Aging and Veterinary Care of Cats, Dogs, and Horses through the Records of Three University Veterinary Hospitals

The present article examines over 63,000 medical records belonging to the Veterinary Hospitals of the Universities of Bologna, Torino, and Padova, all in Northern Italy, and relative to dogs (approximately 50,000), cats (approximately 12,000), and companion horses (slightly less than 1,000). The animals of the three species were divided into age classes and categorized per sex into males, females, and neutered individuals. The mean age at visit and the effects of age classes and category (analyzed via ANOVA) are presented and discussed. The data indicate that many animals are presented to the hospitals either in the early phases of their life (presumably for vaccination and, in cats and dogs, gonadectomy) or in the advanced age (over 10 years in dogs, over 15 years in cats, and over 17 years in horses). The records of very old individuals of the three species are also reported. On the whole, the results suggest that a growing population of mature to old domestic carnivores or companion horses reaches ages that were considered exceptional only a few years ago. The data also testify an evolution in the animal\u2013owner relationship and a renewed respect for the value of life in companion domestic mammals

More for less: Sampling strategies of plant functional traits across local environmental gradients

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Functional Ecology 29.4 (2015): 579-588, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12366. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingEcologists use approaches based on plant functional traits to tackle several fundamental and applied questions. Although a perfect characterization of functional trait structure requires the measurement of all the individuals in communities, this is prohibitively resource-consuming. Consequently, the general practice is to average the trait values of a reduced number of individuals per species. However, there are different alternatives regarding the number, identity and spatial location of the individuals chosen to calculate species-averaged trait values. In this study, we compared different strategies for sampling functional traits, using community-weighted mean trait values (CWM) and the Rao index of functional diversity (FD). We intensively sampled the functional trait structure along a topographical gradient in a Mediterranean grassland, obtaining accurate estimations of the 'real' values of these indices (CWMI and FDI) for three traits (height, leaf area and specific leaf area). We simulated three different sampling strategies differing in the spatial location of the individuals used to estimate species-mean trait: (i) average of the whole gradient (GLO), (ii) average of the sampling unit in which the abundances of species maximize (MAX) and (iii) average of a reduced number of individuals per species and sampling unit (LOC). For each strategy, we simulated different sampling intensities (number of individuals sampled). For each trait, we examined the ability of each strategy and sampling intensity to accurately estimate CWMI and FDI, as well as their ability to detect changes in functional trait structure along the topographical gradient. LOC outperformed the other strategies in terms of accuracy and bias, and was much more efficient to describe changes along the gradient, regardless of the traits and indicators considered. Furthermore, LOC was the only strategy that improved consistently as sampling intensity increased, especially at low levels of intensity. Our results indicate that the impact of considering intraspecific variability in trait values can be greater than commonly assumed. Strategies that neglect this source of variability can result in inaccurate or biased estimations of the functional trait structure of plant communities. Most importantly, we show that intraspecific variability can be taken into consideration without any increases in the total number of individuals measuredFinancial support was received from the Spanish Ministry of Science (Project CGL2011-24871), the Madrid Regional Government (Project REMEDINAL3), and the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU AP2012-2849 for CR). CPC was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (TANDEM; project id. 626392

Cortisol fetal fluids concentrations and newborn outcome in term pregnancy small-sized purebred dogs.

In order to provide further information about canine perinatology, and because of the scarceknowledge about fetal fluids composition in dogs, the present study was aimed to assess the cortisolconcentrations in fetal fluids collected from small-sized purebred newborn puppies born by electivecesarean section, at term of pregnancy (Meloni et al, 2014). Furthermore weassessed possible correlations of amniotic and allantoic cortisol concentrations and newborn outcomeat 24 hours of age and with the newborn gender. Fetal fluids cortisol concentrations were alsoevaluated for correlation with maternal parity, litter-size, neonatal gender, birth weight and Apgar score(Veronesi et al, 2009). The study, performed on 50 born alive, normal weighed puppies, without grossphysical malformation, showed that cortisol concentration was higher in allantoic than in amniotic fluid(p<0.01), even if a strong positive correlation between the two fluids cortisol concentration was found(p<0.0001; R=0.83). Interestingly, higher amniotic (p<0.05) cortisol concentrations were associated topuppies not surviving at 24 hours after birth. Therefore it could be suggested that this parameter maybe useful for the recognition, at birth, of puppies needing special surveillance in the first day of age. Inrelation to the other evaluated parameters, no correlations with amniotic or allantoic cortisolconcentrations were found. In conclusion, the present results showed that in small-sized purebredpuppies, born at term by elective caesarean section, the evaluation of amniotic cortisol concentrationseems useful for the detection of puppies that need special surveillance during the first 24 hours of age,and should be coupled to the newborn evaluation by Apgar score

Erratum to: Underreporting of congenital rubella in Italy, 2010–2014

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Hair dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentrations in newborn dogs

During the last intrauterine fetal stage of development and the neonatal period the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) is a key system. Apart of cortisol, the adrenals produce dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), the major steroid produced by the fetus itself, so that it could be considered as a marker of offspring HPA activity. Non invasive, long time-frame retrospective hormonal levels analysis were performed in the hair of humans and animals, but not in newborn puppies, and DHEA never investigated in puppies. This study was aimed to assess DHEA concentrations in the hair of newborn puppies, and to evaluate the influence of newborn age, gender, and breed size on DHEA concentrations. The study enrolled 116 spontaneously dead puppies, grouped on the base of mother bodyweight to small or medium-large breeds, and on the base of age at death. Hair samples were collected by shaving, and stored at room temperature until RIA analysis. The overall hair DHEA concentrations were 46.8±14.8 pg/mg. DHEA levels were 48.6±15.66 pg/mg in females vs 45.1±13.73 pg/mg in males, without significant differences. DHEA levels were 45.5±13.61 pg/mg in small size puppies and 47.8±15.61 pg/mg in medium-large size puppies, with no significant differences. DHEA concentrations in premature puppies (52.5±15.12 pg/mg) were significant higher (p<0.05) than in puppies dead between 1 and 30 days after birth (44.5±17.78 pg/mg), but similar to fresh term born-dead puppies (46.2±16.5 pg/mg).  This study demonstrated that DHEA is quantifiable in the hair of newborn dogs, and that DHEA levels are significantly influenced by the puppies age

Erratum to: Hospitalizations for pertussis in Italy, 1999–2009: analysis of the hospital discharge database

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Adult cardiac stem cell aging: A reversible stochastic phenomenon?

Aging is by far the dominant risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases, whose prevalence dramatically increases with increasing age reaching epidemic proportions. In the elderly, pathologic cellular and molecular changes in cardiac tissue homeostasis and response to injury result in progressive deteriorations in the structure and function of the heart. Although the phenotypes of cardiac aging have been the subject of intense study, the recent discovery that cardiac homeostasis during mammalian lifespan is maintained and regulated by regenerative events associated with endogenous cardiac stem cell (CSC) activation has produced a crucial reconsideration of the biology of the adult and aged mammalian myocardium. The classical notion of the adult heart as a static organ, in terms of cell turnover and renewal, has now been replaced by a dynamic model in which cardiac cells continuously die and are then replaced by CSC progeny differentiation. However, CSCs are not immortal. They undergo cellular senescence characterized by increased ROS production and oxidative stress and loss of telomere/telomerase integrity in response to a variety of physiological and pathological demands with aging. Nevertheless, the old myocardium preserves an endogenous functionally competent CSC cohort which appears to be resistant to the senescent phenotype occurring with aging. The latter envisions the phenomenon of CSC ageing as a result of a stochastic and therefore reversible cell autonomous process. However, CSC aging could be a programmed cell cycle-dependent process, which affects all or most of the endogenous CSC population. The latter would infer that the loss of CSC regenerative capacity with aging is an inevitable phenomenon that cannot be rescued by stimulating their growth, which would only speed their progressive exhaustion. The resolution of these two biological views will be crucial to design and develop effective CSC-based interventions to counteract cardiac aging not only improving health span of the elderly but also extending lifespan by delaying cardiovascular disease-related deaths

Giant Metatypical Carcinoma: An Unusual Tumor

Meta-typical carcinoma (MTC) or basosquamous carcinoma is a remarkable malignancy with features of both basal and squamous cell carcinoma. It is typically located on the back and face, often with clinical features of basal cell carcinoma but tending to be more aggressive with enhanced prospects of lymph node or distant metastases. Our report describes a huge neglected MTC of the back of ten-year duration, a giant ulcero-vegetative tumor measuring 20 x 25 cm. Histologic examination of specimens from the margins and periphery revealed aspects of both basal and squamous cell carcinoma, while the ulcerated center showed sclerotic tissue without tumor. Radical excision and reconstruction by grafts were performed. No metastases were observed after two years. There are many controversies surrounding the histologic definition and biologic behavior of MTC, including its metastasizing potential. The MTC we describe exhibited benign biologic behavior. This may have been related to an intense inflammatory host response with elimination of neoplastic tissue and consequent local sclerosis evident in the central tumor-free portion. This central tumor regression is to our knowledge a unique finding in MTC

Chiral iridium(III) complexes in light-emitting electrochemical cells : exploring the impact of stereochemistry on the photophysical properties and device performances

Despite hundreds of cationic bis-cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes having been explored as emitters for light-emitting electrochemical cells (LEECs), uniformly their composition has been in the form of a racemic mixture of Λ and Δ enantiomers. The investigation of LEECs using enantiopure iridium(III) emitters, however, remains unprecedented. Herein, we report the preparation, the crystal structures and the optoelectronic properties of two families of cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes of the form of [(C^N)2Ir(dtBubpy)]PF6 (where dtBubpy is 4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2,2'-bipyridine) in both their racemic and enantiopure configurations. LEEC devices using Λ and Δ enantiomers as well as the racemic mixture of both families have been prepared and the device performances were tested. Importantly, different solid-state photophysical properties exist between enantiopure and racemic emitters, which are also reflected in the device performances.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe