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A 6-year-old female spayed Boxer mix dog was presented with multiple cutaneous masses, one of which was determined to be a xanthoma. Fine-needle aspirates of this mass revealed large round cells that were consistent with macrophages. These macrophages had lightly basophilic cytoplasm that was filled with many clear circular spaces that varied in size. The nuclei of these cells displayed mild anisokaryosis with condensed chromatin and lacked prominent nucleoli. The cytologic interpretation was lipid-laden histiocytic inflammation most consistent with a cutaneous xanthoma, which was confirmed histologically. Mild hypertriglyceridemia and persistent moderate hypercholesterolemia were present. After ruling out other causes of hyperlipidemia, we concluded that the dog likely had idiopathic hyperlipidemia with secondary xanthoma formation.

This report describes a pituitary acidophil macroadenoma in a goat. Antemortem clinical findings included hypothermia and rumen stasis. Clinicopathologic findings included refractory hypoglycemia, low total thyroxin and insulin concentrations, elevated bile acid concentration, and hyposthenuria. In addition to the pituitary macroadenoma, bilateral atrophy of the zona reticularis of the adrenal glands was observed histologically.

Magnesium hydride is cheap and contains 7.7 wt % hydrogen, making it one of the most attractive hydrogen storage materials. However, thermodynamics dictate that hydrogen desorption from bulk magnesium hydride only takes place at or above 300 degrees C, which is a major impediment for practical application. A few results in the literature, related to disordered materials and very thin layers, indicate that lower desorption temperatures are possible. We systematically investigated the effect of crystal grain size on the thermodynamic stability of magnesium and magnesium hydride, using ab initio Hartree-Fock and density functional theory calculations. Also, the stepwise desorption of hydrogen was followed in detail. As expected, both magnesium and magnesium hydride become less stable with decreasing cluster size, notably for clusters smaller than 20 magnesium atoms. However, magnesium hydride destabilizes more strongly than magnesium. As a result, the hydrogen desorption energy decreases significantly when the crystal grain size becomes smaller than approximately 1.3 nm. For instance, an MgH2 crystallite size of 0.9 nm corresponds to a desorption temperature of only 200 degrees C. This predicted decrease of the hydrogen desorption temperature is an important step toward the application of Mg as a hydrogen storage material.

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) was diagnosed (postmortem) in a sheep with clinical signs attributable to a central nervous system disease. The sheep was febrile and initially had front limb incoordination, which progressed to paralysis of both front and hind limbs during a course of 2 days. The sheep maintained an alert attitude with the ability to eat up to the time of euthanasia. The only clinical pathologic abnormalities were neutrophilia and lymphopenia without appreciable leukocytosis, a moderate hyperglycemia, and an elevated creatine kinase. Treatment included hydrotherapy for lowering body temperature, intravenous fluids, thiamine hydrochloride, tetanus antitoxin, antibiotics, and corticosteroids. The only gross lesion at the time of necropsy was a wet glistening surface of the brain (leptomeninges). Microscopically, there was severe nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis, poliomyelitis, and polyradiculoneuritis with mild multifocal neutrophilic infiltration. The EEE virus was isolated from the brain, and subsequent fluorescent antibody testing for EEE was positive on cell culture.

North-western Canada and eastern Alaska are recognised as having one of the oldest known continental glacial records (Late Pliocene) preserved in stratigraphical sections. These include the individual and complex records of Cordilleran, montane and continental glaciations. Regional scale glaciations (Cordilleran and continental) started in northwestern Canada and east-central Alaska between 2.9 and 2.6 million years ago. Overall, two Cordilleran glaciations and two plateau ice caps (Horton Ice Cap) developed in Late Pliocene (Gauss and Matuyama Chron). During the Early Pleistocene, three Cordilleran glaciations occurred, while one to five continental glaciations (Keewatin Ice Sheet and Horton Ice Cap) are inferred from the Banks Island stratigraphic record (late Matuyama Chron). Three Middle-Pleistocene glaciations are recorded for the Cordilleran (including the Reid Glaciation) as well as three continental (Keewatin Ice Sheet and Horton Ice Cap) events (early Brunhes Chron). During the Late Pleistocene (late Brunhes) a well defined, extensive continental ice sheet (Keewatin) covered western and northwestern Canada, while in the Yukon Cordillera and Yukon-Tanana Uplands, two glaciations (Early-Late Pleistocene Eagle Glaciation, and Late Pleistocene McConnell Glaciation) are recognised. Successive Cordilleran glaciations diminished in size, while continental glaciations increased. The moisture source for the Cordilleran ice was largely the Pacific Ocean, however, for the Horton Ice Cap, an open Arctic Ocean may have been a significant moisture source. The role of tectonics in the development of the two major physiographic barriers, Wrangell/St. Elias Mountains and the Continental Divide (Mackenzie/Selwyn Mountains) appears to have been an important controlling variable in moisture distribution in northwest Canada and east-central Alaska. The timing and interplay of tectonic uplift versus erosion of these barriers has very much controlled the growth, thickness and decay of ice masses in the interior of Yukon and valleys east of the continental divide.

During the Wisconsinan, the area of Quebec-Labrador was completely covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), except for nunataks in the Torngat Mountains. For this reason, pre-Upper Pleistocene events are only documented in scattered stratigraphic sections, and by erosional glacial marks. After the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Labradorean Sector of the LIS evolved from a single, predominant dispersal centre with subsidiary ice divides, into peripheral ice domes and masses which remained connected or not to the central dome. The central dome was not a simple and stable dome-shaped ice mass, but an evolving ice mass. Thinning of the LIS through ablation, and mechanical drawdown along its margins as the result of diachronic ice streams in the St. Lawrence Corridor and Hudson Strait are the main features of Late-Glacial ice flow dynamics. In the areas south of the St. Lawrence Corridor, ice masses over the Appalachian uplands evolved from a glacier complex confluent with the LIS into separate local ice caps. During a part of the warm Bolling-Allerod phase, a series of ice front positions mark a fast retreat of the ice front in the Appalachians of southern Quebec, between about 11,900 (or as recent as 11,600) and 11,600 (or 11,300) conventional 14 C years B.P. (equivalent of ages of terrestrial fossils). The ice mass over the Canadian Shield, north of the St. Lawrence Corridor, dissipated slowly, between about 11,000 (or several centuries later) and 6,500 B.P. The deglaciation pattern includes the differentiation of an ice mass over the Hudson Bay, early deglaciation of the Labrador Highlands, a major change of ice flow in the Ungava Bay, and a very roughly concentric ice retreat pattern in the south-west, south and south-east margins of the remnant main ice mass. In the northern Ungava and Labrador peninsulas, major glacial lakes in low-lying areas were dammed between the ice front and the tilted deglaciated land. Lowlands depressed by glacioisostasy were momentarily invaded by marine waters, mostly between 13 ka and 7 ka. The last glacial ice masses were located in the Labrador Trough and Nunavik and finally disappeared c. 6.5 ka.

Thirty of 200 (15%) hatchling inland bearded dragons were found dead after a short period (48 hours) of weakness and lethargy. The most common clinical signs were head tilt and circling. Six bearded dragons with neurological signs were euthanized, and postmortem examination revealed no gross abnormalities. Microscopically, severe, randomly distributed hepatocellular necrosis with large basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies in numerous hepatocytes was noted. Small-intestinal enterocytes contained intracytoplasmic coccidial protozoa ( Isospora sp.) and occasional enterocytes had basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies. Transmission electron microscopy revealed both 80- and 20-nm-diameter viral particles, which were consistent with adenoviruses and dependoviruses, respectively. Adenoviral outbreaks in groups of animals are uncommon. An adverse synergistic effect of the coccidiosis with the adenoviral infection may have played a critical role in the high morbidity and mortality in this case.

To describe the mortality of a population with diabetes compared with the local nondiabetic population, using age-, sex-, and cause-specific death rates and relative and absolute differences in death rates.A population-based cohort of 4,842 people with diabetes living within South Tees, U.K., was identified and followed from 1 January 1994 to 31 December 1999. Causes of death were obtained from death certificates, and mortality rates were compared with the nondiabetic population of the same area for the same time period.There were 1,205 deaths (24.9%) in the study population during the 6 years of study. For type 2 diabetes, mortality from cardiovascular causes was significantly increased in both sexes and at all ages. Relative death rates for the age band 40-59 years were 5.47 (95% CI 4.18-7.15) for men and 5.60 (3.44-9.14) for women. The relative death rates declined with age for both sexes, but absolute excess mortality increased with age. There were no consistent differences in noncardiovascular death rates, other than for renal disease. Similar outcomes were found for type 1 diabetes, although these results were limited by a much smaller population size. People with diabetes and renal impairment had significantly higher mortality than people with diabetes alone, with a rate ratio of 7.27 for people with type 2 diabetes aged 40-59 years.In an area of the U.K. with high cardiovascular death rates, people with diabetes had significantly higher cardiovascular death rates than people without diabetes. Interventions targeted at cardiovascular risk factors should be used to try and reduce this excess premature mortality, which is especially high in those with renal impairment.

Colorectal cancer is considered a non-immunogenic malignany. One strategy to augment the immunogenicity of such tumours is represented by the expression of costimulatory molecules by gene transfer. Using transfected variants of the human colorectal cancer cell line SW480 we tested various costimulatory molecules (CD80, CD86, CD54) and a class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) allele (HLA-DR3) alone or in combination on their ability to support primary T-lymphocyte activation in vitro. Expression of CD80 or CD86 similarly as the combination of both was not sufficient to induce proliferation of human allogeneic T cells. Expression of CD54 together with CD80 strongly augmented the costimulatory function of CD80, as observed in the presence of a CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb), but did not lead directly to a T-cell response against modified tumour cells. Importantly, SW480 cells coexpressing CD54, CD80 and the HLA-DR3 allele effectively promoted T-lymphocyte proliferation. Moreover, the use of such CD54+/CD80+/HLA-DR3+ SW480 variants for repetitive stimulations resulted in the generation of T-cell lines predominantly composed of CD8+ T cells exhibiting class I MHC restricted cytolytic activity towards untransfected SW480 tumour cells. This demonstrates that the generation of immunogenic tumour cell variants, i.e. for the use as cellular vaccines, requires multiple genetic alterations in the case of non-immunogenic human tumours cells, such as colorectal cancer cells.

The numbers of patients entering renal replacement therapy (RRT) with diabetic nephropathy as their primary disease continues to rise world-wide, although there is some suggestion that the rate of increase may be declining in the USA [1]. However, long term survival of patients on RRT remains much less good for diabetic compared to non-diabetic recipients [2], although short term (one year) mortality adjusted for age has declined from 40.4 to 23.2 per 100 patient years in the decade 1986–96 in the USA [3].