A 10‐year‐old, domestic shorthair cat was presented with a 7‐month history of anorexia and 2‐month history of severe obtundation. Neurological examination revealed proprioceptive ataxia and decreased postural reactions in the four limbs. On magnetic resonance imaging, a contrast‐enhanced mass lesion dorsal to the obex region was found, causing cerebellar and brainstem compression. The mass was aspirated by an ultrasonic aspirator and complete removal was achieved. After surgery, the mental status and appetite of the cat was markedly improved. On histopathological examination, the mass was diagnosed as subependymoma. The cat was neurologically normal, and no recurrence was observed on magnetic resonance imaging 3 months postoperatively. There was no evidence of clinical recurrence at 8 month postoperative follow‐up by telephone interview. This is the first description of surgical management of subependymoma in a cat. Subependymoma is a benign tumour in cats, and the prognosis is expected to be good after surgical management as reported in humans.

Case summary A 2-year-old neutered female Scottish Fold cat was presented with an 8-week history of progressive back pain, paraparesis and decrease of postural reactions in both pelvic limbs. MRI showed spinal cord compression from both ventral sides, which originated from the T4 vertebral body and pedicle. The lesion compressing the spinal cord had a bone-like density on CT, and endoscopic surgery was performed to excise it. Histopathological examination of the resected tissue showed no evidence of malignancy and the lesion was diagnosed as vertebral hypertrophy. After surgery, the neurological status of the cat gradually improved. The cat was ambulant at the follow-up evaluation 2 weeks after surgery. Six months later, hindlimb paresis had improved considerably, and no recurrence was observed on CT. Relevance and novel information This is the first description of thoracic vertebral canal stenosis due to hypertrophy of a single vertebra in a young cat. Excision of the hypertrophic vertebra by endoscopic surgery is less invasive than open surgery and may give a good prognosis.

Homologation of aryl aldehydes provides useful synthetic intermediates, but it requires multistep reactions and generates significant amounts of waste. We considered such reactions using nitromethane as a C1 source through nitroolefin formation, partial hydrogenation to oximes, and hydration of oximes; however, the control of selectivity in the second reaction is challenging. To achieve this pathway, nitrogen-doped carbon-incarcerated palladium nanoparticle catalysts were developed for selective hydrogenation. We found that the presence of nitrogen dopants effectively tuned the catalytic activity to show almost perfect selectivity, high activity, and reusability under ambient pressure. We then performed a three-step homologation reaction in both batch and flow systems with only one purification step. The sequential continuous-flow system worked efficiently for more than 2 days to afford the product in a high yield.