Nocardia farcinica abortion in a goat.

A female goat fetus was received by the Colorado State University-Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory following an isolated abortion of twins by a reportedly healthy doe. Postmortem examination did not reveal any gross abnormalities. Histologic evaluation revealed pyogranulomatous and necrotizing bronchopneumonia with intracellular and extracellular gram-positive and non-acid-fast filamentous bacilli. Aerobic culture of the stomach contents and pooled lung and liver tissue yielded light growth of Nocardia sp., which was identified by MALDI-TOF MS and 16s rDNA sequencing as Nocardia farcinica.

Doublecortin immunolabeling in canine gliomas with distinct degrees of tumor infiltration.

Increased doublecortin (DCX) immunolabeling at the tumor margins has been associated with tumor infiltration in human glioma and canine anaplastic meningioma. No association between DCX immunolabeling and glioma infiltration has been reported in dogs, to our knowledge. Here we compare the DCX immunolabeling in 14 diffusely infiltrating gliomas (gliomatosis cerebri) and 14 nodular gliomas with distinct degrees of tumor infiltration. Cytoplasmic DCX immunolabeling was classified according to intensity (weak, moderate, strong), distribution (1 = <30% immunolabeling, 2 = 30-70% immunolabeling, 3 = >70% immunolabeling), and location within the neoplasm (random or at tumor margins). Immunolabeling was detected in 6 of 14 (43%) diffusely infiltrating gliomas and 8 of 14 (57%) nodular gliomas. Diffusely infiltrating gliomas had moderate and random immunolabeling, with distribution scores of 1 (4 cases) or 2 (2 cases). Nodular gliomas had strong (6 cases) or moderate (2 cases) immunolabeling, with distribution scores of 1 (3 cases), 2 (3 cases), and 3 (2 cases), and random (6 cases) and/or marginal (3 cases) immunolabeling. Increased DCX immunolabeling within neoplastic cells palisading around necrosis occurred in 4 nodular gliomas. DCX immunolabeling was not increased at the margins of diffusely infiltrating gliomas, indicating that DCX should not be used as an immunomarker for glioma infiltration in dogs.

Multi-modality imaging and therapeutics used in a case of canine spinal nephroblastoma.

A 4-year-old castrated male golden retriever dog was brought to a veterinary teaching hospital for evaluation of acute progressive paraparesis. Neurological examination indicated a spinal cord lesion between the third thoracic vertebra and third lumbar vertebrae. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an intradural, extra medullary, and/or intramedullary mass centered over the eleventh and twelfth thoracic disc space. The dog underwent cytoreductive surgery and histopathologic analysis diagnosed a nephroblastoma. Following this, the dog underwent multimodal therapy, including multiple surgeries, 2 courses of radiation, and combination chemotherapy. The dog had serial restaging using MRI, computed tomography (CT), and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography throughout the course of therapy. The dog survived 350 d from date of first presentation until humane euthanasia was elected due to worsening of neurologic status. During postmortem examination, extensive infiltration of the spinal cord by nephroblastoma cells was discovered as well as pulmonary metastatic disease. Key clinical message: Based on the literature search, this is the first case in which surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy were all used for the treatment of canine spinal nephroblastoma. This case report details the aggressive nature of a case of canine spinal nephroblastoma despite multi-modal therapy.

Méthode d'imagerie et de thérapies multimodales utilisées dans un cas de néphroblastome spinal canin. Un chien golden retriever mâle castré âgé de 4 ans a été présenté dans un hôpital d'enseignement vétérinaire pour l'évaluation d'une paraparésie progressive aiguë. L'examen neurologique a révélé une lésion de la moelle épinière entre la troisième vertèbre thoracique et la troisième vertèbre lombaire. L'imagerie par résonance magnétique (MRI) a révélé une masse intradurale, extra-médullaire et/ou intramédullaire centrée sur les onzième et douzième espace de disque thoracique. Le chien a subi une chirurgie de cytoréduction et une analyse histopathologique a diagnostiqué un néphroblastome. Par la suite, le chien a subi une thérapie multimodale, comprenant plusieurs interventions chirurgicales, deux cycles de radiothérapie et une chimiothérapie combinée. Le chien a subi une reclassification en série par MRI, tomodensitométrie (CT) et tomographie par émission de positrons au fluor-18 fluorodésoxyglucose/tomodensitométrie tout au long du traitement. Le chien a survécu 350 jours à partir de la date de la première présentation jusqu'à ce que l'euthanasie soit choisie en raison de l'aggravation de l'état neurologique. Au cours de l'examen post-mortem, une infiltration étendue de la moelle épinière par des cellules de néphroblastome a été découverte ainsi qu'une maladie métastatique pulmonaire.Message clinique clé :D'après la recherche documentaire, il s'agit du premier cas dans lequel la chirurgie, la radiothérapie et la chimiothérapie ont toutes été utilisées pour le traitement du néphroblastome spinal canin. Ce rapport de cas détaille la nature agressive d'un cas de néphroblastome spinal canin malgré une thérapie multimodale.(Traduit par Dr Serge Messier).

What Is Your Diagnosis?

In collaboration with the American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Olfactory ganglioneuroblastoma in a dog: case report and literature review.

A 7-y-old, intact male Alaskan Malamute was presented with a 3-mo history of stertor and epistaxis. Computed tomography of the skull revealed generalized loss of gas throughout both nasal passages with replacement by a soft tissue mass that traversed the cribriform plate. Histopathology revealed neoplastic neuroblast cells arranged in anastomosing cords, as well as separately located aggregates of ganglion cells. Both neoplastic cell populations demonstrated immunoreactivity to MAP-2, TuJ-1, and synaptophysin. Neuroblastic cells additionally exhibited punctate immunoreactivity to MCK and CK8/18. We document here both the positive neural immunohistochemical markers for this neoplasm, as well as propose possible histomorphologic variants.

Use of Handheld Raman Spectroscopy for Intraoperative Differentiation of Normal Brain Tissue From Intracranial Neoplasms in Dogs.

The aim of this study was to assess feasibility and accuracy of a hand-held, intraoperative Raman spectroscopy device as a neuronavigation aid to accurately detect neoplastic tissue from adjacent normal gray and white matter. Although Raman spectra are complicated fingerprints of cell signature, the relative shift corresponding to lipid and protein content (2,845 and 2,930 cm-1, respectively), can provide a rapid assessment of whether tissue is normal white or gray matter vs. neoplasia for real-time guidance of tumor resection. Thirteen client-owned dogs were initially enrolled in the study. Two were excluded from final analysis due to incomplete data acquisition or lack of neoplastic disease. The diagnoses of the remaining 11 dogs included six meningiomas, two histiocytic sarcomas, and three gliomas. Intraoperatively, interrogated tissues included normal gray and/or white matter and tumor. A total of five Raman spectra readings were recorded from the interrogated tissues, and samples were submitted for confirmation of Raman spectra by histopathology. A resultant total of 24 samples, 13 from neoplastic tissue and 11 from normal gray or white matter, were used to calculate sensitivity and specificity of Raman spectra compared to histopathology. The handheld Raman spectroscopy device had sensitivity of 85.7% and specificity of 90% with a positive predictive value of 92.3% and negative predictive value of 81.6%. The Raman device was feasible to use intraoperatively with rapid interpretation of spectra. Raman spectroscopy may be useful for intraoperative guidance of tumor resection.

Digital Image Analysis of Heterogeneous Tuberculosis Pulmonary Pathology in Non-Clinical Animal Models using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks.

Efforts to develop effective and safe drugs for treatment of tuberculosis require preclinical evaluation in animal models. Alongside efficacy testing of novel therapies, effects on pulmonary pathology and disease progression are monitored by using histopathology images from these infected animals. To compare the severity of disease across treatment cohorts, pathologists have historically assigned a semi-quantitative histopathology score that may be subjective in terms of their training, experience, and personal bias. Manual histopathology therefore has limitations regarding reproducibility between studies and pathologists, potentially masking successful treatments. This report describes a pathologist-assistive software tool that reduces these user limitations, while providing a rapid, quantitative scoring system for digital histopathology image analysis. The software, called 'Lesion Image Recognition and Analysis' (LIRA), employs convolutional neural networks to classify seven different pathology features, including three different lesion types from pulmonary tissues of the C3HeB/FeJ tuberculosis mouse model. LIRA was developed to improve the efficiency of histopathology analysis for mouse tuberculosis infection models, this approach has also broader applications to other disease models and tissues. The full source code and documentation is available from https://Github.com/TB-imaging/LIRA.

Flourine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography imaging exhibits increased SUVmax at the level of the spinal intumescence in normal dogs.

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging utilizing fluorine-18 labeled fluorodeoxyglucose is a relatively new imaging modality in veterinary medicine that is becoming more common for oncological staging and for musculoskeletal imaging. Thus, it is important to identify the normal variations on PET imaging that may be mistaken for pathology. Variation in standardized uptake values (SUVmax) have been anecdotally identified in the spinal cord of dogs undergoing fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT examinations for oncological staging, with notable increase in SUVmax values identified in the region of the cervical and lumbar spinal intumescences. The aim of this retrospective, analytical study was to compare the SUVmax values at four different locations throughout the spinal cord (C3, C5-T1, T13, and L3-S1) of a group of dogs with no evidence of neurologic disease and compare those findings to histologic specimens from dogs euthanized for unrelated disease. SUVmax values were significantly higher at the cervical and lumbar intumescences in comparison to the control regions (P < .0001 and P < .0001, respectively). Neuronal count and spinal cord gray matter area were also significantly greater at the cervical and lumbar intumescences (neuronal count P = .0025 and P = .0001; area P = .0004 and P = .0009, respectively) while overall neuronal density was lower (P = .003 and P = .028, respectively). We presume the increased SUVmax values at the spinal cord intumescences are the result of overall increased neuron count, increased proportion of gray matter, and increased spinal cord gray matter area. These findings will aid in the interpretation of future PET-CT studies and hopefully prevent the misdiagnosis of spinal cord disease in normal canines.

Pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of lymphotropic nanoparticle enhanced MRI for diagnosis of metastatic disease in canine head and neck tumours.

This pilot study is designed to determine if lymphotropic nanoparticle enhanced MRI (LNMRI) is a viable technique for staging of naturally occurring canine malignant head and neck tumours. Previous imaging studies in veterinary medicine have shown variable sensitivity and specificity for determining metastasis for local lymph nodes in head and neck tumours. LNMRI utilizes ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPIOs) to help in the detection of metastatic disease in lymph nodes. USPIOs are phagocytized and localized to normal lymph nodes where they assist in evaluation for regions of effacement by cancerous cells. Six dogs underwent LNMRI for the diagnosis of metastatic lymph nodes. A truncated MRI consisting of transverse images of T2, T1 pre- and post-contrast and T2* sequences were evaluated for presence of metastasis. Sentinel lymph nodes and lymph nodes with possible metastatic lesions were surgically excised for histological evaluation. In the initial phase of this study, 24 lymph nodes were included in analysis. Subjective observation by the primary investigator had a calculated sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 88% based on histological results. There were no negative side effects to the USPIOs noted in the limited number of patients in this study. Percentage signal intensity loss was calculated and found to be significantly different between metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes (P-value = .038). In conclusion, this pilot study shows that LNMRI has the potential to be a sensitive and specific method of diagnosing lymph node metastasis. Further research is warranted to determine if this method is clinically applicable and accurate.

Thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis in a goat: case report and brief literature review.

A Rock Alpine doe (Capra aegagrus hircus) was presented to the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital because of scaling and ulceration over the withers, coronary bands, and dewclaws. The doe was euthanized because of poor prognosis associated with a radiographically identified cranial mediastinal mass, increased respiratory effort, and discomfort. Autopsy revealed a cranial mediastinal mass, and scaling-to-ulcerative lesions affecting the dorsum, ventrum, pinna, neck, teats, coronary bands, and dewclaws. Histologically, the mediastinal mass was an epithelial neoplasm with admixed non-neoplastic T lymphocytes, consistent with a lymphoepithelial (mixed) thymoma. Sections of affected skin were characterized by hyperkeratotic cell-rich interface dermatitis with transepidermal and follicular apoptosis. Thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis has been recognized in cats and a rabbit, but has not been reported previously in a goat, to our knowledge. Given that thymomas are not uncommon in goats, thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis should be considered a clinical differential in goats with dermatologic disease.

Nod2 is required for antigen-specific humoral responses against antigens orally delivered using a recombinant Lactobacillus vaccine platform.

Safe and efficacious orally-delivered mucosal vaccine platforms are desperately needed to combat the plethora of mucosally transmitted pathogens. Lactobacillus spp. have emerged as attractive candidates to meet this need and are known to activate the host innate immune response in a species- and strain-specific manner. For selected bacterial isolates and mutants, we investigated the role of key innate immune pathways required for induction of innate and subsequent adaptive immune responses. Co-culture of murine macrophages with L. gasseri (strain NCK1785), L. acidophilus (strain NCFM), or NCFM-derived mutants-NCK2025 and NCK2031-elicited an M2b-like phenotype associated with TH2 skewing and immune regulatory function. For NCFM, this M2b phenotype was dependent on expression of lipoteichoic acid and S layer proteins. Through the use of macrophage genetic knockouts, we identified Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), the cytosolic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing 2 (NOD2) receptor, and the inflammasome-associated caspase-1 as contributors to macrophage activation, with NOD2 cooperating with caspase-1 to induce inflammasome derived interleukin (IL)-1ß in a pyroptosis-independent fashion. Finally, utilizing an NCFM-based mucosal vaccine platform with surface expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag or membrane proximal external region (MPER), we demonstrated that NOD2 signaling is required for antigen-specific mucosal and systemic humoral responses. We show that lactobacilli differentially utilize innate immune pathways and highlight NOD2 as a key mediator of macrophage function and antigen-specific humoral responses to a Lactobacillus acidophilus mucosal vaccine platform.