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Summary A 25‐year‐old Irish sport horse was presented for investigation of a 7‐day history of apathy and lethargy. Clinical examination revealed tachycardia, tachypnoea, distended, pulsating jugular veins and ventral oedema. Serum biochemistry showed azotaemia. The ultrasonographic examination of the abdomen and the thorax revealed peritoneal, pleural and pericardial effusion. Following the assessment, the mare was euthanised and a full post‐mortem examination was performed. The main findings included a ruptured mass in the left atrium of the heart with subsequent haemopericardium. By histological examination and immunoreactivity for thyroglobulin‐1, the cardiac mass could be further classified as a thyroid carcinoma. As there was no evidence of thyroid neoplasia in the rest of the carcass, it is likely that the neoplasia originated from ectopic thyroid tissue in the heart. Additional findings included multiple intestinal haemangiomas and perianal melanomas. The case report indicates that cardiac thyroid carcinoma may be a possible differential diagnosis in horses diagnosed with congestive heart failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New chromosomal assignments of canine-derived cosmid clones containing microsatellites to the Chinese raccoon dog and arctic fox genomes are presented in the study. The localizations are in agreement with data obtained from comparative chromosome painting experiments between the dog and arctic fox genomes. However, paracentric inversions have been detected by comparing the loci order in canid karyotypes. The number of physically mapped loci increased to thirty-five both in the Chinese raccoon dog and in the arctic fox. Furthermore, the present status of the cytogenetic map of the Chinese raccoon dog and arctic fox is presented in this study. Copyright © 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic relationships between Swiss sheep breeds were estimated on the basis of microsatellite analysis. In addition to the Swiss breeds wild-type Mouflon was included in this investigation. Polymerase chain reaction amplifications of 31 ovine, bovine and caprine microsatellites were performed in a total of 307 animals representing eight populations. The average heterozygosity within each population was high in the domestic breeds (0.60–0.71) and lower in Mouflon 0.45. The average coefficient of gene differentiation G[sub ST] over all loci was 0.17, i.e. a small part of the variability at the 31 microsatellite loci analysed must be ascribed to between-breed variability. Genetic distances between breeds were obtained, which were used to construct a phylogenetic tree. Microsatellites developed from closely related species of cattle and goat are useful for estimating genetic relationships among sheep breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six previously unassigned genes have been assigned to the BTA13 by means of somatic cell hybrid analysis. Polymerase chain reaction primer design for the amplification of AHCY, PLTP, PPGB and PCK1 was based on nucleic acids sequence information of homologous genes on HSA20. Primers for PDYN and ASIP were designed from porcine and bovine sequence information, respectively. Homology was established by sequence analysis. These assignments support the previous finding of a conserved syntenic relationship between HSA20 and BTA13 and contribute to the understanding of the chromosomal evolution of BTA13. This is significant since the prion protein gene, thought to play a key rule in the development and course of bovine spongiforme encephalopathy is also located on BTA13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To evaluate the long-term clinical results of patients who underwent successful radiofrequency catheter ablation of a symptomatic drug-resistant accessory-pathway-mediated tachycardia.Methods and Results Clinical follow-up was done by direct contact with the patients and their physicians. One hundred and eighty consecutive patients (113 males, 67 females) were followed during a median period of 48·1 months. There were seven procedure related complications (4%). During the follow-up period, 79% of the patients remained asymptomatic; 14% complained of short bouts of palpitations due to isolated or short runs of atrial or ventricular premature beats; 7% had sustained palpitations due either to accessory pathway recurrence (4%) or supraventricular tachyarrhythmias not associated with an accessory pathway (3%). Symptoms due to accessory pathway recurrence appeared either in the first month following the ablation or at least later than 3 months when sustained supraventricular arrhythmias occurred related to another cause.Conclusions Initially successful radiofrequency catheter ablation has a low, long-term recurrence rate (4%). Recurrence of accessory-pathway-mediated tachycardia is observed during the first month while later symptoms suggest supraventricular arrhythmias from another cause. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A 76-year-old woman had a permanent transvenous DDDR pacemaker implanted for complete atrioventricular block. She was hospitalized 4 years later for recurrent transient ischaemic attacks related to dislodgment of the atrial lead into the left atrium through a patent foramen ovale. The patient was successfuly treated by transvenous extraction of the atrial lead. The follow-up has been uneventful 12 months after the procedure. Left atrially dislodged pacemaker leads have to be retracted under full anticoagulation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

RF Ablation-Induced Bezold-Jarisch Phenomenon. We report a case of asystole induced by radiofrequency (RF) ablation via the coronary sinus in a 35-year-old man suffering from symptomatic left posteroseptal accessory pathway. RF application provoked progressive slowing of the sinus rhythm, disappearance of the preexcitation, and an 8-second period of asystole followed by atrial fibrillation. The causal mechanism proposed is a strong stimulation of vagal afferent pathways linked with sensory endings of the inferoposterior myocardial wall leading to a Bezold-Jarisch-like phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we present a radiation hybrid framework map of BTA13 composed of nine microsatellite loci, six genes and one EST. The map has been developed using a recently constructed 12'000 rad bovine-hamster whole-genome radiation hybrid panel. Moreover, we present a comprehensive map of BTA13 comprising 72 loci, of which 45 are microsatellites, 20 are genes and seven are ESTs. The map has an estimated length of 2694.7 cR12'000. The proposed order is in general agreement with published maps of BTA13. Our results only partially support previously published information of five blocks of conserved gene order between cattle and man. We found no evidence for the existence of an HSA20 homologous segment of coding DNA on BTA13 located centromeric of a confirmed HSA10 homologous region. The present map increases the marker density and the marker resolution on BTA13 and enables further insight into the evolutionary development of the chromosome as compared to man.

Abstract The Italian wolf is in the process of regaining the Alpine region which comes into conflict with the extensive sheep keeping practiced in Switzerland during the summer. As in Switzerland, the wolf is a protected species, the government reimburses losses caused by wolves. Therefore we wanted to know whether the Italian wolf could be distinguished from the domestic dog by microsatellite analysis if DNA samples of the predators could be secured. The evaluation of combined genotypes for the microsatellites CanBern6, CPH4, CPH7, CPH9, CPH12, CPH22 and ZuBeCa1 made it possible to identify an individual as either a domestic dog or an Italian wolf. The assignment of an individual to either one of the two populations is based on the logarithm of the likelihood ratio of an individual being an Italian wolf rather than a domestic dog, given a specific combined genotype. The distribution of the Italian wolf combined genotypes (n = 42) is clearly distinct from the distribution of the domestic dog combined genotypes (n = 90). The likelihood ratio for the "worst" Italian wolf combined genotype was 2.3 E+5 and for the "worst" domestic dog combined genotype was 3.8 E-5.

Summary We have constructed a canine bacterial artificial chromosome library amenable to PCR screening. The library consists of 96 768 clones and was initially screened with 112 microsatellites representing all canine chromosomes. For 87 primer sets (77%) one to seven positive superpools were identified. The library will be expanded by adding additional superpools in order to increase the genome coverage. Interested researchers can access the library following the rules published at http://www.dogmap.ch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a corrected reprint to an article previously published in August 2000 issue of the 'Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics' Volume 117.