Calcium and magnesium abnormalities in puppies with parvoviral enteritis.

Objective: To determine the association between ionized calcium (iCa) and/or total magnesium (tMg) and the development of sepsis and to investigate whether iCa or tMg is associated with mortality in puppies with canine parvoviral enteritis (CPE).

Methods: 64 client-owned puppies with CPE were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. Serum iCa and tMg were measured daily from admission until death or discharge.

Candidate circulating microRNA biomarkers in dogs with chronic pancreatitis.

Background: Pancreatitis is an important cause of disease and death in dogs. Available circulating biomarkers are not sufficiently sensitive and specific for a definitive diagnosis.

Hypothesis: Circulating microRNAs would be differentially expressed in dogs with chronic pancreatitis and could have potential as diagnostic biomarkers.

Rapid metagenomic sequencing for diagnosis and antimicrobial sensitivity prediction of canine bacterial infections.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to human and animal health. There is an urgent need to ensure that antimicrobials are used appropriately to limit the emergence and impact of resistance. In the human and veterinary healthcare setting, traditional culture and antimicrobial sensitivity testing typically requires 48-72 h to identify appropriate antibiotics for treatment.

A genome-wide association study for loin depth and muscle pH in pigs from intensely selected purebred lines.

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) aim at identifying genomic regions involved in phenotype expression, but identifying causative variants is difficult. Pig Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion (pCADD) scores provide a measure of the predicted consequences of genetic variants. Incorporating pCADD into the GWAS pipeline may help their identification.

Assessing the effect of a canine surgical-neutering educational programme on the knowledge and confidence of Indian veterinary participants.

India has a large, free-roaming dog population, encompassing both owned and stray dogs. Canine surgical neutering is often a central component of dog population management and rabies control initiatives. The provision of practical, surgical training opportunities remains a major challenge for veterinary educational establishments worldwide to ensure competency in this routine procedure.

Use of multi-color flow cytometry for canine immune cell characterization in cancer.

Although immunotherapy is becoming a standard approach of human cancer treatment, only a small but critical fraction of patients responds to the therapy. It is therefore required to determine the sub-populations of patients who will respond to immunotherapies along with developing novel strategies to improve efficacy of anti-tumor immune reactions. Current development of novel immunotherapies relies heavily on mouse models of cancer.

Implementing a One Health Approach to Rabies Surveillance: Lessons From Integrated Bite Case Management.

As part of the 'Zero by 30' strategy to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030, international organizations recommend a One Health framework that includes Integrated Bite Case Management (IBCM). However, little is understood about the implementation of IBCM in practice. This study aims to understand how IBCM is conceptualized, exploring how IBCM has been operationalized in different contexts, as well as barriers and facilitators to implementation.

Associations between maternal vitamin D status and porcine litter characteristics throughout gestation.

Emerging evidence suggests an important role of vitamin D in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, and the regulation of foetal growth across mammalian species. However, the temporal changes in maternal vitamin D status throughout gestation in the pig and the relationship between maternal vitamin D status and litter characteristics of interest across gestation remain poorly understood and under-investigated. The abundance of 25(OH)D in maternal plasma was quantified by HPLC-MS/MS at gestational days (GD) 18, 30, 45, 60 and 90 (n = 5-11 gilts/GD).

The effect of season, management and endocrinopathies on vitamin D status in horses.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is common in humans and is increasingly linked to the pathogenesis of a multitude of diseases including obesity and metabolic syndrome. The biology of vitamin D in horses is poorly described; the relative contribution of the diet and skin synthesis to circulating concentrations is unclear and associations with the endocrine disease have not been explored.

Objectives: To determine the relationship between management, season and endocrine disease and vitamin D status in horses.

Serum metabolomic profiles in dogs with chronic enteropathy.

Background: Metabolic profiles differ between healthy humans and those with inflammatory bowel disease. Few studies have examined metabolic profiles in dogs with chronic enteropathy (CE).

Hypothesis: Serum metabolic profiles of dogs with CE are significantly different from those of healthy dogs.

Ranging patterns and factors associated with movement in free-roaming domestic dogs in urban Malawi.

Rabies is a neglected zoonotic disease that causes around 59,000 deaths per year globally. In Africa, rabies virus is mostly maintained in populations of free-roaming domestic dogs (FRDD) that are predominantly owned. Characterizing the roaming behavior of FRDD can provide relevant information to understand disease spread and inform prevention and control interventions.

Seasonal variation in serum metabolites of northern European dogs.

Background: Metabolic profiling identifies seasonal variance of serum metabolites in humans. Despite the presence of seasonal disease patterns, no studies have assessed whether serum metabolites vary seasonally in dogs.

Hypothesis: There is seasonal variation in the serum metabolite profiles of healthy dogs.

Vitamin D status is heritable and under environment-dependent selection in the wild.

Vitamin D has a well-established role in skeletal health and is increasingly linked to chronic disease and mortality in humans and companion animals. Despite the clear significance of vitamin D for health and obvious implications for fitness under natural conditions, no longitudinal study has tested whether the circulating concentration of vitamin D is under natural selection in the wild. Here, we show that concentrations of dietary-derived vitamin D and endogenously produced vitamin D  metabolites are heritable and largely polygenic in a wild population of Soay sheep (Ovis aries).

Vitamin D insufficiency in COVID-19 and influenza A, and critical illness survivors: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The steroid hormone vitamin D has roles in immunomodulation and bone health. Insufficiency is associated with susceptibility to respiratory infections. We report 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) measurements in hospitalised people with COVID-19 and influenza A and in survivors of critical illness to test the hypotheses that vitamin D insufficiency scales with illness severity and persists in survivors.

More Than a Moggy; A Population Genetics Analysis of the United Kingdom's Non-Pedigree Cats.

The domestic cat is one of the most popular pets in the world. It is estimated that 89-92% of domestic cats in the UK are non-pedigree Domestic shorthair (DSH), Domestic longhair (DLH), or Domestic semi-longhair cats (DSLH). Despite their popularity, little is known of the UK non-pedigree cats' population structure and breeding dynamics.

A genome-wide association analysis for body weight at 35 days measured on 137,343 broiler chickens.

Background: Body weight (BW) is an economically important trait in the broiler (meat-type chickens) industry. Under the assumption of polygenicity, a "large" number of genes with "small" effects is expected to control BW. To detect such effects, a large sample size is required in genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Computed Tomography Osteodensitometry for Assessment of Bone Mineral Density of the Canine Head-Preliminary Results.

Despite bone mineral density (BMD) being regularly measured in human patients, BMD studies in clinical cohorts of dogs is lacking. In order to facilitate BMD assessment and in turn better identify dogs suffering from metabolic bone disease, rapid, easy and precise computed tomography (qCT) techniques are required. In this study we aimed to assess the utility of quantitative computed tomography (qCT) bone mineral density (BMD) measurement of the canine calvarium using a semiautomated osteodensitometry software and define host factors associated with canine bone mineral density in a skeletally healthy population.

Investigation of hypomagnesaemia prevalence and underlying aetiology in a hospitalised cohort of dogs with ionised hypocalcaemia.

Objectives: Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body and plays a critical role in a wide range of physiological processes. Low concentrations of ionised calcium, the most metabolically available form of calcium, have been linked to an increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes in dogs. Magnesium plays an important role in parathyroid hormone function.