Bronchial vessel density is correlated with airway smooth muscle cell proliferation in horses with mild and moderate asthma.

Objective: In severe equine asthma, structural remodeling of the airways ultimately leads to bronchial wall thickening and airflow obstruction. Increased bronchial vascularization has been described in horses affected by the severe form of the disease, but whether it contributes to bronchial remodeling in milder forms of asthma remains to be determined. In a blinded, retrospective case-control study, we evaluated the presence of bronchial angiogenesis in horses with mild and moderate equine asthma (MEA) and its correlation to airway smooth muscle remodeling.

Comparison of nasal swabs and handmade foam cubes for detecting equine herpesvirus 5 (EHV-5) by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

The control of equine respiratory infections is a biosecurity challenge. Respiratory viruses are often rapidly detected using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on nasal swabs. In the past, some laboratories developed handmade techniques to increase the amount of nasal secretions collected, without comparing them with nasal swabs when qPCR replaced the use of viral culture.

Serum Vitamin D Level Is Unchanged in Equine Asthma.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with asthma development and severity of symptoms in humans, but whether the same occurs in horses is unknown. We aimed to determine whether the serum vitamin D levels differ in horses with asthma compared to control animals and, secondarily, to explore clinical, respiratory, and environmental parameters associated with its concentration in equids in a retrospective cross-sectional study. The total serum vitamin D (25(OH)D) was measured by radioimmunoassay in 45 serum samples from the Equine Respiratory Tissue Biobank (15 control animals, 14 horses with mild or moderate asthma (MEA), and 16 horses with severe asthma (SEA)).

Effect of the Reactor Material on the Reforming of Primary Syngas.

Syngas, mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide, has traditionally been produced from coal and natural gas, with biomass gasification later emerging as a renewable process. It is widely used in fuel synthesis through the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, where the H/CO ratio is crucial in determining product efficiency and quality. In this sense, this study aimed to reform an emulated syngas resulting from the supercritical water gasification of biomass, tailoring it to meet the H/CO ratio required for FT synthesis.