• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.47.1-47.12
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• 2020

Background: Homocysteine (HCY) was evaluated in healthy and chronic enteropathic dogs, however no studies on dogs with immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy are available. Objectives: The aim was to evaluate serum HCY concentrations and its prognostic role in dogs with immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy compared to healthy dogs. Methods: Serum HCY concentration was statistically compared between 24 healthy dogs and 29 dogs with immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy. Correlation analyses between serum total protein, albumin (ALB), C-reactive protein (CRP), folate and cobalamin, and serum HCY concentration were performed in immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathic dogs. Results: The associations between serum HCY concentration and clinical, histological, endoscopic scores and follow-up were evaluated. Mean serum HCY concentration was higher in immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathic dogs compared to control dogs (30.22 ± 8.67 µmol/L vs. 5.26 ± 2.78 µmol/L; p < 0.0001). No association between serum HCY concentration and total protein, ALB, CRP, folate concentration as well as, clinical score, histological and endoscopic scores was found. A negative correlation between serum HCY concentration and cobalamin was noted (p = 0.0025, r = -0.54). No significant difference in HCY was found between responsive and non-responsive dogs or between survivors and non-survivors. Conclusions: Although, serum HCY concentration was higher in immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy, its prognostic value remains unclear. However, further prospective, large-scale studies are warranted to better investigate the possible prognostic role of HCY in immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathic dogs.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.221-225
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• 2015

This study evaluated the effects of alfaxalone (3 mg/kg, intravenously) on echocardiographic examination in healthy dogs using echocardiography. Six adult Beagle dogs were used for this study. Left ventricular dimensions with systolic indexes, trans-blood flow at all cardiac valvular annulus and trans-mitral tissue Doppler values were measured from routine transthoracic echocardiography. Although the changes were not statistically significant, heart rate, left ventricular end-systolic diameter, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, peak velocities of tricuspid A-wave and transpulmonic flow were increased after alfaxalone induction, while systolic blood pressure, fractional shortening, left ventricular ejection fraction, peak velocities of mitral E-wave, mitral A wave, tricuspid E-wave, transaortic flow and medial e'-, a'- and s'-peaks decreased after alfaxalone induction. No dogs showed hypoxemia during sedation, regardless of intubation and oxygen supply. Although alfaxalone showed mild cardiovascular depression, this protocol could be a good alternative sedative protocol for echocardiographic examination in healthy dogs because the cardiovascular depression was statistically and clinically insignificant. However, further studies in dogs with heart diseases should be conducted to confirm these findings after alfaxalone induction.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.289-292
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• 1998

Identification and antibiotic susceptibility of Clostridium perfringens isolates from fecal specimens of healthy sheep and dogs were performed from December, 1995 to November, 1996 in Kwang-ju and Chonnam area. C. perfringens was isolated in 3 strains(15.0%) out of 20 healthy sheep and 2 strains(6.7%) out of 30 healthy dogs. In antibiotic susceptibility test of C. perfringens, 80% of the isolates was susceptible to ampicillin, baytril, and penicillin, 60% to cephalothin, and 40% to erythromycin.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 2020

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of autoligation techniques for castrating healthy male small breed dogs. Forty dogs were divided into four groups, with 10 in each group, based on maturity and the surgical technique used: 1) immature dogs aged less than 1 year, with autoligation of the spermatic cord via a scrotal approach (SAL) as the surgical technique (SAL-IM); 2) mature dogs aged 1 year or older, with the same SAL surgical technique (SAL-M); 3) immature dogs aged less than 1 year, with double ligation of the spermatic cord with an absorbable suture via a prescrotal approach (PDL) as the surgical technique (PDL-IM); and 4) mature dogs aged 1 year or older, with the same PDL surgical technique (PDL-M). The effectiveness of the surgical technique was evaluated by comparing the operating time and complications between these four groups. The significant decreases in operating times were found in SAL-IM and SAL-M compared with those of PDL-IM and PDL-M (p < 0.01 and p < 0.01). Regardless of maturity, the SAL surgical technique reduced operating time by approximately 69.5% compared with the PDL surgical technique. When the complication severities were scored, the results showed no significant differences among the four group. The autoligation technique for castration in healthy male small breed dogs is considered to be effective because the operating time consuming is less than conventional techniques.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.414-422
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• 2023

Hearing assessment is critical in dogs and cats. Hearing loss in dogs and cats may be congenital or secondary to a central nervous system disorder or ear disease. The brainstem auditory-evoked response (BAER) test has been developed as an electrophysiological test for auditory function assessment. Modern BAER equipment is based on a computerized system. Thus, auditory function assessment can be performed using this objective, safe, and noninvasive method. No study has yet investigated the interspecies differences between BAER test results of dogs and cats. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze the differences in BAER test results between dogs and cats. The test was conducted on four healthy adult dogs and four healthy adult cats. Regarding latency, lower values were obtained for all waveforms above 50 dB in cats compared to dogs. Regarding amplitude, cats showed higher values than dogs at intensities above 50 dB. Through a comparative analysis in this study, it was concluded that the two species had statistically significant differences. The BAER data of dogs cannot be applied to cats, and vice versa.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.399-407
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• 2023

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) occurs in more than 15% of the dogs over 10 years of age and causes irreversible renal function deterioration. Therefore, it is important to diagnose CKD early and treat the disease properly. The purpose of this study aimed to to evaluate the clinical utility of urine albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) using POC (point-of-care) device as an early detection urinary biomarker in CKD dogs and to confirm the correlation between ACR and other known CKD biomarkers. Urine and serum samples were obtained from 50 healthy dogs and 50 dogs with CKD. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) concentrations, and urine protein creatinine ratio (UPC) were measured. Urine specific gravity (USG) was evaluated using refractometer, and ACR was measured using an i-SENS A1Care analyzer. The ACR values of dogs with CKD were significantly different from those of healthy dogs (p < 0.001), as with other renal biomarkers. ACR showed significant differences between healthy dogs and dogs with CKD at every IRIS stage (p < 0.005), whereas no significant differences were observed between dogs with CKD IRIS stage I and healthy dogs with UPC. There are significant positive correlation between ACR and BUN (r = 0.611, p < 0.001), creatinine (r = 0.788, p < 0.001), SDMA (r = 0.747, p < 0.001), and UPC (r = 0.784, p < 0.001), and significant negative correlation between ACR and USG (r = -0.700, p < 0.001). In receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.982 (95% CI 0.963-1.000, p < 0.001), with an optimal cut-off value of 64.20 mg/g (94% sensitivity and 94% specificity). Thus, ACR is a useful urinary biomarker for the early diagnosis of proteinuria in CKD and combined use of ACR and other renal biomarkers may be helpful for early diagnosis and prevention of CKD in dogs.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.60.1-60.9
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• 2021

Background: Echocardiography is a primary tool used by veterinarians to evaluate heart diseases. In recent years, various studies have targeted standard echocardiographic values for different breeds. Reference data are currently lacking in Maltese dogs and it is important to fill this gap as this breed is predisposed to myxomatous mitral valve disease, which is a volume overload disease. Objectives: To establish the normal echocardiographic parameters for Maltese dogs. Methods: In total, 23 healthy Maltese dogs were involved in this study. Blood pressure measurements, thoracic radiography, and complete transthoracic echocardiography were performed. The effects of body weight, age and sex were evaluated, and the correlations between weight and linear and volumetric dimensions were calculated by regression analysis. Results: The mean vertebral heart size was 9.1 ± 0.4. Aside from the ejection fraction, fractional shortening, and the left atrial to aorta root ratio, all the other echocardiographic parameters were significantly correlated with weight. Conclusion: This study describes normal echocardiographic parameters that may be useful in the echocardiographic evaluation of Maltese dogs.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.160-163
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• 2007

Patients often present with spontaneous bleeding, or a bleeding disorder may be discovered when an otherwise healthy dog develops marked bleeding during or after surgery. In this study, we were aimed to elucidate whether the cesarean section in dogs has influence on the coagulation profiles. And we gained the normal data on a panel of screening laboratory tests which allow accurate characterization of a hemostatic defects in dogs. Of the 20 healthy adult dogs, buccal mucosa bleeding time (BMBT) was $83.0{\pm}10.5$ seconds, platelet count was $24.0{\pm}3.5{\times}10^4/{\mu}l$, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was $8.8{\pm}2.0$ seconds, the concentration of fibrinogen was $288.5{\pm}77.9mg/dl$, and the concentration of fibrin degradation products (D-dimer) was <250.0 ng/ml. Coagulation profiles before and after cesarean section of 13 cesarean sectioned dogs were in the normal range and there were no statistical differences in coagulation profiles between normal dogs and cesarean sectioned dogs (p>0.05). The results suggested that labor and cesarean section in healthy dogs did not alter coagulation profiles.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.2.1-2.10
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• 2021

Background: Diseases related to cerebrospinal fluid flow, such as hydrocephalus, syringomyelia, and Chiari malformation, are often found in small dogs. Although studies in human medicine have revealed a correlation with cerebrospinal fluid flow in these diseases by magnetic resonance imaging, there is little information and no standard data for normal dogs. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to obtain cerebrospinal fluid flow velocity data from the cerebral aqueduct and subarachnoid space at the foramen magnum in healthy beagle dogs. Methods: Six healthy beagle dogs were used in this experimental study. The dogs underwent phase-contrast and time-spatial labeling inversion pulse magnetic resonance imaging. Flow rate variations in the cerebrospinal fluid were observed using sagittal time-spatial labeling inversion pulse images. The pattern and velocity of cerebrospinal fluid flow were assessed using phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging within the subarachnoid space at the foramen magnum level and the cerebral aqueduct. Results: In the ventral aspect of the subarachnoid space and cerebral aqueduct, the cerebrospinal fluid was characterized by a bidirectional flow throughout the cardiac cycle. The mean ± SD peak velocities through the ventral and dorsal aspects of the subarachnoid space and the cerebral aqueduct were 1.39 ± 0.13, 0.32 ± 0.12, and 0.76 ± 0.43 cm/s, respectively. Conclusions: Noninvasive visualization of cerebrospinal fluid flow movement with magnetic resonance imaging was feasible, and a reference dataset of cerebrospinal fluid flow peak velocities was obtained through the cervical subarachnoid space and cerebral aqueduct in healthy dogs.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to compare serum nitrotyrosine concentrations in healthy dogs with those in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). Fifty client-owned dogs were included in this study. Based on echocardiographic results, dogs were categorized into healthy (control), mild-, moderate-, and severe-MMVD groups. Serum nitrotyrosine concentrations were determined from enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. No significant difference between control dogs and dogs with mild MMVD was detected (p = 0.31). However, dogs with moderate MMVD had significantly higher serum concentrations of nitrotyrosine (p = 0.04) than that in controls, and dogs with severe MMVD had significantly lower serum concentrations of nitrotyrosine (p = 0.03) than that in moderate MMVD dogs. There were negative correlations in the association of serum nitrotyrosine with age (n = 30, $R^2=0.067$, p = 0.27), left atrial-to-aortic root diameter ratio (n = 30, $R^2=0.02$, p = 0.57), and platelet count (n = 30, $R^2=0.39$, p = 0.003); however, only the platelet correlation was significant. Among dogs with MMVD, there was no significant difference in serum nitrotyrosine concentration between males and females. The results of this study suggest that tyrosine nitration end-products might be potential biomarkers for the detection of MMVD in dogs.