1,720,972 research outputs found
Soft tissue sarcoma in dogs: a treatment review and a novel approach using electrochemotherapy in a case series Soft tissue sarcoma
No full textCanine soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are locally invasive mesenchymal neoplasms. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an antitumour local ablative treatment that uses electric pulses to enhance the intracellular delivery of cytotoxic drugs. The aim of this retrospective study was to review the current treatment for STSs and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ECT with bleomycin in canine STSs. Fifty-two dogs with 54 STSs were included. Three groups were arranged: (1) ECT alone, (2) intra-operative ECT, and (3) adjuvant ECT. Signalment, tumour size, location, histological grade and margins, and ECT parameters were collected. Recurrence rate (RR), and disease-free interval (DFI) were calculated. Treatment toxicity was assessed using a 6-point scale. STSs were mostly located on limbs (77.8%). Median tumour size was 4.3 cm (range 0.4-17.0 cm). Most STSs were grade I (47.7%) and II (50.0%) and histological margins were incomplete in 94.5% of cases. Two complete remissions, one partial remission and one stable disease were recorded in group 1. Group 2 and 3 were similar for tumour location, size and grade, histological margins, treatment toxicity, pulse frequency and voltage. Moreover, RR and DFI were similar between group 2 and 3 (23% and 25%, 81.5 and 243 days, respectively). Local toxicity post ECT was mild (score ≤2) in 66.7% of cases. Higher toxicity score was associated with higher pulse voltage (1200 V/cm vs. 1000 V/cm) (p=0.0473). ECT coupled with bleomycin resulted safe and efficient in tumour local control and should be considered as an option for treatment of canine STSs
TREATMENT OF CUTANEOUS SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA ON THE HEAD REGION WITH ELECTROCHEMOTERAPY IN A GROUP OF 19 CATS.
Full text linkCutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) accounts for 10% of all feline cutaneous tumours, and it is the third most common malignancy in cats. [1] SCC is locally invasive with rare metastasis to the regional lymph nodes. [2] Standard treatment approaches include surgery and radiation therapy. [1,2] Electrochemotherapy (ECT) uses the application of electric pulses combined with chemotherapeutic drugs (bleomycin) causing cytotoxic effects on the treated area. ECT also influences the immune system and tumour blood flow. [2,3] The aim was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of ECT in the treatment of SCC on the head. Nineteen cats were retrospectively enrolled (December 2004-March 2019). SCCs were diagnosed with cytology and/or histology. ECT was combined with IV bleomycin (15000 UI/m2) alone in 16/19 cases, post-surgery in 2/19, and before surgery in one case. Parameters considered were tumour site and size, electroporation parameters, response rate (response complete [CR] or partial [PR], stable disease [SD]), local recurrence rate (RR), disease-free interval (DFI), survival time, median survival time (MST), treatment outcome and local treatment toxicity (6-point scale). [4] Tumours were mostly located on the nasal planum (14/19). Median tumour size was 0.7 cm. Three different electroporators were used: Cytopulse Oncovet (12/19), Leroy Biotech Electrovet S13 (6/19) and Cliniporator, IGEA (1/19). Electroporation frequencies were 1 Hz or 5kHz and pulse amplitude to electric distance ratio was ranging 1000, 1200 or 1300 V/cm. Response rate was 94.7% (18/19; 13 CR and 5 PR). One cat had SD. Additional ECT was performed for 7 cats; 4 had a 2nd ECT, one a 3rd ECT and two a 4th ECT. For two cats with PR, RR was 10.5%, DFI was 44 and 694 days and survival time was 184 and 751 days respectively. MST for cats with recurrence was 467 days. At the end of the observation period 14 cats died and 5 were still alive. MST for cats dead without tumour (n=8) was 520 days and for cats dead with tumour (n=5) was 228 days. One cat with SD died with tumour 9 days after ECT. Treatment toxicity was ≤2 in 15/19 cases, two cats experienced toxicity score 3 and one each toxicity scores 4 and 5. Two cats were FIV+ and required multiple ECTs (PR), they had recurrence and no further response to treatment after the 4th ECT. All cats with tumours <1 cm achieved CR. A possible reduction of the treatment response in FIV + cats was noticed. However, ECT seems to be a good alternative to excisional surgery, especially in smaller tumours. Treatment toxicity was low and survival time considerably long.
[1] Hauck ML. Tumors of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissues. In: Withrow & MacEwen’s Small Animal Clinical Oncology. 5th ed. Elsevier saunders. [2] Tozon et al. Electrochemotherapy with intravenous bleomycin injection: An observational study in superficial squamous cell carcinoma in cats, J Feline Med Surg, 16(4):291-299, 2014. [3] Čemažar et al. Electrochemotherapy in veterinary oncology, J Vet Intern Med, 22(4):826-831, 2008. [4] Lowe et al. The treatment of canine mast cell tumours with electrochemotherapy with or without surgical excision, Vet Comp Oncol, 15(3):775-784, 2017
Severe abdominal distension associated with a paraovarian cyst in a guinea pig (Cavia porcellus).
No full textAbdominal distension in guinea pigs might be a subtle symptom, not easily attributed to an underlying disease. Progressive abdominal enlargement can be caused by many factors, such as weight gain, intra-abdominal fluid, abdominal neoplasia or enlarged abdominal cyst. A 3-year-old intact female guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) weighing 1.5kg was referred to the University of Padova Veterinary Teaching Hospital after 2 months of progressive abdominal distension, and 2 days of anxiety, dysorexia and reduced faecal output. At physical examination, abdominal distention did not allow palpation. Ultrasound examination revealed the presence of abundant intra-abdominal fluid and cytology was not diagnostic. The animal was sedated with ketamine 10 mg/kg, dexmedetomidine 70 mcg/kg, midazolam 0.6 mg/ kg and buprenorphine 0.05 mg/kg subcutaneously (SQ). Anaesthesia was maintained with isoflurane and an exploratory laparotomy was performed. At the midline abdominal wall incision, a 12 cm fluid- filled cystic mass was found, tightly adhered to spleen, pancreas and left ovarium. The cyst was gently isolated, and ovariohysterectomy was performed. A total of 700g including the cyst and intra-abdominal fluid was removed.
Enrofloxacine, meloxicam and prokinetic drugs were administered for 5 days. The animal appeared calm but still dysorexic the day after surgery. From the second day it began to progressively increase its appetite and faecal output. No complications were observed in the following 6 months.
Histologically, the cyst was in continuity with the ovary and the uterus and showed a wall covered with cubic or flattened and keratinized epithelium with no atypical features. The cystic wall was composed of a layer of smooth muscle and was externally lined by degenerate mesothelium. These findings support the diagnosis of benign paraovarian cyst most likely pertaining to the mesonephric duct. Paraovarian cysts are the rarest type of cysts affecting reproductive system of guinea pigs.(1) Unlike the more common ovarian follicular cysts, paraovarian cysts are not associated to obvious hormone-related symptoms, such as flank alopecia, and could remain unidentified until they reach a large size. Therefore, changes in the volume and shape of the abdomen in female guinea pigs should be carefully investigated
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Free circulating versus extracellular vesicle-associated microRNA expression in canine T-cell lymphoma
Full text linkIntroduction: Canine lymphoma (cL) is one of the most frequent cancers in dogs. The T-cell lymphoma (TcL) is not the most common phenotype but presents an aggressive behavior. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules which can circulate freely in blood or be associated with extracellular vesicles (EVs). The dysregulation of certain miRNAs has been identified in numerous types of human cancers and they have been largely investigated as possible tumors biomarkers in human medicine, while research in veterinary oncology is still scarce. The aim of this study was to compare the expression patterns of free circulating and EV-associated miRNAs in dogs with T-cell lymhoma (TcL) and healthy dogs. Methods: Eight dogs with TcL were selected as the lymphoma group (LG) and eight dogs were included as controls (Ctrl). Plasma samples were collected at the time of the diagnosis and EVs isolated with ultracentrifugation. miRNAs were extracted from both the circulating EVs and the plasma supernatant, obtaining EV-associated and free-miRNAs. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to analyze the expression of 88 target miRNAs. Results: Ten and seven differentially expressed miRNAs between LG and Ctrl were detected in EV-associated and free-miRNAs, respectively. Among EV-associated and free-miRNAs, only has-miR-222-3p was overexpressed in both conditions. Discussion: All the differentially expressed miRNAs detected in this study, have been already described as dysregulated in other human or canine cancers. The EV-associated miRNAs, which appear to be more stable and better conserved than free-miRNAs, could be investigated in further larger studies to better assess their use as possible biomarkers for TcL
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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