Visual scoring of eggshell patterns has poor repeatability

Abstract

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes in a population of dogs with negative-pressure pulmonary edema (NPPE) and to identify the main causes of the disease. To evaluate any associations with morbidity and mortality.Design: Retrospective study.Setting: Three university teaching hospitals and two private referral centers.Animals: Thirty-five client-owned dogs presented with NPPE. Interventions: NoneMeasurements and Main Results: Data collected included patient characteristics, clinical history, clinicopathological abnormalities, radiographic features, treatments and outcome. Median age was 4 months (range 2-90) and median weight was 7.1 kg (range 1.7-37.2). There were many causes of NPPE including leash tugs, near hanging, accidental choking, anatomical obstruction to airflow and purposeful airway obstruction by people. The most common cause of NPPE was accidental choking (40% of cases). Dogs with an anatomical obstruction were older than 24 months. Hypoxemia with an increased alveolar-arterial gradient was common on presentation. The majority of thoracic radiographs (65.7%) showed an alveolar or interstitial pattern in the caudodorsal area as previously described in the literature. Oxygen therapy was administered to 33 (94.3%) dogs. Furosemide was administered to 18 (51.4%) dogs. Median length of hospitalization was 2 days (range 0-14). Twenty-eight (80%) dogs survived to discharge. Seven dogs were mechanically ventilated and only 2 of them (28.6%) 2 survived to discharge. Requirement for mechanical ventilation (p<0.001) was the only parameter associated with mortality.Conclusions: Most cases of NPPE occur in juvenile dogs. Different incidents associated with upper airway obstruction can produce an episode of NPPE.Choking on food or toys and near hanging have not been previously described in the veterinary literature as inciting causes of NPPE. The overall prognosis is good.

Effects of food limitation on the intensity of blue‐green and brown eggshell coloration: an experimental study with the canary

“…In great tits, it was reported that females laying smaller clutches, an indicator of either lower intrinsic quality or poorer quality territory with lower food availability (Hargitai et al 2016b), and females that bred early in the breeding season when caterpillar availability was lower, laid eggs with darker spots (Gosler et al 2000, Brulez et al 2014, Hargitai et al 2016c. Moreover, Honza et al (2012) demonstrated that great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus laid darker eggs in colder weather.…”

An evaluation of different methods for assessing eggshell pigmentation and pigment concentration using great tit eggs

“…Spot size from Gosler scores and pattern coverage from the granularity approach were significantly correlated. While coverage can be measured with a standardized method, spot size is based on ranking by humans, and as shown in a recent study, can show low repeatability within and among observers (Brulez et al ). The single traits were better predictors for ‘pigmentation darkness’ than the first and second principal components of the Gosler method and the granularity approach.…”

A standardized method for quantifying eggshell spot patterns

“…ESPANA also aids in separating egg images from backgrounds, a process that may sometimes be tedious (Brulez et al ). ESPANA includes not only the usual pixel value threshold (Stoddard and Stevens , Brulez et al ), but also allows the automatic search for continuous image regions to the point of recognizing an egg profile image.…”

“…Spottiness of Japanese Quail ( Coturnix japonica ) eggs has been investigated using standardized methods that quantify characters such as the area covered by each spot region (Sezer and Tekelioglu ). Other investigators have used the granularity method (Spottiswoode and Stevens , , Stoddard and Stevens , Pike ), the pixel pigment scoring method (Stoddard and Stevens , Cassey et al , Brulez et al ), and the general quantification of pigmentation intensity and contrast between poles (Surmacki et al ).…”

“…Crane eggs have overlapping spotted areas that are difficult to define and to objectively separate from the background. Established image‐analysis methods (Surmacki et al , Spottiswoode and Stevens , , Stoddard and Stevens , Pike , Brulez et al ) depend on predetermined definitions of the spots based on a given threshold value that separates spotted areas from background egg color so using these methods for scoring or quantifying variation in eggs with overlapping spotted areas that also vary in darkness levels, like those of European Cranes, is either difficult or simply not possible.…”