subcategories of inflammatory disease were created for comparison (eg, steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis, meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology). RESULTS Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations were above reference range in 47% of dogs (median, 2.5 mmol/L; range, 1.0-11.7 mmol/L). There was no significant difference in lactate concentrations between disease subcategories (P = .48). Significant but weak correlations were noted between CSF lactate concentration and nucleated cell count (r = .33, P < .001), absolute large mononuclear cell count (r = .44, P < .001), absolute small mononuclear cell count (r = .39, P < .001), absolute neutrophil cell count (r = .24, P = .01), and protein (r = .44, P < .001). No correlation was found between CSF lactate concentration and CSF red blood cell count (P = .58). There was no significant association of CSF lactate concentration with survival (P = .27). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentrations could serve as a rapid biomarker of inflammatory CNS disease in dogs

The invention of sadism? The limits of neologisms in the history of sexuality

How important is a new word for the development of newly imagined sexual pathology? In the case of the neologism 'sadism' at the fin de siècle, this invention was strangely both pivotal and incidental. Tracking sexual concepts, as Laqueur does for masturbation, requires that the neologisms invented at precise historic moments be both recontextualized in relation to earlier discourses, and problematized as stable constructs in their ongoing development. This article is a genealogical sketch of this kind in relation to 'sadism', as part of a larger inquiry into how this sexual construct became available to the Frankfurt School philosophers and as an explanation for Nazi genocidal cruelty

Media and the Imaginary in History

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Media History on 19th March 2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13688804.2014.898904This paper discusses how media theory and history should approach specimens of evidence about the cultural reception of media pertaining to the realms of the fantastic, such as speculations, predictions, dreams, and other forms of fantasy regarding media. It argues that the role of the imaginary in the history of media can be fully comprehended only by employing a perspective which is dynamic in time. In different phases of a medium's evolution, in fact, we find different fantasies; it follows that we need specific approaches to study them. The article discusses fantasies which are specific to three stages in media change: those preceding the actual invention of a medium; those accompanying the earliest period after the introduction of a new medium; and those connected to old media. © 2014 Taylor and Francis