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In veterinary medicine, calcinosis circumscripta is a morphological diagnosis for which the cause may be known or idiopathic. The aetiology of the lesion must be investigated because the nature of the underlying disease process will dictate appropriate treatment. We present a case of oral calcinosis circumscripta in a cat caused by a wasp sting and associated with moderate unilateral facial oedema. Following corticosteroid therapy and oedema resolution, hyperaemic, circular, firm, elevated lesions were observed on the buccal mucosa and evolved into whitish, slightly elevated multifocal plaques with an irregular surface. As antibiotic and corticosteroid therapy was ineffective, an excisional biopsy was performed after 6 months of lesion development and a diagnosis of calcinosis circumscripta of dystrophic aetiology was made. To our knowledge, this is the first report of calcinosis circumscripta in association with an insect sting in an animal. Insect stings should be included in the differential diagnosis of calcinosis circumscripta in cats., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Plant intoxications in wildlife are difficult to diagnose, are overlooked, or are sometimes even neglected. Hence, factors that induce wild animals to ingest poisonous plants have not been sufficiently documented. An outbreak of glycoprotein storage disease in sambar deer ( Cervus unicolor ), induced by ingestion of the swainsonine-containing plant, common wireweed (Sida carpinifolia), is reported. Nine out of 55 deer held by a zoo in Brazil were affected. The poisoning was characterized by emaciation and neurologic signs followed by unexpected death in some of the animals. Animals presented abnormal consciousness, posterior paresis, and musculoskeletal weakness; less evident were vestibulo-cerebellar signs. Histologically, there was vacuolation of neurons and epithelial cells of the pancreatic acines, thyroid follicules, and renal tubules. Furthermore, in the central nervous system were axonal degeneration, necrosis, and loss of neurons. Three factors may lead to the ingestion of S. carpinifolia by sambar deer: 1) A grazing field with only S. carpinifolia as a source of forage; 2) a large number of animals kept in this field; and 3) a hierarchy within a cervid group in which dominant males isolated and displaced juvenile and weaker adult males, leaving them with access to only S. carpinifolia.

We report three cases of stings by Africanized bees in cattle in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Erythema, subcutaneous edema, necrosis accompanied by skin detachment, and subsequent skin regeneration were observed, especially on the head and dewlap. Histopathological examinations performed 45 days later revealed complete skin reepithelialization with moderate dermal fibrosis. The clinical picture and differential diagnosis are discussed in the present manuscript, with a focus on photosensitization, which causes cutaneous lesions on the head (sequela) with cicatricial curving of the ears and can be very similar to what is observed in cattle attacked by swarms of bees. The distinction between photosensitization and bee sting lesions can be made with a focus on history and clinical and pathological aspects.

The objectives of the study were to assess sound pressure level (SPL) in two rooms of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and to identify their sources. This quantitative-descriptive study was conducted in two rooms of a NICU of a University Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. Three dosimeters were used to register SPL (total of 261 hours). A 48-hour register of noise sources was obtained. The results showed high SPL in both rooms. The greatest mean Leq were 71.0 dBA (room A) and 68.0 dBA (room B). Main noise sources in both units were: NICU hallway noise, traffic and conversation among professionals. The results indicate that SPLs in NICU rooms are higher than the levels recommended by regulatory agencies. A guideline was developed and an educational program was implemented as a means to reduce sound pressure levels.

The current study reports the investigation on the cause of sudden deaths associated with cardiac fibrosis in cattle in northern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The exclusion of known causes of bovine cardiac fibrosis as well as the absence of the plants in that region whose consumption has already been linked to the disorder motivated this investigation. The condition, which was attributed to the consumption of Amorimia exotropica, affected draft oxen, most of which died suddenly without showing any clinical signs during usual management or work. Globular hearts with white foci at their cut surfaces were the main gross findings, which corresponded microscopically from multifocal to coalescent areas of myocardial fibrosis. To confirm the condition, A. exotropica from the ranches where cattle died from the disease was dosed to rabbits, which showed similar lesions to those seen in dead cattle after receiving 10 doses of 3.6 g/kg at 4-day intervals. Electron microscopy on rabbit tissues revealed severe tumefaction of the cardiomyocytes associated with mitochondrial swelling, displacement, and rupture of the mitochondrial crests, and of the bundles of myofibrils, apart from large glycogen deposits within the sarcoplasm. It is suggested that mitochondrial changes triggered alterations that lead to cardiac fibrosis and that all of these changes were induced by A. exotropica cardiotoxicity.

Intoxication with Ipomoea carnea has been reported in goats, sheep, and cattle in tropical regions worldwide. The disease has been characterized only in goats; therefore, the present study was conducted in sheep. Nine animals were fed feed rations that contained 3 different concentrations of Ipomoea carnea subsp. fistulosa. Individual intake varied between 10.5 and 135.2 g of fresh plant per kilogram of body weight (BW) per day. Animals first showed clinical signs between day 43 and day 63. The maximum survival time was 133 days. Sheep presented with weight loss and neurologic abnormalities. Neurologic signs were dominated by marked depression, abnormal behavior, and musculoskeletal weakness, with poorly defined motor and proprioceptive deficits. In mature animals, cytoplasmic vacuolation, consistent with accumulation of secondary lysosomes, affected neurons, astrocytes, exocrine pancreatic acinar epithelia, hepatocytes and Kupffer cells, renal tubular epithelia, thyroid follicular epithelia, cortical adrenal epithelia, endothelia and perivascular cells, and macrophages in lymph nodes and spleen. In the central nervous system, there was axonal degeneration and astrogliosis. Abortion was observed as early as day 22 of the trial. In fetal tissues and placenta of chronically poisoned ewes, cytoplasmic vacuolation was histologically detected in neurons, exocrine pancreatic acinar epithelia, hepatocytes, renal tubular epithelia, and thyroid follicular epithelia. All the sheep developed a glycoprotein storage disease, with lysosomal accumulation of N-glycosidically linked oligosaccharides, which was indistinguishable from that induced by the alkaloid swainsonine alone.

Fatal cytauxzoonosis is described in a captive reared lioness (Panthera leo) and its 6-month-old cub. Clinical signs in the lioness included loss of weight, depression, anaemia, loss of hair, dark discolored urine, tachypnoea, nystagmus, deaphness and staggering gait. The cub died after a short period of depression. In the lioness, laboratory examination revealed normochromic normocytic anaemia, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, monocytosis, eosinopenia, thrombocytopenia, proteinuria, pyuria, haematuria and increased. At necropsy the lioness showed marked pulmonary edema and slight gelatinous translucent edema in the mediastinum, petechiae and echymosis disseminated in the serosae, and the intestinal content was red and semiliquid. The cub presented hemothorax, endocardial and pulmonary edema, petechiae in the cardiac serosae, hepatic and splenic congestion and segments of the small intestine with blood stained fluid contents and reddish mesenteric lymph nodes. Histopathological examination of liver, spleen, heart, lungs, intestines, pancreas, mesenteric lymph nodes, kidneys, skeletal muscle, brain and skin revealed large number of intravascular macrophages with their cytoplasm filled with various schizogonic stages of a Theileriidae. Electron microscopy confirmed the presence of schizonts in endothelial-associated macrophages. The diagnosis was established by the finding of the pathognomonic schizonts in macrophages within blood vessels in several organs and tissues from both lions. This is the first report of feline cytauxzoonosis in P. leo and of a confirmed infection by Cytauxzoon felis in felidae in South America.

Spontaneous and experimental poisoning with the swainsonine-containing and calystegine-containing plant Ipomoea carnea subsp fistulosa is described. Three of 8 goats presenting with emaciation, weakness, symmetrical ataxia, posterior paresis, proprioceptive deficits, abnormal posture, abnormal postural reaction, and muscle hypertonia were necropsied. I fistulosa was suspected to be the cause of the neurologic disease in all cases. An experiment was conducted to confirm the diagnosis using 12 goats and diets containing 3 different concentrations of the plant. All goats fed I fistulosa developed neurological signs that were similar to those observed in the spontaneous intoxication. Muscle atrophy and pallor were the only macroscopic changes observed in spontaneous and in experimental intoxication. Histological lesions of spontaneous and experimental animals were similar. The most prominent lesion was cytoplasmic vacuolation in neurons of the central and the autonomous nervous system, pancreatic acinar cells, hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, follicular epithelial cells of the thyroid gland, and macrophages of the lymphatic tissues. Neuronal necrosis, axonal spheroids formation, and astrogliosis were additionally observed in the brain. Ultrastructurally, the cytoplasmic vacuoles consisted of distended lysosomes surrounded by a single-layered membrane. Nonreduced end-rests or sequence of alpha-Man, alpha-Glc, beta(1-4)-GlcNAc, and NeuNAc on lysosomal membrane were revealed by lectin histochemistry. Samples of plants used in the experimental trial contained swainsonine and calystegine and their intermediary derivate. We conclude that I fistulosa induces a glycoprotein storage disease primarily based on the inhibition of the lysosomal alpha-mannosidase by the alkaloid swainsonine.

Plant poisoning, together with rabies and botulism, are the main causes of death in adult cattle in Brazil. Estimates indicate that about one million head of cattle die annually through plant poisoning in this country. There are approximately 75 plants of practical importance to animal husbandry that have had their toxicity confirmed by experiments with the animal species affected under natural conditions. The great majority of these plants only occur in Brazil and neighbouring countries. A few of them are forage plants that can become toxic under certain conditions. In this review the poisonous plants of interest to animal husbandry of Brazil are divided according to the clinical-pathological picture they cause in cattle; only cyanogenic plants, plants that cause nitrate/nitrite poisoning and the ones that cause oxalate poisoning, are grouped according to their toxic principles. Plants and their toxic principles, or of which possible toxic compounds have been isolated, are listed.

In a feedlot of about 1,000 head of cattle, 146 animals died within a period of a few months affected by a disease characterized by anorexia, icterus, hemoglobinuria, constipation, or diarrhea. The clinical course of the disease lasted a few days. Postmortem findings were generalized icterus and a yellow discolored liver. The kidneys were dark brown, and the urinary bladder was filled with urine of the same dark-brown color. The main histopathological findings were centrolobular coagulative necrosis, apoptosis, bilestasis, and proliferation of bile ducts in the portal space. Changes in the kidneys included nephrosis and the presence of bile and precipitates, and cylinders of albumin and of hemoglobin in the uriniferous tubules. Liver samples, collected from 3 animals on which postmortem examinations were performed, had 2,008, 2,783 and 4,906 ppm copper in their dry matter. Two samples of poultry litter fed to the cattle contained 362 and 323 ppm copper. The green forage that formed the rest of their feed only had 4.7 ppm copper. Copper poisoning was diagnosed, most probably caused by feeding litter from poultry that had been fed a ration treated with copper sulfate to avoid aspergillosis.

Natural and experimental poisonings by Cestrum laevigatum are described in goats. Histologically, livers had marked centrolobular and midzonal coagulative necrosis and hemorrhage. Spontaneous toxicosis by this plant in goats has not been previously reported.

A clinical case of sheep deaths due to Phytolacca decandra occurred in Southern Brazil and was experimentally duplicated by force-feeding the plant. General neurologic signs and diarrhea with rumen and reticulum hyperemia and coagulation necrosis of the mucosa were seen.

A skin disease characterized by trauma-induced sloughing of haired skin, hooves, and horns is described in four calves from a herd of Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) in Brazil. Affected calves were detected shortly after birth by the presence of lesions affecting the distal extremities, the scapular and gluteal regions, and the tip of the tail. On histologic evaluation of affected skin, the lesions were characterized by suprabasilar vesicles and acantholysis affecting the epidermis and outer root sheath of the hair follicle infundibulum. The basal cell layer was intact and appeared as a single layer of cuboidal cells attached to the dermis. Ultrastructurally, the region between the stratum basale and the lower stratum spinosum had widened intercellular spaces with loss of desmosomal attachments, which led to the suprabasilar separation. The disease appears to be inherited as an autosomal recessive trait.

Morphological features and immunoreactivity for cytokeratin (CK), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) of three canine neuroepitheliomas and three canine ependymomas were investigated. Neuroepitheliomas were in three German shepherds as intradural-extramedullary solitary masses, with spinal cord displacement between T10 and L2. Histologically, they contained tubules and acini, lined by epithelial cells with focal squamous metaplasia, rosette-like structures, and polygonal to spindle-shaped cells between tubules. Acini were empty or filled with a homogeneous, eosinophilic periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive material. Mitotic indices varied from low to moderate. Ependymomas occurred in the third (two cases) and fourth ventricle in adult boxers. Histologically, they were composed of cells with an ill-defined, scant amphophilic cytoplasm, with a central round euchromatic nucleus; cells formed pseudorosettes, with a central fibro-vascular stroma. Neuroepitheliomas stained for CK, but ependymomas did not. Both failed to stain for GFAP, NSE, or phosphotungstic acid hematoxylin (PTAH). Thus, antibodies to cytokeratin are useful to distinguish neuroepitheliomas from ependymomas.