ABSTRACT. The object of this study was to evaluate hypofractionated multiportal field and two-portion (rostral and caudal portions divided by the eyelid) radiation therapy for canine nasal tumors. Sixty-three dogs underwent multiportal hypofractionated radiation therapy. The radiation field was divided into rostral and caudal portions by the eyelid. Treatments were performed four times for 57 dogs. The median irradiation dose/fraction was 8 Gy (range, 5-10 Gy); the median total dose was 32 Gy (10-40 Gy). Improvement of clinical symptoms was achieved in 53 (84.1%) of 63 cases. Median survival time was 197 days (range, 2-1,080 days). Median survival times with and without destruction of the cribriform plate before radiotherapy were 163 and 219 days, respectively. There was no significant difference between them. No other factors were related to survival according to a univariate analysis. All radiation side effects, except one, were grade I according to the VRTOG classification. It was not necessary to treat any dogs for skin side effects. One dog (1.6%) developed an oronasal fistula 1 year after completion of radiation therapy. This radiation protocol may be useful in reducing radiation side effects in dogs with cribriform plate destruction.KEY WORDS: canine, hypofractionated radiotherapy, multiportal fields, nasal tumor, palliative.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 73(2): 193-197, 2011 Tumors involving the nasal cavity and nearby sinuses are uncommon in dogs, and they account for approximately 1% of all reported canine tumors [29]. Because nasal tumors metastasize rarely, late in the course of disease, therapy is directed at controlling localized disease [19]. Without treatment, the median survival time of dogs has been reported to be 1.5-4.1 months [22,24,30]. Surgery alone never prolongs survival time [16,22], but it may also deteriorate quality of life. In regard to chemotherapy, Langova et al. reported the effectiveness of alternating doses of doxorubicin and carboplatin in conjunction with oral piroxicam [14], though their sample size was small [14]. Radiation therapy is the treatment of choice [29], and reported survival times have ranged from 7. 4 -47.7 months [1-3, 8, 11-13, 17, 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, 30].Various radiation treatment protocols in veterinary medicine have been reported. For total dose increasing, 19 [11] or 21 [5] fractions at 3 Gy/fraction over 1 month have been used. Because this method requires frequent anesthesia and is expensive, it is a heavy burden on the dog and owner. Hypofractionated radiotherapy has been used to address these issues [7,18].Hypofractionated radiation therapy results in late side effects that are more severe than with fractionated radiation therapy; blindness was reported following radiation treatment of dogs with nasal tumors [7,18]. To address this, multiportal field and two-portions (rostral and caudal portions divided by the eyelid) radiotherapy (Fig. 1) have been used to deliver the radiation dose to the tumor and achieve a decreased dose to surrounding tissue and, thus, pr...

ABSTRACT. Serum concentrations of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were determined in 5 calves in the same lineage with growth retardation. They had normal appetites, activities, body proportion, and laboratory test results. Calves with growth retardation had higher serum GH concentrations and lower serum IGF-1 concentrations. These findings suggested defects in the GH-IGF-1 axis, such as in the GH-receptor.KEY WORDS: growth hormone, growth-retarded cattle, insulin-like growth factor-1.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 63(2): 167-170, 2001 The growth of animals is regulated by many hormones and growth factors acting both in an endocrine (systemic) and autocrine/paracrine (local) manner, and requires the coordinated action of several hormones; growth hormone (GH, somatotropin), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1, somatomedin), thyroid hormone, insulin, leptin, glucocorticoid and sex steroids. Of these, the somatotropic (GH to IGF-1) axis is the most important hormonal system for growth, primarily consisting of GH, IGF-1, their carrier proteins and receptors [3,16].Considerable numbers of cattle with growth retardation have been produced in populations of Japanese cattle [6]. Most of them are considered to result from infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea or parasitic diseases [9]. The cattle with hereditary diseases [17,18] showed signs of prostration, anorexia and/or typical abnormal body shape in addition to growth retardation. We observed some Japanese Black cattle with marked growth retardation despite normal activity, appetite and proportional body shapes. In order to clarify the cause of growth retardation in these cattle, we determined the serum GH and IGF-1 concentrations in them.Five Japanese Black calves with growth retardation were used. Their ages ranged from 3 to 13 months. Two calves were males and 3 were females. These calves were of the congenital strain (Fig. 1). Their father was in consensus, YIH, and the paternal grandfather was YF. The maternal grandfather was also YF in 4 calves (Nos. 4371, 4374, 4441 and 4451) and TM in 1 calf (No. 4315). DIZ was the maternal grandfather of YIH, and the father of TM. Nos. 4374 and 4451 were full sibs. Their dam delivered 2 affected calves at the 4th and 5th deliveries, consecutively, mating with YIH. Four dams of the calves with growth retardation had procreated 10 normal calves mating with other sires before mating with YIH. The sire YIH produced 100 calves during 2 years (1997 to 1998) by artificial inseminations in the G region, and 9 calves (9.0%) were dwarfs. Gestations of all 5 calves were normal (288-295 days). They were delivered normally, and neonatal body weights (BW) were normal or slightly below (20 to 26 kg) [2]. These calves showed normal growth with no abnormal clinical signs until 3 or 4 months of age. At the first examinations, 3 calves (Nos. 4315 (160 kg in BW, 13 months of age), 4374 (144 kg in BW, 10 months of age) and 4441 (76 kg in BW, 5 months of age)) showed normal signs of appetite and activity, with no abno...

The purpose of this study was to document the incidence of feline tumors in the Japanese cat population. 1,078 feline tumors obtained from 1,070 cats. All of these were cytologically or histologically diagnosed at Azabu University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Japan from April 1985 to March 2008. The baseline hospital population during the same period included 6,748 cats. The 1,070 tumor-bearing cats were analyzed for age, sex, breed, type of tumors, site-specific tumor incidence and malignant tumor incidence rate. The average age was significantly higher in the tumor group(9.9±3.8 years)than in the baseline hospital population(5.6±4.9 years). As to gender difference, the incidence of tumors was significantly higher in female cats. The incidence rate of malignant tumors in cats was significantly higher with an odds ratio of 4.55 as compared to 6,302 tumor-bearing dogs at the same university teaching hospital. The odds ratio for malignancy was significantly higher in cats for specific tumors such as lymphomas (8.39) , the head and neck (5.18) , mammary gland (4.55) , female genitalia (3.64) , and skin/subcutis(1.64)tumors. On the other hand, as compared to dogs, the incidence of the following tumors was significantly lower in cats; mast cell tumor, urologic tumors, male genital tumors, bone and joint tumors and endocrine tumors. This study provided a substantial amount of information useful for client education as well as diagnosis and treatment of feline tumors.

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Arogenate dehydratase (ADT) catalyzes the final step of phenylalanine (Phe) biosynthesis. Previous work showed that ADT-deficient Arabidopsis () mutants had significantly reduced lignin contents, with stronger reductions in lines that had deficiencies in more ADT isoforms. Here, by analyzing Arabidopsis mutants using our phenomics facility and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, we describe the effects of the modulation of ADT on photosynthetic parameters and secondary metabolism. Our data indicate that a reduced carbon flux into Phe biosynthesis in mutants impairs the consumption of photosynthetically produced ATP, leading to an increased ATP/ADP ratio, the overaccumulation of transitory starch, and lower electron transport rates. The effect on electron transport rates is caused by an increase in proton motive force across the thylakoid membrane that down-regulates photosystem II activity by the high-energy quenching mechanism. Furthermore, quantitation of secondary metabolites in mutants revealed reduced flavonoid, phenylpropanoid, lignan, and glucosinolate contents, including glucosinolates that are not derived from aromatic amino acids, and significantly increased contents of putative galactolipids and apocarotenoids. Additionally, we used real-time atmospheric monitoring mass spectrometry to compare respiration and carbon fixation rates between the wild type and, our most extreme knockout mutant, which revealed no significant difference in both night- and day-adapted plants. Overall, these data reveal the profound effects of altered ADT activity and Phe metabolism on secondary metabolites and photosynthesis with implications for plant improvement.