Latest Posts by thejoyofscience - Page 3

New teeth grown from urine - study

Who would've thought? 

Behold the Gastric Rainbow. Sounds gross, but it’s actually beautiful. This cross-section of a mouse intestine is labeled with a spectrum of fluorescent molecules. From the green and magenta digestive enzyme-producing cells to the red mucus-secreting cells, this is one of the most dynamic areas in the mammalian body: Each cell is replaced by another every 3-5 days.

(via The Scientist Magazine)

New project!

I received a new research project in my lab today on concurrent ehrlichia infections in dogs! All the happy feels! 

Urine sediment from a 6 year-old, male-intact, Rottweiler.  The patient has a multi-year history of recurrent urinary tract infections.  He recently presented to his primary care veterinarian for being unable to urinate.  Radiographs showed no bladder stones, but a penile ultrasound showed many obstructing the urethra.  The dog was then referred for surgery to relieve the obstruction…

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The surgeons were kind enough to snag us some urine!  The urine was full of these hexagonal crystals….consistent with cystine crystals!  Yes, the amino acid cystine.  In addition, there were all shapes of sperms (see them swimming in the background!) along with many inflammatory cells and some bacteria.

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Diagnosis:  Cystine crystalluria.  This is a very rare occurrence in veterinary medicine!  Such patient’s often have a genetic defect in the metabolism or transport of cystine, allowing the amino acid to accumulate in blood.  Once it filters into urine, cystine will polymerize into crystals and sometimes form stones.  Cystine stones do not obstruct x-rays…hence they cannot be found on standard radiographs (termed radiolucent).  The patient is recovering well following surgery, and may require a special diet to help with his disease.

What do you name a virus that is 1,000 times larger than the flu virus, has 200 times as many genes, and 93% of those genes are previously unknown to science? The mythical Pandora’s Box seemed an appropriate inspiration, and so the genus was dubbed Pandoravirus.  These extra-large viruses may have been missed in the past because of their size, and were likely thought to be bacteria. Pandoraviruses do not behave typically, and may re-open the conversation regarding viruses as a life form. More info: http://bit.ly/1bwvYuY Image via Chantal Abergel and Jean-Michel Claverie

via asapscience:

Could We Stop An Asteroid From Hitting Earth?

Bill Nye the Science Guy and AsapSCIENCE team up to answer this burning question. Do we stand a chance against a giant rock, on a collision course for Earth?

Well, that’s a pretty special guest there, guys! 

New goal: Do IOTBS video with Bill Nye.

Usual interstitial pneumonia

It has the loose fibroblastic balls (pink balls) next to relatively normal lung parenchyma (thin septae) and a bronchiole (the blueish wrinkly thing)

(Via pulmonary pathology)

Medical lung is like… impossible. COP. DAD. DIP. NSIP. BOOP. POOP. SCHMOOP. No idea. It all looks the same to me.

This is Phthirus pubis, a human louse, commonly known as “crabs" — it is known to infect pubic hair but can infect the EYELASHES. 

I came across this while making a high yield vector borne disease lecture for an upcoming talk. On the clinical pathology boards, they apparently really like to show “gross" gross photographs of bugs and ask what is it or what disease does it cause. I have a fascination with tick born disease, so it felt natural to expand and learn some more entomology. My attending was looking through my lecture and said I needed to add an example of a louse and a flea, since people commonly mix them up. Well, I naturally started to google… and ended up grossing myself AND my attending out. 

A job well done. Another excellent day on clinical microbiology. 

PS - up until a year ago, I thought that “crabs" were actually miniature crabs. What? I wasn’t that far off! Both are apart of the phylum arthropoda!

Aspirate of a mammary mass from a 8 year-old, female-intact, Yorkshire Terrier.  The patient was found wondering in a field by a good Samaritan-turned-owner over the 4th of July weekend.  Although she was acting normally, the owner brought the little dog in for a ‘look over.’  On physical examination a 2cm mass was felt in the left mammary chain.  No obvious spay scar was present.

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On cytology there were copious clusters of epithelial cells.  These epithelial cells (top picture) were very non-descript, making for large, jumbled piles of cells.  Notice how you cannot see any well-defined cell borders between them?? Just a ton of nuclei (and nucleoli) blending in together!  That’s a sign of cell craziness!  Many clusters were surrounded by this gorgeous, pink-magenta material.  Likely secretory product or matrix.

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Cytologic diagnosis:  Mammary tumor!  Although the cells look quite malignant on cytology, many studies have shown you cannot reliably determine malignancy with cytology alone.  Thus, you NEED a biopsy to determine if a mammary tumor is malignant or benign in a dog.  And flip a coin on that - about 50% are malignant and 50% are benign.  Intact female dogs have an almost 35% lifetime chance of developing one of these beasts!

Right lateral thoracic wall mass from a 10 year-old, female-spayed, Golden Retriever.  Approximately six months ago the owner noticed a small, firm swelling on the patient’s right chest.  No doubt it grew with time, as it finally got large enough for the owner to become truly concerned!  The patient is clinically healthy otherwise.

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The most prominent feature on the cytology were these gorgeous globules of magenta, streaming material!  In fact, the entire slide was imbued with this color when you looked at it without a microscope.  The substance is most likely matrix produced by cancer cells.  Matrix of this color is commonly observed in chrondrosarcomas.  Occasional malignant spindle-shaped cells were found imbedded in the matrix.

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Diagnosis:  Chondrosarcoma.  Well , that’s the most likely diagnosis given the location and appearance of the neoplastic cells and matrix!  Other possibilities include a myxosarcoma (which produces a mucous like material!) or osteosarcoma (malignant primary bone tumor).  Chondrosarcomas are often regionally invasive but rarely metastasize.  If the owner is on board with a chest wall resection, the patient will have  a good prognosis :-)

This bad little boy is super rare to find!!!  This is a mitotically active cell present in peripheral blood circulation from a dog - only the second one I have ever seen!!

As a game, in the diagnostic lab we yell KABLAM! anytime we see a mitotic figure.  The first one to say kablam wins :-P  We should so turn it into a drinking game…

Colonial rotifers showing eyespots and corona, magnification 200x - 500x. Ralph Grimm.

Microbiologists have learned how a probiotic bacterium used to treat irritable bowel syndrome can soothe gut bacterial infections caused by salmonella, paving the way for potential relief from foodborne illnesses that affect millions of people annually.

Cutaneous mass on the right flank of a 2 year-old, female-spayed, black Labrador Retriever.  The owner noticed the mass approximately a week earlier, and it has been growing in size every day.  On palpation, the lesion was quite painful.  The dog also had a fever, at 103.5°F.

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Fine needle aspiration revealed copious inflammatory cells.  Mainly neutrophils, with lesser numbers of macrophages.  Notice how some of the neutrophils appear ragged, some borderlining on unidentifiable?  Such changes are consistent with a degenerative change, which usually occurs in the presence of a bacterial agent.  And speaking of bacteria, there are TONS.  A mixed collection of cocci and filamentous rods (red arrow).  The presence of filamentous rods is often associated with plant foreign material (like a ‘grass awn’ or ‘cheat grass’).

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Diagnosis: Marked, septic, suppurative inflammation with necrosis.  Basically an abscess.  A key piece of history…the patient is a hunting dog and partook in some field trials a few days before the mass developed.  The patient is slated to have the mass surgically explored in hopes of finding planet debris.