Diagnostic evaluation of a point-of-care test for culture and microbial susceptibility testing in canine dermatological infections in clinical practice

Background and Aim: Empirical antimicrobial therapy is frequently given in superficial bacterial folliculitis (SBF) and otitis externa (OE) in dogs, especially for the initial clinical presentation. Culture and subsequent antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) are generally limited to chronic cases with poor response to initial therapy. Several factors contribute to the failure to implement the use of AST in veterinary practice, i.e., long laboratory turnaround time or special requirements for sample shipping. Point-of-care (PoC) testing might reduce laboratory turnaround time and costs and the risk of emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens. This study evaluated the Speed Biogram\u2122 PoC test in canine SBF and OE compared with conventional methods for culture and AST. Materials and Methods: Thirty-four canine samples were analyzed: eleven from SBF, seven from bacterial OE, four from mixed OE, six from Malassezia spp. OE, and six negative controls. Sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of the PoC test and the agreement between the PoC test and conventional methods were evaluated. Results: Se and Sp of PoC test in discriminating between healthy and unhealthy subjects were 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] 87.66-100.00) and 100% (95% CI 54.1-100.0), respectively. For bacterial identification, the k value was 0.532. Se and Sp of PoC tests for AST were 81.73% (95% CI 72.95-88.63) and 93.10% (95% CI 88.86-96.98), respectively with a total good agreement between tests (mean k=0.714), but major (8/27) and very major (19/27) errors were observed in 55% of bacterial conventional culture-positive samples. Conclusion: PoC test can identify dogs with SBF and OE, but AST is not sufficiently accurate. The lack of susceptibility testing for methicillin makes this test inappropriate for use in small animal practice

Evaluation of Feline Packed Red Blood Cell Units Obtained by Blood Sedimentation and Stored for 42 Days for Transfusion Purposes

Component therapy involves separation of whole blood (WB) into its components (packed red blood cells\u2014PRBCs\u2014and plasma), for specific replacement therapy and to reduce transfusion reactions. In cats, blood for transfusion is commonly collected using an open system and administered as WB, in part because of the challenge of preparing components from a small blood volume. Feline blood has a high erythrocyte sedimentation rate; therefore, if the syringe containing collected blood is placed upright, plasma can be removed from the red cells shortly after collection for separate storage of plasma and PRBCs. The aim of this study was to assess the characteristics of feline PRBC units obtained by blood sedimentation both at collection and after storage for 42 days. Blood was collected from fourteen feline blood donors into three 20-ml syringes pre-charged with CPDA-1:blood ratio of 1:7 using an open system. A pre-donation CBC was performed in each donor. The three syringes were allowed to sediment for approx. 1 hour at room temperature. Then plasma was aseptically expressed into plain transfer bags and RBC expressed into another transfer bag pre-charged with 10 ml of SAG-M. PRBCs units were stored in a blood-dedicated refrigerator and sampled using blood bag segments at preparation time (D0) and after 42 days storage (D42). On pre-donation blood and on PRBC units at D0 and D42 the following parameters were evaluated: I) hematological parameters (RBC, Hb, Hct, WBC, PLT); II) percentage hemolysis; III) morphological index (only for PRBC units), scored of 0 to 3 based on echinocyte transformation of the normal discocyte; IV) aerobic and anaerobic blood culture (only for PRBC units). From donor to PRBC units there was a significant increase in RBC count (mean increase +1886\ub1SD1399 \u3bcL/103), Hb concentration (+2.8\ub12.2 g/dl), Hct percentage (+8.3\ub15.5%). Significant reduction was found in PLT count (-249\ub1189 \u3bcL/103). Comparing PRBC at D0 and D42 a significant increase was found in percentage hemolysis (+1.2%), morphological index (+0.9) and a significant reduction in RBC count (-460\ub1679 \u3bcL/103), Hct percentage (-3.2\ub13.5%), WBC count (median -2589 \u3bcL/103), and PLT count (median -43 \u3bcL/10). All blood cultures were negative for bacterial growth. PRBC units obtained by sedimentation of donated blood appear to be a suitable blood component for treatment of normovolemic anemia. However, storage for 42 days, as suggested for canine and feline PRBC units, resulted in significant hematological changes that could reduce oxygen delivery after transfusion

Evaluation of feline red blood cells collected with an open system and stored for 35 days as whole blood units

Introduction: The increasing access to veterinary hospital blood banks and commercial sources of feline blood products means that transfusion therapy is more widely available to veterinarians and feline stored blood products are used more often. Despite the increasing availability of feline blood collected and stored for transfusion purposes, few studies have investigated storage lesions in feline whole blood (FWB) units and no study has evaluated hematological changes in FWB units. The objective of this study was to assess changes in feline RBCs collected and stored for transfusion purposes as FWB units. Methods:A prospective, laboratory invitrostudy wasconducted. Twelve nonleukoreduced FWB units were collected with an open system using three 20-mL syringes prefilled with citrate, phos- phate, dextrose, and adenine (CPDA-1) preservative-anticoagulant solution with ratio with blood of 1:7 from anesthetized feline blood donors. Units were stored in a blood bank dedicated refrigerator and sampled every 7 days (D7, D14, D21, D28) from collection (D0) to the end of storage (35 days, D35). At each time point, the following were evaluated: (1) hematological parameters (RBC, HGB, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW); (2) percentage of hemolysis; (3) morphological index, scored of 0 to 4 based on echinocyte transformation of the normal discocyte; and (4) aerobic and anaerobic blood culture. Results were statistically compared to D0, with t-test or Wilcoxon test, as appropriate with statistical significance set at P < 0.01. Results: There was no significant difference in hematological parameters at any time point with respect to D0. Significant increases were found in percentage of hemolysis and morphological index starting from 21 days of storage (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.0039, respectively). Mean hemolysis percentage value was less than 1% up to 21 days of storage. All blood cultures were negative for bacterial growth. Conclusion: RBCs in FWB units collected with an open system can undergo some significant hematological changes, but these results suggest that storage for up to 21 days is safe. In vivo studies are required to establish if these changes affect the ability of stored RBCs to circulate and provide adequate oxygen delivery after transfusion

Hematological, biochemical and microbiological evaluation of feline whole blood units collected using an open system and stored for 35 days

Despite the increasing availability of feline blood, which is collected and stored for transfusion purposes, few studies have assessed the effect of storage on feline whole blood (WB) units. The purpose of this study was to investigate selected hematologic and biochemical changes during storage of feline WB units and to determine when they occurred. Data from a quality control program for WB units was used in this study. Twelve feline WB units, collected using an open system, were sampled every 7 days from the point of collection to the end of storage at 35 days (D0, D7, D14, D21, D28, and D35). Measurements at each time point were: (1) hematologic parameters; (2) percentage hemolysis; (3) morphologic index scored at 0\u20133, based on echinocyte transformation of the erythrocytes; and (4) selected biochemical parameters. Aerobic and anaerobic culture was performed at D0 and D35. Results were compared statistically to D0 (statistical significance set at <0.01). Storage did not result in statistically significant changes in measured hematological parameters. There were statistically significant increases in percentage hemolysis and morphologic index, starting from D21 (P = 0.000 and P = 0.004, respectively). Glucose decreased significantly from D21 (P = 0.003); potassium increased significantly from D7 (P=0.001); and sodium increased significantly, starting from D28 (P = 0.009). Bacteria were not isolated. Blood in feline WB units collected using an open system underwent some significant storage changes that were time-dependent. As these changes could affect the quality and the utility of stored WB used in feline transfusion medicine, further study is required to determine their clinical importance

In situ monitoring of moisture uptake of flax fiber reinforced composites under humid/dry conditions

The use of green materials such as natural fiber-reinforced composites represents an increasingly stringent prerogative in the future planning of industrial and non-industrial production. The optimization of these materials is the main aim of the current research, focused on the evaluation of the behavior of flax fiber reinforced composites exposed to isothermal adsorption and desorption cycles, at varying the partial pressure of water vapor (P/P0). For this purpose, the moisture uptake and the morphology changes of the composite material and their constituents were in situ monitored through a measurement protocol, by using a dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) analysis, coupled with an environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) visual investigation. A dependence of moisture uptake and diffusivity on the composite morphology was clearly detected. In particular, no significant variation in the morphology of the specimen is noticed at low water vapor partial pressure (i.e., P/P0 up to 5.4%) due to the limited absorption capacity (i.e., lower than 1%). On the other hand, fibers morphology changes at increasing the partial pressure up to 25.1%, showing a sensitive increase in volume. This phenomenon becomes much more relevant for high relative humidity values (i.e., ~90%), reaching more than 6% of absorption capacity

The Use of Two Clinical Staging Systems of Canine Leishmaniasis in A Clinical Setting : a Critical Evaluation

Objective: To evaluate the use in practice and agreement between, two classification systems: Solano-Gallego (LEISHVET SYSTEM) and Canine Leishmaniasis Working Group (CLWG) clinical staging systems in a population of dogs with leishmaniasis. Methods: Clinicopathological data extracted from medical records of dogs previously diagnosed with leishmaniasis was evaluated using the two staging systems. Dogs that did not meet the criteria for classification were defined as unclassified. The agreement between the two staging methods was evaluated using unweighted K statistic (k) and Spearman\u2019s coefficient of rank correlation (rho). Statistical significance was P < 0.05. Results: Eighty dogs met the inclusion criteria. There were 3 dogs in LEISHVET SYSTEM stage I, 52 dogs in LEISHVET SYSTEM stage II, 12 dogs in LEISHVET SYSTEM stage III, 6 dogs in LEISHVET SYSTEM stage IV and 7 dogs unclassified. No dog was in CLWG stage A or B, 56 dogs were in CLWG stage C, 23 dogs in CLWG stage D and 1 dog unclassified. k value: 0.669, rho: 0.558, with P<0.0001. Clinic significance: Despite the different number of clinical stages between the two systems, the classification of dogs with or without proteinuria and renal involvement was possible with both methods. LEISHVET SYSTEM distinguishes among the different levels of proteinuria and serum creatinine concentration in the staging. CLWG system identifies a cut off value for these parameters only to formulate a prognosis. Despite the presence of discordances, there was good agreement between the two systems in the staging of CanL

Prevalence of Ca Blood Type and Alloantibodies in a Population of Horses from Italy

A knowledge of the blood groups and alloantibodies present is essential for the safe transfusion of blood products in horses. Pre-transfusion screening and blood typing minimizes the risk of incompatible RBC transfusions and prevents immunization of the recipient against incompatible RBC antigens. The frequencies of blood groups can vary among different breeds. Knowledge of a breed's blood group prevalence can be very useful for identifying the best blood donors during transfusion in clinical practice. The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of the Ca blood type in horses from Italy using a monoclonal immunocromatographic method and to estimate the prevalence of anti-Ca alloantibodies in Ca- horses using agglutination on gel technique. Ca blood type was determined on 110 whole blood samples. The prevalence of the Ca+ blood type was 79.1%. This study also provides data about the prevalence of Ca+ blood group in Italian Saddle Horses (77,3%) and Dutch Warmblood (58,3%). No significant association was found between Ca blood type and sex with 79.5% and 78.8% of females and males testing Ca+, respectively. The total number of Ca- samples with detectable anti-Ca alloantibodies was 7/23 (30.4%)

Prevalence of Blood Types and Alloantibodies of the AB Blood Group System in Non-Pedigree Cats from Northern (Lombardy) and Southern (Sicily) Italy

The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of A, B and AB blood types and alloantibodies in non-pedigree cats from two regions, one in Northern and one in Southern Italy (Lombardy and Sicily, respectively). A total of 448 samples (52.0% from Northern and 48.0% from Southern Italy) were blood typed. The prevalence of A, B and AB blood types in northern and southern cats were 91.0%, 5.2%, 3.8%, and 77.2%, 12.1% and 10.7%, respectively. The prevalence of type-A blood in southern cats was significantly lower (p = 0.0001) than in northern cats, while type-B and AB blood were significantly higher (p = 0.0085 and p = 0.0051, respectively) in Southern compared to Northern Italian cats. Alloantibodies against type-A blood were found in 94.1% of type-B cats, 11.2% of type-A cats had alloantibodies against type-B blood, while no type-AB cats had alloantibodies with no significant difference between the two Italian populations. Type-AB prevalence in non-pedigree cats in Southern Italy was the highest reported in Europe. Italian type-A cats had the lowest worldwide prevalence of alloantibodies against type-B blood. These results highlight the usefulness of regional studies to report different prevalences in feline blood types and reinforce the importance of blood typing cats before transfusions and mating

Comparison of cross-matching method for detection of DEA 7 blood incompatibility

We compared 3 major cross-match (XM) tests to identify dog erythrocyte antigen (DEA) 7 blood incompatibilities in dogs as a result of anti\u2013DEA 7 antibodies: gel (GEL), standard tube (TUBE) agglutination, and immunochromatography strips (STRIP). Blood samples from 42 dogs were typed for DEA 7; 2 tested DEA 7\u2013positive (DEA 7+). The 40 DEA 7\u2013negative (DEA 7\u2013) plasma samples were cross-matched against the 2 DEA 7+ and 3 DEA 7\u2013 red blood cell (RBC) samples by GEL to identify samples with anti\u2013DEA 7 antibodies. Twenty DEA 7\u2013 plasma samples without and with anti\u2013DEA 7 antibodies were cross-matched with samples of the 2 DEA 7+ RBCs in a double-blind fashion using the TUBE and STRIP XM methods. GEL results were used as the reference method for comparison. To determine relationships between results, 2 7 2 tables were used. Cohen kappa coefficient (\u3ba) was calculated between results of GEL and the other 2 methods. With GEL, 21 of 40 XM tests were positive and 19 of 40 negative for anti\u2013DEA 7 antibodies. The same results were obtained by TUBE, whereas only 1 of 40 XM tests was positive by STRIP. There was a statistically significant relationship between results of GEL and TUBE (p < 0.000) with perfect agreement (\u3ba = 1.000), but not between GEL and STRIP results (p = 1.000) in which agreement was equivalent to chance (\u3ba = 0.0453). The GEL and TUBE XM tests, but not STRIP, are useful methods for identification of DEA 7 incompatibilities caused by anti\u2013DEA 7 antibodies