An Equine Emergency

Mindy Nelson, UC Davis

Cases/Abstracts, Winner

Das Hit presented at 2237 on 8/12/14 for an emergency visit to the Large Animal Equine Medicine service at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California, Davis. She is a 7 year-old Oldenburg mare used for dressage riding (Fig. 1) and is insured for major medical. She presented for a history of fever, neck swelling, and red-brown urine. The history of this mare’s present illness began on August 6, when her owner noted swelling and pain in the left side of the neck and called her veterinarian. Bloodwork on that day showed an elevated WBC count. The owner’s mother reported that no intramuscular injections had been given and that no respiratory, pigeon fever or strangles-like symptoms were present in any of the other horses at the farm. The treatment course from 8/6/14 to 8/12/14 included uniprim (trimethoprim sulfadiazine) reported as 2 scoops PO BID, banamine (flunixin meglumine) 10 ml IV SID, and surpass (1% diclofenac sodium) applied topically to the swelling. A fever developed a few days into the treatment (ranging from 102°-104°F) and hydroxyzine (unknown dose) and baytril (enrofloxacin; reported as 2 scoops PO BID) were added to the regimen. On 8/12/14, the day of presentation, the mare developed a fever of 106°F and her urine was noted to be dark red-brown in color (Fig. 2), so she was referred to the VMTH.

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A review of Veterinary Research in Epigenetics

Rebecca Zaremba, Ross University

Cases/Abstracts, Honorable Mention           

 For many years, millions[ACL1]  of healthy women and their families have suffered from miscarriage, which is openly defined as the loss of a fetus under 20 weeks of age (The March of Dimes). The trauma of miscarriage often impacts entire families, from expectant mothers and fathers to siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Many factors can cause miscarriage, and most of these are poorly understood. It is important to determine etiologies of miscarriage and it is also equally important to be able to understand that these tragedies do not disappear after the loss of the baby. Fortunately, the veterinary field has helped immensely in determining specific point mutations which are thought to be responsible for such tragedies in humans.

            One of the long-term goals of the Lossie lab is to understand the genetic and epigenetic causes of miscarriage. In an effort to understand these mechanisms, we have characterized two lethal mutations in mice known as l11Jus1 (L1) and l11Jus4 (L4). L1 and L4 are two separate mutations in a gene called Notchless (Nle1), which is a component found downstream to the Notch pathway (Baumgarner et al. 2007). These two mutant lines survive through the blastocyst stage (Figure 1) and are able to successfully implant into the uterus. However, neither L1 nor L4 survive past implantation; they arrest prior to gastrulation, which eventually leads to an immature body.

Figure 1. Implantation

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Amphibian Microbiomes as Indicators of Individual and Environmental Health

Sarah Leyman, The Ohio State University

Cases/Abstracts, Winner

AMPHIBIAN MICROBIOMES AS INDICATORS OF INDIVIDUAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Sarah Leyman¹, Barbara Wolfe¹, Paula Mouser² 

¹The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 1900 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH, USA

²The Ohio State University Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodectic Engineering, 2070 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, USA

Amphibians depend on their cutaneous microbial community as a first line of immune defense against disease. However, very few studies have been performed to characterize the bacterial genera found on the skin of different amphibian species and under different water quality conditions.  The goal of this study was to classify the bacterial genera present on the skin of two Lithobates species living in lakes of highly variant water characteristics on a reclaimed surface mine.  A second objective was to develop a baseline frog microbiome library on the site prior to shale gas exploration in order to monitor microbiome changes in association with environmental disturbance. Northern green frogs (Lithobates clamitans melanota) and American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeiana) were caught from 10 different lakes on the Wilds in Cumberland, OH.  Skin swabs were collected following a sterile saline solution rinse for bacterial characterization and to test for Batrachochytrium dendrobatiditis (Bd), the etiologic agent of amphibian chytridiomycosis.  Pharyngeal swabs were taken to test for ranavirus, another emerging disease of amphibians, and blood samples were collected to assess the heterophil-lymphocyte ratio as an indicator of stress. Water quality parameters were documented and water samples collected for chemical analysis at the time of frog capture for each site. The DNA was extracted from the bacterial swabs and sequenced using 454 pyro-sequencing.  At least one frog from each site tested was positive for Bd, but no frogs were positive for ranavirus.  Water quality among sites varied with regard to pH (4.10 to 8.66), conductivity (137.5 μS/cm to 3.51 mS/cm), ionic content, and dissolved organic carbon (0.13 mg/L to 11.7 mg/L).  Our study identified over 300 different genera of microbes representing 68 orders present on frogs on this site. Water quality parameters were found to be associated with differential microbial colonization and physiologic parameters.

*Click the thumbnail pictures below to see full size images*

Adipose Derived Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for IBD in an Adult Cat

Winner - Cases and Abstracts
Aki Otomo, St. George’s University

Cheddar is my 10 year-old Domestic Shorthair feline who I adopted in 2004 after he had sustained severe sacro-iliac trauma from being hit by a car at the age of 14 months. He initially presented with a necrotic tail pull injury, which required a short tail amputation with extensive urinary catheterization post-operatively.

By the age of 4 years, Cheddar exhibited numerous neurogenic issues including constipation, megacolon, urine retention from detrusor areflexia and fecal incontinence with pudendal nerve impingement. In 2011 his megacolon had progressed to a point where a subtotal colectomy was necessary. Subsequent sequelae included surgical dehiscience and septic peritonitis. In addition, his bladder atony became so severe he required a permanent low profile cystostomy tube for 14 months. Chiropractic adjustment, low level laser therapy and acupuncture allowed the removal of the cystostomy tube due to increased conscious voiding on Cheddar’s part, however he retains approximately 35mL of urine post-void. He currently suffers from chronic ascending multi-drug resistant urinary tract infections. 

In December 2012, he was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (lymphactyic plasmacytic) with minimal villous lymphangiectasia and chronic mild gastritis. Initial therapy with diet change and Budesonide proved unsuccessful as his cachexia, weight loss and vomiting continued. Further Prednisone therapy resulted in a bladder wall fistula at his previous bladder pexy surgical site. Therefore, systemic immuno-supressants and steroids were ruled out as an ongoing treatment option for his IBD. After consulting with both his Internist Dr. Katie Baxter (BVSc, ACVIM) and Surgeon Dr. Alan Kuzma (DVM, ACVS), in July 2013, we enrolled Cheddar in Vet Stem’s IBD Developmental Program to use adipose derived adult mesenchymal stem cell therapy to potentially treat his IBD.

Background

Stem cell therapy is a fairly new form of treatment for a variety of diseases. Current clinical data has proven stem cell therapy to be effective for treatment of certain cases of equine osteoarthiritis, degenerative joint disease, osteochondrosis dissecans, ligament and tendon injuries, sub-chondral bone cysts, meniscal injuries and fractures (Nixon et al., 2008). In feline and canine patients, it is used most often for osteoarthirits (Black et al., 2007 and Black et al., 2008), orthopedic soft tissue injury, polyarthiritis and fractures. Although the complete understanding of the physiological mechanisms of stem cells have yet to be completely elucidated, stem cells are thought to promote healing and decrease inflammation and modulate inflammatory immune responses (De La Garza Rodea, 2011). They have the ability to modulate and control inflammatory cytokines and target areas of chronic inflammation (Fiorina et al., 2009) where they can potentially ‘re-set’ the inflammatory response through regeneration of normal cells and cell function (Zuk et al., 2002). Therefore, there is wide spread interest in researching stem cells to cure autoimmune diseases and disorders (Zuk et al., 2001). 

Currently, there are various clinical trials being conducted on the use of stem cell therapy in felines with chronic renal disease with one such high profile trial being conducted at the Animal Medical Center in New York.

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Back arch posture in dairy cows: An indicator of early signs of lameness?

Entry, Abstracts
Carlie Gordon, Washington State University

Background:  Visual observation of an arched back in dairy cattle while they are standing and walking is one criterion for assessing lameness through locomotion scoring. However, observation of a back arch while cows are in stanchions is only variably associated with lameness. If the observation of back arch could be better defined, the sensitivity of this method might be improved. It was the purpose of this study to evaluate the degree of back arch that would differentiate lame from non-lame cows while in stanchions and assess if the back arch posture in the lock-up is a predictable observation for lameness. This picture is showing a cow in lock up with an arched (concave) back. The cow in this picture has a back arch of 168 °, a deviation of 12° from a flat back as indicated by the orange line across her back.

Methods: Locomotion scores were collected for all lactating Holstein cows on one farm. Cows with scores of two or greater were used for this study. Eighteen cows received a locomotion score of ≥ 3 and 55 cows received a locomotion score of ≤ 2. Digital photographs of these cows while in stanchions and from videos as they exited the milking parlor were taken. Images were analyzed for the degree of back arch, “deviation from flat”, where a flat back was considered 180°. In addition, cows in one pen were observed 5 successive times while stanchioned to evaluate time in lockup effects on the presence of a back arch.

Results: The angle of deviation from cows during lockup was not associated with locomotion score. However, there was a trend for cows that were determined to have a locomotion score of ≥ 3 to have back angles that deviated further from 180 °. From the successive observations, back-arch was not a consistent observation but the proportion of observation time a cow was observed with a back arch was significantly greater for lame cows vs. non lame cows. This picture is showing another cow in lockup. This cow has a straight back measuring 180 ° as indicated by the orange line across her back.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that the back arch observation, although inconsistently associated with locomotion scoring, could be used as a simple screening tool by veterinarians and dairy producers if frequent observations are made while the cows are stanchioned.

*Note: An organge paint stick was used to mark the withers and tail-head of each cow, pictures of each cow in lockup were then taken and at a later date a program called vistametrix was used to assess the the angle of each cow’s back