Prognostic value of echocardiographic and Doppler parameters in horses admitted for colic complicated by systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

Objective: To assess the prognostic value of echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular (LV) function in horses with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Veterinary teaching hospital.

Analysis of the real EADGENE data set: comparison of methods and guidelines for data normalisation and selection of differentially expressed genes (open access publication).

A large variety of methods has been proposed in the literature for microarray data analysis. The aim of this paper was to present techniques used by the EADGENE (European Animal Disease Genomics Network of Excellence) WP1.4 participants for data quality control, normalisation and statistical methods for the detection of differentially expressed genes in order to provide some more general data analysis guidelines.

The EADGENE Microarray Data Analysis Workshop (open access publication).

Microarray analyses have become an important tool in animal genomics. While their use is becoming widespread, there is still a lot of ongoing research regarding the analysis of microarray data. In the context of a European Network of Excellence, 31 researchers representing 14 research groups from 10 countries performed and discussed the statistical analyses of real and simulated 2-colour microarray data that were distributed among participants.

Effect of atropine-dobutamine stress test on left ventricular echocardiographic parameters in untrained warmblood horses.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of combined atropine low-dose dobutamine stress test on left ventricular parameters in adult warmblood horses, to establish a potential protocol for pharmacological stress echocardiography. Seven healthy untrained warmblood horses aged 9 to 22 years were used. Heart rate (HR) and left ventricular B- and M-mode dimensions were recorded at baseline and during stress testing with 35 microg/kg atropine IV followed by incremental dobutamine infusion of 2 to 6 microg/kg/min.

Evaluation of respiratory function by barometric whole-body plethysmography in healthy dogs.

The objective of the present study was to assess the validity of barometric whole-body plethysmography (BWBP), to establish reference values, and to standardise a bronchoprovocative test to investigate airway responsiveness using BWBP in healthy dogs. BWBP measurements were obtained from six healthy beagle dogs using different protocols: (1) during three consecutive periods (3.5min each) in two morning and two evening sessions; (2) before and after administration of two protocols of sedation; (3) before and after nebulisation of saline and increasing concentrations of carbachol and histamine both in conscious dogs and in dogs under both protocols of sedation.

Effects of chronic obesity and weight loss on plasma ghrelin and leptin concentrations in dogs.

The objective of this study was to evaluate, in dogs, the effects of obesity and weight loss on plasma total ghrelin and leptin concentrations. Twenty-four Beagle dogs, 12 control lean and 12 obese dogs of both genders and aged between 1 and 9 years, were used for the experiments. Mean body weight was 12.

An immunologic investigation of canine eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy.

Immunologic variables in dogs with eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy (EBP) have not been extensively evaluated. The aim of this study was to determine immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations and to perform phenotypic subtyping of lymphocytes in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and peripheral blood (PB) of 12 dogs with EBP at the time of diagnosis (TD) and to compare these data with those obtained in healthy dogs, as well as in EBP dogs after antibiotic therapy (TAB) and during corticosteroid treatment (TM). Matched samples of serum and BALF were used to determine Ig concentrations (IgG, IgM, and IgA) by capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), from which a secretory index (SI) was calculated.