Clinical Research Abstracts of the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress 2015.

Reasons For Performing The Study: Yellow fat disease or steatitis is characterised by a local or general inflammation of fat tissue and is occasionally found in horses. Diagnosis is challenging because of the wide range of nonspecific clinical signs.

Objectives: To describe clinical signs, treatment, outcome and ultrasonographic findings in horses with steatitis.

Presence of interferon during bacterial otitis media.

To examine the possibility that interferon (IFN) production plays a role in otitis media, specimens of middle ear fluid (MEF) were cultured for bacteria and viruses and assayed for IFN. Twenty (33%) of 81 MEF specimens from children attending a pediatric clinic contained 50-600 units of IFN/ml. Characterization of high-titered samples by cell species specificity, stability at pH 2, nonspecificity for virus, and cell-bound antiviral activity showed the major properties of IFN.

Retinoic acid: enhancement of a tumor and inhibition of interferon's antitumor action.

The effect of trans-retinoic acid on the growth of P388 lymphoid tumors in inbred female DBA/2 mice in the presence or absence of interferon (FN) treatment was studied. This acid derivative of vitamin A enhanced local tumor growth. trans-retinoic acid also partially reversed IFN protection against tumor growth and mortality.

Potentiation of antitumor effect of virus-induced interferon by mouse immune interferon preparations.

In inbred DBA/2 mice, the antitumor activities of separate and combined preparations of mouse immune interferon and mouse virus-induced interferon on the development of P388 tumors were studied. Immune interferon alone (25 U/day) did not affect tumor development. Virus-induced interferon alone (25,000 U/day) delayed tumor development and increased survival time.