Prognostic Value of Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Cats With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Objective: To assess the prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for cardiac death in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Study Design: Prospective observation study.

Animals: Ninety-six client-owned cats.

Subaortic Cavitated Myxoma Causing Severe Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction in a Young Dog.

• Myxomas are rare tumors in dogs, in contrast to humans. • Myxomas may cause left ventricular outflow tract obstructions. • Primary cardiac tumors should be considered even in young dogs.

Cultural Change Reduces Gender Differences in Mobility and Spatial Ability among Seminomadic Pastoralist-Forager Children in Northern Namibia.

A fundamental cognitive function found across a wide range of species and necessary for survival is the ability to navigate complex environments. It has been suggested that mobility may play an important role in the development of spatial skills. Despite evolutionary arguments offering logical explanations for why sex/gender differences in spatial abilities and mobility might exist, thus far there has been limited sampling from nonindustrialized and subsistence-based societies.

Cardiac extracellular volume fraction in cats with preclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) allows for detection of fibrosis in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) by quantification of the extracellular volume fraction (ECV).

Hypothesis/objectives: To quantify native T1 mapping and ECV in cats. We hypothesize that native T1 mapping and ECV will be significantly increased in HCM cats compared with healthy cats.

Quantitative assessment of left ventricular volume and function by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, ultrasound velocity dilution, and gated magnetic resonance imaging in healthy foals.

Objective: To compare measurements of left ventricular volume and function derived from 2-D transthoracic echocardiography (2DE), transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and the ultrasound velocity dilution cardiac output method (UDCO) with those derived from cardiac MRI (cMRI) in healthy neonatal foals.

Animals: 6 healthy 1-week-old Standardbred foals.

Procedures: Foals were anesthetized and underwent 2DE, TEE, and cMRI; UDCO was performed simultaneously with 2DE.

Cancer therapy-induced cardiomyopathy: can human induced pluripotent stem cell modelling help prevent it?

Cardiotoxic effects from cancer therapy are a major cause of morbidity during cancer treatment. Unexpected toxicity can occur during treatment and/or after completion of therapy, into the time of cancer survivorship. While older drugs such as anthracyclines have well-known cardiotoxic effects, newer drugs such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, proteasome inhibitors, and immunotherapies also can cause diverse cardiovascular and metabolic complications.

Alloimmune Responses of Humanized Mice to Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapeutics.

There is growing interest in using embryonic stem cell (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derivatives for tissue regeneration. However, an increased understanding of human immune responses to stem cell-derived allografts is necessary for maintaining long-term graft persistence. To model this alloimmunity, humanized mice engrafted with human hematopoietic and immune cells could prove to be useful.

Endostatin binds nerve growth factor and thereby inhibits neurite outgrowth and neuronal migration in-vitro.

Endostatin (ES), the C-terminal fragment of collagen XVIII known for its anti-angiogenic properties, is associated with neurological diseases in mammals. In this study, we investigated the effect of ES on nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced neuronal differentiation, migration, neuritogenesis, and neurite extension. ES partially inhibited PC12 cell differentiation and cerebellar granule cell migration.

Using stereocartography for predicting efficacy of stereoinduction by chiral catalysts.

A computational method called stereocartography is used to examine regions around chiral catalysts that are most stereoinducing during Diels-Alder reactions. Geometries and atomic charges of catalysts are first generated quantum mechanically. The transition state of the reaction being catalyzed is then computed quantum mechanically and those enantiomeric transition states are used as probes to determine where around the catalyst stereoinduction is optimal.

Stereocartography: a computational mapping technique that can locate regions of maximum stereoinduction around chiral catalysts.

A hypothesis concerning asymmetric induction by chiral catalysts is posited, tested, and found to be valid. The hypothesis states that chiral catalysts that are efficient at inducing asymmetry will have their region of maximum stereoinduction spatially congruent with the site of chemistry but inefficient catalysts will not. A simple mapping strategy (stereocartography) is used to assess where the region of maximum stereoinduction is located around a given catalyst.