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Biomedical subjects

R Fankhauser

Publications and source records attributed to R Fankhauser.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Sebastian Fey, Zuben and Erlen (Thurgau), 1791-1825].

Sebastian Fey (1791-1825) was a young veterinarian of the Swiss canton of Thurgau (founded 1803). He had first made an apprenticeship as a country veterinarian, and his educational background was very modest. But his zealousness to come out of the darknesses of empirical veterinary medicine was very strong. With a cantonal scholarship, he managed to spend a year (1813/14) at the Vienna Veterinary School. He was one of the first members of the Swiss Veterinary Association founded 1813, and published a series of papers in the early volumes of its Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde, on from 1816. He also had two monographs printed in Constance publishing houses. In the second of them, he confirmed and defended the statements of Skellett, a British pioneer of foetotomy in cattle.

History, 19th Century

Canine distemper virus clearance in chronic inflammatory demyelination.

The distribution of canine distemper virus (CDV) antigen was examined in the brains of 14 dogs with chronic nervous distemper using a monoclonal antibody against a major viral protein. In ten of these dogs, neutralizing anti-CDV antibody titers were determined in serum and unconcentrated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In 19% of the inflammatory demyelinating lesions, large amounts of CDV antigen were found; in 34% of these lesions only residual traces of virus were seen and in almost half of the lesions (47%) no CDV could be demonstrated. In four dogs neutralizing antibodies were found in the serum only; in one dog in the CSF only and in 5 dogs both in serum and CSF. Because of the correlation between the presence of inflammation, intrathecal antiviral antibodies and disappearance of CDV from the lesions, it was concluded that the inflammatory response in distemper is associated with viral clearance from the lesions. Associated immune-mediated cytotoxic reactions could explain exacerbation of the initial virus-induced demyelinating lesions. Despite the presence of an apparently effective intrathecal antiviral immune response, fresh non-inflammatory lesions as a result of viral replication and spread in the white matter coexisted with inflammatory ones in which viral clearance had taken place. The role and mechanism of such virus persistence are discussed.

Animals

Immunocytochemical studies in canine neuroectodermal brain tumors.

Seventy-four canine neuroectodermal tumors were examined immunocytochemically for the presence of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Eleven oligodendrogliomas were examined for the presence of myelin basic protein (MBP) and myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG). Twenty-three tumors, including ten astrocytomas, one ependymoma, two glioblastomas, one case of gliomatosis, and nine poorly differentiated gliomas were positive for GFAP. Two astrocytomas, eleven oligodendrogliomas, eight ependymomas, four choroid plexus papillomas, two medulloblastomas, one glioblastoma, nine poorly differentiated gliomas, six cases of gliomatosis, and three unclassified tumors were GFAP-negative. In six tumors (including four that were classified as astrocytoma) GFAP staining was equivocal. All oligodendrogliomas were MBP-negative but three expressed MAG. It was concluded that many canine gliomas are not only morphologically but also immunocytochemically similar to human gliomas, but that a larger proportion of canine neuroectodermal growths are undifferentiated tumors.

Animals

Immunohistological studies on primary reticulosis of the canine brain.

Brains of 17 dogs with primary reticulosis, and of two with metastatic and one with primary lymphosarcoma, were examined by immunohistologic techniques with antisera against the major immunoglobulin classes of the dog. On the basis of immunoglobulin in tumour cells, two reticuloses were reclassified as primary lymphosarcomas of the brain. The tumour cells in three other dogs with neoplastic reticulosis and in six dogs with microgliomatosis did not contained immunoglobulin. Many cells in inflammatory reticulosis were immunoglobulin-bearing. Although some of these lesions could have been lymphosarcomas, insufficient data were available to ascertain either an inflammatory or a neoplastic nature. It was concluded that some lesions previously classified as reticulosis are in fact primary histiocytic lymphosarcomas of the brain, while others may be true reticulosarcomas.

Animals