Objective: The aim of our study is to assess the clinico-electrophysiological profile of children with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in Upper Egypt and to compare the efficacy of plasmapheresis versus other treatment modalities. Patients and methods:This was a retrospective study of children from January 2010 to October 2014 diagnosed as GBS. It included 62 cases. Results: Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP) was the most prevalent type of GBS in our locality. As regards the treatment, 32 cases received plasmapheresis while 30 patients received intravenous immunoglobulin. We found a significant decrease in the duration of hospitalization and a significant increase in the number of children with complete recovery in cases treated with plasmapheresis. Conclusion: GBS is not uncommon in children of Upper Egypt, with AIDP the most prevalent type. Plasmapheresis is the best treatment modalities for GBS as it reduces the duration of hospital stay and hastens the recovery of those children.

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Background and Aim: Avian colibacillosis, which is caused by avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC), is a major bacterial disease that affects birds of all ages worldwide, causing significant economic losses. APEC manifests in several clinical forms, including cellulitis, and its high pathogenicity is attributed to harboring numerous virulence-associated genes (VGs). This study evaluated the pathogenicity of the cellulitis-derived E. coli (O78) strain through molecular identification of genes coding for seven virulence factors and by conducting an in vivo assessment of capability for cellulitis induction in broiler chickens. Materials and Methods: This study was performed using a previously isolated and identified cellulitis-derived E. coli (O78), which was screened for seven VGs using molecular detection and identification through polymerase chain reaction followed by nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Experimental infection by subcutaneous (SC) inoculation in broilers and its pathogenicity was confirmed in vivo by cellulitis induction. The impact of cellulitis on broiler performance was assessed. Results: Molecular genotyping proved that the isolate harbored five virulence genes (iroN, iutA, tsh, iss, and papC) and was negative for stx1 and hly genes. The amplified products for iroN, iss, and iutA were subjected to sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, and the results indicate the highest similarity and matching with E. coli submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank. SC inoculation of bacteria in broiler chickens resulted in cellulitis, as indicated by thick red edematous skin with yellowish-white material in the SC tissue at the inoculation site, and the abdominal muscle showed redness and increased vacuolization. Histopathological examination revealed moderate-to-severe caseous inflammatory reaction with a marked accumulation of heterophils and mononuclear cells in the SC fatty tissue. The average feed intake, body weight gain (BWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were lower in infected chickens in comparison with those of the control non-infected chickens. Conclusion: This study proves that molecular techniques are accurate for pathogenicity determination in virulent bacteria, with the advantages of being rapid, time-saving, and economical. Cellulitis is associated with economic losses that are represented by a lower BWG and FCR.

Patient: Female, 27Final Diagnosis: LV hemangiomaSymptoms: Palpitation • dyspnea • fatigueMedication: —Clinical Procedure: Posterior atriotomySpecialty: CardiologyObjective:Rare diseaseBackground:Cardiac tumors are quite rare, and differential diagnosis of them is challenging.Case Report:A young lady with a history of palpitations, dyspnea, and fatigue was proven by transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to have a mobile left ventricular mass with rounded contour attached to the mid-part of the interventricular septum. The mass was approached via a posterior inter-atrial approach to avoid left ventriculotomy and provide adequate exposure to completely excise the tumor and control its pedicle with minimal cardiac trauma. Histological examination of the mass was diagnostic of capillary and sinusoidal hemangioma.Conclusions:Complete excision of cardiac hemangioma is recommended once it is diagnosed, for histopathologic diagnosis and because of the possibility of serious complications.

Background and Aim:Recently, it has been recorded unexpected percentage of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) in sheep. Despite the improvement in surgical treatment, the outcome of animals remains limited by metastatic relapse. Although antibodies for cancer treatment have been practiced for many decades, the use of this methodology in animals is deficient. This study aimed to establish cSCC therapy by tumor cell protein antibody (Ab1) or secondary antibody (Ab2) raised by two series of immunization in the same strain of rabbits.Materials and Methods:A total of 19 Ossimi sheep were used (14 sheep suffered from cSCC and 5 were apparently healthy). Each animal from control healthy group (n=5) and control cSCC (n=4) group was treated with a course of eight injections of normal globulins. Animals in the third (n=5) and the last (n=5) groups received a course of eight injections of Ab1and Ab2, respectively. Each tumor was measured before and after treatment. The eight injections were applied at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th week and the remaining three injections were at 1 week interval. Tissue specimens and blood samples were taken for histological and immunological studies.Results:The obtained results revealed that injection of Ab1 might prevent the bad prognostic picture of polymorph infiltration without any criteria of regression % of tumor. Treatment with Ab2 showed regression of tumor size ranged between minimum of 8.99% and maximum of 78.12%, however, the measurements in most cases reached the maximum regression after the past two injections. In additions, infiltration of lymphocytes to tumor site, normalization of leukocytes picture and also increase of antibody titer were observed.Conclusion:This profile might confirm that Ab2 could act as an antigen and encourage us to use it as a tumor vaccine. Extensive studies are needed to isolate the idiotypic portion of Ab1 for raising Ab2 as an anti-idiotypic antibody to be used as tumor vaccine. The question of how lymphocyte traffic to the tumor site as a result of Ab2 injection needs further investigation.

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Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H9N2 virus is one of the major poultry pathogens associated with severe economic losses in the poultry industry (broiler, layers, breeders, and grandparents’ flocks), especially in endemic regions including the Middle East, North Africa, and Asian countries. This work is an attempt to evaluate the efficacy of whole inactivated H9N2 vaccine (MEFLUVACTM H9) in turkey poults kept under laboratory and commercial farm conditions. Here, 10,000 white turkey poults (1-day old) free from maternally derived immunity against H9N2 virus were divided into four groups; G1 involved 10 vaccinated birds kept under biosafety level-3 (BLS-3) as a laboratory vaccinated and challenged group, while G2 had 9970 vaccinated turkeys raised on a commercial farm. Ten of those birds were moved to BLS-3 for daily cloacal and tracheal swabbing to check for the absence of any life-threating disease, before conducting analyses. G3 (10 birds) served as a non-vaccinated challenged control under BSL-3 conditions, while G4 (10 birds) was used as a non-vaccinated and non-challenged control under BSL-3 conditions. Sera were collected on days 7-, 14-, 21-, and 28-post-vaccinations to monitor the humoral immune response using a hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test. At these same intervals, cloacal and tracheal swabs were also checked for any viral infection. The challenge was conducted 28 days post-vaccination (PV) using AI-H9N2 in BSL-3 by intranasal inoculation of 6-log10 embryo infective dose50 (EID50). At 3-, 6-, and 10-days post-challenge, oropharyngeal swabs were taken from challenged birds to quantify viral shedding by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The results of this study showed that vaccinated groups (G1/2) developed HI titers of 1.38, 4.38, 5.88, and 7.25 log2 in G1 vs. 1.2, 3.8, 4.9 and 6.2 log2 in G2 when measured at 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-days PV, respectively, while undetectable levels were recorded in non-vaccinated groups (G3/4). Birds in G3 showed 90% clinical sickness vs. 10% and 20% in G1/2, respectively, over a 10-day monitoring period following challenge. Vaccinated birds showed a significant reduction in virus shedding in terms of the number of shedders, amount of shed virus and shedding interval over the non-vaccinated challenged birds. Regarding mortality, all groups did not show any mortality, which confirms that the circulating H9N2 virus still has low pathogenicity and cannot cause mortality. However, the virus may cause up to 90% clinical sickness in non-vaccinated birds vs. 10% and 20% in laboratory- and farm-vaccinated birds, respectively, highlighting the role of the vaccine in limiting clinical sickness cases. In conclusion, under the current trial circumstances, MEFLUVACTM-H9 provided protective seroconversion titers, significant clinical sickness protection and significant reduction in virus shedding either in laboratory- or farm-vaccinated groups after a single vaccine dose.