Effects of various wound dressings on microbial growth in perfused equine musculocutaneous flaps.

Objective: To compare the effect of multiple wound dressings on microbial growth in a perfused equine wound model.

Sample: Abdominal musculocutaneous flaps from 16 equine cadavers.

Procedures: 8 full-thickness skin wound covered were created in each flap.

EcPV2 DNA in equine genital squamous cell carcinomas and normal genital mucosa.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) represents the most common genital malignant tumor in horses. Similar to humans, papillomaviruses (PVs) have been proposed as etiological agents and recently Equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) has been identified in a subset of genital SCCs. The goals of this study were (1) to determine the prevalence of EcPV2 DNA in tissue samples from equine genital SCCs, penile intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and penile papillomas, using EcPV2-specific PCR, (2) to examine the prevalence of latent EcPV2 infection in healthy genital mucosa and (3) to determine genetic variability within EcPV2 and to disentangle phylogenetic relationships of EcPV2 among PVs.

Return to work and social participation: does type of organ transplantation matter?

Background: Return to work and social participation are objective parameters to evaluate the success of transplantation. Existing reports never compared return to work rates between different organ transplant groups, few European studies were published, and information on patients having a volunteer job or being an active club member is scarce. These outcomes have never been compared with the general population.

Living donor kidney transplantation: analysis of the first 40 cases performed in UZ Leuven.

Living donation kidney transplantation has been popular worldwide to try to increase the donor pool. In Belgium, the rate of living donation kidney transplantation has been traditionally relatively low compared to other countries. This is--in part--due to the relatively higher cadaveric organ offer that is available in Belgium (around 25 donors per million inhabitants), compared to other countries.

High prevalence of bovine papillomaviral DNA in the normal skin of equine sarcoid-affected and healthy horses.

Bovine papillomavirus (BPV), the causative agent of papillomas in cattle, has been shown to play a major role in the pathogenesis of equine sarcoids in horses. BPV has also been detected occasionally in normal equine skin. In this study, presence and activity of BPV in normal skin and peripheral blood of 4 groups of horses were evaluated: sarcoid-affected horses, horses living in contact with sarcoid-affected horses, horses living in contact with papilloma-affected cattle and control horses.