Use of a Parathyroid Hormone Peptide (PTH1−34)‐enriched Fibrin Hydrogel for the Treatment of a Subchondral Cystic Lesion in the Proximal Interphalangeal Joint of a Warmblood Filly

To describe the treatment of a subchondral bone cyst in the proximal phalanx with parathyroid hormone peptide‐enriched fibrin hydrogel in a warmblood filly. The cyst was localized with computer‐assisted orthopaedic surgery, then curetted and finally filled with parathyroid hormone fragment peptide 1–34 (PTH₁₋₃₄) covalently attached to a fibrin hydrogel. The cyst healed quickly without any complications. This result supports the hypothesis that PTH₁₋₃₄ delivered locally in a fibrin hydrogel may improve the postoperative prognosis of surgical management of subchondral bone cysts in horses. Subchondral bone cysts are fairly common in horses. Especially in older horses, the prognosis is poor, even after surgical curettage. Therefore, different management protocols have been investigated in conjunction with surgical curettage to improve prognosis. Locally delivered PTH₁₋₃₄ seems to be a new method in the treatment of subchondral bone cysts.     

Cat-301 immunoreactivity in the lateral geniculate nucleus and visual cortex of the strabismic amblyopic cat

Purpose: It was investigated whether alterations in neuronal structure and function occasioned by strabismic amblyopia also may be reflected in alterations in the expression on Y type neurons of a Cat-301 antibody sensitive antigen in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and cortex of our cat model of strabismic amblyopia. Methods/Results: The percentage of positively labelled cells was reduced in LGN laminae that received input from the deviated eye in strabismic amblyopic cats compared with normal cats. In the strabismic cortex, the density of immunopositive neurons was significantly reduced compared with normal, the effect being most pronounced in layer IV Conclusions: Despite previous physiological recordings indicating a decrease in X-cell associated acuity in strabismic amblyopia, the present findings imply that the changes in the early visual experience occasioned by strabismus also produce specific molecular changes in theY neuronal class.     

Aortopulmonary window with patent ductus arteriosus and interrupted aortic arch: A case report

Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery -     

Excitotoxic mechanisms, and age-related susceptibility to brain damage in ischemia, hypoglycemia and toxic mussel poisoning.

Initial research by Olney, investigating the toxicity of glutamate as a food additive, demonstrated that irreversible (necrotic) changes could be produced in the CNS by glutamate. Subsequently, it became clear that the release of excitatory amino acids into the extracellular space of nervous tissue may play a role in CNS ischemia, and, later hypoglycemia. Experiments utilizing excitatory amino acid antagonists at the N-methyl-d-aspartate and other subtypes of excitatory receptor have shown neuronal protection, in both ischemia and hypoglycemia. The protection is robust enough to produce a detectable improvement in neurologic deficit on neurobehavioral testing, in addition to significantly reducing the number of necrotic cells in the brain. A third condition where excitotoxicity plays a role is toxic mussel poisoning. In contrast to ischemia and hypoglycemia, an excitotoxin which is exogenous to the brain plays a role. Domoic acid is contained in mussels which have filter-fed large quantities of domoate-rich phytoplankton, and when contaminated mussels are ingested in large quantities, serious and irreversible CNS effects, accompanied by necrosis, may result. In contrast to ischemia and hypoglycemia, however, damage is mediated at a different excitatory CNS receptor, namely the kainate receptor. In all three conditions, a constant aspect of the excitotoxic pathology is an increased susceptibility to excitotoxic damage with increasing age. This may be due to the dendritic location of excitatory receptors, and the richer branching of neuronal dendritic trees in aged animals, leading to enhanced susceptibility of the neuron to excitotoxic necrosis with age.     

Anxiety and hippocampus volume in the rat.

In depressed patients as well as healthy controls, a positive relationship between hippocampal volume and trait anxiety has been reported. This study sought to explore the possible inter-relation between hippocampal volume and trait anxiety further. Magnetic resonance imaging at 7 T was used to measure hippocampal volumes in a rat model of extremes in trait anxiety (experiment 1) and in a Wistar population with normal anxiety-related behavior (experiment 2). In addition to anxiety-related behavior, potentially confounding factors (depression-like, exploratory, and locomotor behavior) were assessed. Experiment 1 globally supported the hypothesis of a positive relationship between hippocampus volume and trait anxiety but did not allow for ruling out possible confounds arising from cosegregation of other behavioral traits. Experiment 2 yielded strong evidence for a negative relationship which was specific for trait anxiety. Thus, the relationship between hippocampal volume and anxiety may be more complex than expected. Interestingly, anxiety-related behavior in experiment 2 had a stronger influence on hippocampal volume than depression-like behavior. In the light of hippocampal volume loss in anxiety disorder and frequent comorbidity of anxiety and depression, this finding suggests that further research into the relationship between anxiety and hippocampal volume may be critical for understanding hippocampal contributions to normal and pathological behavior.     

Diatoms and drowning

Summary An examination is made of the applicability of quantitative and qualitative diatom analysis to the diagnosis of death by drowning, definition of the environment in which drowning occurred, and delimitation of the area where it occurred. The material comprises 107 bodies of subjects known or suspected to have died by drowning together with a control series of 15 bodies of subjects over 30 years of age who had died of various diseases on land.Whenever diatoms were found in the greater circulatory organs they were also found in the lungs, and when none were present in the lungs none were found in the other organs either. No diatoms or fragments of diatoms were found in the samples from the control subjects. All the fresh, well-preserved bodies for which death by drowning could be regarded as certain from the macroscopic autopsy findings and police reports, the cases used to test the method, gave quantitative diatom results that supported a diagnosis of water aspiration.The diatoms identified in the qualitative analyses served well to describe the ecological properties of the environments in which death had taken place, and the site of drowning could be defined by means of comparative water samples provided that sufficient diatoms were present, the local environment was not too homogeneous or the diatoms were not of quite different species due to a completely unknown location of death.