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A 6 yr old castrated male Clumber spaniel was referred for evaluation of acute paraplegia. MRI of the thoracolumbar spine demonstrated an intradural-extramedullary mass lesion at the level of T12 and extradural spinal cord compression at L1–L2. A hemilaminectomy was performed to achieve gross total resection of the mass lesion and removal of extruded disc material. A diagnosis of spinal choroid plexus tumor (CPT) and intervertebral disc extrusion was made. At 4 mo postoperatively, MRI demonstrated a mass lesion at the right lateral aperture of the fourth ventricle. Spinal drop metastasis from a primary intracranial CPT was suspected. The dog was ambulating independently and neurologically normal at that time. At 17 mo postoperatively, a third MRI was performed owing to decreased postural reactions in both hind limbs and vision loss in the right eye, and it demonstrated an increase in size of the intracranial mass lesion. These two additional MRI studies of the entire central nervous system showed no other metastatic lesions nor any evidence of local recurrence. At 25 mo postoperatively, the dog died at home. This is the first case report of surgical intervention and antemortem histopathological diagnosis of a spinal CPT in a dog.

This study explores a system that estimates the degree of decline in driving ability in elderly people using nonverbal information from daily conversations. To create this system, it is necessary to find factors that are effective for estimating the degree of decline that has reached a problematic level in daily life. In this paper, we consider the case where elderly people cannot understand the partner’s talk as their hearing and concentration abilities drop, and we analyze the relation between the degree of understanding of the partner’s talk and the nonverbal characteristic of the response utterance. According to the analysis results, both fundamental frequency (F0) values of response utterance and brightness values of the frame difference image for a response scene when a person can understand their partner’s talk tend to be higher than that when he/she does not understand the talk. These results indicate that the F0 value of utterances and brightness values of the frame difference images are important factors to estimate the decline in hearing and concentration abilities.

Objective To report the clinical outcomes of miniature- and toy-breed dogs with primary and previously treated distal radial and ulnar fractures (RUF) treated with a free-form multiplanar type II external skeletal fixation (ESF). Study design Retrospective study. Animals One hundred nineteen dogs with 140 distal RUF. Methods Medical records (2003-2017) were reviewed for dogs weighing up to 7 kg that had been treated for distal RUF with a free-form multiplanar type II ESF. Data collected included signalment, fracture location and configuration, fracture reduction, intraoperative realignment, time to bone union and implant removal, duration of destabilization and postoperative splint, complications, and outcomes. Follow-up consisted of clinical and radiographic evaluation or telephone interview. Results All fractures healed, with a median time of 60 days, and entire ESF was removed, with a median time of 89 days. Major complications occurred in four fractures: premature pin loosening, elbow subluxation, osteomyelitis, and delayed union. Minor complications occurred in 52 fractures (61 events). All dogs had a successful return to normal limb function at final follow-up (median, seven months; range, 2-97). Conclusion All primary and previously treated distal RUF in miniature- and toy-breed dogs healed and allowed return to normal function after fixation with a free-form multiplanar type II ESF. Clinical significance The free-form multiplanar type II ESF provides an alternative for minimally invasive fixation of distal RUF in miniature- and toy-breed dogs that facilitates fracture reduction, intraoperative realignment, adequate initial fixation stability, destabilization, and implant removal.