Equine proliferative enteropathy--a review of recent developments.

Equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) is a disease of foals caused by the obligate intracellular organism Lawsonia intracellularis. This emerging disease affects mainly weanling foals and causes fever, lethargy, peripheral oedema, diarrhoea, colic and weight loss. The diagnosis of EPE may be challenging and relies on the presence of hypoproteinaemia, thickening of segments of the small intestinal wall observed upon abdominal ultrasonography, positive serology and molecular detection of L. intracellularis in faeces. Although the clinical entity, diagnostic approach and treatment of EPE are well established and described, the epidemiology for this disease has remained largely unaddressed. This article focuses on new developments in the field of EPE, including epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Enteric coronavirus infection in adult horses.

A new enteric virus of adult horses, equine coronavirus (ECoV), has recently been recognized. It is associated with fever, lethargy, anorexia, and less frequently, colic and diarrhea. This enteric virus is transmitted via the feco-oral route and horses become infected by ingesting fecally contaminated feed and water. Various outbreaks have been reported since 2010 from Japan, Europe and the USA. While the clinical signs are fairly non-specific, lymphopenia and neutropenia are often seen. Specific diagnosis is made by the detection of ECoV in feces by either quantitative real-time PCR, electron microscopy or antigen-capture ELISA. Supportive treatment is usually required, as most infections are self-limiting. However, rare complications, such as endotoxemia, septicemia and hyperammonemia-associated encephalopathy, have been reported, and have been related to the loss of barrier function at the intestinal mucosa. This review article will focus on the latest information pertaining to the virus, epidemiology, clinical signs, diagnosis, pathology, treatment and prevention of ECoV infection in adult horses

Mass spectrum and Lévy-Scrödinger relativistic equation

We introduce a modification in the relativistic hamiltonian in such a way that (1) the relativistic Schr\"odinger equations can always be based on an underlying L\'evy process, (2) several families of particles with different rest masses can be selected, and finally (3) the corresponding Feynman diagrams are convergent when we have at least three different masses

Mass spectrum from stochastic Levy-Schroedinger relativistic equations: possible qualitative predictions in QCD

Starting from the relation between the kinetic energy of a free Levy-Schroedinger particle and the logarithmic characteristic of the underlying stochastic process, we show that it is possible to get a precise relation between renormalizable field theories and a specific Levy process. This subsequently leads to a particular cut-off in the perturbative diagrams and can produce a phenomenological mass spectrum that allows an interpretation of quarks and leptons distributed in the three families of the standard model

Disease associated with equine coronavirus infection and high case fatality rate.

BackgroundEquine coronavirus (ECoV) is associated with clinical disease in adult horses. Outbreaks are associated with a low case fatality rate and a small number of animals with signs of encephalopathic disease are described.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological and clinical features of two outbreaks of ECoV infection that were associated with an high case fatality rate.Animals14 miniature horses and 1 miniature donkey testing fecal positive for ECoV from two related disease outbreaks.MethodsRetrospective study describing the epidemiological findings, clinicopathological findings, and fecal viral load from affected horses.ResultsIn EcoV positive horses, 27% (4/15) of the animals died or were euthanized. Severe hyperammonemia (677 μmol/L, reference range ≤ 60 μmol/L) was identified in one animal with signs of encephalopathic disease that subsequently died. Fecal viral load (ECoV genome equivalents per gram of feces) was significantly higher in the nonsurvivors compared to animals that survived (P = .02).Conclusions and clinical importanceEquine coronavirus had a higher case fatality rate in this group of miniature horses than previously reported in other outbreaks of varying breeds. Hyperammonemia could contribute to signs of encephalopathic disease, and the fecal viral load might be of prognostic value in affected horses

Serological evidence of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Switzerland

To investigate whether human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) is prevalent in Switzerland, 1515 human serum samples from individuals with different risks for tick exposure were tested for antibodies toEhrlichia phagocytophila, a surrogate marker of the agent of HGE. The distribution of titres showed marked differences between sera of individuals with no or low risk for tick exposure and those with a high risk. The results of serological testing provided evidence of HGE in Switzerland as well as evidence of two types of coinfections: those with the agent of HGE andBorrelia burgdorferi, and those with the agent of HGE and the central European tickborne encephalitis viru

Design and Test of a Prototype Cavity for a Stern-Gerlach Polarimeter

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Spin-Splitter Studies: Polarization Stability Measurements at IUCF

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478