Clinical presentation and outcome of dogs treated medically or surgically for thoracolumbar intervertebral disc protrusion

To date, few studies have investigated the clinical characteristics of thoracolumbar intervertebral disc protrusion (IVDP). The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the presentation and outcome of dogs receiving medical or surgical treatment for thoracolumbar IVDP. Eighty-four dogs were included, with a median age of 9.4 years. German shepherd dogs and Staffordshire bull terriers were the most common breeds. Significantly more surgically treated dogs (n=53) had neurological deficits and were non-ambulatory, compared with medically treated (n=31). Outcome data were available for 27 of 31 medically managed dogs; 11 initially improved, 7 remained stable and 9 deteriorated. Of 18 dogs that initially improved or stabilised, 10 (55.6 per cent) demonstrated recurrence of clinical signs within 12 months of diagnosis. Outcome data were available for 45 of 50 surgically treated dogs that survived to hospital discharge; 34 improved, 9 remained stable and 2 deteriorated following surgery. Of 43 dogs that improved or stabilised with surgical treatment, 11 (25.6 per cent) demonstrated recurrence of clinical signs within 12 months of surgery. Overall, significantly more surgically treated dogs (71.1 per cent) had a successful outcome, consisting of sustained clinical improvement of more than 12 months duration, compared with medically treated dogs (29.6 per cent)

Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of thoracolumbar intervertenral disk extrusions and protrusions in large breed dogs

It has recently been shown that the fat-derived hormone adiponectin has the ability to decrease hyperglycemia and to reverse insulin resistance. However, bacterially produced full-length adiponectin is functionally inactive. Here, we show that endogenous adiponectin secreted by adipocytes is post-translationally modified into eight different isoforms, as shown by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Carbohydrate detection revealed that six of the adiponectin isoforms are glycosylated. The glycosylation sites were mapped to several lysines (residues 68, 71, 80, and 104) located in the collagenous domain of adiponectin, each having the surrounding motif of GXKGE(D). These four lysines were found to be hydroxylated and subsequently glycosylated. The glycosides attached to each of these four hydroxylated lysines are possibly glucosylgalactosyl groups. Functional analysis revealed that full-length adiponectin produced by mammalian cells is much more potent than bacterially generated adiponectin in enhancing the ability of subphysiological concentrations of insulin to inhibit gluconeogenesis in primary rat hepatocytes, whereas this insulin-sensitizing ability was significantly attenuated when the four glycosylated lysines were substituted with arginines. These results indicate that full-length adiponectin produced by mammalian cells is functionally active as an insulin sensitizer and that hydroxylation and glycosylation of the four lysines in the collagenous domain might contribute to this activity.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Ventral Slot Surgery to Manage Cervical Intervertebral Disc Disease in Three Cats

This is a retrospective case series evaluating client-owned cats undergoing a ventral slot surgical procedure to manage cervical intervertebral disc disease (n = 3)

Cine balanced fast field echo magnetic resonance imaging of canine spinal arachnoid diverticulae pulsation

Canine spinal arachnoid diverticulae (SAD) are characterised by focal cerebrospinal fluid dilatations within the subarachnoid space, most commonly associated with nonpainful paresis and ataxia secondary to chronic compressive myelopathy. Numerous imaging techniques have been described for diagnosis of this condition, including myelography, computed tomography myelography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The present retrospective study investigated the utility of cine balanced fast field echo (cine bFFE) MRI sequences in measuring pulsatile flow in 12 dogs with SAD. The secondary aim was to determine the prevalence and location of syringes in relation to SAD, as the co-occurrence of these conditions has not been previously reported. The degree of SAD pulsation was calculated as the change in area per cardiac cycle on sagittal (n = 12/12) and transverse (n = 7/12) cardiac-gated cine bFFE MRI sequences. Pulsation was identified on all sequences, with a median ratio of change in SAD area of 0.14 (range, 0.10–0.27; n = 12) on sagittal cine bFFE and 0.23 (range, 0.05–0.53; n = 7) on transverse cine bFFE sequences. Significant differences between minimum and maximum SAD dimensions were identified on sagittal (P = 0.002) and transverse measurements (P = 0.018). A moderate prevalence of syringomyelia was identified (n = 6/12; 50%) on T2W sequences, occurring both cranial (n = 4/12; 33%) and caudal (n = 2/12; 17%) to the SAD. These results support the ability of cine bFFE sequences to identify dynamic pulsation of canine SAD. This technique is currently limited by banding artifacts and its inability to quantify flow velocity and abnormal flow jets

Usual energy and macronutrient intakes in 2-9-year-old European children

OBJECTIVE: Valid estimates of population intakes are essential for monitoring trends as well as for nutritional interventions, but such data are rare in young children. In particular, the problem of misreporting in dietary data is usually not accounted for. Therefore, this study aims to provide accurate estimates of intake distributions in European children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional setting-based multi-centre study. SUBJECTS: A total of 9560 children aged 2-9 years from eight European countries with at least one 24-h dietary recall (24-HDR). METHODS: The 24-HDRs were classified in three reporting groups based on age- and sex-specific Goldberg cutoffs (underreports, plausible reports, overreports). Only plausible reports were considered in the final analysis (N=8611 children). The National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Method was applied to estimate population distributions of usual intakes correcting for the variance inflation in short-term dietary data. RESULTS: The prevalence of underreporting (9.5%) was higher compared with overreporting (3.4%). Exclusion of misreports resulted in a shift of the energy and absolute macronutrient intake distributions to the right, and further led to the exclusion of extreme values, that is, mean values and lower percentiles increased, whereas upper percentiles decreased. The distributions of relative macronutrient intakes (% energy intake from fat/carbohydrates/proteins) remained almost unchanged when excluding misreports. Application of the NCI-Method resulted in markedly narrower intake distributions compared with estimates based on single 24-HDRs. Mean percentages of usual energy intake from fat, carbohydrates and proteins were 32.2, 52.1 and 15.7%, respectively, suggesting the majority of European children are complying with common macronutrient intake recommendations. In contrast, total water intake (mean: 1216.7 ml per day) lay below the recommended value for >90% of the children. CONCLUSION: This study provides recent estimates of intake distributions of European children correcting for misreporting as well as for the daily variation in dietary data. These data may help to assess the adequacy of young children's diets in Europe