Email

Three more horses have become seriously ill in a barn on the Hawthorne backstretch, bringing to five the total number of animals afflicted with an as-yet undiagnosed sickness, according to Dr. Dawn Folker-Calderon, the state-employed veterinarian at Hawthorne.

But as of Tuesday afternoon the outbreak remained confined to horses stabled in Barn A, suggesting isolation protocols introduced Sunday might have kept the illness from jumping into Hawthornes general horse population.

In response to the sicknesses, Kentucky, Florida, and Louisiana have banned horses shipping to or from Hawthorne.

A horse in Barn A, a 74-stall barn on the west side of the Hawthorne backstretch, became neurologically distressed late Saturday night after showing symptoms of an upper-respiratory ailment, including fever. A second horse followed a similar pattern Sunday before the three new cases were reported Tuesday. The afflicted horses displayed ataxia, or loss of coordination, that makes it impossible for a horse to stand. Laboratory test on the original two cases were being performed Tuesday with results expected sometime Wednesday. No diagnosis has been made, but symptoms are consistent with equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious viral disease.

One of the first two horses to fall ill had to be euthanized Tuesday, Dr. Folker-Calderon said. The body was sent to the University of Illinois for a necropsy. Other horses in Barn A have run a fever but all have responded to treatment. The horses in the affected barn trained by Jim DiVito, Roger Brueggemann, Mickey Goldfine, and Joe Kasperski are not allowed to leave the premises, while people exiting the barn must perform disinfecting procedures upon departure. Dr. Folker-Calderon said shes been in regular contact with officials at the Illinois Department of Agriculture. A quarantine of the Hawthorne backstretch could be imposed, depending on Wednesdays lab results.

Visit link:
Hawthorne: Unknown ailment spreads to more horses in affected barn

Recommendation and review posted by Fredricko

Halloween is just around the corner and what do dogs like more than getting into the cupboard and sniffing out the Halloween candy? Most pet owners know that chocolate is toxic to dogs, but did you know that xylitol-containing gum/candy/baked goods, macadamia nuts and raisins are also potentially toxic to dogs?

What is xylitol and why is it bad for dogs?

Xylitol is a common sweetener used in sugar-free gum, candy, mints, baked goods and oral-care products. While safe in humans, xylitol causes an unsafe drop in blood sugar in animals. Xylitol tricks the pancreas into releasing a large surge of insulin which causes a sudden drop in blood glucose. In large doses, xylitol can cause liver toxicity/failure and death.

How much does my dog have to ingest in order to be dangerous?

A 10 pound (4.5 kg) dog can eat as little as a stick and a half of gum to become hypoglycemic. The dose of xylitol that can cause hypoglycemia is anything greater than 0.1 grams per kilogram of body weight. A typical stick of gum will contain 0.3 to 0.4 grams of xylitol. Anything above 0.5 grams per kilogram of body weight of xylitol may potentially cause liver failure.

What are the clinical signs of xylitol toxicity and how fast do they occur?

Signs of xylitol toxicity can occur as quickly as 30 minutes after ingestion. These signs can include vomiting, weakness, depression, ataxia, collapse and seizures. Some dogs may be asymptomatic up to 72 hours post-ingestion. In these cases, the animal may be experiencing liver toxicity without hypoglycemia.

What do I do if I think my dog has ingested xylitol-containing gum or candy?

Seek veterinary attention as soon as possible. There they will induce vomiting, place him/her on IV fluids with dextrose for at least 24 hours and monitor blood glucose, electrolytes, liver enzyme activities and blood clotting times.

Why are macadamia nuts toxic to dogs and what are the signs of toxicity?

Link:
The ghoulish facts about Halloween candy and your dog

Recommendation and review posted by Fredricko

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. (ILNS), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for proteinopathies, today issued the following Letter to Shareholders from Dr. Daniel Chain, Chairman and CEO.

Dear Shareholder,

I am encouraged by several recent developments that reinforce my confidence in our corporate strategy. Intellect's origins are rooted in my pioneering work from the late 90's that stimulated development of the monoclonal antibodies, which several global pharmaceutical companies have tested as treatments for Alzheimer's disease. While the recently reported Phase 3 clinical trial results for bapineuzumab fell short of expectations, the Alzheimer's community is encouraged by the demonstration using biomarkers that the drug had engaged the target, reduced the amount of plaque and slowed neurodegeneration based upon the decrease in the amount of tau protein measured in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Similarly, Phase 3 data from Lilly's solanezumab appeared to show some clinical benefit in a pooled analysis of early Alzheimer's patients. Lilly is anticipated to present biomarker data at a conference later this month.

As I wrote in my recent blog, the presenters and expert panelists at the American Neurological Association (ANA) annual meeting in Boston last week conveyed a strong sense that Intellect is correct in its belief beta amyloid (A) plays a central and causative role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and that immunotherapy represents a realistic path forward. The next-generation drugs will have an improved probability of success because of the lessons we have learned, especially the need for earlier intervention and careful criteria for the selection of patients to improve homogeneity in clinical trials.

Importantly, these data support our investment in IN-N01, a next-generation antibody drug candidate that recently completed the humanization process. As explained in our joint announcement with MRC Technology on September 19, we anticipate IN-N01 will have an improved safety profile, which means that it can be used at higher, more frequent doses than the other amyloid-beta antibodies in development. The enhanced dosing likely will result in stronger clinical efficacy, particularly if administered to early stage or presymptomatic patients. We believe IN-N01 could be developed rapidly by using biomarker signals during Phase 2 trials in patients with mild disease, similar to Lilly's approach for solanezumab. This approach should offset the increased costs associated with lengthy trials anticipated to be required in presymptomatic patients. IN-N01 is patent protected until at least the mid-2020s in the United States, Europe and Japan.

With several license agreements to date and products in clinical development for Alzheimer's disease and Friedreich's Ataxia, Intellect has established an impressive track record of being at the forefront of tomorrow's therapeutic candidates for neurodegeneration. Moreover, based upon conversations with several pharmaceutical companies, we anticipate further transactions for a number of our preclinical assets, which have the potential to generate significant revenues for Intellect, long before any of our products reach the market.

Pipeline activities:

Our antibody-drug conjugate platform, CONJUMAB, provides potential development of two independent antibody-based products from the same starting material, our compound, IN-N01. Our recent agreement with Lonza, with whom we signed a letter of intent, was an important step in the development of our first ADC, CONJUMAB-A. We are excited to have reached a point at which Lonza is now manufacturing the preclinical materials for the drug optimization and drug selection program, and look forward to testing these compounds in the near future. With sufficient financial resources, we could reasonably expect to file two INDs within two years, one for CONJUMAB-A initially focused on age-related macular degeneration and a second for IN-N01 for a second indication such as familial Alzheimer's disease or traumatic brain injury, both of which could qualify as orphan diseases.

Patent news:

We remain determined to secure our ANTISENILIN patents still under review by the USPTO and hopeful that this can be accomplished over the next few months. The demonstration using biomarkers that bapineuzumab reduces amyloid plaque and neurodegeneration in the brain of Alzheimer's patients provides compelling new evidence in support of the ANTISENILIN platform technology. Similarly, we plan to continue with the appeal process that we initiated in February to overcome the challenge to our patents in Europe.

Continued here:
Intellect Neurosciences Issues Letter to Shareholders

Recommendation and review posted by Fredricko