Juvenile rhabdomyosarcomas were diagnosed in two young dogs based on the results of histopathology, phosphotungstic acid-hematoxylin stain, immunohistochemistry, and the age of the dogs. One dog, an 11-month-old Rottweiler, had tumor masses in the maxillary gingiva and the urinary bladder. Histologically, the gingival mass was an alveolar type of rhabdomyosarcoma and the urinary bladder mass was an embryonal type. The other dog, a 1.5-year-old Basset Hound, had an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma involving the oropharynx and the temporal muscles, with metastasis to the regional lymph node and lungs.

Papillomavirus infection was confirmed in 2 Persian cats with sessile hyperkeratotic skin lesions. Skin lesions were not typical papillomas as found in other species. Papillomavirus were demonstrated in negative stain preparations of homogenized tissue and within nuclei of cells in the stratum granulosum. Papillomavirus group-specific antigens were detected within nuclei corresponding to those containing virions. Attempts to transmit this disease to other cats or propagate the virus in tissue cultures were unsuccessful. A 7.8-kilobase DNA molecule was present in low-stringency Southern blots using a bovine papillomavirus type 1 cloned DNA probe. In reverse Southern blots, the cat papillomavirus hybridized under conditions of low stringency with all papillomavirus genomes tested. Combined with limited restriction endonuclease restriction mapping, the above information indicates that the feline cutaneous papillomavirus is a unique virus type and thus expands the list of hosts known to be infected by papillomaviruses.

Leptospira infection was diagnosed as the cause of 4 late-term equine abortions/stillbirths and 1 neonatal death in Louisiana. The most consistent gross and microscopic lesions were icterus and interstitial nephritis, respectively. Diagnoses were based on visualization of compatible spirochetes in Warthin-Starry-stained sections of kidney, liver, and placenta. Confirmation by immunofluorescence was made in 2 cases.

Abstract. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) Networks are quality improvement organizations that collect, analyze, and report information to clinicians and allied health providers about discrepancies between observed patterns of care of ESRD patients and what has been recommended by clinical practice guidelines. The Networks facilitate response to this information by assisting ESRD treatment centers to develop quality improvement programs to redress inadequate care. The authors evaluated this process of quality improvement by selecting 42 treatment centers in a single ESRD Network with the lowest facility-specific mean urea reduction ratio (URR). The treatment centers were randomly assigned to two intervention strategies: (1) feedback alone; (2) an intensive intervention that included feedback, workshops, distribution of educational materials and clinical practice guidelines, technical assistance with the development of quality improvement plans, and continued monitoring. The intensive intervention had greater improvement in the increased proportions of patients dialyzed with prescribed blood flow (P ϭ 0.02) and documented review of prescription (P ϭ 0.01). Furthermore, the mean center URR increased nearly 3% among intensive intervention centers (from 68.1 to 70.9) but only 0.09% among the feedback centers (68.2 to 69.1) (P ϭ 0.002). Similarly, time on dialysis increased 7.5 min on average among patients in intervention centers but decreased 2 min for patients in comparison centers (P ϭ 0.03). These results demonstrate that Network feedback, coupled with the intensive intervention, resulted in improvement in care that would otherwise not have occurred.