Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Ferrer.
Malignant fibrous histiocytomas occur rarely in internal organs of dogs. Only the spleen has been demonstrated as a primary site of tumor origin. In humans, malignant fibrous histiocytomas originate frequently from any retroperitoneal organ. This case report describes the clinical disease and morphological findings in a dog with a renal malignant fibrous histiocytoma.
AIM: To study the relationship between the changes in protein repletion indicators and calorie and nitrogen balance in undernourished patients receiving enteral nutrition. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients (11 female, age range 55-85 years old) with an initial serum albumin below 3.5 g/dl or serum transferrin below 200 mg/dl, which received enteral nutrition, were studied. On days one and ten of nutritional support, indirect calorimetry, nitrogen balance and serum levels of albumin, transferrin, pre-albumin and total lymphocyte count were measured. RESULTS: Initial resting energy expenditure was 25.1 +/- 5 Kcal/kg/day (115.4 +/- 20% of that predicted by Harris Benedict equations) and urinary urea nitrogen 5.4 +/- 3.7 g/day. Initial and final nitrogen balances were 66.9 +/- 71 and 81.4 +/- 105.9 mg N/kg/day and mean energy balance throughout the study was +9.0 +/- 7.2 Kcal/kg/day. During the ten days of nutritional support, albumin improved significantly in 0.35 +/- 0.43 g/dl (15.2 +/- 19.8%). Transferrin, pre-albumin and total lymphocyte count did not change significantly. The changes in these last parameters did not correlate with nitrogen or calorie balance. CONCLUSIONS: Probably other factors, besides nutritional balances, influence serum protein levels and these may not change despite an adequate nutritional repletion.
BACKGROUND: There is currently no doubt concerning the detrimental effects of the intake of high doses of alcohol during pregnancy. Nonetheless, there has been some controversy regarding the effects of intake of low or moderate quantities of alcohol. The aim of the present study, carried out within the framework of a more extensive European study (EUROMAC), was to specifically analyze the relation between moderate intake of alcohol in pregnant women and the weight of the newborns. METHODS: A prospective cohort study including 1,005 women who attended prenatal consultation in the Hospital La Fe of Valencia between 12 and 18 weeks of pregnancy during 1989 was performed. All the subjects were asked on alcohol intake during the week prior to the interview with data on other sociodemographic and biologic variables being collected. Variance analysis was carried out to evaluate the association of the weight of the newborn with alcohol intake as well as with each of the control variables. Multiple lineal regression analysis was performed by the minimum squares method to evaluate possible effects of confusion and interaction. RESULTS: Following adjustment for parity, weight of the mother prior to pregnancy, sex of the newborn, age at pregnancy and tobacco consumption, only a slight reduction in the weight of the newborns was observed in the category of intake greater than 90 g/week, however this difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The low or moderate intake of alcohol during the first months of pregnancy has no detectable effect on fetal growth.
The expression of the intermediate filament vimentin was examined immunocytochemically in 17 cases of histologically confirmed primary canine nephropathy, and compared with its expression in normal canine kidney. In normal renal tissue, the expression of vimentin was restricted to glomerular elements, but in all cases of chronic interstitial nephritis it extended to the cortical tubular epithelia, and was correlated with the degree of tubulo-interstitial damage. Three of four cases of renal cell carcinoma had vimentin reactivity in neoplastic cells. In only one case of familial renal disease was vimentin expressed in scattered epithelial cells of the cortical tubules.
The presence of monocytes/macrophages (MPs) in renal glomeruli was investigated in 86 dogs with different types of glomerulopathies. The identification of MPs in tissue sections was based on cytological criteria and the immunohistochemical demonstration of lysozyme. The highest numbers of MPs in glomeruli were observed in focal and diffuse mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MesPGN), diffuse endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis (DEPGN), and diffuse mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis (DMCGN). In cases of minor glomerular abnormalities (MGA), focal and segmental hyalinosis and sclerosis (FGS), diffuse membranous glomerulonephritis (DMemGN), and diffuse sclerosing glomerulonephritis (DSGN) the presence of glomerular MPs was low. Particularly in MesPGN, the number of MPs was correlated with glomerular hypercellularity and, additionally in DMCGN, with the degree of proteinuria. The results of this study suggest that MPs may be involved in functional and morphological alterations in different types of canine glomerulopathies.
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This report describes the gross, histopathological, immunocytochemical and electron microscopic findings in a cat with systemic cryptococcosis and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection. Lymphadenopathy and cloudiness of leptomeninges were the major gross findings. Numerous cryptococcal yeasts were found in lymph nodes, brain, and lung, and were less common in the kidney and the eye. The inflammatory reaction varied in intensity and cell type (mononuclear through granulomatous) depending on the organ involved. Yeasts were mainly within phagocytes as revealed by electron microscopy. Some inflammatory cells were immunocytochemically-stained with anti-CD3 antibodies.
In view of the high incidence of canine cutaneous atopic disease and the relevance of mast cells to its pathogenesis, it was considered important to isolate firstly cutaneous mast cells from normal dog skin and to assess the histamine secretory activity, as this can be further used as a tool for the study of canine skin mast cell pharmacology in cutaneous atopy. The procedure for canine dermal mast cell dispersion following a skin enzymatic digestion (as for previous human skin mast cell dispersion methods) is described in detail. The number of canine cutaneous mast cells yielded per gram of skin was 2.31 +/- 0.21 x 10(5) representing 1.00% of the total cutaneous cells. The total histamine content per mast cell is 4.93 +/- 0.39 pg. Net histamine release owing to stimulation by calcium ionophore A23187 (1 microM) and concanavalin A (1 mg ml-1) was respectively 32.17 +/- 3.56% and 20.39 +/- 2.41% of the total amount per cell. Viability and reactivity to both stimuli of dispersed cutaneous mast cells were similar to the results found in humans. The present study allows further research on the role of mast cells immunopharmacology in allergy by investigation of cells isolated from canine skin in naturally occurring or experimentally induced atopy in the dog to be undertaken.
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The aim of this study was to assess resting energy expenditure and nitrogen excretion in patients with cranial injury. In 25 patients subjected to elective craniotomy and 23 healthy volunteers, energy expenditure was measured using indirect calorimetry and compared with estimations according to Harris-Benedict equations. During the second postoperative day, measured energy expenditure in patients was 100 +/- 19% (range 66-185) of estimation and 115 +/- 22% (range 76-159%) of measured values in control subjects. In sedated patients with flaccid muscular paralysis, measured energy expenditure was 82 +/- 12% of estimation and 94 +/- 15% of measured values in control subjects. Urinary urea nitrogen excretion in patients was 10.2 +/- 5.4 g/day and catabolic index was 6.8 +/- 5.1. Patients receiving corticoids had increased urinary urea nitrogen excretion and no differences in measured energy expenditure, compared to patients not receiving this medication. It is concluded that the great variability in measured energy expenditure and its lack of correlation with the degree of catabolism, set forth the need to perform an indirect calorimetry in these patients to plan an adequate nutritional support.
The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of severe head injury over resting energy expenditure and nitrogen losses. Eight patients with severe head trauma (mean Glasgow scale of 4.9 +/- 1.6), subjected to emergency craniotomy were studied; four patients had septic complications and none received steroids. Energy expenditure was measured using indirect calorimetry and nitrogen losses were assessed measuring 24 h urea nitrogen excretion on days 1, 4, 7 and 10 of the postoperative period. Twelve healthy males composed the control group. Measured energy expenditure in patients, evaluated in 22 occasions, was 35 +/- 9.8 Kcal/kg/day or 145 +/- 41% of the estimation according to Harris-Benedict equations, compared to 22.0 +/- 4.6 Kcal/kg/day or 89.9 +/- 17.5% in the control group (p < 0.001). 24 h urinary urea nitrogen excretion in patients was 18 +/- 12 g/day (range 5.2-46.9) and the catabolic index was 7.4 +/- 13.5. It is concluded that, due to the great individual variability in measured energy expenditure in these patients and their hypercatabolism, indirect calorimetry and nitrogen balance studies become useful tools to perform an adequate nutritional support.
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This report describes the immunocytochemical detection of CD3 antigen by means of a polyclonal antibody in sections of formol-fixed canine lymphoid tissue, embedded in paraffin wax. In all hybrid organs the lymphocytes in the T cell regions showed an intense immune reaction, located particularly in the cytoplasmic membrane and at the cytoplasmic border.
The immunocytochemical detection of amylase, carboxypeptidase A, alpha 1-antitrypsin, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and keratin in normal canine pancreatic tissue and in carcinomas of the exocrine pancreas of the dog is described. In the normal pancreas, the acinar cells contain amylase, carboxypeptidase and alpha 1-antitrypsin. The pancreatic ducts react with the antikeratin antibody. Twelve out of 14 pancreatic exocrine carcinomas showed immunoreaction with antiamylase antibody, and 10 with anticarboxypeptidase antibody. Five neoplasms reacted with anti-CEA antibody and three with the anti-alpha 1-antitrypsin antibody. It was not possible to find any systematic difference in the immunocytochemical profiles of acinar, tubular and undifferentiated carcinomas. These results indicate that immunocytochemical marking of amylase and carboxypeptidase is of value in the diagnosis of pancreatic neoplasms in the dog, especially if metastasis is the only material available for study and the tumour does not show any diagnostic feature on routine light microscope preparations.
Hundreds of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) died along the Spanish Mediterranean coast during the second half of 1990. We necropsied 58 dolphins. Partial collapse of the lungs with patchy atelectasis, subcutaneous edema, icterus, and stomatitis were the most prominent gross morphologic changes. Histologically, a bronchiolo-interstitial pneumonia was the most frequent lesion (72% of the animals). It was characterized by hyperplasia of alveolar epithelial type II cells and formation of multinucleate syncytia in alveolar and bronchiolar lumina. Other prominent lesions were encephalitis (69%), lymphoid depletion, and formation of multinucleate syncytia in the cortex of lymph nodes. The distribution of morbillivirus antigen was investigated in 23 well-preserved dolphins using a monoclonal antibody against the hemagglutinin glycoprotein of phocine distemper virus. Positive immunostaining was found in brain (77%), in lung (70%), and in mesenteric (61%), mediastinal (47%), and prescapular (45%) lymph nodes. Phocine distemper virus antigen was demonstrated less frequently in trachea, stomach, biliary epithelium, intestine, kidney, and mammary gland. Necrotizing-hemorrhagic pneumonia and encephalitis due to Aspergillus fumigatus were seen in three dolphins, whereas two animals had lesions of toxoplasmosis. Changes in our dolphins were similar to those caused by distemper in seals and porpoises. The origin of the dolphin virus and the relationships among dolphin, seal, and porpoise morbilli viruses are unknown.