QT instability, an indicator of augmented arrhythmogenesis, increases with the progression of myxomatous mitral valve disease in dogs.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate QT instability in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) and to determine if this is associated with arrhythmogenesis. ANIMALS: One hundred sixty-seven MMVD dogs that met the study criteria were included. METHODS: Echocardiographic and electrocardiographic data were gathered. Fifty consecutive QT intervals were recorded for each dog. Both heart rate-corrected and uncorrected QT intervals were used to calculate average QT (QTa), QT variance (QTv), total instability (TI), short-term instability (STI), and long-term instability (LTI). Sensitivity and specificity of QTa, QTv, TI, STI, and LTI in identifying arrhythmias and cardiac remodeling were calculated. Patient follow-ups were obtained for analyses of disease progression and survival. RESULTS: An increase related to progression was documented for all the studied indices. QTa and STI best identified dilated hearts and arrhythmias, respectively. Dogs with QTa >272 ms and STI >8 ms were 15% more likely to develop ventricular arrhythmias (likelihood ratios of 2.31 [P = 0.0008] and 2.09 [P = 0.0049], respectively). A QTa >258 ms discriminated American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine stage B1 from stages B2/C disease with a sensitivity of 63% and specificity of 61%. Dogs in American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine stage C of MMVD have higher STI and 3.34 times increased risk of developing arrhythmias when values more than 8 ms are reached. All indices except LTI and QTv showed prognostic value, with increases relating to all-cause mortality. CONCLUSION: Analyses of QT intervals demonstrated changes in STI, LTI, and TI. Increased QT prolongation and instability are significantly related to mortality and may be useful in determining prognosis of MMVD patients.

Relationship between human mammaglobin mRNA expression in breast cancer tissue and clinico-pathologic features of the tumors.

Human mammaglobin (hMAM) has recently been recognized as a breast associated glycoprotein. Although the biological role of hMAM is unknown, it has been previously reported that hMAM gene expression is a marker of low biological and clinical aggressiveness of breast cancer (BC). In this study, 148 cases of BC tissues were investigated for hMAM mRNA expression by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In order to evaluate its prognostic value, hMAM was correlated with age of patients, type and size of tumor, nodal stage, histologic grade, c-erbB-2 over expression, Ki67 labelling index, estrogen receptor (ER) status and progesterone receptor (PGR) status. Fisher's exact test was used to examine the association between different parameters and hMAM. hMAM was expressed in 138/148 (93%) of BC tissues examined. Among the 10 hMAM negative cases, 8 were invasive ductal carcinomas (microscopically higher G3 grade) and 2 infiltrating lobular carcinomas. We found a significant association (p = 0.020) between absence of hMAM mRNA and G3 histologic grade but not with any other prognostic parameters studied. The present study indicates that lack of hMAM expression is restricted to the BC with G3 grading. Further studies are needed to clarify the biological basis and the clinical significance of our results.

Use of B-mode ultrasonography for fetal sex determination in dogs.

Ultrasonographic determination of fetal sex in dogs has not previously been reported. The aim of this study was to describe a method for determination of intrauterine fetal sex using ultrasound. A cohort study was conducted in pregnant bitches to perform ultrasound examination of the fetal genitalia between the eighth and ninth week of gestation. Fetal sex was determined in utero by consensus agreement of two sonographers. Eighteen pregnant bitches were included in this study, and a total of 39 fetuses were evaluated. The accuracy of ultrasonography to determine the sex with a 95% confidence interval was 62.24% to female fetuses and 65.48% to male fetuses. The sonographic accuracy in determining fetal sex can be achieved at 100% when there are up to two fetuses in the litter; however, the accuracy of the technique reduces (66.7%) when more than three fetuses are present. This study describes the sonographic appearance of the external genitalia in canine fetuses in utero associated with a specific position of the fetus and reports that sex determination is possible between 55 and 58 days of gestation.

Canine fetal heart rate: do accelerations or decelerations predict the parturition day in bitches?

Ultrasonography is a safe and efficient technique for monitoring fetal development and viability. One of the most important and widely used parameters to verify fetal viability is the fetal heart rate (HR). In human medicine, the fetal HR normally oscillates during labor in transient accelerations and decelerations associated with uterine contractions. The present study investigated whether these variations also occur in canine fetuses and its relationship to parturition. A cohort study was conducted in 15 pregnant bitches undergoing two-dimensional high-resolution ultrasonographic examination during the 8th and 9th week of gestation. Fetal HR was assessed in M-mode for 5 minutes in each fetus in all bitches. In addition, the bitches were monitored for clinical signs of imminent parturition. Associations between the HR, antepartum time, and delivery characteristics were evaluated with a Poisson regression model. Fetal HR acceleration and deceleration occurred in canine fetuses and predicted the optimal time of parturition. These findings can help veterinarians and sonographers better understand this phenomenon in canine fetuses.

[Poorly differentiated breast carcinoma with an abundant myoepithelial component: morphologic and immunohistochemical features and mammaglobin gene expression ]. / Carcinoma scarsamente differenziato a ricca componente mioepiteliale della mammella: aspetti morfologici, immunoistochimici ed espressione del gene mammaglobin.

In this report, we describe a case of poorly differentiate myoepithelial cell rich carcinoma in with morphological findings of large poligonal nests with festoon-like pattern sometimes showing central necrosis, reminiscent of a comedo-like pattern and numerous mitoses. Immunohistochemical staining shows positive reaction for cytokeratin AE/1, CAM 5.2, 34 beta E12, vimentin, smooth muscle actin, EMA, S100 protein and oncogene cERB.b2 and negative for estrogen, progesterone, GFAP and chromogranin. Moreover, this carcinoma show the expression of the mammaglobin mRNA, a highly specific marker of breast epithelial cells that it is not expressed in all breast carcinoma.