Intermittent At-Home Suctioning of Esophageal Content for Prevention of Recurrent Aspiration Pneumonia in 4 Dogs with Megaesophagus.

BACKGROUND: Megaesophagus carries a poor to guarded prognosis due to death from aspiration pneumonia. Options for medical management of regurgitation are limited to strategic oral or gastrostomy tube feeding. OBJECTIVES: To describe the use and efficacy of intermittent esophageal suctioning to prevent regurgitation and associated episodes of aspiration pneumonia in dogs with megaesophagus. ANIMALS: Four dogs with acquired idiopathic megaesophagus and recurrent aspiration pneumonia. METHODS: Retrospective review of medical records of dogs with megaesophagus in which intermittent suctioning of esophageal content was employed for management of recurrent aspiration pneumonia. RESULTS: Intermittent suctioning of the esophagus was initiated in 4 dogs after failure of strict gastrostomy tube feeding failed to prevent regurgitation and repeated episodes of aspiration pneumonia. Suctioning was accomplished by esophagostomy tube in 3 dogs and per os in 1 dog. After initiation of esophageal suctioning, dogs survived for a median of 13.5 additional months (range, 10-30 months) during which time 2 dogs had no additional episodes of aspiration pneumonia and 2 dogs had infrequent episodes of pneumonia, but aspiration was suspected to be a contributing factor in their death. Complications included clogging of the esophagostomy tube, esophagostomy site infections, and esophagitis. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Use of intermittent esophageal suctioning in dogs with megaesophagus that continue to regurgitate despite gastrostomy tube feedings can reduce or abolish clinical episodes of aspiration pneumonia.

Computer-assisted densitometric image analysis (CADIA) of previously sealed carious teeth: a pilot study.

Previous studies have shown that occlusal dental caries can be arrested with sealants. Radiographic monitoring must be performed to ensure success. Standardized sequential bitewing radiographs over a 10-year interval of four patients who had sealed composite restorations placed without caries removal were digitized and analyzed using the CADIA algorithm. CADIA values for the 10-year period were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and showed no significant change in radiographic density for this interval (P > 0.05), which is suggestive of arrested dental caries.

Saliva sampling in global clinical studies: the impact of low sampling volume on performance of DNA in downstream genotyping experiments.

BACKGROUND: The collection of viable DNA samples is an essential element of any genetics research programme. Biological samples for DNA purification are now routinely collected in many studies with a variety of sampling methods available. Initial observation in this study suggested a reduced genotyping success rate of some saliva derived DNA samples when compared to blood derived DNA samples prompting further investigation. METHODS: Genotyping success rate was investigated to assess the suitability of using saliva samples in future safety and efficacy pharmacogenetics experiments. The Oragene® OG-300 DNA Self-Collection kit was used to collect and extract DNA from saliva from 1468 subjects enrolled in global clinical studies. Statistical analysis evaluated the impact of saliva sample volume of collection on the quality, yield, concentration and performance of saliva DNA in genotyping assays. RESULTS: Across 13 global clinical studies that utilized the Oragene® OG-300 DNA Self-Collection kit there was variability in the volume of saliva sample collection with ~31% of participants providing 0.5 mL of saliva, rather than the recommended 2 mL. While the majority of saliva DNA samples provided high quality genotype data, collection of 0.5 mL volumes of saliva contributed to DNA samples being significantly less likely to pass genotyping quality control standards. Assessment of DNA sample characteristics that may influence genotyping outcomes indicated that saliva sample volume, DNA purity and turbidity were independently associated with sample genotype pass rate, but that saliva collection volume had the greatest effect. CONCLUSION: When employing saliva sampling to obtain DNA, it is important to encourage all study participants to provide sufficient sample to minimize potential loss of data in downstream genotyping experiments.

Case-control single-marker and haplotypic association analysis of pedigree data.

Related individuals collected for use in linkage studies may be used in case-control linkage disequilibrium analysis, provided one takes into account correlations between individuals due to identity-by-descent (IBD) sharing. We account for these correlations by calculating a weight for each individual. The weights are used in constructing a composite likelihood, which is maximized iteratively to form likelihood ratio tests for single-marker and haplotypic associations. The method scales well with increasing pedigree size and complexity, and is applicable to both autosomal and X chromosomes. We apply the approach to an analysis of association between type 2 diabetes and single-nucleotide polymorphism markers in the PPAR-gamma gene. Simulated data are used to check validity of the test and examine power. Analysis of related cases has better power than analysis of population-based cases because of the increased frequencies of disease-susceptibility alleles in pedigrees with multiple cases compared to the frequencies of these alleles in population-based cases. Also, utilizing all cases in a pedigree rather than just one per pedigree improves power by increasing the effective sample size. We demonstrate that our method has power at least as great as that of several competing methods, while offering advantages in the ability to handle missing data and perform haplotypic analysis.

How to solve ten great problems for fund raisers.

Ten problems unique to fund raisers are quite easy to solve, according to this author, once they are diagnosed. But the solutions require more than program changes. Attitude plays a paramount role in fund raising success.

Direct PCR sequencing with boronated nucleotides.

A method is described to simultaneously amplify and sequence DNA using a new class of nucleotides containing boron. During the polymerase chain reaction, boron-modified nucleotides, i.e. 2'-deoxynucleoside 5'-alpha-[P-borano]-triphosphates, are incorporated into the product DNA. The boranophosphate linkages are resistant to nucleases and thus the positions of the boranophosphates can be revealed by exonuclease digestion, thereby generating a set of fragments that defines the DNA sequence. The boranophosphate method offers an alternative to current PCR sequencing methods. Single-sided primer extension with dideoxynucleotide chain terminators is avoided, with the consequence that the sequencing fragments are derived directly from the original PCR products. Boranophosphate sequencing is demonstrated with the Pharmacia and the Applied Biosystems 373A automatic sequencers, producing data that is comparable with cycle sequencing.

Recovery of Angiostrongylus cantonensis from cerebrospinal fluid of a child with eosinophilic meningitis.

Viable Angiostrongylus cantonensis was recovered from the cerebrospinal fluid of a 17-month-old boy with eosinophilic meningitis. Neurological findings were minimal, and the child had an uneventful recovery.