Features of ophthalmic, magnetic resonance imaging, and histopathology of a feline case of idiopathic sclerosing orbital pseudotumor.

In the present report, we describe a case of sclerosing orbital pseudotumor in an 11-year-old castrated male American Shorthair cat. Ophthalmic exam showed lagophthalmos, retracted right upper eyelid, and resistant to retropulsion in his right eye. Under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, increased volume of the extraocular muscles (EOMs) of the right eye was prominent.

The in vitro effects of aflatoxin B on physiological functions of swine alveolar macrophages.

The toxic effects of aflatoxin B (AFB ) on the physiological functions of swine alveolar macrophages (SAM) were investigated. Freshly isolated SAM were incubated with various AFB concentrations (1.6 × 10  - 1.

Expression of HIF-1α and VEGF in feline mammary gland carcinomas: association with pathological characteristics and clinical outcomes.

Background: The microenvironment within solid malignant tumors, including feline mammary gland carcinomas (FMGCs), is commonly hypoxic, possibly due to the lack of functional blood vessels in rapidly proliferating neoplastic tissue. Malignant cells can undergo genetic and adaptive changes that prevent them from dying due to oxygen deprivation through expressions of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Therefore, HIF-1α and VEGF are ideal biomarkers for cancer therapy and prognostic evaluation.

Role of nuclear factor-kappa B in feline injection site sarcoma.

Background: Chronic inflammation has been implicated in sarcomagenesis. Among various factors, activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway has been documented being able to target genes associated with tumor progression and up-regulate the expression of tumor-promoting cytokines and survival genes in several human solid tumors. Feline injection sites sarcomas (FISS) are malignant entities derived from the mesenchymal origin.

Concurrent leukoencephalomyelitis and polyneuritis in a Maltese terrier: resembling combined central and peripheral demyelination in humans.

A one-year-old male Maltese terrier presented with mild ataxia and disorientation for 4 months. Over time, clinical signs progressed from paraparesis to non-ambulatory tetraparesis, voice change and dysphagia. Histological examination revealed concurrent leukoencephalomyelitis and polyneuritis.

Identification of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Novel Conformational Epitopes of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea Virus Spike Protein.

Since 2010, newly identified variants of porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) have caused high mortality in neonatal piglets which has devastated the swine industry. The spike (S) glycoprotein of PEDV contains multiple neutralizing epitopes and is a major target for PEDV neutralization and vaccine development. To understand the antigenicity of the new PEDV variant, we characterized the neutralizing epitopes of a new genotype 2b PEDV isolate from Taiwan, PEDV Pintung 52 (PEDV-PT), by the generation of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NmAbs).

Use of Autometallography to Localize and Semi-Quantify Silver in Cetacean Tissues.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been extensively used in commercial products, including textiles, cosmetics, and health care items, due to their strong antimicrobial effects. They also may be released into the environment and accumulate in the ocean. Therefore, AgNPs are the major source of Ag contamination, and public awareness of the environmental toxicity of Ag is increasing.

The Characterization of Immunoprotection Induced by a cDNA Clone Derived from the Attenuated Taiwan Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Pintung 52 Strain.

The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) poses a great threat to the global swine industries and the unreliable protection induced by the currently available vaccines remains a major challenge. We previously generated a genogroup 2b (G2b) PEDV Taiwan Pintung 52 (PEDVPT) strain, PEDVPT-P96, and determined its promising host immune response against the virulent PEDVPT-P5 strain. To study the attenuation determinants of PEDVPT-P96 and establish a PEDVPT-P96-based recombinant vector as a vaccine platform for further antigenicity modification, iPEDVPT-P96, a full-length cDNA clone of PEDVPT-P96, was established.

Th2 cytokine bias induced by silver nanoparticles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of common bottlenose dolphins ().

Background: Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely used in many commercial products due to their excellent antibacterial ability. The AgNPs are released into the environment, gradually accumulate in the ocean, and may affect animals at high trophic levels, such as cetaceans and humans, via the food chain. Hence, the negative health impacts caused by AgNPs in cetaceans are of concern.

Efficacy of heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit-adjuvanted parenteral porcine epidemic diarrhea virus trimeric spike subunit vaccine in piglets.

Devastating outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) started in China in late 2010 and rapidly spread to North America and Asia causing severe diarrhea and high mortality in neonatal piglets, indicating that a new generation of vaccine against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is urgently needed. In the present study, to mimic the native spike (S) glycoprotein, a stable cell line producing the trimeric ectodomain of S glycoprotein of the PEDV Pintung-52 (PEDV-PT) strain was successfully established by incorporating T4 bacteriophage foldon sequence of fibritin trimerization domains at the C-terminal end and replacing the signal peptide of S protein with the tissue plasminogen activator signal peptide sequence at the N terminal end. The trimeric structure, bio-reactivity to PEDV-specific antibodies, and the N-glycosylation level of the recombinant S protein were characterized.

Reproductive failure associated with coinfection of porcine circovirus type 2 and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.

An outbreak of reproductive failure in a pig farm in Taiwan was investigated. Coinfection with porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) was diagnosed in a stillborn pig by histopathology, polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry, and should be considered as a cause of reproductive failure.

Urothelial Carcinomas of the Urinary Bladder With Plasmacytoid or Rhabdoid Features and Tendency of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in 3 Dogs.

Plasmacytoid and rhabdoid variants of urothelial carcinomas (UCs) of the urinary bladder have been described in humans with plasma cell-like or rhabdoid cellular appearance and aggressive clinical outcome. Canine UC of the bladder is generally classified as papillary/nonpapillary and infiltrating/noninfiltrating with limited information regarding other histological patterns. We report 3 cases of UC of the urinary bladder showing a unique discohesive cellular morphology with malignant behavior resembling the human plasmacytoid and rhabdoid variants of UC, which may raise some difficulties in diagnosis.

Immunotoxicity of Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the Leukocytes of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been extensively used and are considered as an emerging contaminant in the ocean. The environmental contamination of AgNPs is expected to increase greatly over time, and cetaceans, as the top ocean predators, will suffer the negative impacts of AgNPs. In the present study, we investigate the immunotoxicity of AgNPs on the leukocytes of cetaceans using several methods, including cytomorphology, cytotoxicity, and functional activity assays.

Investigation of silver (Ag) deposition in tissues from stranded cetaceans by autometallography (AMG).

Silver, such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), has been widely used in commercial products and may be released into the environment. The interaction between Ag deposition and biological systems is raising serious concerns because of one health consideration. Cetaceans, as the top predators of the oceans, may be exposed to Ag/Ag compounds and suffer negative health impacts from the deposition of these compounds in their bodies.

Locally extensive meningoencephalitis caused by Miamiensis avidus (syn. Philasterides dicentrarchi) in a zebra shark.

Scuticociliatosis, caused by ciliated protozoa in the subclass Scuticociliatia of the phylum Ciliophora, can cause fatal disease in teleost fish species. However, information on scuticociliatosis in elasmobranchs is still scarce. In this report, we describe a case of locally extensive meningoencephalitis caused by Miamiensis avidus (syn.

Determination of the cell tropism of serotype 1 feline infectious peritonitis virus using the spike affinity histochemistry in paraffin-embedded tissues.

Unlike for serotype II feline coronaviruses (FCoV II), the cellular receptor for serotype I FCoV (FCoV I), the most prevalent FCoV serotype, is unknown. To provide a platform for assessing the pattern by which FCoV I attaches to its host receptor(s), HEK293 cell lines that stably express the ectodomains of the spike (S) proteins derived from a FCoV I feline enteric coronavirus strain UU7 (FECV UU7) and a feline infectious peritonitis virus strain UU4 (FIPV UU4) were established. Using the recombinant S proteins as probes to perform S protein affinity histochemistry in paraffin-embedded tissues, although no tissue or enteric binding of FECV UU7 S protein was detected, it was found that by immunohistochemistry that the tissue distribution of FIPV UU4 S protein-bound cells correlated with that of FIPV antigen-positive cells and lesions associated with FIP and that the affinity binding of FIPV UU4 S protein on macrophages was not affected by enzymatic removal of host cell-surface sialic acid with neuraminidase.

Evaluation and Comparison of the Pathogenicity and Host Immune Responses Induced by a G2b Taiwan Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (Strain Pintung 52) and Its Highly Cell-Culture Passaged Strain in Conventional 5-Week-Old Pigs.

A genogroup 2b (G2b) porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) Taiwan Pintung 52 (PEDVPT) strain was isolated in 2014. The pathogenicity and host antibody responses elicited by low-passage (passage 5; PEDVPT-P5) and high-passage (passage 96; PEDVPT-P96) PEDVPT strains were compared in post-weaning PEDV-seronegative pigs by oral inoculation. PEDVPT-P5-inoculation induced typical diarrhea during 1-9 days post inoculation with fecal viral shedding persisting for 26 days.

Mycolactone-producing Mycobacterium marinum infection in captive Hong Kong warty newts and pathological evidence of impaired host immune function.

A mass mortality event of captive Hong Kong warty newts Paramesotriton hongkongensis with non-granulomatous necrotic lesions occurred in Taipei Zoo, Taiwan, in 2014. Clinically, the sick newts were lethargic and often covered with water mold Saprolegnia sp. on the skin of the body trunk or extremities.

Development of a recombinase polymerase amplification lateral flow dipstick (RPA-LFD) for the field diagnosis of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) infection.

Caprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE) in goats is a complex disease syndrome caused by a lentivirus. This persistent viral infection results in arthritis in adult goats and encephalitis in lambs. The prognosis for the encephalitic form is normally poor, and this form of the disease has caused substantial economic losses for goat farmers.

Concurrent spindle-cell thymoma and thymic cysts in a Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia): case report and review of the literature.

An ~21-year-old female Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) died spontaneously following a lengthy episode of difficulty in walking. An ~6 × 3 × 3 cm, unilocular cystic growth was found in the cranioventral thorax. The fibrotic cystic wall, lined by a single layer of flattened to cuboidal epithelial cells, was invaginated and partially encircled solid masses of fusiform neoplastic cells with multiple intratumoral cystic structures.

PATHOLOGY AND MOLECULAR DETECTION OF RABIES VIRUS IN FERRET BADGERS ASSOCIATED WITH A RABIES OUTBREAK IN TAIWAN.

Until Rabies virus (RABV) infection in Taiwan ferret badgers (TWFB; Melogale moschata subaurantiaca) was diagnosed in mid-June 2013, Taiwan had been considered rabies free for >50 yr. Although rabies has also been reported in ferret badgers in China, the pathologic changes and distribution of viral antigens of ferret badger-associated rabies have not been described. We performed a comprehensive pathologic study and molecular detection of rabies virus in three necropsied rabid TWFBs and evaluated archival paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of six other TWFBs necropsied during 2004 and 2012.

The pathogenic role of torque teno sus virus 1 and 2 and their correlations with various viral pathogens and host immunocytes in wasting pigs.

The pathogenic role of torque teno sus virus (TTSuV) in swine is controversial among different studies. The present study intended to evaluate the potential pathogenicity of TTSuV based on its correlations with the histopathological changes, various common concurrently infected viral pathogens including porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), and porcine parvovirus (PPV), as well as changes in the distribution and population of host immunocytes such as B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, and macrophages by using the superficial inguinal lymph nodes (siLNs) of wasting pigs. A tissue microarray consisting of 270 available siLNs collected from 262 clinically wasting and 8 healthy pigs, respectively, were used for the detection of TTSuV1, TTSuV2, PCV2, PRRSV, and PPV by either in situ hybridization (ISH) or immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, and for the detection of various subsets of immunocytes by IHC staining with monoclonal antibodies to CD3, CD79a, and lysozyme.

Detection of torque teno sus virus 1 and 2 in porcine tissues by in situ hybridization using multi-strained pooled probes.

Porcine torque teno sus virus (TTSuV) has been suggested as a co-factor for the development of porcine circovirus-associated diseases. However, the pathogenic role of TTSuV is still inconclusive, and the target cell and tissue tropism of this virus are also ambiguous. In the present study, a multi-strained pooled probe-based in situ hybridization was established to detect the nucleic acids of TTSuV1 and TTSuV2 in the tissue.

Molecular characterization of cryptically circulating rabies virus from ferret badgers, Taiwan.

After the last reported cases of rabies in a human in 1959 and a nonhuman animal in 1961, Taiwan was considered free from rabies. However, during 2012-2013, an outbreak occurred among ferret badgers in Taiwan. To examine the origin of this virus strain, we sequenced 3 complete genomes and acquired multiple rabies virus (RABV) nucleoprotein and glycoprotein sequences.