BackgroundOclacitinib (Apoquel®) inhibits the function of a variety of pro-inflammatory, pro-allergic and pruritogenic cytokines that are dependent on Janus kinase enzyme activity. Oclacitinib selectively inhibits Janus kinase 1.Hypothesis/ObjectivesWe aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of oclacitinib for the control of pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.MethodsClient-owned dogs (n = 436) with moderate to severe owner-assessed pruritus and a presumptive diagnosis of allergic dermatitis were enrolled. Dogs were randomized to either oclacitinib at 0.4–0.6 mg/kg orally twice daily or an excipient-matched placebo. An enhanced 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS) was used by the owners to assess the severity of pruritus from day 0 to 7 and by veterinarians to assess the severity of dermatitis on days 0 and 7. Dogs could remain on the study for 28 days.ResultsPretreatment owner and veterinary VAS scores were similar for the two treatment groups. Oclacitinib produced a rapid onset of efficacy within 24 h. Mean oclacitinib Owner Pruritus VAS scores were significantly better than placebo scores (P < 0.0001) on each assessment day. Pruritus scores decreased from 7.58 to 2.59 cm following oclacitinib treatment. The day 7 mean oclacitinib Veterinarian Dermatitis VAS scores were also significantly better (P < 0.0001) than placebo scores. Diarrhoea and vomiting were reported with similar frequency in both groups.Conclusions and clinical importanceIn this study, oclacitinib provided rapid, effective and safe control of pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis, with owners and veterinarians noting substantial improvements in pruritus and dermatitis VAS scores.

In human beings, intrarenal blood flow impedance, expressed as the resistive index (RI) and obtained by duplex Doppler ultrasonography, has been used to aid in diagnosis and prognosis of renal failure. Higher than normal values for RI were obtained in 3 of 4 dogs with acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and in 5 of 10 dogs with glomerulonephrosis (GNI.Normalization of RI was observed in 2 dogs with ATN evaluated serially during treatment. Increased RI values were obtained in 9 of 10 cats with nonobstructive renal disease and in 2 of 5 cats with obstructive renal disease. Normalization of RI was observed in 3 cats with renal failure in which treatenal failure is an important cause of morbidity and mor-R tality in dogs and cats.'.' Often, renal biopsy is needed for further clarification of cause and ~everity,'.~ but this procedure is relatively invasive and potentially is associated with complication^.^^^ Additional noninvasive methods to aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of renal diseases in dogs and cats would be beneficial.B-mode ultrasonography provides noninvasive morphologic evaluation of organs without use of ionizing radiation. It has become a widely accepted diagnostic technique in veterinary practice and has proved useful in the evaluation of patients with renal d i~e a s e ?~~*~ Duplex Doppler ultrasonography adds noninvasive real-time quantitative determination of organ blood flow in addition to morphologic evaluation. Diseases that alter organ blood flow have the potential to be further characterized by duplex Doppler ultrasonograIn human patients, intrarenal blood flow values obtained with duplex Doppler ultrasonography have been used to aid in diagnosis of renal disease and to monitor therapeutic response and p r o g n o s i~.~~'~ In human patients, duplex Doppler evaluation of intrarenal blood flow commonly is performed using resistive index (RI) (also known as Pourcelot index," resistivity index,I2 and resistance indexI3), an expression of intrarenal blood flow impedance." In human beings, the upper limit of normal for intrarenal RI is 0.70; values above 0.70 are considered a b n~r m a l . '~~'~ In human beings, in- creased intrarenal RI has been used as an aid in the diagnosis of renal disease, and normalization of RI after effective treatment has been used to monitor therapeutic response.9Intrarenal RI values for normal dogs have been described as 0.62 i 0.05 (mean t standard deviation [SD]) for the right kidney and 0.63 t 0.05 (mean i SD) for the left kidney, with no statistically significant difference observed between the right and left kidney.15 Intrarenal RI values for normal cats have been described as 0.59 t 0.05 (mean 5 SD) for the right kidney and 0.56 i 0.06 (mean i SD) for the left kidney, with no statistically significant differences observed between right and left kidney.16 Mean intrarenal RI vaIue plus 2 SD has been used to describe the upper limit of normal in human beings." Based on the aforementioned value^,'^.'^ 0.73 is proposed as the upper limit for intrarenal RI in normal dogs and...

Background -Oclacitinib is safe and effective for treating dogs with pruritus associated with allergic and atopic dermatitis, based on randomized clinical trials of up to 4 months duration.Hypothesis/Objectives -This study assessed long-term safety, efficacy and quality of life of oclacitinib-treated dogs enrolled in a compassionate use programme.Animals -Two hundred and forty-seven client-owned dogs with allergic skin disease that had previously benefited from oclacitinib therapy.Methods -Dogs were enrolled in an open-label study at 26 veterinary clinics. Dogs received 0.4-0.6 mg/kg oclacitinib twice a day for 14 days, then once a day for up to 630 days. Assessments were performed at~90 day intervals. Owners completed a quality-of-life survey and assessed pruritus using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at each clinic visit. Veterinarians assessed dermatitis using a similar VAS. Abnormal health events, concomitant medication and clinical pathology results were summarized.Results -Visual Analog Scale scores showed improvement from baseline at all time points. The percentage of dogs showing ≥50% reduction from baseline on day 90 was 63.9% for pruritus and 66.4% for dermatitis. Owners saw a positive impact on quality of life in >91% of all dogs. Urinary tract infection/cystitis, vomiting, otitis, pyoderma and diarrhoea were the most frequently reported (>5% of dogs) abnormal clinical signs. Haematology and serum chemistry means remained within the normal reference ranges. Concomitant medications were well tolerated.Conclusions and clinical importance -Results indicated that oclacitinib was safe and efficacious for long-term use and improved the quality of life for dogs in this study.

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BackgroundCiclosporin is approved for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD) in dogs and has been shown to be safe and effective. Placebo-controlled studies suggest that oclacitinib is a safe and effective alternative therapy.Hypothesis/ObjectivesTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of oclacitinib, in comparison to ciclosporin, for the control of AD in a blinded, randomized clinical trial, incorporating a noninferiority test at day 28.AnimalsA total of 226 client-owned dogs with a history of AD from eight sites were enrolled.MethodsEnrolled animals were randomized to receive oral oclacitinib (0.4–0.6 mg/kg twice daily for 14 days, then once daily) or oral ciclosporin (3.2–6.6 mg/kg once daily) for 12 weeks. Owners assessed pruritus using an enhanced visual analog scale (VAS), and veterinarians assessed dermatitis using the Canine Atopic Dermatitis Extent and Severity Index (CADESI)-02.ResultsOn days 1, 2, 7, 14, 28, 56 and 84, the percentage reduction from baseline for owner-assessed pruritus changed from 25.6 to 61.0% in the oclacitinib group compared with 6.5 to 61.5% in the ciclosporin group; differences were significant at all time points up to day 28. On day 56, ciclosporin-treated dogs showed a similar decrease in pruritus to oclacitinib-treated dogs. On day 14, the percentage reduction from baseline CADESI-02 was significantly greater in the oclacitinib group (58.7%) than in the ciclosporin group (43.0%). Three times as many adverse events attributed to gastrointestinal signs were reported in the ciclosporin group compared with the oclacitinib group.Conclusions and clinical importanceIn this study of treatment for canine AD, oclacitinib had a faster onset of action and a lower frequency of gastrointestinal side effects compared with ciclosporin.

BackgroundOral glucocorticoids are widely used to reduce pruritus and dermatitis associated with allergic dermatitis. Data suggest that oclacitinib, a Janus kinase inhibitor, is a safe and effective alternative.Hypothesis/ObjectivesTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of oclacitinib compared with prednisolone for the control of pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis in a single-masked, controlled clinical trial with a randomized complete block design.AnimalsClient-owned dogs (n = 123) with a presumptive diagnosis of allergic dermatitis and moderate to severe pruritus as assessed by the pet owner were enrolled.MethodsDogs were randomized to treatment with either oclacitinib (0.4–0.6 mg/kg orally twice daily for 14 days, then once daily) or prednisolone (0.5–1.0 mg/kg once daily for 6 days, then every other day) for 28 days. An enhanced visual analog scale (VAS) was used by owners to assess pruritus and by veterinarians to assess dermatitis, at all time points assessed.ResultsBoth treatments produced a rapid onset of efficacy within 4 h. The mean reductions in pruritus and dermatitis scores were not significantly different between the treatments except on day 14, when reductions were more pronounced for oclacitinib than prednisolone (P = 0.0193 for owner pruritus scores; P = 0.0252 for veterinarian dermatitis scores). Adverse events were reported with similar frequency in both groups.Conclusion and clinical importanceIn this study, both oclacitinib and prednisolone provided rapid, effective and safe control of pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis, with substantial improvement in pruritus, reported by owners, and dermatitis, reported by veterinarians.

A study was undertaken on a commercial swine farm to investigate methods of reducing perinatal mortality. During a 12-wk period, 251 sows and gilts were assigned randomly to one of four treatment groups in a 2 x 2 factorial design: 1) supervised/induced, 2) supervised/non-induced, 3) unsupervised/induced, and 4) unsupervised/non-induced. Supervised groups of sows and their litter were observed constantly for a minimum of 3 h before and until 3 d after farrowing. The onset of farrowing was induced with 250 micrograms of cloprostenol administered into the vulvo-vestibular mucosa. There was an increase (P = .012) in the number of pigs weaned from supervised (10.17 pigs/litter) relative to unsupervised group (9.44 pigs/litter). This increase was due to a reduction (P = .001) in both the number of stillborn pigs and the mortality of live-born pigs (P = .026). The latter resulted from fewer pigs that died (P = .003). Induction did not influence the mortality of pigs in the perinatal period in unsupervised groups. Induced sows farrowed an average of .43 d earlier than non-induced sows (P = .029). The mean interval from prostaglandin treatment to farrowing was 23.87 h (SD = 10.96). The results of this study suggest that a controlled farrowing system, coupled with good supervision, can improve pig survival. Financial analyses, based on improvements in pig survival resulting from additional labor in the farrowing house, suggested that this method of reducing preweaning mortality is a viable option for improving the profitability of commercial pig farms.

The objective of this experiment was to determine if increasing lysine in the diets of immunologically castrated (IC) male pigs would increase percentage fat free lean and carcass cutting yields when compared with physical castrates. The anti-gonadotropin-releasing factor (GnRF) immunological product (Improvest, Pfizer Animal Health) is used worldwide to immunologically castrate entire male pigs to control boar taint and take advantage of the inherent ability of the entire male to deposit more muscle, less fat, and grow more efficiently than physically castrated males. The immunization process essentially allows the pig to grow as an entire male pig for most of its life and then removes any boar odor (boar taint) before slaughter. Reported lean meat advantages may also provide economic benefits to the domestic meat industry. Approximately 1,200 male pigs [physical castrates, IC males, and entire males] were each assigned to 1 of 4 diet programs which differed in lysine content. In each case, lysine was fed in a conventional step-down program that culminated with the following concentrations in the late finishing diet: physical castrates fed low lysine (0.7%), IC fed low lysine (0.7%), IC fed low/medium lysine (0.8%), IC fed medium/high lysine (0.9%), IC fed high lysine (1.0%), and entire males fed high lysine (1.0%). At 25 wk of age (5 wk post-second injection), pigs were individually weighed and the 2 pigs (n=96) in each pen closest to the median pig BW were selected and slaughtered. The right side of each carcass was dissected into soft tissue, skin, and bone. Proximate composition was determined on the soft tissue to determine percentage fat-free lean. The left side of each carcass was weighed and initially fabricated into ham, loin, belly, and whole shoulder. Each primal piece was weighed again and further fabricated into respective subprimal cuts. Immunological castration did not change (P>0.05) shear force values or ultimate pH when compared with either physical castrates or entire males. Marbling appeared to decrease as dietary lysine was increased among IC males. As expected, IC males had a greater (P<0.05) percentage fat-free lean than physical castrates but less (P<0.05) than entire males. Immunologically castrated males fed diets with medium/high and high lysine had greater (P<0.05) lean cutting yields and carcass cutting yields than physical castrates. Lean cutting yield and carcass cutting yields appeared to increase as dietary lysine was increased among IC males. Overall, immunological castration improved carcass cutability, increased percentage fat free lean, and had no effect on pork quality when compared with physical castrates.