1/4. T-cell-rich B-cell lymphoma in a ring-tailed lemur (lemur catta). A 13-yr-old ring-tailed lemur (lemur catta) was evaluated for depression, anorexia, polyuria, and polydipsia. The lemur was in poor body condition and was anemic, hypoalbuminemic, and hyponatremic. Cytologic examination of aspirates of the spleen, liver, and bone marrow and histopathologic examination of liver and bone marrow biopsies revealed a disseminated round cell tumor. After euthanasia, necropsy revealed hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and mesenteric lymphadenomegaly. Neoplastic cells were present within the spleen, liver, kidneys, multiple lymph nodes, bone marrow, lung, small intestine, pancreas, and testicle and were composed of large anaplastic round cells in a background of small well-differentiated lymphocytes. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the small well-differentiated lymphocytes labeled for the anti-human T-cell marker, CD3, and the large anaplastic round cells labeled with the anti-human B-cell marker, CD79a. On the basis of the immunohistochemical staining results and morphologic appearance, a diagnosis of a T-cell-rich B-cell lymphoma was made. ( info) |
| Two cases of tinea gladiatorum due to trichophyton mentagrophytes var. quinckeanum are described. A pet rabbit was probably the primary source of infection, which was then spread further by man-to-man contact. Besides these two patients, four other members of the same wrestling team were affected by tinea corporis. ( info) |
3/4. thalidomide for autoimmune disease. The therapeutic efficacy of thalidomide in erythema nodosum leprosum suggests that thalidomide might play a useful therapeutic role in other human immune-complex diseases. thalidomide has shown anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive actions in several animal models. Current evidence suggests that its rapid activity in ENL may result from suppression of neutrophil chemotaxis and phagocytosis. Scattered anecdotal clinical reports of apparent response to thalidomide in various autoimmune diseases are hardly conclusive, but underline the desirability of appropriate pilot trials of thalidomide in autoimmune diseases, particularly those in which immune complex deposition plays a prominent role. Provided that a contraindication in fertile women is strictly observed, thalidomide therapy appears to be quite safe. ( info) |
4/4. Thymic lymphosarcoma of T cell lineage in a koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). OBJECTIVE: To diagnose and characterise thymic lymphosarcoma in a koala. DESIGN: A pathological case. ANIMAL: Seven-year-old female koala. PROCEDURE: The neoplastic process was investigated macroscopically, haematologically, histologically and immunohistologically. RESULTS: The koala had difficulty swallowing because of a medial swelling in the lower neck. biopsy of this mass and blood examination revealed lymphosarcoma with a leukaemic manifestation; necropsy and histopathological examination showed the mass to be thymus. Palatine tonsils, cervical, axillary and mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, liver, gut, bronchi, genitalia and bone marrow were infiltrated by neoplastic cells. Immunohistological staining of the thymic mass, cervical and mesenteric lymph nodes, bone marrow, spleen and gut revealed the neoplastic cells to be of T lymphocyte origin (positive for both anti-human CD3 and CD5). CONCLUSIONS: It is speculated that the neoplastic process originated in the thymus and was disseminated by bloodborne neoplastic cells. This first report of thymic lymphosarcoma in a marsupial confirms that antibodies raised originally to investigate human lymphoid neoplasia can cross-react with neoplastic lymphocytes in koalas. ( info) |