Gothic Revival Architecture Before Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill

The Gothic Revival is generally considered to have begun in eighteenth-century Britain with the construction of Horace Walpole’s villa, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, in the late 1740s. As this chapter demonstrates, however, Strawberry Hill is in no way the first building, domestic or otherwise, to have recreated, even superficially, some aspect of the form and ornamental style of medieval architecture. Earlier architects who, albeit often combining it with Classicism, worked in the Gothic style include Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor, William Kent and Batty Langley, aspects of whose works are explored here. While not an exhaustive survey of pre-1750 Gothic Revival design, the examples considered in this chapter reveal how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Gothic emerged and evolved over the course of different architects’ careers, and how, by the time that Walpole came to create his own Gothic ‘castle’, there was already in existence in Britain a sustained Gothic Revivalist tradition

Evaluation of plasma Procalcitonin concentrations in healthy foals and foals affected by septic Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome

The aim of this work was to evaluate procalcitonin concentrations in healthy foals and in foals with septic Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS). Plasma procalcitonin (PCT) concentrations were evaluated in 51 foals and SIRS scale was calculated. Foals were divided into control group (no septic SIRS criteria met) and septic SIRS group (SIRS score ≥ 2 plus evidence of sepsis or localized infection). PCT concentrations were evaluated with a commercial ELISA kit. The data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. A T-test was performed between healthy and septic SIRS groups. A ROC curve was carried out. Finally, correlation analysis between PCT concentration and SIRS scale was performed by using Pearson test. The PCT concentrations in control and septic SIRS groups were 30.0±33.1 and 178.9±76.0 pg/ml, respectively. The T-test showed differences between control group and septic SIRS group (p<0.0001). A positive linear correlation between PCT concentration and SIRS scale was observed (r=0.73, r2=0.53, p<0.0001). The ROC curve was statistically significant (p<0.0001) and the best cut-off value to determine septic SIRS was 73.04 pg/ml (87.5% sensitivity, 97.1% specificity and a likelihood ratio of 30.6). Overall, the results showed an increase in plasma PCT concentrations in septic SIRS foals. A cut-off between control and septic SIRS groups was obtained

Standing laparoscopic-guided uterine biopsy in a southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum

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Transnasal, endoscopically guided skull-based surgery by pharyngotomy for mass removal from the sphenopalatine sinus in a horse

OBJECTIVE: To report a transnasal, endoscopically guided ventral surgical approach for accessing the cranial and caudal segments of the sphenopalatine sinus for mass removal in a horse. STUDY DESIGN: Case report. ANIMAL: Adult horse with acute onset blindness referable to a soft tissue mass within the sphenopalatine sinus. CLINICAL REPORT: A 7-year-old Warmblood gelding presented with a history of running into a fence and falling. No neurologic signs were identified at initial examination but acute blindness was noted 3 weeks later. On computed tomography (CT) the sphenopalatine sinus was filled with a large homogeneous mass with poor contrast enhancement that extended dorsally with thinning to the dorsal cortex of the sphenoid bone, just rostral to the entrance of the optic canals into the cranial cavity. Surgical access to the sphenopalatine sinus was achieved using a transnasal, endoscopically guided ventral pharyngotomy approach and the mass lesion was removed. A presumptive diagnosis of chondroma was made based on histopathology. The horse recovered well from surgery, and although it has not regained vision as of 6.5 years postoperatively, the disease has not progressed. CONCLUSION: Transnasal, endoscopically-guided ventral surgical access to the sphenopalatine sinus is possible in horses and may improve access in horses with disease extending caudally beyond the palatine portion of the sinus. Use of smaller diameter or specialized instruments, such as various endoscopic bone cutting instruments, and CT image guidance may improve sinus access by this route