Pyometra in Queens - Changes in Haemato-Biochemical Parameters

Background: Pyometra is a bacterial and hormone-induced reproductive disease that occurs in the post-estrus luteal phase in intact queens. Pyometra is more common in the diestrus period due to the high progesterone concentration (in queens that mated, spontaneously ovulated, or were induced to ovulate). However, it can also be seen due to the use of exogenous hormones such as progesterone for the suppression of estrus. More research is needed in cases of pyometra in queens, as well as in bitches. Because, considering that the pathogenesis and characteristics of feline pyometra is similar to bitches, studies on pyometra-affected bitches are taken as reference in studies and applications on queens. From this point of view, the aims of this study were to reveal the changes in complete blood count, blood gas, and serum biochemistry parameters in feline pyometra cases and to determine the correlation between the mentioned parameters.Materials, Methods & Results: In the study, a total of 25 female cats of different breeds were used, between the ages of 6 months and 7 years, 15 were diagnosed with pyometra, and 10 healthy. Anamnesis, clinical findings, and ultrasonographic examinations were used in the diagnosis of pyometra. Abdominal ultrasonography was performed on queens brought to the clinic with complaints such as anorexia, polydipsia, polyuria, abdominal tension, and fever. The control group (n =10) consisted of queens that were introduced to the clinic and were reproductively healthy. Before any treatment in queens with pyometra and the control group, 1 mL blood samples were taken from v. cephalica to evaluate complete blood count, blood gases and serum biochemistry parameters. In complete WBC, Lym, Mon, Gra, RBC, Hb, HCT, MCV, MCH and PLT parameters and, blood gas parameters such as pH, pCO2, pO2, sO2, Na, K, Cl, lactate, glucose, HCO3, and BE were also evaluated in taken blood samples. Biochemical parameters BUN, creatinine, ALT, AST, ALP, amylase, T.BIL, D.BIL, P,CHOL, TG, LDH, TP, CPK, ALP, Ca, GGT were measured in serum samples. After examination and laboratory analysis, ovariohysterectomy was performed on queens as a treatment. Granulocyte, WBC, HCT and MCH levels of the pyometra group were higher (P < 0.05) and Lym levels were lower (P < 0.05) compared to the control group. According to these results, pH, HCO3, and BE were lower (P < 0.05) in queens with pyometra than those in the control group, while Na and lactate parameters were  higher (P < 0.05). According to the results of biochemical analysis, it was determined that BUN, creatinine levels, GGT, and LDH enzyme activities were found to be higher in the pyometra group compared to the control group, while the Ca level was found to be low (P < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed between BUN and creatinine and LDH, WBC, granulocyte, HCT, and lactate, and a negative correlation between lymphocytes, pH, and BE in the correlation analysis performed on queens with pyometra and control group. However, a positive correlation was observed between creatinine and LDH and HCT, and a negative correlation between lymphocyte, pH and BE.Discussion: There is not enough information about pyometra in queens. As a result, it was determined that there were significant changes in complete blood count, blood gases and serum biochemical parameters in queens with pyometra in this study. These changes were generally thought to be related to dehydration and sepsis or endotoxemia. In addition, it was evaluated that prerenal azotemia occurring in pyometra affected queens may cause renal dysfunction. For this reason, it is thought that the results obtained in the presented study may contribute to the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of pyometra cases in queens.Keywords: female cats, blood gas analysis, complete blood count, correlation, serum biochemistry

Deep Dynamic Cloud Lighting

Sky illumination is a core source of lighting in rendering, and a substantial amount of work has been developed to simulate lighting from clear skies. However, in reality, clouds substantially alter the appearance of the sky and subsequently change the scene's illumination. While there have been recent advances in developing sky models which include clouds, these all neglect cloud movement which is a crucial component of cloudy sky appearance. In any sort of video or interactive environment, it can be expected that clouds will move, sometimes quite substantially in a short period of time. Our work proposes a solution to this which enables whole-sky dynamic cloud synthesis for the first time. We achieve this by proposing a multi-timescale sky appearance model which learns to predict the sky illumination over various timescales, and can be used to add dynamism to previous static, cloudy sky lighting approaches.Comment: Project page: https://pinarsatilmis.github.io/DDC

Prognostic values of urea/lymphocyte and LDH/lymphocyte ratios for predicting mortality in COVID-19 patients

Objective: Serum biomarkers are important for accurately predicting clinical outcomes in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Although previous studies showed that lymphopenia in patients is related to disease severity, it is unclear how other serum biomarkers improve the prognostic accuracy of lymphopenia. Changes in urea, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were noted to have considerable predictive value in determining the severity of disease in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether increases in urea, and LDH are linked to worse outcomes in COVID-19 patients and whether the urea/lymphocyte and LDH/lymphocyte ratios improve the prognostic accuracy of lymphopenia. Methods: The data of confirmed COVID-19 patients in our emergency department (ED) between March 2020, and January 2021, were analyzed retrospectively. The area under the curve (AUC) and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the discriminative power of the urea/lymphocyte and LDH/lymphocyte ratios in estimating 30-day mortality. Results: The study included 795 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to the ED. Twenty-three patients (2.9%) died, and 772 (97.1%) survived in 30 days. The median age of the patients was 51. The number of males (n: 447, 56.2%) was higher than females (n: 348, 43.8%). The ratios of urea/lymphocyte and LDH/lymphocyte were significantly higher in non-survivors (median: 71.21 and 754.1, respectively) compared to survivors (median: 19.51 and 297.42, respectively) (P<0.001). The AUC for 30-day mortality for the urea/lymphocyte and LDH/lymphocyte ratios was 0.864 and 0.840, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression adjustment found the urea/lymphocyte ratio to be an independent and significant predictor of mortality (P=0.007). The optimum cut-off point for the urea/lymphocyte ratio was 28.07, which had a 91.3% sensitivity and a 68.6% specificity. Conclusion: The urea/lymphocyte and LDH/lymphocyte ratios are useful markers that can be evaluated independently to identify high-risk patients and predict the prognosis of COVID-19

Comparison of pure and mixed gas permeation of the highly fluorinated polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-2 under dry and humid conditions: Experiment and modelling

This manuscript describes the gas separation performance of PIM-2, a partially fluorinated linear copolymer synthesized from 5,5',6,6'-tetrahydroxy-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylspirobisindane (TTSBI) and decafluorobiphenyl (DFBP). As one of the early members of the family of polymers of intrinsic microporosity, it had never been tested as a gas separation membrane because of insufficient mechanical resistance. This has been solved only recently, allowing the preparation of robust self-standing films. Molecular modelling studies demonstrated a high fractional free volume (34%) and an elevated surface area (642 m2 g-1), and the latter is in good agreement with experimental BET results. Pure gas permeabilities measured on a fixed-volume time-lag instrument at 1 bar compare well with the results of mixed separation tests on a variable volume setup from 1-6 bar(a). Molecular modelling and independent sorption measurements on a gravimetric sorption balance both show strong dual-mode sorption behaviour, especially for CO2 and to a lesser extent for CH4. Temperature-dependent pure gas permeation measurements show typical Arrhenius behaviour, with a clear increase in the activation energy for diffusion with the increasing molecular size of the gas, indicating high size-selectivity. This is in agreement with the highly rigid PIM structure, determined by AFM force spectroscopy measurements. The dual-mode behaviour results in a moderate pressure dependence of the CO2 permeability and the CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 selectivity, all slightly decreasing with increasing pressure. The presence of humidity in the gas stream has a remarkable small effect on the membrane performance, which is probably due to the high fluorine content and the consequently low water vapour solubility in the polymer, as confirmed by gravimetric sorption measurements. The manuscript describes an extensive study on the structure-property relationships in PIM-2. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.European Commission, EC Grantová Agentura Ceské Republiky, GA Ä?R: 18-05484S --Research on biogas upgrading presented in this work was supported by EU structural funding in the frame of Operational Programme Research, Development and Education, project No. CZ.02.1.01./0.0/0.0/17_049/0008419 “COOPERATION”. This work was further supported by the CNR-CAS bilateral agreement 2016–2018 “Innovative polymeric membranes for pervaporation and advanced gas and vapour separations” and by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 18-05484S ). Appendix A -

Clinicopathological Evaluation of Disseminated Metastases of Transmissible Venereal Tumor in a Spayed Bitch

Background: Although transmissible venereal tumor (TVT, transmissible venereal sarcoma, Sticker’s sarcoma) that affects dogs and other canids can be seen in many countries, it especially emerges in the countries which homeless dog population is very high. Female dogs are more susceptible than males. Transmissible venereal tumor is usually transmitted to genital organs during coitus and occasionally by social behavior such as sniffing and licking. The tumor is generally observed in the posterior part of the vagina. The tumor usually appears in various sizes, in the appearance of cauliflower, red and fragile. Metastases are rarely reported in cases with TVT. Metastases have been detected in lung, liver, tonsils, skin, lymph nodes, muscles, spleen. The diagnosis of transmissible venereal tumor is achived by considering the history of the animal, gross lesions, cytological examination and histopathology. Chemotherapy is frequently used in the treatment of TVT. In addition, radiotherapy, cryosurgery, surgical incision and immunotherapy are rarely applied for treatment. Chemical agents such as doxorubicin, vincristine sulfate, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate are preferred for chemotherapy.Case: Metastases to all mammary lobes, cervix uteri, neck, skin, gluteal muscles, the oropharyngeal region, and primary vaginal mass were described in spayed bitch, a 10-year old and mixed breed. The clinical examination manifested, fragile and hemorrhagic masses which resemble cauliflower in the vagina, neck, and inguinal region. Furthermore firm and multilobular masses in all mammary lobes, oropharyngeal region, and gluteal muscles of right leg were detected. Firstly, vaginal cytology was performed in order to confirm. In vaginal cytology, round to polyhedral shaped transmissible venereal tumor cells including cytoplasmic vacuoles and polychromatic nuclei were identified. Histopathologically, solid areas included oval- to round-shaped cells with prominent, hyperchromatic nuclei in all masses. Also, some of them comprised mitotic figures in their nuclei. In general, the tumor cells were separated by thin fibrous septa. Additionally, the cells were completely infiltrated to the mammary gland. In contrast, oropharyngeal and subdermal region of neck consisted more solid areas under the epidermis. There was lymphocyte infiltration at the periphery of the cells. For gluteal mass, TVT cells were confined in muscle bundles. Transmissible venereal tumor cases are often located in genital organs and their metastases are rarely encountered in comparison with other tumors. In this case report, metastases to cervical tissue, neck skin, oropharyngeal mucosa and gluteal muscles, mammary lobes are found.Discussion: When the sexual activity is high, the incidence of TVT increases. It especially develops in bitches in estrus. Breed, sex and age are not a cause of predisposition for TVT. Transmissible venereal tumors’ malignancy can increase in some cases, although TVT is known as a benign tumor. Prevalence of metastases was found fairly low in the studies. Metastases to mammary region, to subcutaneous region, to brain, to eye, to lung, to uterus, to ovary, to liver, to spleen have been reported. In conclusion, even if a bitch is acyclic, transmissible venereal tumor can be developed and thus the risk of its disseminated metastasis must be considered. Moreover, since the masses have not regresed for a long time, this situation may be related to severe immunosupression in the bitch

Platelet to lymphocyte ratio in differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules

Aim: Differentiation of thyroid nodules, either as benign or malignant, is a real diagnostic challenge. Inflammation has an important role in development of the malignancy. Therefore, inflammatory markers are associated with malignant thyroid nodules. Platelet /lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is also one of the novel inflammatory indices derived from hemogram tests. We hypothesized whether PLR was associated with malignant thyroid nodules. For this purpose, we compared PLR levels of the patients with benign thyroid nodules to the PLR of the subjects with malignant nodules. Methods: The subjects who visited outpatient internal medicine clinics of our institution with a diagnosis of thyroid nodule were enrolled to the present retrospective study. According to the examination of the fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) specimen of the nodules, patients grouped into benign or malignant nodule groups. PLR of groups were compared. Results: Median PLR values of the benign and malignant thyroid nodule groups were 106 (48-432) % and 119 (48-365) %, respectively (p=0.001). PLR value higher than 106% has 69% sensitivity and 51% specificity in detecting malignant nodules (AUC: 0.59, p=0.001, 95% CI: 0.54-0.65). PLR was positively correlated with TSH level (r=0.10, p=0.34). Conclusion: We suggest that elevated PLR could be an additional tool to differentiate malignant thyroid nodules from benign ones in supportive of sonography, scintigraphy and cytology