BackgroundMigrating plant material is often suspected clinically to be the underlying cause of iliopsoas myositis in the dog, but cannot always be found pre- or intraoperatively. In most cases, recurrence of clinical signs is related to failure to remove the plant material. Preoperative ultrasonography can be useful to visualize migrating plant material and to determine anatomical landmarks that can assist in planning a surgical approach. The purpose of the present study was to report the role of intraoperative (intra-abdominal) ultrasonography for visualizing and removing the plant material from iliopsoas abscesses using a ventral midline laparotomy approach.ResultsA retrospective case series of 22 dogs with iliopsoas muscle abnormalities and suspected plant material was reported. Preoperative visualization and subsequent retrieval of the plant material was performed during a single hospitalization. In all 22 dogs, the plant material (including complete grass awns, grass awn fragments and a bramble twig) was successfully removed via ventral midline laparotomy in which intraoperative ultrasonography was used to direct the grasping forceps tips to the foreign body and guide its removal. In 11 of these 22 dogs, the plant material was not completely removed during prior surgery performed by the referring veterinarians without pre- or intraoperative ultrasonography. Clinical signs resolved in all dogs and all dogs resumed normal activity after successful surgical removal of the plant material.ConclusionIntraoperative ultrasonography is a safe and readily available tool that improves success of surgical removal of plant material within the iliopsoas abscesses via ventral midline laparotomy. Moreover, ultrasonographic findings of unusual plant material can be useful in planning and guiding surgical removal, by providing information about the size and shape of the foreign body.

The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of a dietary probiotic blend on growth performance, blood characteristics, meat quality, and faecal microbial population in growing-finishing pigs in a 12-week experiment. Pigs were assigned to two dietary treatments: a control basal-diet without probiotic blend (NoPro) and a test-diet including the probiotic blend (Pro) according to pig bodyweight (BW) at the dose of 100 mg/kg of BW. Pigs fed the probiotics had higher final BW and increased average daily gain (ADG), as well as improved feed conversion ratio (FCR). Blood parameters of pigs were not affected by dietary probiotic complex. Meat crude protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) contents were increased in the group fed probiotics, whereas there were no significant differences in the other meat traits. Feeding of probiotics determined a decrease in faecal NH 3 -N (+15.5%) and butyric acid concentrations, whereas no effects were observed on faecal acetic acid and propionic acid. An increased faecal Lactobacillus concentration was found when pigs fed probiotic blend. Based on our findings, feeding probiotic blend enhanced growth performance and meat quality in growing-finishing pigs, and also decreased faecal NH 3 -N and butyric acid levels resulting in a viable approach to reduce animal excreta pollution.

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The main goal in the treatment of large bone defects is to guarantee a rapid loading of the affected limb. In this paper, the authors proposed a new reconstructive technique that proved to be suitable to reach this purpose through the use of a custom-made biomimetic porous titanium scaffold. An in vivo study was undertaken where a complete critical defect was experimentally created in the diaphysis of the right tibia of twelve sheep and replaced with a five-centimeter porous scaffold of electron beam melting (EBM)-sintered titanium alloy (EBM group n = 6) or a porous hydroxyapatite scaffold (CONTROL group, n = 6). After surgery, the sheep were allowed to move freely in the barns. The outcome was monitored for up to 12 months by periodical X-ray and clinical examination. All animals in the CONTROL group were euthanized for humane reasons within the first month after surgery due to the onset of plate bending due to mechanical overload. Nine months after surgery, X-ray imaging showed the complete integration of the titanium implant in the tibia diaphysis and remodeling of the periosteal callus, with a well-defined cortical bone. At 12 months, sheep were euthanized, and the tibia were harvested and subjected to histological analysis. This showed bone tissue formations with bone trabeculae bridging titanium trabeculae, evidencing an optimal tissue-metal interaction. Our results show that EBM-sintered titanium devices, if used to repair critical bone defects in a large animal model, can guarantee immediate body weight-bearing, a rapid functional recovery, and a good osseointegration. The porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds proved to be not suitable in this model of large bone defect due to their known poor mechanical properties.

While gastric cancer is a well established angiogenesis driven tumor, no data has been published regarding angiogenesis stimulated by mast cells (MCs) positive for tryptase in bone metastases from gastric cancer patients (BMGCP). It is well established that MCs play a role in immune responses and more recently it was demonstrated that MCs have been involved in tumor angiogenesis. We analyzed infiltrating MCs and neovascularization in BMGCP diagnosed by histology. A series of 15 stage T3-4N2-3M1 (by AJCC for Gastric Cancer Staging 7th Edition) BMGCP from bone biopsies were selected. Tumour tissue samples were evaluated by mean of immunohistochemistry and image analysis methods in terms of MCs density positive to tryptase (MCDPT), MCs area positive to tryptase (MCAPT), microvascular density (MVD) and endothelial area (EA). A significant correlation between MCDPT, MCAPT, MVD and EA groups to each other was found by Pearson and t-test analysis (r ranged from 0.68 to 0.82; p-value ranged from 0.00 to 0.02). Our very preliminary data suggest that infiltrating MCs positive for tryptase may play a role in BMGCP angiogenesis, and could be further evaluated as a novel target of anti-angiogenic therapy.