Journeys, Journey Conditions, and Welfare Assessment of Unbroken (Unhandled) Horses on Arrival at a Slaughterhouse in Italy.

Transportation of horses to slaughterhouses can pose a welfare concern, in particular when horses are unbroken/unhandled. This study aimed to describe their journeys and journey conditions, document their welfare status on arrival in a slaughterhouse in Italy, and investigate possible associations between journey conditions and welfare issues. A total of 395 unbroken draft horses in 20 different consignments were assessed with a standardized protocol.

Factors Affecting the Development of Bovine Respiratory Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study in Beef Steers Shipped From France to Italy.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a complex, multifactorial syndrome and one of the major welfare and economical concerns for the cattle industry. This 1-year cross-sectional study was aimed at documenting the prevalence of BRD-related pathogens and clinical signs before and after a long journey and at identifying possible predisposition factors. Male Limousine beef steers ( = 169) traveling from France to Italy were health checked and sampled with Deep Nasopharyngeal Swabs (DNS) at loading (T0) and 4 days after arrival (T1).

Protection of Animals during Transport: Analysis of the Infringements Reported from 2009 to 2013 during On-Road Inspections in Italy.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 requires that vehicles that are transporting animals be subjected to checks conducted by competent authorities. Yearly, each member state sends a report to the European government on the infringements that have been discovered during on-road inspections. The reports that were published by the Italian Ministry of Public Health from 2009 to 2013 were analyzed.

Prevalence of Pathogens Related to Bovine Respiratory Disease Before and After Transportation in Beef Steers: Preliminary Results.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a serious health and economic problem in the beef industry, which is often associated with transportation and caused by different pathogens. The prevalence of (BoHV-1), (BAdV), (BVDV), (BCoV), s (BRSV), (BPiV), , , , , in the nasal microbiota of beef steers before and after the same long-distance journey from France to southern Italy was documented Fifty-six Limousine animals of three different shipments, travelling on three different days from February to April, were included. Prior to shipment (T0) and four days after arrival (T1), two DNS/animal were collected and tested by Real Time quantitative PCR (qPCR).

Road Transport of Farm Animals: Mortality, Morbidity, Species and Country of Origin at a Southern Italian Control Post.

Statistics on animal transport and its implications for health and welfare are limited. This study documented the animals transiting through a control post and their welfare outcomes measured by mortality rate and the prevalence of animals considered unfit for further transport (i.e.

Familial Risk and a Genome-Wide Supported DRD2 Variant for Schizophrenia Predict Lateral Prefrontal-Amygdala Effective Connectivity During Emotion Processing.

The brain functional mechanisms translating genetic risk into emotional symptoms in schizophrenia (SCZ) may include abnormal functional integration between areas key for emotion processing, such as the amygdala and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). Indeed, investigation of these mechanisms is also complicated by emotion processing comprising different subcomponents and by disease-associated state variables. Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between risk for SCZ and effective connectivity between the amygdala and the LPFC during different subcomponents of emotion processing.

Label-free C-reactive protein electronic detection with an electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistor-based immunosensor.

In this contribution, we propose a label-free immunosensor, based on a novel type of electrolyte-gated field-effect transistor (EGOFET), for ultrasensitive detection of the C-reactive protein (CRP). The recognition layer of the biosensor is fabricated by physical adsorption of the anti-CRP monoclonal antibody onto a poly-3-hexyl thiophene (P3HT) organic semiconductor surface. A supplementary nonionic hydrophilic polymer is used as a blocking agent preventing nonspecific interactions and allowing a better orientation of the antibodies immobilized onto the P3HT surface.

Detection beyond Debye's length with an electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistor.

Electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors are successfully used as biosensors to detect binding events occurring at distances from the transistor electronic channel that are much larger than the Debye length in highly concentrated solutions. The sensing mechanism is mainly capacitive and is due to the formation of Donnan's equilibria within the protein layer, leading to an extra capacitance (CDON) in series to the gating system.

When a postsurgical dehiscence becomes a serious problem.

Therapeutic management of nonhealing wounds is often a challenging condition. Postlaparotomy wound dehiscence can become a serious problem in patients affected with chronic pain and abdomen distension. In this case report, negative-pressure wound therapy with the Chariker-Jeter method was used to treat a dehiscence in a patient affected with type I spinocerebellar ataxia.

Necrotizing fasciitis: a surgical emergency.

Accurate assessment and timely interventions are critical in the treatment of patients affected with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare, fulminating, potentially life-threatening, infectious process of the soft tissues. Understanding the natural history and unique characteristics of this disease is crucial to achieve early recognition, effective management and a favorable patient outcome. Classic symptoms include severe pain, erythema, mottling, crepitus, skin anesthesia, warmth, tenderness, bullous formations and edema in the affected area and fever.

Treatment with silybin-vitamin E-phospholipid complex in patients with hepatitis C infection.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of silybin-phospholipids and vitamin E complex (SPV complex), by determining cytokine patterns and various markers of liver disease. Forty Caucasian patients with chronic HCV infection were recruited and divided into two groups: 30 were treated with SPV complex for 3 months, while the other 10 did not receive any treatment. Ten other subjects without HCV infection but with staeatosic diagnosis were recruited and treated with SPV complex.

Adenocarcinoma arising in an elderly patient's large ileal duplication.

Bowel duplications are rare congenital anomalies commonly found in pediatric patients; few cases may remain undetected until adulthood. Malignant carcinomatous changes are rare complications in intestinal duplications. An 88-year-old female patient was referred to our surgical unit with the diagnosis of a large abdominal mass.

High dose of erythropoietin in management of interferon/ribavirin induced anemia.

Accumulating evidence now supports the use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) to manage anemia in PEG-IFN/RBV treated patients, with the objective of maintaining the RBV dose, but currently no official guidelines exist. Actually, rHuEPO exact utilizable dose in PEG-IFN/RBV treated patients is not known. We describe the case of a patient with severe ribavirin-induced anemia.

Jejuno-jejunal invagination due to intestinal melanoma.

Cutaneous melanoma is one of the most studied neoplastic lesions in biology and clinical oncology. It has been well documented that this type of neoplasm presents a high metastatic rate, and is able to involve nearly every tissue. Non-cutaneous melanoma represents an unusual pattern of melanoma, and the small intestine is an uncommon anatomic localization.

A proposal for statistical evaluation of the detection of gunshot residues on a suspect.

The possibility of accidental contamination of a suspect by gunshot residues (GSRs) is considered. If two hypotheses are taken into account ("the suspect has shot a firearm" and "the suspect has not shot a firearm"), the likelihood ratio of the conditional probabilities of finding a number n of GSRs is defined. Choosing two Poisson distributions, the parameter lambda of the first one coincides with the mean number of GSRs that can be found on a firearm shooter, while the parameter mu of the second one is the mean number of GSRs that can be found on a nonshooter.

Primary hyperparathyroidism related to a parathyroid adenoma: the dramatic clinical evolution of a misdiagnosed patient and its surgical solution.

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a clinical condition related to an excessive and abnormally regulated secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) from the parathyroid glands which is responsible for an alteration of the calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Parathyroid adenomas are the most important cause of primary hyperparathyroidism (80-85%). A case of parathyroid adenoma observed in a patient aged 47, admitted to the Emergency Medicine Department of our Hospital with a diagnosis of hypertensive crisis, cephalea, vomiting, and a clinical history of recurrent episodes of severe abdominal and renal pain, is presented.

Arteriovenous fistulas for hemodialysis created using a long-term absorbable suture: a safe solution and a measure to minimize myointimal hyperplasia.

Background/aims: The goal of the therapeutic management of patients affected by end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is to maintain the vascular access (VA) as long as possible. Myointimal hyperplasia development in the vascular walls of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) is considered one of the most important factors responsible for procedure failure. These alterations could be linked to hemodynamic changes in the anastomosis and to the presence of the surgical suture itself.

Occurrence of yeasts in cloacae of migratory birds.

Several species of yeast have been reported as pathogens in humans based on increases in immunodeficiency syndromes and as a result of immunosuppressant chemotherapy in cancer treatment. Domestic and wild birds are known to act as carriers of human pathogenic fungi. To gain additional information on the yeasts present in the cloacae of some species of migratory birds, 421 wild birds (24.

X-ray mapping technique: a preliminary study in discriminating gunshot residue particles from aggregates of environmental occupational origin.

The possibility of detection of lead-antimony-barium aggregates from non-firearm sources is confirmed according to the tests performed on brake pads, and firework and automobile workers. Moreover, information on particles taken from cartridge cases shows the relative feeble importance of the morphology in distinguishing gunshot residues (GSRs). Furthermore, also the presence in the spectrum of other elements (e.

Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis: a rare complication of peritoneal dialysis. A case report.

Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis is a typical, but at the same time, not so frequently observed complication of peritoneal dialysis. The aim of this article is to report on the authors' clinical and surgical experience with this disease. After a review of the international literature and a description of the typical clinical features of this disease, the authors describe a case of sclerosing encapsulated peritonitis observed in their surgical department, on its mode of onset (intestinal occlusion), clinical behaviour and surgical treatment.

Virtual endoscopy: already a feasible proposition or a future prospect in diagnostics? A review of the literature.

The aim of this article was to carry out a retrospective analysis of the feasibility of using virtual endoscopy in the field of gastrointestinal diseases. After a retrospective review of the international literature the authors analyse the most controversial aspects of virtual endoscopy such as its effective diagnostic reliability and potential clinical employment with specific reference to diagnosing colon diseases. The international literature shows that virtual endoscopy is currently poorly sensitivity in detecting lesions measuring less than 10 mm in diameter and that the radiologist's experience can negatively condition the trustworthiness of this procedure.

[Current developments in the treatment of acute generalised peritonitis].

Generalised acute peritonitis is a relatively frequently pathology which has always been extremely difficult to treat owing to the large number of complications. Considerable progress has been made over the past few years in the surgical treatment of these pathologies following the introduction of new materials accompanied by new techniques: continuous peritoneal lavage (CPL) and laparostomy are the best known. These techniques must be used in carefully selected patients.

[Ventricular arrhythmia in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. When and how to treat].

Patients with apical hypertrophy have a natural favourable history. Non Specific Ventricular Tachycardia (NSVT) at ambulatory monitoring is more favourable if it is not associated with consciousness disorders. A high rate of NSVT episodes at Holter or the association with syncope can lead to a less favourable prognosis and therefore require pharmacological or electric treatment.