Detection of Neorickettsia risticii in antemortem fecal and postmortem fetal samples, with genomic insights from complete genome sequencing of a strain recovered from an aborted equine fetus.

Neorickettsia risticii (N. risticii) is an obligatory intracellular bacterium that causes Potomac horse fever (PHF), a disease clinically characterized by diarrhea, pyrexia, and laminitis in horses. Although sporadic reports of N.

Commercial cytokine assay on equine cerebrospinal fluid does not distinguish equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy from cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy.

Objective: To measure and compare CSF cytokine concentrations among horses with equine neuroaxonal dystrophy (eNAD)/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM), horses with cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy (CVSM), and control horses and to evaluate for associations with clinical parameters.

Methods: Banked equine CSF samples from horses with neurologic disease that underwent a complete neurologic examination and postmortem diagnosis confirmation of CVSM or eNAD/EDM or from control horses were included. Cytokines were measured with an equine-specific cytokine/chemokine magnetic bead multiplex panel (23-cytokine multiplex).

Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Associated Genes in Septic Neonatal Foals.

The progression of inflammation during sepsis represents a multifaceted biological cascade that requires effective therapeutic interventions to improve survival. In septic neonatal foals, oxidative stress (OS) arises due to a compromised antioxidant defense system. Oxidative stress may disrupt the functionality of redox-sensitive organelles, such as the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Suitability of the Himalayan water quality for domestic and irrigation use: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The Himalayan region, a critical freshwater source for South Asia, faces increasing anthropogenic pressures, which impact water quality for domestic and agricultural uses. This study bridges a significant knowledge gap by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of 274 studies (2003-24) to evaluate heavy metals (HMs) contamination levels, health risk assessments, and hydrochemical parameters and to assess suitability for both domestic and irrigation use. The analysis revealed that HMs levels are higher than the WHO standards in India and Pakistan.

The Astrocytic Zinc Transporter ZIP12 Is a Synaptic Protein That Contributes to Synaptic Zinc Levels in the Mouse Auditory Cortex.

Synaptically released zinc is a neuronal signaling system that arises from the actions of the presynaptic vesicular zinc transporter protein zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3). Mechanisms that regulate the actions of zinc at synapses are of great importance for many aspects of synaptic signaling in the brain. Here, we identify the astrocytic zinc transporter protein ZIP12 as a candidate mechanism that contributes to zinc clearance at cortical synapses.

Evaluation of fruquintinib's efficacy and safety in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of phase II and III randomized controlled trials.

Background: Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) remains a significant cause of mortality despite advancements in treatments. Fruquintinib, a potent VEGFR inhibitor, has shown promise as an advanced therapy for mCRC. This review evaluates the efficacy and safety of fruquintinib compared to placebo in patients with refractory mCRC, focusing on Phase II and III trials.

Pre-Prediabetes: Insulin Resistance Is Associated With Cardiometabolic Risk in Nonobese Patients (STOP DIABETES).

Context: Prior studies have demonstrated glycemic and cardiometabolic risk in the prediabetic state.

Objective: This work aims to examine if insulin resistance (IR) is associated with markers of glycemic, cardiometabolic, and atherosclerotic risk in nonobese, nonprediabetic individuals compared to insulin-sensitive (IS) individuals matched for body mass index (BMI), sex, and age.

Methods: Of 1860 patients from the STOP DIABETES study, 624 had normal fasting plasma glucose, BMI less than 30, and glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) less than 5.

Equine intervertebral disc disease with dorsal protrusion and spinal cord compression: A computed tomography, myelography, MRI, and histopathologic case study.

A 3-year-old American Saddlebred gelding presented for progressive tetraparesis, ataxia, and cervical hyperaesthesia. Radiographic myelography identified spinal cord compression at C6-7 in neutral, extended, and flexed positions and at C4-5 in the flexed position. CT myelography and postmortem MRI identified severe vertebral canal stenosis/compression at C6-7.

Infectious Causes of Equine Placentitis and Abortion.

A variety of infectious agents including viral, bacterial, and fungal organisms can cause equine abortion and placentitis. Knowledge of normal anatomy and the common pattern distribution of different infectious agents will assist the practitioner in evaluating the fetus and/or placenta, collecting appropriate samples for further testing, and in some cases, forming a presumptive diagnosis. In all cases, it is recommended to confirm the diagnosis with molecular, serologic, or microbiological testing.

AUV-Aided Optical-Acoustic Hybrid Data Collection Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning.

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)-assisted mobile data collection in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has received significant attention because of their mobility and flexibility. To satisfy the increasing demand of diverse application requirements for underwater data collection, such as time-sensitive data freshness, emergency event security as well as energy efficiency, in this paper, we propose a novel multi-modal AUV-assisted data collection scheme which integrates both acoustic and optical technologies and takes advantage of their complementary strengths in terms of communication distance and data rate. In this scheme, we consider the age of information (AoI) of the data packet, node transmission energy as well as energy consumption of the AUV movement, and we make a trade-off between them to retrieve data in a timely and reliable manner.

Pathologic Conditions of the Nervous System in Horses.

The variety of neurologic diseases which affect horses makes pathologic examination of the nervous system a complex and lengthy process. An understanding of the common causes of neurologic disease, antemortem neurolocalization, and supplementation of the necropsy examination with ancillary testing will help to diagnose a large number of causes of neurologic disease. A general understanding of neuropathology and collaborative relationship with your local pathologists will aid in the definitive diagnosis of neurologic diseases.

Systemic calcinosis in a Quarter Horse gelding homozygous for a myosin heavy chain 1 mutation.

Case Description: A 9-year-old Quarter Horse gelding was presented for lethargy, decreased appetite, polyuria and polydipsia (PU/PD), and severe muscle wasting suggestive of immune-mediated myositis.

Clinical Findings: The horse displayed lethargy, fever, tachyarrhythmia, inappetence, PU/PD, and severe epaxial and gluteal muscle wasting. Clinicopathologic findings were consistent with previously reported cases of systemic calcinosis in horses, including increased muscle enzyme activity, hyperphosphatemia, increased calcium-phosphorus product, hypoproteinemia, and an inflammatory leukogram.

Anti-Jamming Strategy for Federated Learning in Internet of Medical Things: A Game Approach.

Federated learning (FL) is a new dawn of artificial intelligence (AI), in which machine learning models are constructed in a distributed manner while communicating only model parameters between a centralized aggregator and client internet-of-medical-things (IoMT) nodes. The performance of such a learning technique can be seriously hampered by the activities of a malicious jammer robot. In this paper, we study client selection and channel allocation along with the power control problem of the uplink FL process in IoMT domain under the presence of a jammer from the perspective of long-term learning duration.

Transcriptomic analysis of the chorioallantois in equine premature placental separation.

Background: Equine premature placental separation (PPS) is poorly understood and represents an important risk factor for fetal/neonatal hypoxia.

Objectives: To examine transcriptomic changes in the chorioallantois (CA) from mares with clinical PPS compared with the CA from normal foaling mares. Differential gene expression was determined and gene ontology as well as molecular pathways related to PPS were characterised.

Development and Use of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay to Determine Temporal Exposure Patterns to Putative Agents of Nocardioform Placentitis.

Cases of nocardioform placentitis are characterized by focal, mucoid placentitis resulting in late-term abortion, premature birth, or small, full-term foals, occur sporadically, and are most commonly associated with Crossiella equi and Amycolatopsis spp. infection. The goal of this project was to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for quantifying antibodies against Crossiella equi and Amycolatopsis spp.

Clinical, pathologic, and epidemiologic features of nocardioform placentitis in the mare.

Placentitis is the leading cause of infectious abortion in the horse and contributes to roughly 19% of all abortions in the United States. A type of placental infection, nocardioform placentitis (NP) is associated with gram-positive branching actinomycetes localized within the ventral body of the feto-maternal interface to create a lymphoplasmacytic mucoid lesion. While the etiology of this disease is poorly described, this placental infection continues to cause episodic abortions in addition to weak and/or growth retarded neonates.

Equine cervical remodeling during placentitis and the prepartum period: a transcriptomic approach.

Cervical remodeling is a critical component in both term and preterm labor in eutherian mammals. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying cervical remodeling remain poorly understood in the mare. The current study compared the transcriptome of the equine cervix (cervical mucosa (CM) and stroma (CS)) during placentitis (placentitis group, n = 5) and normal prepartum mares (prepartum group, n = 3) to normal pregnant mares (control group, n = 4).

Current evidence of survival benefit between chest-compression only versus standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest : Updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials with trial sequential analysis.

Background: Evidence to support a better cardiopulmonary resuscitation method between standard vs. continuous chest compression (STD-CPR vs. CCC-CPR) is lacking.

Persistent infection and pancytopenia associated with ferret systemic coronaviral disease in a domestic ferret.

Ferret systemic coronaviral disease (FSCD) is a well-established cause of mortality in domestic ferrets. We describe herein novel findings in a case of FSCD that was diagnosed and medically managed following virus detection by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of surgical biopsy samples. Hematologic changes in this ferret suggested spread of the virus to the bone marrow, which was confirmed by IHC staining of a postmortem sample.

Viral testing of 18 consecutive cases of equine serum hepatitis: A prospective study (2014-2018).

Background: Three flaviviruses (equine pegivirus [EPgV]; Theiler's disease-associated virus [TDAV]; non-primate hepacivirus [NPHV]) and equine parvovirus (EqPV-H) are present in equine blood products; the TDAV, NPHV, and EqPV-H have been suggested as potential causes of serum hepatitis.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of these viruses in horses with equine serum hepatitis.

Animals: Eighteen horses diagnosed with serum hepatitis, enrolled from US referral hospitals.

Successful treatment of prediabetes in clinical practice using physiological assessment (STOP DIABETES).

Background: Of the 84 million American adults with prediabetes, over 5 to 7 years, about 28 million progress to type 2 diabetes. We aimed to assess whether a real-world, pathophysiology-based, therapeutic approach could prevent development of type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals.

Methods: We did a retrospective observational study of people at increased risk of type 2 diabetes from a community practice in southern California, USA.

The Main Lateral Mode Approximation of a Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator With Perfect Metal Electrodes.

Using first principles and the constitutive equations of a piezoelectric crystal, we solve the 2-D problem inside a three-layer film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) in order to study the dispersion and parasitic lateral modes' characteristic of the structure. In our main lateral mode approximation, described here in detail, we construct the acoustic wave by combining the ideal "piston" mode and the main dispersion branch lateral mode. By limiting our analysis to the practical range of frequencies near the series resonance of the stack, where the lateral component $k_{x}$ of the ${k}$ vector is small, we find analytical expressions for the FBAR acoustic wave and for the dispersion of the three-layer stack.