Faecal consistency and risk factors for diarrhoea and constipation in cats in UK rehoming shelters.

Objectives The aim of the study was to describe faecal consistency, prevalence and risk factors for diarrhoea and constipation in a rescue cat population. Methods Faecal samples in litter trays from a stratified random sample of cats in pens at 25 UK rehoming centres were scored for consistency in two discrete time periods, summer and winter. A six-point scale was used, with diarrhoea ⩽3, severe diarrhoea ⩽2 and constipation as 6.

Obesity, its associated disorders and the role of inflammatory adipokines in companion animals.

Obesity is characterised by an expansion of white adipose tissue mass that can lead to adverse health effects, such as decreased longevity, diabetes mellitus, orthopaedic and respiratory disease and neoplasia. Once thought a passive fuel depot, adipose tissue is now recognised as an active endocrine organ that communicates with the brain and peripheral tissues by secreting a wide range of hormones and protein factors, collectively termed adipokines. Examples include leptin, adiponectin, cytokines (tumour necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6), chemokines, acute phase proteins, haemostatic and haemodynamic factors and neurotrophins.

A preliminary neuropathological study of Japanese encephalitis in humans and a mouse model.

Japanese encephalitis virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes approximately 10000 deaths annually in Asia. After a brief viraemia, the virus enters the central nervous system, but the means of crossing the blood-brain barrier is uncertain. We used routine histological staining, immunohistology and electron microscopy to examine brain material from four fatal human cases, and made comparisons with material from a mouse model.