Effect of hospitalization on equine local intestinal immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentration measured in feces.

During hospitalization horses may develop gastrointestinal conditions triggered by a stress-associated weak local immune system. The prospective, clinical trial was conducted to find out whether fecal immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentrations could be determined in hospitalized horses and how they changed during hospitalization and in response to various stressors. Samples were obtained from 110 horses and a control group (n = 14).

Phacoemulsification Combined with Pars Plana Vitrectomy: Outcome in Horses with Acquired Cataracts Associated with Uveitis.

Background: Cataracts resulting from equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) or other forms of uveitis are usually associated with rapid progression. ERU is the most common ocular disease cause of blindness and cause of cataracts in horses. The necessity for the posterior capsulorhexis (PC) during phacoemulsification (PE) is controversial.

Artificial Intelligence in Reproductive Medicine - An Ethical Perspective.

Artificial intelligence is steadily being integrated into all areas of medicine. In reproductive medicine, artificial intelligence methods can be utilized to improve the selection and prediction of sperm cells, oocytes, and embryos and to generate better predictive models for in vitro fertilization. The use of artificial intelligence in this field is justified by the suffering of persons or couples who wish to have children but are unable to conceive.

Analysis of 1840 Equine Intraocular Fluid Samples for the Presence of Anti- Antibodies and Leptospiral DNA and the Correlation to Ophthalmologic Findings in Terms of Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU)-A Retrospective Study.

In the equine clinic of the LMU in Munich, therapeutic vitrectomies have been routinely performed in horses for three decades. The vitreous samples obtained during vitrectomies were usually tested for anti- antibodies and for more than 20 years also by PCR for leptospiral DNA. If the indication for surgery was ophthalmologically inconclusive, an aqueous humor was collected preoperatively and examined for evidence of leptospiral infection.

[Capable or incapable of giving consent? Assessing a patient's capacity to consent: Procedures and challenges in daily clinical practice].

Background/objectives: The capacity of patients to give consent (CTC) is an indispensable prerequisite for informed consent to medical measures. When there is doubt about a patient's CTC, careful assessment is therefore required. Despite a broad theoretical discussion about the conception of CTC and possible procedures for its assessment, there is often a lack of orientation towards binding standardized procedural guidelines in everyday clinical practice.

Infectious Uveitis in Horses and New Insights in Its Leptospiral Biofilm-Related Pathogenesis.

Uveitis is a sight-threatening eye disease in equids known worldwide that leads to considerable pain and suffering. By far the most common type of uveitis in Germany and neighboring countries is classical equine recurrent uveitis (ERU), which is caused by chronic intraocular leptospiral infection and is the main cause of infectious uveitis in horses. Other infectious causes are extremely rare and are usually clinically distinguishable from ERU.

Detection of Anti-LipL32 Antibodies in Serum Samples from Horses with Chronic Intraocular Infection with spp.

Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is typically caused by chronic intraocular leptospiral infection in warm-blooded horses in central Europe. The most effective therapy for leptospiral-induced ERU is the surgical removal of diseased vitreous (vitrectomy). Since vitrectomy is a highly specialized and invasive surgery, the indication must be determined very carefully.

In Vivo Biofilm Formation of Pathogenic spp. in the Vitreous Humor of Horses with Recurrent Uveitis.

Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) causes painful inflammatory attacks and oftentimes blindness in the affected eyes. The disease is considered a late sequela of systemic leptospirosis. The most effective therapy is the surgical removal of the vitreous (vitrectomy), which is not only therapeutic, but provides vitreous material that can be assessed diagnostically.

Measurement of Endurance of Untrained Five-Year-Old and Six-Year-Old Horses Raised in Multi-age Herds on Pasture.

The objective of this study was to explore how the endurance of five-year-old horses, kept out on pasture all their life and ridden for the first time well into their fifth year of age, developed within one year and compared to that of six-year-old horses raised under the same conditions and to other horses. Horses were submitted to a standardized exercise test (SET) to calculate their v (velocity run under defined conditions inducing 4 mmol/L of blood lactate concentration (LA)) and v (velocity run under defined conditions inducing a heart rate of 180 beats/min). The test consisted of up to five consecutive intervals at increasing speed until the blood LA of a horse increased above 4 mmol/L.

The relevance of different trust models for representation in patient organizations: conceptual considerations.

Background: Trust within organizations is important for ensuring members' acceptance of the organization's activities and to expand their scope of action. Remarkably, Patient Organizations (POs) that often both function as a forum for self-help and represent patients on the health-political level, have been understudied in this respect. This paper analyzes the relation between trust and representation in POs.

Effect of retrobulbar nerve block on heart rate variability during enucleation in horses under general anesthesia.

Objective: Analysis of any effect of retrobulbar block during ocular surgery on heart rate variability and oculocardiac reflex.

Study Design: Prospective study.

Animal Studied: Horses (n = 16) undergoing eye enucleation due to chronic ophthalmologic diseases.

Magnetic resonance imaging of pulp in normal and diseased equine cheek teeth.

A retrospective analysis of 619 upper and lower cheek teeth from 62 horses was performed. Based on clinical findings, as well as radiographic and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings, the teeth were classified into five groups. There were 20 teeth with abnormal MR imaging signals as well as clinical alterations and 599 healthy teeth.

Simplified method to measure glucocorticoid metabolites in faeces of horses.

Glucocorticoids or their metabolites can be measured in several body fluids or excreta, including plasma, saliva, urine and faeces. In recent years the measurement of glucocorticoid metabolites (GCMs) in faeces has gained increasing attention, because of its suitability for wild populations. In horses, however, the group-specific enzyme immunoassay described so far has a limited practicability due to its complex extraction procedure.

Artery of Adamkiewicz-sparing endovascular stent placement.

We report a case of successful endovascular treatment of an acute, uncomplicated Stanford type B aortic dissection, sparing the artery of Adamkiewicz. The ECG-gated MSCT diagnosed the reason for the acute chest pain in the patient, and identified the intercostal artery from which the artery of Adamkiewicz originated, thus permitting the positioning of the stent-graft well away from it. Ten months after successful stent-graft implantation the patient was well, the haematoma in the formerly dissected aortic wall had been almost completely re-absorbed and the false lumen had disappeared.

Visualization of the Adamkiewicz artery in patients with acute stanford a dissections: a prospective 64-row multi-detector CT study.

Purpose: To evaluate the detectability of the Adamkiewicz artery (AA) in patients with acute Stanford type A aortic dissections with multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT).

Materials And Methods: 51 patients with Stanford type A dissection underwent contrast-enhanced 64-row MDCT of the entire aorta (collimation 64 x 0.625 mm; rotation time 0.

Imaging features and decision making in retrobulbar neuroendocrine tumours in horses--case report and review of literature.

A 25-year-old Haflinger gelding was evaluated for chronic-progressive unilateral exophthalmos. Ultrasonographic investigation and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging revealed a retrobulbar space-occupying mass to be the cause of eyeball displacement. Ultrasonographic features were not sufficient to specify the type and extension of the lesion.

Recurrent uveitis in horses: vitreal examinations with ultrastructural detection of leptospires.

This study documents the examination of 17 horses (both sexes, 3-18 years old) suffering from spontaneous equine recurrent uveitis (ERU). Vitreal samples obtained by pars plana vitrectomy were examined macroscopically and ultrastructurally, and in most cases also by cultural examination, by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and by polymerase chain reaction. In 24% (4/17) of the animals, ultrastructural examination by electron microscopy revealed intact leptospiral bacteria in the vitreous.

Retinal Mueller glial cells trigger the hallmark inflammatory process in autoimmune uveitis.

Spontaneous equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an incurable autoimmune disease affecting the eye. Although retinal-autoantigen specific T-helper 1 cells have been demonstrated to trigger disease progression and relapses, the molecular processes leading to retinal degeneration and consequent blindness remain unknown. To elucidate such processes, we studied changes in the total retinal proteome of ERU-diseased horses compared to healthy controls.

[Detection of leptospira in the vitreous body of horses without ocular diseases and of horses with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) using transmission-electron microscopy].

Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is caused by persistent intraocular leptospira, which appear to use the vitreous body as a refuge. The detection of leptospira in the vitreous body of horses with spontaneous ERU by histological methods has not yet been described. Thirty eight vitreous body samples from 36 horses with ERU (collected during vitrectomy), and 10 vitreous body samples obtained from 5 horses without ocular disease (control group) were examined by transmission electron microscopy.

[Depiction of the structure of the vitreous body in horses without ocular diseases and in horses with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) using transmission electron microscopy].

Neither the ultrastructure of the vitreous body from horses without ocular diseases, nor the pathomorphological changes in the vitreous body associated with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) have been described. However, the vitreous body plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ERU. Ten vitreous body samples obtained from 5 horses without ocular disease, and 38 vitreous body samples from horses with ERU (collected during vitrectomy) were examined by transmission electron microscopy.

Identification and functional validation of novel autoantigens in equine uveitis.

The development, progression, and recurrence of autoimmune diseases are frequently driven by a group of participatory autoantigens. We identified and characterized novel autoantigens by analyzing the autoantibody binding pattern from horses affected by spontaneous equine recurrent uveitis to the retinal proteome. Cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein (cRALBP) had not been described previously as autoantigen, but subsequent characterization in equine recurrent uveitis horses revealed B and T cell autoreactivity to this protein and established a link to epitope spreading.

The uveitogenic potential of retinal S-antigen in horses.

Purpose: To investigate the uveitogenic potential of retinal S-antigen (S-Ag) in horses.

Methods: Horses were immunized subcutaneously with S-Ag or BSA as control antigen, emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant. Simultaneously, Bordetella pertussis was given intravenously.