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Background: Paraoxonase‐1 (PON‐1) has been suggested as a marker of inflammation and oxidative stress in horses and could potentially be used for prognostication in horses with colitis. Objectives: Assessment of PON‐1 in horses with colitis and comparison of two methods. Methods: Serum PON‐1 was measured by two methods (paraoxon and p‐nitrophenyl acetate) in 161 horses with colitis and 57 controls. Follow‐up samples obtained during hospitalization were available from 106 horses with colitis. The two methods were compared. Results: Serum PON‐1 was significantly lower in horses with colitis than in healthy horses (P <.0001 for both methods) as well as in nonsurvivors compared with survivors (P =.0141 [paraoxon‐based method] and P <.0001 [p‐nitrophenyl acetate‐based method]), but with marked overlap between groups. PON‐1 activity did not change parallel to a change in inflammatory status in response to treatment when assessed at admission and in up to seven follow‐up samples. Admission PON‐1 activity could not reliably classify horses as survivors or nonsurvivors, with sensitivity and specificity ranging between 53.1% and 72.9%. Results from the two methods were comparable. Conclusions: Both methods reliably measured serum PON‐1 activity. Significant differences in PON‐1 activity were found between healthy horses and horses with colitis and between survivors and nonsurvivors. However, PON‐1 activity varied considerably within groups. Both the proposed reference intervals as well as alternative cutoff values resulted in suboptimal diagnostic and prognostic performance, and the use of serum PON‐1 in horses with colitis thus seems to add little to existing diagnostic and prognostic markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After emerging in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), rapidly became a serious threat to human health worldwide (1-3). [...]

Background: Bronchopneumonia (BP) in calves potentially causes systemic changes. Objectives: To describe metabolic, arterial blood gas, and acid‐base disorders in calves with BP diagnosed by thoracic ultrasound (TUS), Wisconsin score (WISC), and combinations of WISC and TUS. Animals: Two hundred thirty‐one dairy preweaned dairy calves from 13 dairy farms. Methods: Cross‐sectional study. Each calf sequentially underwent arterial blood gas evaluation, WISC score, venous sampling, and TUS. Calves were grouped based on a single diagnostic method and combination of WISC and 2 TUS cutoffs (≥1 cm; ≥3 cm) as healthy, upper respiratory tract infection, subclinical BP, and clinical BP. Results: Oxygenation and acid‐base variables were unaffected. Glucose concentration in TUS‐affected calves was significantly lower (P <.001) than in healthy calves (median ≥TUS1cm = 5.2 mmol/L 25%‐75% interquartile range [IQR] 4.5‐6.1,

Background: Alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) may support a clinical diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). In this study, we assessed the analytical and diagnostic performances of a novel ELISA method to measure feline AGP. Methods: AGP was measured in sera and effusions from cats with FIP (n = 20) or with other diseases (n = 15). Precision was calculated based on the coefficient of variation (CV) of repeated testing, and accuracy was calculated by linearity under dilution (LUD). Results: The test is precise (intra-assay CVs: <6.0% in individual samples, <15.0% in pooled samples; inter-assay CVs <11.0% and <15.0%) and accurate (serum LUD r2: 0.995; effusion LUD r2: 0.950) in serum and in effusions. AGP is higher in cats with FIP than in other cats in both serum (median: 1968, I-III interquartile range: 1216–3371 μg/mL and 296, 246–1963 μg/mL; p = 0.009) and effusion (1717, 1011–2379 μg/mL and 233, 165–566 μg/mL; p < 0.001). AGP discriminates FIP from other diseases (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: serum, 0.760; effusion, 0.877), and its likelihood ratio is high (serum: 8.50 if AGP > 1590 μg/mL; effusion: 3.75 if AGP > 3780 μg/mL). Conclusion: This ELISA method is precise and accurate. AGP in serum and in effusions is a useful diagnostic marker for FIP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miniature Schnauzer dogs (MSs) are predisposed to both idiopathic hypertriglyceridemia (iHTG) and hypercortisolism (HCort). To our knowledge, the lipoprotein profiles of MSs with iHTG have not been compared to those with HCort. We analyzed cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations and lipoprotein fractions in 4 groups of MSs: normotriglyceridemia (NTG) without concurrent disease (Healthy-NTG), HCort and NTG (HCort-NTG), HCort and HTG (HCort-HTG), and iHTG. Lipoprotein fractions were assessed by lipoprotein electrophoresis and compared between groups. Fifty-one plasma samples were analyzed. Twenty-five dogs had NTG (16 Healthy-NTG, 9 HCort-NTG) and 26 dogs had HTG (7 iHTG, 19 HCort-HTG). Dogs with iHTG or HCort-HTG had significantly higher cholesterol concentrations than Healthy-NTG dogs. Dogs with HCort-HTG had higher cholesterol than HCort-NTG dogs. There was a significantly higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL) percentage in iHTG and HCort-HTG dogs than HCort-NTG dogs. HCort-HTG dogs also had lower high-density lipoproteins (HDL) than HCort-NTG dogs. It was not possible to readily distinguish MSs with iHTG from MSs with HCort-HTG or Healthy-NTG using lipoprotein electrophoresis fractions. The diagnosis of iHTG remains a diagnosis by exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little information is currently available about the analytical variability of urinalysis. Objective: We aimed to compare results obtained by two operators using six microscopic methods in the quantification of urinary leukocytes (WBC) and erythrocytes (RBC). Methods: Forty urine samples (10 mL) were centrifuged (450g, 5 minutes) and resuspended in 0.5 mL of supernatant. Two operators with different expertise in urinalysis interpreted sediment results using the six methods, obtained by combining the use of microscope slides (Slide) or counting chambers (Chamber) with three different techniques: bright‐field (BF) microscopy, phase‐contrast (PC) microscopy, and stained sediment (SS) evaluations. The mean WBC and RBC counts from 10 fields (Slide) or squares (Chamber) observed at 400× were used to calculate the difference and agreement between operators and methods. We also estimated the concordance between methods in classifying microhematuric or pyuric samples. Results: Operator 2 counted significantly lower WBC counts using Slide+BF (P = 0.009) and Slide+PC (P = 0.001) than Operator 1, whereas no inter‐operator differences were recorded for RBC counts. The concordance between the operators ranged from "good" to "very good." No differences or biases were found for WBC counts among the methods, and concordances were "good" to "very good"; proportional biases were found for RBC counts between Slide+BF vs Slide+SS and Slide+PC vs Slide+SS. Concordance measurements for RBC counts ranged from "good" to "very good." Conclusions: All methods yielded good reproducibility among operators, although stained SS evaluations allowed better identification of WBC by the inexperienced operator. However, we suspected that the SS preparations affected RBC counts. All other methods yielded reproducible WBC and RBC counts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]