Two alternatives to physician-assisted suicide are ethically supported and legally permitted by American law. They are proper pain management and the forgoing of life-sustaining treatment. Correct understanding of pain management in the context of the dying patient shows that it is always medically possible, and, assuming that the proper decision-maker agrees, it is always legally permitted to eliminate physical pain in an imminently dying patient. It is also ethically right and legal to withhold or withdrew life-sustaining treatment in many cases. These alternatives significantly reduce, though they do not eliminate, the perceived need for suicide and euthanasia. Neither euthanasia nor physician-assisted suicide should be made legal, although they may be morally right in cases in which adequate pain control is unavailable. Reasons for this conclusion are discussed.

Attitude to Death↗

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Ectopic stratified squamous epithelium in bovine jejunum.

An adult dairy cow developed acute fatal diarrhoea. Necropsy provided no aetiological or morphological cause of the diarrhoea but incidental post-mortem findings included well-circumscribed areas of jejunal squamous epithelium. The cause of this unusual heterotopia is not known, but the lesion may have been of embryological or metaplastic origin.

Animals↗

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Analysis and significance of anti-nuclear antibodies in dogs.

Assays for detecting and measuring antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in dogs were compared. They included the indirect immunofluorescence test, using rat liver as substrate, and ELISAs for three nuclear antigens: double-stranded DNA, single-stranded DNA, and histone. There was no correlation between the ANA titre and antibodies to the three nuclear antigens. Analysis of ANA in different arthropathies showed no specific disease association. HEP-2 cells showed no fluorescence reaction with either ANA-positive or ANA-negative dog sera. Western blotting produced too complex a pattern to identify specific antigens. The antigens that reacted with ANA in dogs were not identified; there is either a broad range of reactivities or non-specific binding of immunoglobulins.

Animals↗

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An immunohistochemical study of histiocytic ulcerative colitis in boxer dogs.

Histiocytic ulcerative colitis (HUC) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that occurs predominantly in dogs of the boxer breed. The lesions are characterized by mucosal ulceration and mixed inflammatory cell infiltrate that includes the presence of periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive macrophages. However, the phenotype of the inflammatory cells has not been characterized further. In the present study, immunohistochemistry and computer-aided morphometric analysis were used to define populations of leucocyte subsets in the colon of 14 boxer dogs with HUC. Biopsies from six of these dogs included both lesional and non-lesional regions. Colonic tissue from 11 dogs of various breeds without evidence of gastrointestinal disease served as controls. In HUC lesions there were significantly more IgG(+), IgG3(+), IgG4(+)plasma cells, CD3(+)T cells, MHC class II(+)cells, L1(+)cells and PAS(+)cells in the lamina propria than in both control colon and non-lesional colonic regions of affected dogs. In the epithelial compartment, goblet cells were significantly decreased in HUC lesions compared to both control and non-lesional HUC colon, and intensity of enterocyte MHC class II expression was significantly increased. These observations are similar to those documented in human IBD, especially ulcerative colitis, and suggest an important role for the mucosal immune system in the pathogenesis of canine HUC.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

XXY sex chromosome constitution in a Himalayan cat with tortoise-shell points.

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Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hepatic beta galactosidase and feline GMI gangliosidosis.

This paper describes the clinical, morphological and biochemical features of three cats with a progressive neurological disorder. Clinical features were ataxia and progressive tremor. The morphological characteristics were those of lysosomal storage disease affecting neurones of the central nervous system and autonomic ganglia; membranous cytoplasmic bodies were demonstrated by electron microscopy in cerebral neurones. Chemical analysis of brain from two of the cats revealed an increased content of total gangliosides, sialic acid and a specific increase in GMI ganglioside. Enzyme analysis of homogenates of leucocytes, spleen and brain showed less than 5% or normal 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta galactosidase (4MU-beta gal) activity. In liver, activity was markedly reduced at pH values below 4.2, but there was considerable activity above this value. The properties of 4MU-beta gal in normal and diseased feline livers were investigated. Sephadex gel filtration of diseased liver homogenates showed an absence of two thermolabile "acid' components, and reduced activity of a third thermostable "neutral' component. The biochemical abnormalities found in the diseased cats are similar to those found in human juvenile GMI gangliosidosis (type 2).

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Aorto-cardiac fistulas in seven horses.

This report describes the history, clinical, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings, treatment, outcome and post-mortem findings in seven horses with aorto-cardiac fistula. Affected horses included 5 stallions, one gelding and one mare; 2 each of the Thoroughbred, Arabian and Standardbred breeds and one Thoroughbred-cross with a mean +/- s.d. age of 12 +/- 4 years, range 6-18 years. The presenting signs were acute distress (four horses), exercise intolerance (two horses) and the lesion was detected during a routine examination in one horse. Five horses had monomorphic ventricular tachycardia on admission and one other had a history of this arrhythmia. Five horses had a characteristic continuous murmur loudest in the right fourth intercostal space. Echocardiography (six horses) and/or post-mortem examination (four horses) revealed the horses had aorto-cardiac fistulas arising from the right aortic sinus in all five horses in which the site was recorded. Two horses had ruptured aneurysmal dilatations of the aortic wall at this site. Fistulas extended into the right ventricle in four horses; the right atrium in two horses, the left ventricle in one horse, and five horses had dissecting tracts in the septal myocardium. Horses survived for periods ranging from 24 h to 4 years. Aorto-cardiac fistula should be considered in the differential diagnosis for horses presenting with acute distress, bounding arterial pulse, a right-sided continuous murmur and/or monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, particularly in middle-aged or older stallions. Echocardiography is the technique of choice for confirming the diagnosis and demonstrating accompanying cardiac changes.

Age Factors↗