Objective: To determine the frequency of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in canine pyometra and to evaluate the relationship between C‐reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), and SIRS.Design: Prospective clinical study.Setting: Veterinary teaching hospital.Animals: Fifty‐three clinical cases of canine pyometra and 19 healthy control bitches.Interventions: Upon admission to the veterinary hospital, history and physical examination findings, including previously defined clinical SIRS parameters, were documented. Blood samples were obtained for hematology and biochemical tests and for CRP, TNFα, and IL‐6 analysis. The diagnosis of pyometra was confirmed by histopathology of the uterus after ovariohysterectomy. After surgery, clinical SIRS parameters, length of hospitalization, and mortality were recorded.Measurements and main results: Pyometra dogs were grouped as SIRS positive (30/53; 57%) or SIRS negative (23/53; 43%). Logistic regression showed that CRP was the only parameter that significantly related to SIRS apart from the clinical criteria that define this syndrome. The mortality rate was low (2/53; 3.8%), and conclusions regarding association with SIRS could not be drawn. A positive SIRS status, high plasma CRP concentration, and high body temperature were variables that related to increased morbidity reflected by the length of hospitalization.Conclusions: SIRS was seen in 57% of canine pyometra cases and a positive SIRS status showed a positive association with prolonged hospitalization. The mortality rate was low (3.3%) among SIRS positive dogs, indicating that progression to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) rarely occurs in surgically treated cases of pyometra. CRP was associated with SIRS and with prolonged hospitalization. Further studies of plasma CRP may be warranted in canine intensive care cases susceptible to development of SIRS and MODS.

Hematological parameters, plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor alpha were analyzed in 64 dogs with a presumptive diagnosis of pyometra. Final diagnosis (i.e., pyometra or cystic endometrial hyperplasia [CEH]) was determined by histopathology. As a single test, the percentage of band neutrophils had the highest sensitivity in the prediction of pyometra (sensitivity, 94%). The combination of percentage of bands and CRP had the highest sensitivity (97.7%; specificity, 75%) in predicting the presence of pyometra. The most common clinical signs noted in the study were vaginal discharge, polyuria, polydipsia, lethargy, and gastrointestinal signs. A combination of three or more of these clinical signs was significantly associated with pyometra.

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Dystocia in the bitch is more common than reported earlier. The risk of developing dystocia varies by breed, and a high percentage (63.8%) of affected bitches undergo CS. Clinical Relevance- Breeders and veterinarians could use this information to better predict which bitches are likely to experience dystocia and/or CS.

With new media technology everyone online can easily participate in creating news content. This is usually considered positive from a societal, democratic point of view, even if audience interaction is not necessarily seen as a positive feature by editors and journalists. As a response to the somewhat scarce research in this field, this article analyses a Swedish mail questionnaire survey on audience behaviour and attitudes in these matters. The analysis shows that there is only relatively little interest, from a general audience point of view, in participating in creating content on news sites. Likewise, the minority who are actually commenting on news articles, or otherwise participating in the journalistic process through blog-writing, seem to consider these activities as part of a creative leisure-time, rather than as partaking in democratic activities. The article further argues that the use of interactive facilities and content creation in the journalistic context tend to be yet another tool for persons already possessing substantial competence about society and political life and who are already busy in the online world.

Social network sites are becoming essential to how people experience news. The social media feed is made up of a mixture of private and public postings, and news is intertwined with all sorts of activities. What people are exposed to partly depends on the behaviour of their fellow networkers. Drawing on theories of opinion leaders and the concept of incidental news consumption, this article examines news-gathering on social media using a combination of representative survey data and qualitative interviews with young people aged 16-19. Regression analysis of the survey data reveals the primary factor explaining use of news on social media is the habit of using online news services. Interest in news and age also contribute to this phenomenon. The qualitative study reveals that interviewees' news consumption through social networks is frequent. While incidental, they nonetheless seem to count on being informed through this medium. There is a widespread presence of opinion leaders in the respondents' social media feeds, bringing attention to news they otherwise would have missed, and just as important, delivering interpretation and context. The study also indicates that these opinion leaders are perceived as central or even crucial to the news-gathering process.

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Reader comments have been a growing part of user-generated content on news sites for some 10 years now. Although activity is still relatively low, interest among the public is generally high; however, journalists still show a general resistance to audience participation. The aim of our study is to examine attitudes to reader comments from two different perspectives: the public’s and the journalists’. The findings derive from one Swedish survey from each group, both of which had a response rate of about 60%. The main result shows that a large proportion of the public does not have any opinion on reader comments, but when they do, support is widespread. Furthermore, journalists have stronger opinions and are rather critical towards reader comments.