Farm children are not only consistently exposed to higher levels of endotoxin, but also to higher levels of mould components. Steiner school children may also be exposed to higher levels of microbial agents, but differences with reference children are much less pronounced than for farm children. Further analyses are, however, required to assess the association between exposure to these various microbial agents and allergic and airway diseases in the PARSIFAL population.

Objective-To examine the practical aspects, accuracy, and reproducibility of 2 new automatic handheld tonometers in dogs and compare them with results for 2 established applanation tonometers. Animals-15 freshly enucleated canine eyes for manometric evaluation and 20 conscious research dogs, 20 client-owned dogs, and 12 dogs with acute glaucoma for clinical tonometry.

Not only bacterial endotoxin but also mould components might offer some protection against atopic wheeze in children. However, the protective effect of being raised on a farm was largely unexplained by the mattress microbial agent levels measured in this study.

Current information suggests that equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an immune-mediated reaction to infectious agents or to autologous ophthalmic tissue. Recurrences are associated with progression of irreversible ocular damage. This report describes the intraoperative technique, complications, and long-term results of 38 eyes in 35 horses with ERU that underwent pars plana vitrectomy. The majority of the horses were warm-blooded. Recurrence of ERU was prevented in 35 of the 38 eyes. Some horses, especially in patients with incipient cataracts, developed vision loss in postoperative, quiescent eyes which was usually associated with cataract formation. Vision was stable in 85% of all eyes that underwent vitrectomy. Pars plana vitrectomy in horses appears successful in interrupting the cycle of repeated episodes of ERU, and the subsequent globe destruction in the majority of eyes. Removal of uveitis-induced 'immunologic memory' in the vitreous by vitrectomy may reduce adverse interaction between the vitreous and the uveal tract, and therefore reduce the recurrence of ERU.

Canine generalized progressive retinal atrophy (gPRA) is characterized by continuous degeneration of photoreceptor cells leading to night blindness and progressive vision loss. Until now, mutations in 11 genes have been described that account for gPRA in dogs, mostly following an autosomal recessive inheritance mode. Here, we describe a gPRA locus comprising the newly identified gene coiled-coil domain containing 66 (CCDC66) on canine chromosome 20, as identified via linkage analysis in the Schapendoes breed. Mutation screening of the CCDC66 gene revealed a 1-bp insertion in exon 6 leading to a stop codon as the underlying cause of disease. The insertion is present in all affected dogs in the homozygous state as well as in all obligatory mutation carriers in the heterozygous state. The CCDC66 gene is evolutionarily conserved in different vertebrate species and exhibits a complex pattern of differential RNA splicing resulting in various isoforms in the retina. Immunohistochemically, CCDC66 protein is detected mainly in the inner segments of photoreceptors in mouse, dog, and man. The affected Schapendoes retina lacks CCDC66 protein. Thus this natural canine model for gPRA yields superior potential to understand functional implications of this newly identified protein including its physiology, and it opens new perspectives for analyzing different aspects of the general pathophysiology of gPRA.