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Biomedical subjects

J C Woodard

Publications and source records attributed to J C Woodard.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Focal premature physeal closure (hyena disease) in calves.

Focal premature closure of long-bone physes was the cause of conformational abnormalities that affected about 1% of a herd of dairy replacement calves. Affected calves were noticed to "bunny hop" by 3 months of age, and by 6 months of age, they developed abnormal conformation characterized by short pelvic limbs. This condition resembled "hyena disease," which has been described in dairy calves in Europe and Japan. With the exception of the aforementioned abnormalities and femoropatellar joint distention, a group of 5 affected calves examined were clinically normal. At necropsy, focal to almost complete closure of physes was found in the humeri, tibias, and femurs. Cause was not established for the condition; however, it was discovered that the calves had been given supplemental vitamin A/D3 in amounts greater than 10 times those recommended.

Animals

Detecting right ventricular volume changes using the conductance catheter.

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of conductance catheter position within the right ventricle in obtaining adequate indications of phasic changes in ventricular volume. Possible applications of this technology are in rate responsive pacemakers and implantable defibrilators. The conductance catheter was placed in the right ventricle by cannulation of a jugular or femoral vein or a branch of the pulmonary artery. Position within the ventricle was documented from biplane fluoroscopy. Stroke volume was perturbed by: bolus injection of blood, vagal stimulation, venous infusion of methylcholine chloride, or isoprenaline. Four criteria were used to assess the quality of volume signals: (1) volume signal phase relative to the electrocardiogram; (2) magnitude parity of volume change from each electrode pair; (3) freedom from artifact; and (4) indication of stroke volume change during interventions. Greyhound dogs of either sex (n = 33), weight 20-32 kg. A total of 236 recordings from 14 distinct catheter positions were analyzed. Catheter positions originating from a femoral cannulation and one position from the pulmonary artery gave markedly superior volume transduction compared to those from the jugular route. Although right ventricular volume transduction was possible from all catheter trajectories, those resulting from the femoral approach were clearly superior. In the right ventricle, the inability to transduce a sufficient proportion of ventricular volume, in concert with the potential sensitivity of the catheter to atrial volume changes, may seriously limit the potential of the conductance technique in the applications envisaged.

Animals

Isolated ventricular systolic interaction during transient reductions in left ventricular pressure.

The volume and pressure of one ventricle have been demonstrated to modulate the volume and pressure in the contralateral chamber during systole and diastole. To quantitate the isolated systolic effects of left ventricular (LV) pressure on right ventricular (RV) mechanics, we rapidly withdrew blood from the LV immediately after diastole via an apex cannula during a single cardiac cycle in eight open-chest, open-pericardium anesthetized pigs (45 kg) and studied the effects on the RV. Reductions in LV pressure of up to 75 mm Hg were achieved in midsystolic without changing LV or RV diastolic volume or pressure. Resultant changes in RV flow and pressure development during these single unloaded beats may therefore be considered to result from pure systolic interaction. The instantaneous left-to-right systolic pressure gain [G(t)] was determined as the ratio of RV pressure change to LV pressure change as a function of time during systole, and the mean LV-to-RV systolic pressure gain was determined as the ratio of changes in mean systolic RV pressure to changes in mean systolic LV pressure. During LV unloading, there was an average reduction of 62.6 +/- 12.3% in the mean systolic LV pressure, which resulted in decreases of 13.6 +/- 6.4% in mean RV systolic pressure, 17.9 +/- 10.4% in RV stroke volume, and 27.0 +/- 11.3% in RV stroke work. G(t) was found to vary significantly within systole, reaching a minimum of 0.042 +/- 0.014 mm Hg/mm Hg at normalized time 0.70 of the systolic duration and a maximum of 0.079 +/- 0.029 at the end of RV ejection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Chondrosarcoma in a wild great white heron from southern Florida.

A typical chondrosarcoma is reported from the nictitating membrane of a great white heron (Ardea herodius occidentalis). This is the first report of a neoplasm in a free flying ciconiiform, and was the only one found in a survey of 957 carcasses from Florida.

Animals

Erosive polyarthritis in two greyhounds.

Clinical signs of disease, treatment, laboratory findings, and gross and microscopic changes of erosive polyarthritis in 2 Greyhounds are described. A microscopic feature that may help distinguish this condition from other types of arthritis is extensive necrosis of deep articular cartilage zones, with relative sparing of the more superficial surface cartilage. We believe that the disease in the 2 dogs of this report was identical to that encountered previously in Britain and Australia. Bacteriologic culture and serologic investigation failed to reveal the causative agent.

Animals

Morphology of fracture nonunion and osteomyelitis.

The author reviews the types and pathogenesis of fractures that fail to heal. A discussion of acute osteomyelitis and the causes of hematogenous disease is included. Classifications of osteomyelitis and idiopathic bone inflammations are described.

Animals

Rapid ventricular pacing in pigs: an experimental model of congestive heart failure.

To develop an improved animal model of congestive heart failure, 11 female farm pigs (wt, 42-46 kg) underwent rapid ventricular pacing at 230 beats/min for 7 days with a modified Medtronic unipolar pacemaker connected to an apical pacing lead. After 7 days the pacemaker was turned off, anesthesia induced, the chest opened, and cardiac hemodynamic and dimensional studies were performed. Results were subsequently compared with data from 12 control pigs that received no pacing. Two pigs died before measurements could be determined. Cardiac output in the paced animals (0.061 +/- 0.018 l.min-1.kg-1) was significantly less (P less than 0.05) than in control pigs (0.085 +/- 0.016 l.min-1.kg-1), when compared at the same resting heart rate. Left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic pressure (23.2 +/- 7.7 vs. 8.6 +/- 3.6 mmHg, P less than 0.01) and right ventricular (RV) end-diastolic pressure (9.0 +/- 3.1 vs. 4.4 +/- 1.7 mmHg, P less than 0.01) were significantly greater in the paced pigs. Significant increases in both septal-lateral LV end-diastolic dimension (60.3 +/- 3.9 vs. 52.1 +/- 7.2 mm, P less than 0.01) and RV end-diastolic dimension (47.2 +/- 5.7 vs. 40.8 +/- 4.7 mm, P less than 0.05) indicated biventricular dilation in the paced pigs. They also exhibited a significantly greater heart weight-to-total body weight ratio and clinical evidence of congestive heart failure, with hepatomegaly and ascites. These results demonstrate that 1 wk of rapid ventricular pacing at 230 beats/min produces a realistic model of congestive heart failure in the pig.

Animals

Food induced ("allergic") arthritis: inflammatory synovitis in rabbits.

Progress in understanding rheumatoid (RA) and inflammatory arthritis has been limited in part because there has been no widely accepted animal model of naturally occurring human disease and because the clinical syndrome of RA may reflect the expression of multiple etiologies. We have considered that inflammatory joint disease may be induced and/or exacerbated by food related antigens. To facilitate our investigations, we studied inflammatory synovitis in rabbits induced by oral exposure to environmental antigens. In our preliminary experiments, we examined 9 Florida White, 30 New Zealand White, and 9 Old English rabbits. They were nourished with normal rabbit chow supplemented with either water or cow's milk beginning at age 7 to 26 weeks and observed for 81 to 204 days. Animals were then sacrificed. Histological sections of the knees were examined and graded in a blinded fashion for synovial cell hyperplasia, inflammation, and lymphoplasmocytic infiltration. In addition, serum levels of IgG antimilk, IgG antibovine serum albumin, IgG anticasein, and IgG-C3 complexes were quantified. We found no abnormalities among Florida White rabbits but observed histological synovitis in 53% of the milk fed New Zealand White (9/17), 40% of the water fed Old English (2/5), and all of the milk fed Old English rabbits (4/4) (p = 0.05, milk fed vs water fed animals). Milk fed animals had significantly (p less than 0.0005) greater levels of antibodies and complexes than water fed animals. Our data suggest that environmental antigens may be arthritogenic for some rabbit strains. These observations may provide an important model for the study of inflammatory joint disease analogous to oral, environmental antigen exposure in man.

Animal Husbandry

Effect of radial position on volume measurements using the conductance catheter.

A finite-difference computer model has been used to determine the potential distributions arising from a dipole current source aligned parallel to the axis of bounding cylinders. The radial position of this source had large and nonlinear influence on the potentials along the dipole axis. The accuracy of the computer simulation was established from comparison with an analytic solution of a simple geometry. Measurements using a conductance catheter in saline-filled cylinders also demonstrated the dependence of the conductance on the radial position. The dependence of the potential distribution on the radial position of the dipole places limits on the ultimate accuracy of the conductance catheter technique when used for the measurement of ventricular volume. Radial movement of the catheter within the ventricular cavity, resulting in changes in the potential distribution, could explain some artefacts that appear on volume recordings from the conductance catheter.

Animals

Right ventricular volumetry by catheter measurement of conductance.

The electrical conductivity of blood is sufficiently higher than that of myocardium to make feasible the detection of cardiac volume changes by measurement of intraventricular fluid conductance. An eight-electrode catheter was used to inject an alternating current (100 microA or less, at 1500 Hz) via the two electrodes nearest the ventricular base and apex, then the resulting five voltage differences between adjacent pairs of the six intervening electrodes were measured. When current amplitude was held constant, the cross-sectional area of the ventricular cavity slice defined by planes perpendicular to the catheter through the relevant pair of electrodes was inversely proportional (to the first order) to the voltage difference. Measurement of multiple segments compensated for isovolumic cavity shape changes. The technique had previously been shown to measure left ventricular volume successfully, but the geometry of the right ventricle made this measurement more problematical. Using open-chested, anesthetized greyhounds, we compared the catheter-measured right ventricular volume change with stroke volume as measured by a pulmonary arterial electromagnetic blood flowmeter. With optimal catheter placement, good correlation between stroke volume and catheter-measured volume changes was achieved when stroke volume was perturbed on a beat-to-beat basis. In six data records from three dogs, involving two different means of varying stroke volume (rapid injection of blood and sinus node irritation), the correlations yielded r2 values between 0.82 and 0.98.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Effect of diet on longitudinal bone growth and osteochondrosis in swine.

Weanling gilts were fed either a 12% or 16% protein diet for 10 weeks. Animals fed the 12% protein diet had reduced body weights and reduced longitudinal bone growth as measured in the distal radial growth plate. There was no difference in the growth plate widths between the two animal groups, but there was a significant reduction in the daily rate of cell production in the proliferative zone of animals fed the 12% protein diet. No effect of diet on the rate of expansion of the epiphysis at the articular-epiphyseal junction of the distal femur or humerus could be detected. All animals in both groups had morphologic cartilage lesions consistent with early changes associated with osteochondrosis (OCD), and there was no difference in the lesion morphology between the dietary groups. Areas of disorderly endochondral ossification in the radial growth plate were associated with perpendicular growth cartilage infractions. Growth plate lesions were characterized by increased widths of the maturing cartilage zone without increased width of the proliferative zone or an increase in the daily rate of cell production. Focal growth plate lesions developed because of a transitory inhibition of cartilage mineralization and resorption. Disorderly foci of endochondral ossification beneath articular cartilage were characterized by an area of chondrocyte necrosis which prevented normal cartilage matrix mineralization. Lamellae of cartilage necrosis were also present within the reserve zone of the articular cartilage. These were associated with abnormalities of the cartilage canal vessels, and chondrocyte necrosis was considered to precede degenerative changes in articular cartilage matrix.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Articular cartilage blood vessels in swine osteochondrosis.

Perfusion studies in swine with early lesions of osteochondrosis demonstrated that lamellar areas of chondrocyte necrosis within reserve zones of growth areas occurred only in regions of nonperfused articular cartilage. Articular cartilage with a similar anatomical location was perfused in some animals. Occasionally, nonperfused articular cartilage showed vascular alterations within cartilage canals without evidence of significant perivascular or lamellar necrosis. By light microscopy, some vessels within or adjacent to nonperfused articular cartilage had normal morphology; however, ultrastructural abnormalities were found in some vessels of all cartilage canals adjacent to necrotic cartilage lamella. Minimal alterations were in the few cartilage canal vessels that appeared normal by light microscopy, and the surrounding chondrocytes showed only minimal alterations. Early cartilage canal alterations were seen in the endothelium of cartilage canal capillaries, and ultrastructural changes in these vessels were similar to those described with experimentally induced, direct vascular injury. Vascular injury was followed by leakage of plasma and cells into the interstitial space of the cartilage canal. Necrosis of the vessel wall and interstitial tissue caused the cartilage canals to appear empty or to be filled with fibrin-like material. Although the vascular changes could be considered as part of the normal process of cartilage maturation and cartilage canal chondrification, observations suggest that in domestic swine the attendant cartilage necrosis and chondrolysis is exuberant. It is suggested that alterations in cartilage canal vessels play a major role in the pathogenesis of articular cartilage lesions that are found in osteochondrosis of swine.

Animals

Scanning electron microscopic analysis of intraocular ossification in advanced retinal disease.

Chicken eyes from congenic blind (rd/rd) animals showing early, intermediate, and final stages of ossification, similar to the phthisis bulbi condition in man, were examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy as well as light microscopy and X-ray microanalysis. Early stages of ossification were devoid of mineralized calcium apatite while intermediate and end stages of the disorder contained large amounts of calcium and phosphorus. This process resulted in metaplastic bone formation. An intact Bruch's membrane appeared to separate the choroid from the degenerated pigment epithelium and the developing bone suggesting that its possible origin was metaplasia of the retinal pigment epithelium and the degenerated sensory retina. The end-stage ossification resulted in "phthisic bone" formation which completely filled the vitreous cavity in a manner very similar to the human condition of phthisis bulbi.

Animals

Effects of exposure to ambient air on articular cartilage of rabbits.

Effects of exposure to ambient air (20 to 22 C) on articular cartilage from rabbits were evaluated. Bilateral arthrotomies were performed on the stifles of 18 New Zealand White rabbits. The cranial surface of the left distal femur, including the articular cartilage of the trochlea, was exposed to air for 2 hours. The right stifle was opened and closed immediately. Six rabbits were killed at the end of the surgical operation (group 1), 6 after 2 weeks (group 2), and 6 after 4 weeks (group 3), and femurs were harvested. A distinct color change was seen in the exposed cartilage in group 1; however, minimal change was detected in group 2, and no change was seen in group 3. Proteoglycan content did not differ between the exposed and control cartilage in any group. The number of viable cells and empty lacunae in articular cartilage did not differ between the exposed and control femurs. Total cell counts and degenerative cell counts were similar, comparing the left and right trochlea in groups 1 and 3. A significant increase in cellularity was noticed in the radial zone of the exposed cartilage in group 2 (P less than 0.01). In the same group, a significantly increased number of degenerative cells were seen in the tangential zone of the exposed cartilage (P less than 0.05). Changes in cellularity were consistent with cartilage damage. Seemingly, exposing articular cartilage to air for 2 hours causes reversible cartilage damage.

Air

Canine diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis.

The radiographic and necropsy findings in a case of canine diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis are reported. Radiographically, the disease was characterized by progressive development of para-articular mineral densities along joint surfaces of the appendicular skeleton; progressive osseous fusion of the ilium, pubis, femur, and ischium; and progressive flowing ossification of the dorsal spinous processes of cervical and thoracic vertebrae. The para-articular lesions were considered to develop as a consequence of fibrocartilaginous proliferation followed by endochondral ossification. Progression of the ossification process led to para-articular joint fusion and almost complete ossification of the metaplastic cartilage. A distinguishing feature was the sparing of intra-articular structures.

Animals

Effects of influenza, mumps, and western equine encephalitis viruses on fetal rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Pregnant Rhesus monkeys were infected via instillation of influenza, mumps and western equine encephalomyelitis viruses respectively into the amniotic sacs at approximately 90 days gestation to determine if fetal infections would occur. Virus was recovered from fetal tissues after seven days in 100% of the exposed animals. Thus, the viruses are capable of causing fetal infection. Rhesus monkey fetuses were inoculated with influenza, mumps and WEE viruses by the direct intracerebral route at approximately 90 days gestation to determine possible teratogenicity of the viruses. influenza virus caused no malformations or measurable fetal effects. Mumps virus resulted in significant fetal mortality. WEE virus resulted in a 100% incidence of encephalitis and hydrocephalus. Thus, mumps and WEE viruses are teratogens in primates and are potential teratogens of man.

Animals

Renal adenoma in an Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

A solitary renal adenoma was an incidental finding at the pole of a kidney of an aged male Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) which had been captured in the Gulf of Mexico near St. Petersburg Beach, Fla, and maintained at Marine Attractions, Inc, St. Petersburg. The only other significant findings were widespread cutaneous lesions of Lobo disease.

Adenoma