Case report: Generalized lymphatic anomaly of multiple abdominal organs in a young dog.

A 9-month-old, female Pomeranian dog presented with vomiting and lethargy. Ultrasonography revealed multilobulated anechoic round shape structures at the ovarian and uterine locations. Through computed tomography scan, an extensive non-contrast multilobulated fluid-filled mass suspected of originating from the walls of the ovary, uterus, urinary bladder and rectum was observed. Ovariohysterectomy and urinary bladder biopsy were performed. Histopathological examination revealed numerous cystic lesions lined by plump cuboidal cells believed to be of epithelial origin. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the cyst-like lesions lining cells were strongly positive for lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1. Based on these results, lesions were identified as generalized lymphatic anomaly (GLA), in which lymphangiomas develop in multiple organs. After 6 months follow-up, the size of the cysts remaining in the region of the bladder did not undergo much change. GLA should be included in the differential diagnosis when multiple cystic lesions are interspersed in multiple organs.

International Guidelines for Veterinary Tumor Pathology: A Call to Action.

Standardization of tumor assessment lays the foundation for validation of grading systems, permits reproducibility of oncologic studies among investigators, and increases confidence in the significance of study results. Currently, there is minimal methodological standardization for assessing tumors in veterinary medicine, with few attempts to validate published protocols and grading schemes. The current article attempts to address these shortcomings by providing standard guidelines for tumor assessment parameters and protocols for evaluating specific tumor types. More detailed information is available in the Supplemental Files, the intention of which is 2-fold: publication as part of this commentary, but more importantly, these will be available as "living documents" on a website (www.vetcancerprotocols.org), which will be updated as new information is presented in the peer-reviewed literature. Our hope is that veterinary pathologists will agree that this initiative is needed, and will contribute to and utilize this information for routine diagnostic work and oncologic studies. Journal editors and reviewers can utilize checklists to ensure publications include sufficient detail and standardized methods of tumor assessment. To maintain the relevance of the guidelines and protocols, it is critical that the information is periodically updated and revised as new studies are published and validated with the intent of providing a repository of this information. Our hope is that this initiative (a continuation of efforts published in this journal in 2011) will facilitate collaboration and reproducibility between pathologists and institutions, increase case numbers, and strengthen clinical research findings, thus ensuring continued progress in veterinary oncologic pathology and improving patient care.

Mitotic Figures-Normal, Atypical, and Imposters: A Guide to Identification.

Counting mitotic figures (MF) in hematoxylin and eosin-stained histologic sections is an integral part of the diagnostic pathologist's tumor evaluation. The mitotic count (MC) is used alone or as part of a grading scheme for assessment of prognosis and clinical decisions. Determining MCs is subjective, somewhat laborious, and has interobserver variation. Proposals for standardizing this parameter in the veterinary field are limited to terminology (use of the term MC) and area (MC is counted in an area measuring 2.37 mm2). Digital imaging techniques are now commonplace and widely used among veterinary pathologists, and field of view area can be easily calculated with digital imaging software. In addition to standardizing the methods of counting MF, the morphologic characteristics of MF and distinguishing atypical mitotic figures (AMF) versus mitotic-like figures (MLF) need to be defined. This article provides morphologic criteria for MF identification and for distinguishing normal phases of MF from AMF and MLF. Pertinent features of digital microscopy and application of computational pathology (CPATH) methods are discussed. Correct identification of MF will improve MC consistency, reproducibility, and accuracy obtained from manual (glass slide or whole-slide imaging) and CPATH approaches.

Pluralistic and stochastic gene regulation: examples, models and consistent theory.

We present a theory of pluralistic and stochastic gene regulation. To bridge the gap between empirical studies and mathematical models, we integrate pre-existing observations with our meta-analyses of the ENCODE ChIP-Seq experiments. Earlier evidence includes fluctuations in levels, location, activity, and binding of transcription factors, variable DNA motifs, and bursts in gene expression. Stochastic regulation is also indicated by frequently subdued effects of knockout mutants of regulators, their evolutionary losses/gains and massive rewiring of regulatory sites. We report wide-spread pluralistic regulation in ≈800 000 tightly co-expressed pairs of diverse human genes. Typically, half of ≈50 observed regulators bind to both genes reproducibly, twice more than in independently expressed gene pairs. We also examine the largest set of co-expressed genes, which code for cytoplasmic ribosomal proteins. Numerous regulatory complexes are highly significant enriched in ribosomal genes compared to highly expressed non-ribosomal genes. We could not find any DNA-associated, strict sense master regulator. Despite major fluctuations in transcription factor binding, our machine learning model accurately predicted transcript levels using binding sites of 20+ regulators. Our pluralistic and stochastic theory is consistent with partially random binding patterns, redundancy, stochastic regulator binding, burst-like expression, degeneracy of binding motifs and massive regulatory rewiring during evolution.

Osteomyelitis associated with Nocardiopsis composta in a dog.

We report the first detection of Nocardiopsis composta in association with osteomyelitis in a young male miniature Australian shepherd dog. Findings included suppurative osteomyelitis containing intralesional Fite's acid fast bacilli, aerobic culture of branching Gram-positive rods, and positive identification via phenotypic analysis and 16S rDNA sequencing.

Ostéomyélite associée àNocardiopsis compostachez un chien. Nous signalons la première détection de Nocardiopsis composta en association avec l'ostéomyélite chez un jeune chien berger Australien miniature mâle. Les résultats incluaient une ostéomyélite suppurative contenant des bacilles alcoolo-acido résistants à la coloration de Fite, une culture aérobie de bâtonnets à Gram positif embranchés et l'identification positive par une analyse phénotypique et le séquençage de l'ADNr 16S.(Traduit par Isabelle Vallières).

Dens agenesis and cervical vertebral malformation in a Labrador Retriever puppy.

Cervical vertebral malformations can cause acute or progressive pain, paralysis, and potentially death. Herein we present a case report of dens agenesis; cervical vertebral malformations of C1, C2, C6, and C7; subluxation of C1 and C2 and C4 and C5; and associated degenerative myelopathy in a 5-month-old female Labrador Retriever puppy. We additionally review current knowledge regarding pathogenesis and treatment.