Prospective survey of veterinary practitioners’ primary assessment of equine colic: clinical features,diagnoses, and treatment of 120 cases of large colon impaction

Background

Large colon impactions are a common cause of colic in the horse. There are no scientific reports on the clinical presentation, diagnostic tests and treatments used in first opinion practice for large colon impaction cases. The aim of this study was to describe the presentation, diagnostic approach and treatment at the primary assessment of horses with large colon impactions.

Methods

Data were collected prospectively from veterinary practitioners on the primary assessment of equine colic cases over a 12 month period. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of primary large colon impaction and positive findings on rectal examination. Data recorded for each case included history, signalment, clinical and diagnostic findings, treatment on primary assessment and final case outcome. Case outcomes were categorised into three groups: simple medical (resolved with single treatment), complicated medical (resolved with multiple medical treatments) and critical (required surgery, were euthanased or died). Univariable analysis using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc test, Kruskal Wallis with Dunn’s post-hoc test and Chi squared analysis were used to compare between different outcome categories.

Results

1032 colic cases were submitted by veterinary practitioners: 120 cases met the inclusion criteria for large colon impaction. Fifty three percent of cases were categorised as simple medical, 36.6% as complicated medical, and 9.2% as critical. Most cases (42.1%) occurred during the winter. Fifty nine percent of horses had had a recent change in management, 43% of horses were not ridden, and 12.5% had a recent / current musculoskeletal injury. Mean heart rate was 43bpm (range 26-88) and most cases showed mild signs of pain (67.5%) and reduced gut sounds (76%). Heart rate was significantly increased and gut sounds significantly decreased in critical compared to simple medical cases (p<0.05). Fifty different treatment combinations were used, with NSAIDs (93%) and oral fluids (71%) being administered most often.

Conclusions

Large colon impactions typically presented with mild signs of colic; heart rate and gut sounds were the most useful parameters to distinguish between simple and critical cases at the primary assessment. The findings of seasonal incidence and associated management factors are consistent with other studies. Veterinary practitioners currently use a wide range of different treatment combinations for large colon impactions.

     

The biodiversity of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories: a stock take of species occurrence and assessment of key knowledge gaps

Limited financial resources for conservation and growing environmental problems make it vital to base conservation on sound scientific evidence. Small islands hold a disproportionately large amount of the worlds threatened biodiversity but it is among the least well-documented. This paper reports on the most extensive collation and synthesis of biodiversity data to date for the 14 United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs). A process of literature review and consultation produced 65,259 species records, including 32,216 native species of which 1549 were endemic to a single UKOT. The extent of knowledge of species occurrence varied both between islands and taxonomic groups. It was higher for vertebrates and vascular plants than small bodied invertebrates and non-vascular and for non-Caribbean compared to Caribbean islands, a difference that largely reflects knowledge of invertebrates. Global Red List assessments exist for 2606 species and document 111 of endemic species, 75 % of those assessed, and 291, 12 % of non-endemics, as globally threatened. Using the data to estimate true species richness suggests a further 70,000 native species, including 1800 single island endemics, remain to be documented suggesting the UKOTs as a whole may support over 100,000 native species including 3300 single island endemics.     

The rhetoric of Islamophobia: an analysis of the means of persuasion in Hege Storhaug’s writings on Islam and Muslims

Few actors have had a greater impact on the “framing of Muslims” as a social and political “problem” in Norway since 2001 than Hege Storhaug of the government- and corporate billionaire funded civil society organization Human Rights Service (HRS). Using the methodological tools of the “rhetorical branch” of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and applying the Aristotelian concepts of ethos, logos and pathos, we analyze the bestselling popular title on Islam and Muslims ever published in Norway, namely Storhaug’s self-published 2015 title “Islam – The Eleventh Plague”. We argue that Storhaug’s popular success must be understood in light of her rhetorical appeals to femonationalism, the critique of religion and “Enlightenment” values. We show how she in her writings incites fear of the Muslim “Other” through specific rhetorical devices and a positioning of herself as a defender of the “nation” and the “people” – against national and international “elites”.     

The dog that didn’t bark: on the effect of the Great Recession on the surge of secessionism

This paper explores the relationship between the economic turmoil generated by the Great Recession and the increase of secessionism. Some authors have stressed that the Great Recession triggered changes in territorial preferences and, in the context of a conflict between the centre and the periphery, fuelled secessionism as a radical shift of the institutional setup. Nevertheless, other researchers have remarked that a recession may enhance the status quo bias and decrease the likelihood of changes. Our paper aims at contributing to this debate by analysing the case of Catalonia. We use an aggregate and an individual-level empirical design to explore the relationship between the deterioration of the economic situation and the increase of preferences for secession among the Catalan population. The findings from the analysis of our empirical models do not support the hypothesis that the effects of the Great Recession had any significant impact on political preferences in Catalonia.     

The junctions that don’t fit the scheme: special symmetrical cell-cell junctions of their own kind

Immunocytochemical, electron-, and immunoelectron-microscopical studies have revealed that, in addition to the four major “textbook categories” of cell-cell junctions (gap junctions, tight junctions, adherens junctions, and desmosomes), a broad range of other junctions exists, such as the tiny puncta adhaerentia minima, the taproot junctions (manubria adhaerentia), the plakophilin-2-containing adherens junctions of mesenchymal or mesenchymally derived cell types including malignantly transformed cells, the composite junctions (areae compositae) of the mature mammalian myocardium, the cortex adhaerens of the eye lens, the interdesmosomal “sandwich” or “stud” junctions in the subapical layers of stratified epithelia and the tumors derived therefrom, and the complexus adhaerentes of the endothelial and virgultar cells of the lymph node sinus. On the basis of their sizes and shapes, other morphological criteria, and their specific molecular ensembles, these junctions and the genes that encode them cannot be subsumed under one of the major categories mentioned above but represent special structures in their own right, appear to serve special functions, and can give rise to specific pathological disorders.     

The clinical assessment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients’ prognosis by ZNF512B gene,neck flexor muscle power score and body mass index (BMI)

Background

Assessment on the prognosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is becoming a focus of research in recent years since there is no effective treatment. The aim of the research is to explore the major factors involving in prognosis of ALS patients through long-term follow-up.

Methods

ALS patients’ DNA extracted from peripheral blood white cells were detected for the risk allele by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. Neck flexor muscle score and body mass index (BMI) were recorded during Medical Research Council follow-up using manual muscle testing method.

Results

ALS patients with risk alleles (C) deteriorated rapidly with poor clinical outcome. It seemed that the higher neck flexor muscle strength score in ALS patients with the longer survival time but without significant correlation (p?>?0.05). The lower the basal body mass index, the shorter the survival time and the faster deterioration (p?<?0.05). The patients with body mass index less than 22.04 seemed to have short survival time than those with BMI more than 22.04 (p?<?0.05), however, the speed of deterioration in two groups of patients had no significant difference (p?>?0.05).

Conclusion

The risk (C) allele of the SNP (rs2275294) in the ZNF512B gene, cervical flexor muscle power and body weight index might have clinical potential for ALS prognostication, since these indicators is so simple to perform that they might be very suitable for primary clinics and even community medical institutions to carry out.

     

The practice of health risk assessment in the united states (1975–1995): How the U.S. and other countries can benefit from that experience

The process of quantitatively predicting the likelihood of an adverse response in humans or wildlife due to exposure to one or more chemicals is collectively known as environmental risk assessment. Quantitative risk assessment has been practiced in the United States and Canada for nearly 20 years and is the basis for most environmental and many occupational health regulations in North America. However, only since 1990 has it begun to receive serious consideration in Europe, Australia, Asia, and other regions. This paper reviews the historical evolution of health risk assessment in the United States and the scientific shortcomings in the process that have been introduced due to various regulatory policies. Despite these limitations and the reluctance of some countries to implement risk‐based policies, risk assessment will undoubtedly grow in importance within the international arena as other countries search for an ideal balance between cost and risk reduction. With the emergence of risk analysis as an international tool for understanding environmental issues, several improvements to the risk assessment process are recommended here that the United States and other countries could immediately incorporate into hazard identification, dose‐response and exposure assessments, and risk characterization. Examples of these improvements include use of a weight‐of‐evidence approach, physiologically‐based pharmacokinetic (PB‐PK) modelling, Monte Carlo techniques, and uncertainty analyses. These recommendations could, if coupled with an understanding of the historical experience in the United States, lead to superior environmental risk assessment policies for all countries as they enter the 21st century.     

‘The vain speculation disillusioned by the sense’: the Italian painter Agostino Scilla (1629–1700) called ‘The Discoloured’, and the correct interpretation of fossils as ‘lithified organisms’ that once lived in the sea

The search for the true nature and origin of fossils gave rise, starting about the beginning of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century, to a heated debate between the supporters of the inorganic nature of these objects and proponents of an interpretation of fossils as ex-vivi. Among the latter, a key figure is the Italian painter Agostino Scilla (1629–1700), who represents one of the first naturalists who was able to accumulate substantial evidence to support the interpretation of fossils as once-living marine organisms. The world view of Scilla and his real contribution to paleontology are here analysed and contextualised, taking into account the state of knowledge characterising the time of his activities. Scilla was not only a pioneer in the field of paleontology, but he prepared the groundwork for the achievement of milestone geological concepts such as actualism, taphonomy and recognition of internal and external moulds (in the instance of non-representation of original hard parts); Scilla deserves further recognition as one of the first to attempt sedimentological interpretation of rocky bodies observed directly in the field.     

‘… Another important group that needs more cultivation’: The council on foreign relations and the mobilization of Black Americans for interventionism, 1939–19411

This article explores the role and influence of the elite US east coast organization, the Council on Foreign Relations [CFR], on the mobilization of Black Americans for aiding the Allied war effort in 1939–41. It examines the Council's wide-ranging campaign, arguing that the CFR, through two ad hoc organizations, the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies and Fight For Freedom, mobilized blacks despite their political and economic marginality, because the rhetoric of freedom and democracy which characterized the war against Hitler brought into focus America's own racist practices. This denotes the first time that US elites recognised the foreign policy implications of domestic racism. Attempts were therefore made to mobilize blacks as part of a war campaign that also demanded domestic racial reform, prefiguring the Black-led ‘Double V’ programme of victory over racism at home and abroad.     

Selecting dwarf apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) trees in vitro: multiple cytokinin tolerance expressed among three strains of ‘McIntosh’ that differ in their growth habit under field conditions

Microcuttings of three strains of ‘McIntosh’ apple that varied in their growth habit under field conditions were tested for their tolerance to three cytokinins (BA, kinetin, and 2iP) and one cytokinin-like compound (TDZ) in vitro. The three strains were ‘McIntosh’ (standard), ‘Macspur’ (intermediate) and ‘Wijcik’ (dwarf). For each cytokinin ‘Wijcik’ was more tolerant of high cytokinin levels than either ‘Macspur‘, which showed an intermediate tolerance, or ‘McIntosh’ which did not tolerate (died) high levels of cytokinins. These results show that ‘Wijcik’ exhibits multiple cytokinin tolerance in vitro. The relationship between growth habit and BA tolerance has been reported earlier. The present study demonstrates that cytokinins can be used to differentiate among growth types in apple. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Direct Actions of GABA, 2’-Methoxy-6-Methylflavone and General Anaesthetics at β3γ2L GABAA Receptors: Evidence for Receptors with Different Subunit Stoichiometries

2’-Methoxy-6-methylflavone (2’MeO6MF) is an anxiolytic flavonoid which has been shown to display GABA_A receptor (GABA_AR) β2/3-subunit selectivity, a pharmacological profile similar to that of the general anaesthetic etomidate. Electrophysiological studies suggest that the full agonist action of 2’MeO6MF at α2β3γ2L GABA_ARs may mediate the flavonoid’s in vivo effects. However, we found variations in the relative efficacy of 2’MeO6MF (2’MeO6MF-elicited current responses normalised to the maximal GABA response) at α2β3γ2L GABA_ARs due to the presence of mixed receptor populations. To understand which receptor subpopulation(s) underlie the variations observed, we conducted a systematic investigation of 2’MeO6MF activity at all receptor combinations that could theoretically form (α2, β3, γ2L, α2β3, α2γ2L, β3γ2L and α2β3γ2L) in Xenopus oocytes using the two-electrode voltage clamp technique. We found that 2’MeO6MF activated non-α-containing β3γ2L receptors. In an attempt to establish the optimal conditions to express a uniform population of these receptors, we found that varying the relative amounts of β3:γ2L subunit mRNAs resulted in differences in the level of constitutive activity, the GABA concentration-response relationships, and the relative efficacy of 2’MeO6MF activation. Like 2’MeO6MF, general anaesthetics such as etomidate and propofol also showed distinct levels of relative efficacy across different injection ratios. Based on these results, we infer that β3γ2L receptors may form with different subunit stoichiometries, resulting in the complex pharmacology observed across different injection ratios. Moreover, the discovery that GABA and etomidate have direct actions at the α-lacking β3γ2L receptors raises questions about the structural requirements for their respective binding sites at GABA_ARs.     

The diurnal course of leaf gas exchange of the C4 species Amaranthus retroflexus under field conditions in a ‘cool’ climate: Comparison with the C3 species Glycine max and Chenopodium album

Summary The gas exchange of leaves of Amaranthus retroflexus (C₄) measured under fluctuating environmental conditions in an experimental garden in Würzburg was compared with that of Glycine max and Chenopodium album (C₃). Consistent with previous observations, Amaranthus had higher leaf diffusion resistance than the C₃ species and low internal air space carbon dioxide concentration. Due to high photosynthetic capacity, Amaranthus fixed as much carbon during the light as the C₃ species, even at low temperatures and low light intensities. Low rates of dark respiration of leaves potentially enhances the ability of Amaranthus to grow rapidly after establishment in a disturbed habitat. The data suggest that some populations of Amaranthus retroflexus are adapted to cool climate conditions but are also able to exploit high temperature situations.