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The worldwide prevalence of obesity has risen dramatically in the last decades. Obesity is associated with multiple medical conditions that appear in metabolic syndrome such as: type II diabetes, increased blood pressure, high triglyceride and cholesterol levels. The aim of this study was represented by the evaluation of diet-induced obesity, with the purpose of creating an experimental mouse model for testing food supplements and medication used in this syndrome. One group of C57BL/6 mice received an in-house purified hypercaloric diet, the second group received a standardized obesity diet and the third group received a control diet for a period of 60 days. The following aspects were assessed during the experiment: food intake, body weight, hematologic and biochemical parameters. On the final day, organ samples were collected (liver, kidneys and visceral adipose tissue) for necropsy and histopathologic examination. The obtained results showed that the administration of the in-house purified hypercaloric diet for a period of 60 days was optimal for installing obesity syndrome in mice. The use of unidirectional enriched diets presents an increased interest in current research for futher development of new therapeutic strategies in metabolic syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to highlight the differences between the metabolic status in gestation and lactation in ewes, translated by a series of variations of the haematological parameters. A number of 25 representative blood parameters was determined in the 90th day of gestation and 40th day of lactation. We observed similarities in these parameters’ variations in both periods, but also some discrepancies - more pronounced variations in the lactation period. Regarding the biochemical profile, almost all parameters decreased in lactation; Triglycerides, Cholesterol, Albumin decreased significantly (p<0.05). On the contrary, the Urea increased significantly (p<0.05). As concerning the enzymatic activity, it was increased in both periods, but more pronounced in lactation; GGT and AST increased significantly (p<0.05). The calcium decreased significantly (p<0.05) in lactation, while the other electrolytic parameters did not show significant variations. The RBC and Hb decreased non-significantly (p>0.05), whereas Ht decreased significantly (p<0.05) in lactation. Overall, the parameters maintained the same trend in both periods, but more important variations were observed in the lactation period, indicating that, compared to gestation, lactation represents a more demanding period in this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kidney is a well-vascularised organ and suitable to be evaluated by Doppler ultrasound, which is a non-invasive technique that can be used to estimate the renal vascular resistance by calculation the resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI). RI and PI can be calculated from renal arteries, interlobular arteries, and arcuate arteries. In human patients, renal vascular resistance has been reported to be associated with the early hypertensive renal damage and also to correlate with the systemic blood pressure. The study was conducted over a two year period (December 2012- December 2014) in the Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, on twenty eight dogs with different renal diseases. Significant differences were found between renal vascular resistance and red blood cell count, creatinine and blood urea nitrogen. Increased intrarenal vascular resistance may be associated with hypertension as a result of renal disease. The aim of this study was to assess renal vascular resistance in dogs with renal disease and the relation between renal RI and PI with systolic blood pressure in dogs with different renal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]