Prevalence and breed predisposition for thoracolumbar intervertebral disc disease in cats

Objectives The objective was to evaluate the prevalence and possible breed predilections for thoracolumbar intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) in cats. Methods Medical records and imaging studies of cats diagnosed with thoracolumbar IVDD between January 2008 and August 2014 were retrospectively reviewed and compared with the general hospital population. The association between type of IVDD (ie, intervertebral disc extrusion [IVDE] or intervertebral disc protrusion [IVDP]) and breed, age, sex, and duration and severity of clinical signs was also evaluated. Results Of 12,900 cats presented during the study period, 31 (0.24%) were diagnosed with IVDD, including 17 purebred and 14 non-purebred cats. Of all presented purebred cats, 0.52% were diagnosed with thoracolumbar IVDD. More specifically, 1.29% of all British Shorthairs and 1.83% of all presented Persians were diagnosed with IVDD. Compared with the general hospital population, purebred cats ( P = 0.0001), British Shorthairs ( P &lt;0.0001) and Persians ( P = 0.0006) were significantly overrepresented with thoracolumbar IVDD. Affected purebred cats were younger than affected non-purebred cats ( P = 0.02). Of 31 cats with IVDD, 19 were diagnosed with IVDE and 12 with IVDP. Cats with IVDE had a significantly shorter duration of clinical signs ( P = 0.0002) and demonstrated more severe neurological deficits ( P = 0.04) than cats with IVDP. Conclusions and relevance Although thoracolumbar IVDD is an uncommon condition in cats, purebred cats, British Shorthairs and Persians, were overrepresented. It is currently unclear if this represents a true breed predisposition or a higher likelihood of owners of purebred cats seeking referral for advanced diagnostic imaging procedures. </jats:sec

Epilepsy beyond seizures: a review of the impact of epilepsy and its comorbidities on health-related quality of life in dogs

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological conditions in the dog, estimated to affect 0.6 to 0.75 per cent of dogs. Owners of dogs with epilepsy have previously indicated that their dog's quality of life (QoL) is of greatest importance to them above seizure frequency; however, much of the research into canine epilepsy to date has focussed on seizure frequency, and how to reduce it via antiepileptic drug treatment. In people, the impact of epilepsy upon QoL has been widely studied, exploring not only its impact on physical health, but also the psychological health and cognitive capabilities of affected individuals. This paper reviews the existing literature on canine epilepsy, identifies potential threats to QoL, and draws parallels from human epilepsy research. We suggest that canine epilepsy poses threats to both quality and quantity of life, with treatment interventions posing a fine balance of potential benefits and harms to the patient. At present, little is known about the neurobehavioural, emotional and cognitive effects of epilepsy upon affected dogs. Further studies are needed to establish the extent to which unknown QoL-inhibiting comorbidities exist in the dog, in order to avoid their undertreatment, and to objectively quantify the effects of epilepsy on canine QoL

Physiological reactivity to spontaneously occurring seizure activity in dogs with epilepsy and their carers

There is a complex bidirectional relationship between stress and epilepsy. Stressful stimuli and subsequent cortisol release act as a trigger for seizure activity in some individuals with epilepsy, and seizure activity itself may act as a stressor to the affected individual. Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological condition in domestic dogs and requires chronic management by their human carers, impacting upon the quality of life of both dog and carer. Seizures occur unpredictably and may be stressful for carers to witness and manage. In the present study we investigated the role of seizure activity as a stressor, measuring the effect of spontaneously occurring seizure activity in dogs with epilepsy upon their own cortisol levels and that of their carers. Furthermore, we tested whether individual differences in HPA reactivity were associated with owner personality characteristics and the quality of the dog carer relationship. Saliva samples were obtained from sixteen dog carer dyads in the home setting 20 and 40 minute post-seizure, and at time-matched points on the following (non-seizure) day. Significant differences in cortisol levels were found in dogs at 40 minute post-seizure (265.1% increase), and at 20 minute post-seizure in their carers (40.5% increase). No associations were found between cortisol reactivity and the strength of the dog-carer bond. Carers with higher neuroticism scores exhibited higher cortisol levels at both post-seizure sampling points. As there was a gender bias in the carer sample (15/16 were female), and there are known sex differences in cortisol reactivity in response to psychological stress, the conclusions of this study may be limited to female carers. These findings are the first to objectively demonstrate the acutely stressful effects of seizures in dogs with epilepsy and their carers

Correlations of mutual positions of charge density waves nodes in side-by-side placed InAs wires measured with scanning gate microscopy

We investigate the correlations of mutual positions of charge density waves nodes in side-by-side placed InAs nanowires in presence of a conductive atomic force microscope tip served as a mobile gate at helium temperatures. Scanning gate microscopy scans demonstrate mutual correlation of positions of charge density waves nodes of two wires. A general mutual shift of the nodes positions and "crystal lattice mismatch" defect were observed. These observations demonstrate the crucial role of Coulomb interaction in formation of charge density waves in InAs nanowires

Investigations of local electronic transport in InAs nanowires by scanning gate microscopy at helium temperatures

In the current paper a set of experiments dedicated to investigations of local electronic transport in undoped InAs nanowires at helium temperatures in the presence of a charged atomic-force microscope tip is presented. Both nanowires without defects and with internal tunneling barriers were studied. The measurements were performed at various carrier concentrations in the systems and opacity of contact-to-wire interfaces. The regime of Coulomb blockade is investigated in detail including negative differential conductivity of the whole system. The situation with open contacts with one tunneling barrier and undivided wire is also addressed. Special attention is devoted to recently observed quasi-periodic standing waves.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1309.325

Clinical reasoning in feline epilepsy: Which combination of clinical information is useful?

We sought to identify the association between clinical risk factors and the diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy (IE) or structural epilepsy (SE) in cats, using statistical models to identify combinations of discrete parameters from the patient signalment, history and neurological examination findings that could suggest the most likely diagnosis. Data for 138 cats with recurrent seizures were reviewed, of which 110 were valid for inclusion. Seizure aetiology was classified as IE in 57% and SE in 43% of cats. Binomial logistic regression analyses demonstrated that pedigree status, older age at seizure onset (particularly >7 years old), abnormal neurological examinations, and ictal vocalisation were associated with a diagnosis of SE compared to IE, and that ictal salivation was more likely to be associated with a diagnosis of IE than SE. These findings support the importance of considering inter-ictal neurological deficits and seizure history in clinical reasoning

Chord Label Personalization through Deep Learning of Integrated Harmonic Interval-based Representations

The increasing accuracy of automatic chord estimation systems, the availability of vast amounts of heterogeneous reference annotations, and insights from annotator subjectivity research make chord label personalization increasingly important. Nevertheless, automatic chord estimation systems are historically exclusively trained and evaluated on a single reference annotation. We introduce a first approach to automatic chord label personalization by modeling subjectivity through deep learning of a harmonic interval-based chord label representation. After integrating these representations from multiple annotators, we can accurately personalize chord labels for individual annotators from a single model and the annotators' chord label vocabulary. Furthermore, we show that chord personalization using multiple reference annotations outperforms using a single reference annotation.Comment: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Deep Learning and Music, Anchorage, US, May, 2017 (arXiv:1706.08675v1 [cs.NE]

Comparison of clinical signs and outcomes between dogs with presumptive ischemic myelopathy and dogs with acute non compressive nucleus pulposus extrusion

Abstract OBJECTIVE To compare clinical signs and outcomes between dogs with presumptive ischemic myelopathy and dogs with presumptive acute noncompressive nucleus pulposus extrusion (ANNPE). DESIGN Retrospective study. ANIMALS 51 dogs with ischemic myelopathy and 42 dogs with ANNPE examined at 1 referral hospital. PROCEDURES Medical records and MRI sequences were reviewed for dogs with a presumptive antemortem diagnosis of ischemic myelopathy or ANNPE. Information regarding signalment, clinical signs at initial examination, and short-term outcome was retrospectively retrieved from patient records. Long-term outcome information was obtained by telephone communication with referring or primary-care veterinarians and owners. RESULTS Compared with the hospital population, English Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Border Collies were overrepresented in the ischemic myelopathy and ANNPE groups, respectively. Dogs with ANNPE were significantly older at disease onset and were more likely to have a history of vocalization at onset of clinical signs, have spinal hyperesthesia during initial examination, have a lesion at C1-C5 spinal cord segments, and be ambulatory at hospital discharge, compared with dogs with ischemic myelopathy. Dogs with ischemic myelopathy were more likely to have a lesion at L4-S3 spinal cord segments and have long-term fecal incontinence, compared with dogs with ANNPE. However, long-term quality of life and outcome did not differ between dogs with ischemic myelopathy and dogs with ANNPE. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results revealed differences in clinical signs at initial examination between dogs with ischemic myelopathy and dogs with ANNPE that may aid clinicians in differentiating the 2 conditions.</jats:p

Preliminary assessment of cognitive impairments in canine idiopathic epilepsy

In humans, epilepsy can induce or accelerate cognitive impairment (CI). There is emerging evidence of CI in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) from recent epidemiological studies. The aim of our study was to assess CI in dogs with IE using two tests of cognitive dysfunction designed for use in a clinical setting. Dogs with IE (n=17) were compared against controls (n=18) in their performance in two tasks; a spatial working memory task and a problem-solving task. In addition, owners completed the Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Rating (CCDR) scale for their dog. The groups did not differ statistically with respect to age and breed. Dogs with IE performed significantly worse than controls on the spatial working memory task (P=0.016), but not on the problem solving task (P=0.683). CCDR scores were significantly higher in the IE group (P=0.016); however, no dogs reach the recommended threshold score for CCD diagnosis. Our preliminary data suggest that dogs with IE exhibit impairments in a spatial working memory task. Further research is required to explore the effect of IE on other cognitive abilities in dogs with a larger sample, characterising the age of onset, nature and progression of any impairments and the impact of anti-epileptic drugs