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Background. Primary lung cancer in dogs has been putatively related to urban living and air pollution on epidemiologic basis, but a causative association has not been definitely shown. Furthermore, the relationship between the deposition of black dust matter in lungs (anthracosis) and primary pulmonary carcinoma has not been investigated in dogs. Methods. Amount, type and birefringence of pulmonary anthracosis were histologically assessed in a retrospective study by examining 35 dogs with primary epithelial lung cancer and 160 controls; the odd ratio (OR) was calculated for dogs with primary lung cancer. The same factors were analyzed to identify an association between type of lung tumor, histological grade, and TNM stage . Results. Papillary adenocarcinoma was most commonly diagnosed (45.7%). The majority of tumors was of histological grade 2, and the lung cancer was more often localized (clinical stage I). An increased risk for lung cancer was observed in dogs with higher amounts of anthracosis (OR: 2.20, CI 95%: 1.27-3.81; p < 0.01). Type of anthracosis and its birefringence were not related to lung cancer. Tumor type, histological grade, and TNM stage were not associated with amount, type and birefringence of anthracosis. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance. Anthracosis due to inhalation of polluted air contributes to lung cancer development in dogs. Further studies are required to characterize the specific environmental contaminants responsible for lung carcinogenesis in this species.

Background. Canine mammary inflammatory carcinoma (IC) has a grave prognosis. Prognostic factors and treatment data have not been studied extensively. Objective. To describe clinical characteristics, treatment and outcome of dogs with IC, and identify patient-, tumor-, and treatment-related predictors of overall survival. Design. Retrospective study. Animals. 43 client-owned dogs. Procedures. Records of dogs with a clinical diagnosis of IC showing pathological evidence of dermal lymphatic invasion were reviewed. Data on clinical staging, type of treatment, toxicity, response, and survival time were retrieved. Results. Primary IC accounted for 60,5% of cases, whereas secondary IC represented 39,5% of cases. The overall metastatic rate at presentation was 86,0%, with 81,4% of dogs showing distant metastasis. Six of 29 dogs had an abnormal coagulation profile. Sixteen dogs never received treatment, 24 received medical treatment only, 2 underwent surgical excision and medical treatment, and one underwent surgery only. Forty-one of 43 dogs experienced progressive disease, and 2 dogs were stable, never reaching disease-free status. Mean survival for all patients was 60 days (range, 1 to 300 days). The presence of coagulopathies decreased survival of approximately 70% (OR: 0.28, CI 95%: 0.10-0.80, p < 0.05) and the use of adjuvant chemotherapy increased the chance of survival of more than twofold (OR: 2.54, CI 95%: 1.27-5.08, p < 0.01). Conclusions and clinical relevance. IC is biologically aggressive and has a guarded prognosis. Complete staging at presentation, including coagulation profile, is mandatory. Results suggest that medical treatment may improve outcome, thereby supporting its use in dogs with IC.

Background: Canine mast cell tumor (MCT) with bone marrow (BM) involvement is scarcely documented and is associated with a poor prognosis. Successful treatment strategies have not been described. Hypothesis: Clinico-pathologic findings of affected dogs are not specific. Administration of lomustine or imatinib mesylate, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is beneficial. Animals: 13 dogs affected by MCT with BM involvement. Methods: Clinical and laboratory evaluations were performed in each dog on admission and during follow-up. Eight dogs received lomustine, 2 imatinib and 3 were treated symptomatically. Imatinib was administered if the tumor-associated tyrosine kinase KIT was aberrant. Results: On admission 10 dogs had a single cutaneous nodule while 3 had multiple nodules. Involvement of regional lymph nodes, liver or spleen was observed in each case. BM infiltration with mast cells was observed in all dogs. On blood work, nonregenerative anemia, leukopenia or thrombocytopenia were common. Four dogs had circulating mast cells. Increased alkaline phosphatase and alanine transferase were observed in 11 and 10 dogs, respectively. Treatment with lomustine induced partial remission in one out of 8 dogs. Median survival time was 43 days (range, 14-57). Both dogs on imatinib experienced complete remission. Survival time was 117 and 159 days, respectively. Dogs treated symptomatically did not improve and were euthanized after 1, 14 and 32 days.

Il coinvolgimento neoplastico midollare in corso di mastocitoma è da considerarsi un raro evento, contraddistinto da decorso clinico aggressivoe rapido, e prognosi inevitabilmente infausta. Il trattamento è perlo più sintomatico. La somministrazione di chemioterapici deve essere attentamente valutata, dal momento che l’infiltrazione neoplastica midollare si accompagna generalmente a citopenie periferiche. Ad oggi non esistono studi prospettici su trattamenti volti a eradicare l’infiltrazione midollare.

Nei 26 casi testati è stato possibile verificare attraverso il test k una buona concordanza fra i risultati delle due tecniche, soprattutto se i KIT-pattern 2 e 3 vengono considerati insieme, evidenziando quindi che la valutazione dell’espressione del recettore KIT su preparati citologici fornisce nella maggior parte dei casi risultati simili a quelli ottenuti su preparati istologici, ma in tempi più rapidi e utilizzando campioni prelevabili con maggiore semplicità. È stato inoltre verificato che gli strisci post-fissati in acetone mantengono una soddisfacente immunoreattività per circa 10 settimane, mentre non è stato possibile recuperare la reattività nei preparati precedentemente colorati con May Grünwald – Giemsa.

Nell’ambito della gestione sostenibile del territorio il telerilevamento da aereo con l’utilizzo del sensore MIVIS e’ uno strumento in grado di fornire informazioni relative alle componenti ambientali in modo distribuito nello spazio (con rappresentazione cartografica ) e nel tempo (con il monitoraggio ad alta frequenza temporale). Le attivita’ sviluppate possono essere di carattere qualitativo( estrazione di informazioni per la zonizzazione del tema e la sua correlazione distale per isolivelli) e quantitativo con la misura della radiazione riflessa ( nella vegetazione, in particolare, utilizzata come indicatore superficiale di situazione profonda) ed emessa, particolarmente per le applicazioni legate alle contaminazioni antropiche con riscontro termico (tipicamente su acque o per l’analisi di discariche, non escludendo applicazioni idrogeologiche).

L’utilizzo delle tecniche di telerilevamento da aereo e da satellite e’ divenuto, con il tempo,una metodologia sempre piu’ consolidata per il monitoraggio del territorio il cui utilizzo spazia dalle appliacazioni in campo idrometereologico, a quelle di natura idrogeologica, agronomico forestale sino ad indagini piu’ direttamente collegate alla misurazione dei parametri ambientali, anche in ambito urbano. Anche l’Agenzia per la Protezione dell’Ambiente della Lombardia ha sviluppato diverse linee di intervento e tra queste, in particolare, attivita’ legate al monitoraggio quantitativo del ciclo delle acque, operazioni di classificazione del land cover, monitoraggio dello stato dei ghiacciai per la valutazione degli effetti dei cambiamenti climatici sino alla stima dell’equivalente idrico della neve

Obesity is a growing problem in pets as well as in humans. Overweight and obesity are linked to insulin sensitivity and subsequently in older cats, to an increased risk of developing diabetes mellitus. In the experimental cat population of the Institute of Animal Nutrition of the Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, an overweight phenotype in intact cats younger than 1 year became evident. The aims of the present study were to determine whether an association between insulin sensitivity and body condition score (BCS) or feline body mass index (FBMI) is already present during young adulthood in these cats and to test the hypothesis that the phenotype lean/overweight is significantly associated with monthly body weight during the growing period. Therefore, 41 kittens from the mentioned cat breeding colony were studied. They were weighed weekly and checked monthly (third to eighth month after birth) for BCS and FBMI. At the age of 8 months, they were classified into an overweight and lean phenotype based on BCS on a scale of 9 (median; maximum and minimum: overweight male (6.4; 6.8; 6.0); overweight female (6.1; 6.2; 6.0); lean male (5.4; 5.7; 5.0); lean female (5.2; 5.6; 5.0). A significant association between the phenotype and body weight was obvious during the growing period from the third to the 8 months (p = 0.0001). At month 8, body fat content was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and a glucose tolerance test to determine the insulin sensitivity index was performed. Insulin sensitivity was significantly associated with BCS (p = 0.0007) and body fat content (p 0.0001) but not with sex (p = 0.61). Our data provide evidence that already in young intact cats; insulin insensitivity is significantly associated with BCS or a presumed phenotype lean/overweight.

This paper shows how information visualization techniques can be used to improve the effectiveness of task model representations. In particular, we discuss how fisheye and semantic-zoom representations have been used to improve the effectiveness of the ConcurTaskTrees notation. The approach can also be useful for improving other visual modelling languages. We also report on a first evaluation of the proposed representations.