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Biomedical subjects

W R Kelly

Publications and source records attributed to W R Kelly.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis in a two month old foal.

A foal, small and jaundiced from birth, succumbed after two months to chronic hepatic damage which was characterised by fibrosis, biliary ductular hyperplasia and the presence of pleomorphic hepatocytes containing either a single large nucleus or multiple nuclei. The fixed liver contained sulfur-bound pyrroles, which are derived from pyrrolizidine alkaloids. During pregnancy the pasture was heavily infested with the pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plant, Senecio madagascariensis. The hepatic disease affecting the foal appears to have been initiated by consumption of the alkaloids by the mare during gestation, and to represent a rare case of congenital pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Epizootic mortality of free-living green turtles, Chelonia mydas, due to coccidiosis.

At least 70 wild green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, died in the Moreton Bay area of southeast Queensland, Australia over 6 wk in spring 1991. Based on the necropsy of 24 turtles, there was a severe enteritis or encephalitis associated with Caryospora cheloniae, a coccidial pathogen previously recorded only in farm-reared Ch. mydas hatchlings. Infection was characterized by the presence of coccidia in extra-intestinal lesions. Oocysts were observed to sporulate, after which sporozoites escaped into seawater to form a novel stellate configuration. We conclude that C. cheloniae is pathogenic for life stages other than hatchling Ch. mydas and that naturally-occurring coccidiosis is a significant disease of free-living Ch. mydas.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Equine neural angiostrongylosis.

Verminous encephalomyelitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae was diagnosed in 2 foals at necropsy. The principal clinical feature was tetraparesis, although history and neurological examination revealed progressive and multifocal neurological disease. At presentation, a tentative diagnosis of parasitic larval migration involving the central nervous system (CNS), presumably due to Strongylus vulgaris, was proposed. Dissection of the spinal cord in one case resulted in recovery of intact larvae of both sexes of A. cantonensis. In both foals, histopathology of the brain and spinal cord revealed nematode sections which were consistent with A. cantonensis larvae.

Angiostrongylus↗
PubMed1990

Histopathology of melanocytic lesions in goats and establishment of a melanoma cell line: a potential model for human melanoma.

Melanocytic cells from white Angora goats were studied in vivo and in vitro. The histopathology of pigmented areas of skin from the most common sites of melanoma (solar-exposed areas of the ear, face, and perineum) resembled that of the epidermal melanocytes in Hutchinson's melanotic freckle in humans. Seven melanoma biopsies from 6 Angora goats showed histopathological features in common with human melanoma. A melanoma cell line, GM-1, was established in culture from a lymph node metastasis obtained from an animal that had a primary tumor excised and later developed extensive metastatic disease. GM-1 cells were mainly diploid, amelanotic, proliferated rapidly, spontaneously formed vacuolated cells, and were tumorigenic in nude mice. The species of origin of the GM-1 line was confirmed by isozyme profiles. GM-1 cultured cells and the original biopsy both expressed S-100 protein and tyrosinase antigen. Using GM-1 cells as the immunogen, a monoclonal antibody (MoAb 1F1) was derived that reacted strongly with a 116 kDa antigen in 50% of the GM-1 cells, but had little activity with goat fibroblasts (GM-F) or with human melanoma cells. GM-F, on the other hand, yielded more intense staining than GM-1 with an intermediate filament antibody (IFA), reacting with a 58 kDa antigen in both cell lines. The sensitivity of GM-1 to anticancer agents was similar to that of human melanoma cells. The pathology of caprine melanoma and its association with sun-exposed sites in relatively young animals suggest that it may be a suitable model for studying induction of melanoma by natural sunlight.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Hepatotoxicity to dogs of horse meat contaminated with indospicine.

An outbreak of liver disease which killed more than 30 dogs at Alice Springs was associated with feeding meat from horses, some of which had developed Indigofera linnaei poisoning (Birdsville horse disease). Affected livers were small, nodular and yellow. There was associated jaundice, ascites, elevation of alanine aminotransferase levels in serum, a tendency to bleed, and signs of hepatic encephalopathy. Histologically, livers showed periacinar necrosis, collapse and haemorrhage, with severe swelling, vacuolation and cholestasis in remaining hepatocytes. Indospicine, a toxic amino acid found in the genus Indigofera, was detected in samples of suspect horsemeat. Experimental feeding of horsemeat containing 16 mg indospicine/kg for 32 days produced periacinar necrosis and hepatocellular swelling in 2 dogs, although neither died nor showed clinical illness. In another experiment, intakes of as little as 0.13 mg indospicine/kg bodyweight/day for 70 days produced periacinar liver lesions, and indospicine concentrations in serum, muscle and liver rose during this period to 3.9, 7.9 and 17.5 mg/kg, respectively. It was concluded that meat from horses grazing I. linnaei can be hepatotoxic for dogs, and that this toxicity may be related to its indospicine content.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1987

Skin cancer and papillomaviruses in cattle.

We examined proliferative lesions on the sun-exposed, unpigmented skin of 13 cattle. Ages of animals at first examination ranged from 4 to 15 years, and 4 were observed for from one to 3 years, during which time progression to malignancy occurred in 2 of them. Early lesions consisted of keratin scales and horns; histology showed underlying acanthosis and hyperkeratosis. Advanced lesions were either squamous cell carcinomas or basaloid tumours with sebaceous and/or squamous differentiation; some were locally invasive but no metastases were found in the 6 animals that were available for necropsy. All 3 types of lesion could occur on the same animal. In early lesions from 11 of 12 animals, there was evidence for the presence of papillomavirus, either virions or viral DNA, the latter detected by gel electrophoresis and/or molecular hybridization. Viral DNA was also detected in 3 basaloid tumours and 2 squamous cell carcinomas from 4 animals. The DNA bound to a probe of bovine papillomavirus type 1 DNA under conditions of low stringency. We suggest that both infection with papillomavirus and exposure to sunlight, possibly in conjunction with other factors such as a period of photosensitization, are involved in the production of this spectrum of proliferative lesions, which bear some resemblance to human skin cancer.

Aging↗
PubMed1987

Spontaneous lymphoid neoplasia in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus).

Thirteen cases of lymphoid neoplasia were examined in koalas from New South Wales and Queensland. Haematological and biochemical data were collected from 2 cases while all were subjected to detailed necropsies. Affected koalas were adults of both sexes and the disease had a variable time course. The 2 koalas examined haematologically were leukaemic. On a morphological basis, 5 cases were classified as multicentric, 7 cases as abdominal (but not necessarily with alimentary tract involvement) and one case as solitary. In most cases, the neoplastic cells appeared to be either lymphoblasts or prolymphocytes.

Animal Diseases↗
PubMed1987

Determining picogram quantities of U in human urine by thermal ionization mass spectrometry.

The U concentration in Standard Reference Material 2670 (Toxic Metals in Freeze-Dried Urine) and the urine of two preschool-age children were determined by measuring the chemically separated U by isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry using ion counting detection. This procedure can detect about 1% of the U atoms loaded into the mass spectrometer and has a total chemical blank of about 5 pg U. The U concentration in SRM 2670 was found to be 113 +/- 2 pg 238U/ml (1 s). At this concentration, a 1-ml sample is sufficient for a determination with a total uncertainty of less than 5%. The U concentrations in the two children were 3.1 +/- 0.9 and 3.6 +/- 0.9 pg 238U/g. These values suggest that the U concentration in urine of unexposed persons may be at this low level or lower.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1987

The impact of outpatient drug benefits on the use and costs of health care services for the elderly.

In light of the current debate surrounding the extension of Medicare benefits to cover outpatient drugs, it is important to increase our understanding of the impact of drug payment programs on overall health care outcomes and expenditures. In this retrospective study of health care use among Medicare beneficiaries in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, we studied the impact of New Jersey's Pharmaceutical Assistance for the Aged (PAA) program on health care costs. Using multiple regression analysis, we found that New Jersey Medicare recipients used, on average, $238.50 less in inpatient hospital care under the PAA program than did their counterparts in eastern Pennsylvania, which did not have a drug payment assistance program in place. Although administrative costs may have reduced overall savings, it seems reasonable to conclude that the PAA program resulted in no overall health care cost increases.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Definition of a non-alert downer cow syndrome and some case histories.

The clinical, blood biochemical and autopsy findings on a cow affected by a 'non-alert downer cow syndrome' are described in detail and compared with brief clinical and biochemical details from six similar cases attended elsewhere. The significance of the biochemical observations is discussed in relation to the observations from many other clinical milk fever cases in a dairy practice in Victoria. This syndrome developed in 1.9 per cent of 584 cases of milk fever. The essential findings in the syndrome were that all cows had an initial clinical episode suggestive of milk fever but showed an unsatisfactory clinical response to calcium borogluconate therapy. After a day or two all cows became laterally recumbent, some exhibited expiratory moaning and all developed mucoid faeces which, in many cases contained spots of blood. All cases had significantly lower erythrocyte and plasma potassium concentrations than those in milk fever cases which responded to treatment.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Treatment of equine onchocerciasis with ivermectin paste.

A single oral dose of ivermectin paste was administered to 12 horses with dermatitis and clinical signs typical of onchocerciasis. Two of the horses also had lesions of Queensland itch. Microfilarias of Onchocerca cervicalis were identified in fresh, macerated, skin biopsies from the neck, brisket or umbilical regions of all horses and microfilarias of O. gutturosa from the neck of 2. Eight of the horses developed skin reactions 4 to 24 h after the administration of the ivermectin, notably weals over the neck, shoulders and flanks and pitting oedema of the ventral midline and intermandibular space. Regression of the onchocerciasis lesions was evident within 7 days of treatment and affected skin had returned to normal within 3 months. The lesions of Queensland itch were not affected by the ivermectin treatment. Microfilarias were present in biopsies of skin, particularly in the superficial dermis, before treatment, but were absent from all skin biopsies taken one week after treatment. In some horses transient skin sensitivity reactions developed. Microfilarias began to reappear in the biopsies of some of the horses 2 months after treatment. It is concluded that the oral paste formulation of ivermectin, although not effective against adult onchocerca, is useful for the therapeutic control of microfilarias in the skin lesions of equine onchocerciasis.

Animals↗