Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the second most common heart disease in dogs. Since the disease is seen more frequently in certain breeds, among them Newfoundland dogs, a genetic factor is suspected. This study was partly undertaken to investigate whether there is a significant sex predilection regarding DCM. Moreover, the difference in mean age of death between male dogs and females with DCM was investigated, as well as males and females dying from DCM compared to dying from other reasons (i.e. without DCM).

Background:For patients with severe heart disease, may heart transplantation be the only opportunity for survival. Previous research highlights the importance of the nurse's role as supporters and knowledge brokers. People who has undergone heart transplant may be changed forever. Having to undergo a heart transplant can lead to that patients end up in a traumatic crisis. People's perception of herself and her perception of the world is also changing when the body is injured or suffers a disease.

Rabies kills about 55 000 people every year and more than 90% of infected humans are considered getting the disease from dog-bites. To control the disease and eventually eliminate human rabies, the most efficient and economic method is to keep the dog population vaccinated. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the situation of canine rabies in two urban areas in Lilongwe, Malawi, where canine rabies is enzootic. In each area 200 household-interviews were conducted in September and October 2013. Focal points were awareness of the disease, human incidence as well as vaccination coverage in the dog population.

The Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor) belongs to the Carnivore-family and is a species endemic to North America. Every year hundreds of orphaned raccoon cubs are admitted into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (WRCM), a non-profit organization where all injured or orphaned wild animals are admitted and receive quality health care with the goal of being released out into the wild. The WRCM routinely vaccinate all of the admitted raccoon cubs with a killed feline panleucopenia vaccine, but despite this there are outbreaks of parvovirus infection every year where up to 50% of the admitted cubs have been euthanized or died. The objective of this study was to determine whether vaccinating the admitted raccoon kits has any significant protective effect to developing clinical parvoviral disease. A single-blinded cohort study was designed with two parallel, independent groups. One group was given a dose of killed feline parvovirus vaccine at admission, and the other group was not given any vaccination at all. Assignment to the vaccinated or unvaccinated group was on a per-litter basis and done randomly by drawing lots out of a box.

AbstractThe aim of this study was to find out how patients with type-2 diabetes reflected on self-care and the information about selfcareactivites regarding diabetic footulcers.The study has a descriptive design with a qualitative approach. The study included fourteen patients with type-2 diabetes and they had footulcers related to their disease. They were recruited from different health centres in two cities in the Middle Sweden. The patients were interviewed and the interviewes were transcribed and worked up with qualitative content analysis. The authors recived seven subcategories which were sorted into two categories; reflection regarding information about self-care and reflection regarding self-care.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not Icelandic horses are less severely affected in clinical symptoms of cough or decreased performance than other breeds of horses. A breed variation in chronic respiratory disease severity was suspected based on clinical experience at the Institution for surgery & medicine, large animal, SLU Uppsala. A retrospective journal study of 17 Icelandic horses and 17 Swedish Standardbred horses with chronic problems with cough and/or decreased performance compared several measurements of disease severity. The clinical signs, physical examination and laboratory testing results compared were respiratory rate, abdominal breathing, lung auscultation, endoscopy results, broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) results and the blood gases pO2 and pCO2. All parameters were available for all 34 individuals except for the blood gases, which were analysed, in only four Icelandic horses and four Swedish Standardbred horses. The only parameters that appeared different between the two groups were respiratory rate and pO2. The four Icelandic horses, which had blood gases analysed, had more severe hypoxemia.

Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalities (MCOA) is a genetic disease that affects primarily Silver coloured horses of breeds such as the Rocky and Kentucky mountain horses. In these breeds the Silver dapple colour is very popular leading to an increase of affected horses. The major feature of the disease is ocular cysts of variable size. Large cysts also lead to a variety of secondary syndromes, for example retinal detachment. In previous studies the locus for MCOA has been mapped to an interval of 420 kb on equine chromosome six.

Pyometra (chronic purulent uterine inflammation) is a common disease in middle-aged and older intact bitches. The disease most frequently occurs in metoestrus and previous research studies have shown that both hormones and bacteria are involved in the development of the disease. Analysis of the blood levels of prostaglandin metabolite 15-keto-13,14-dihydro-PGF2? (PG-metabolite) has previously been shown to be clinically useful in the differentiation of canine uterine diseases such as pyometra and mucometra. The PG-metabolite concentration has also been correlated to severity in pyometra as determined by hospitalisation length. The purpose of the present study was to investigate if blood levels of PG-metabolite can differentiate uterine diseases such as pyometra from other diseases in female dogs.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 and chronic obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) are two of the most common diseases in the world and the amount are increasing. The treatments of these diseases are self care and a change of lifestyle. For this to be successful there is a need for the person to have knowledge about the diseases and a motivation for making changes in his or her lifestyle. Most of this information is given by the district nurse at the health centre. It is important to get a better knowledge of these persons experiences and how they used the information given to them.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a disease that can affect cats and is caused by a feline coronavirus (FCoV). FCoV is spread via the feacal-oral route and many cats are carriers of the virus. Despite that, very few of the carrier cats develop FIP. The explanation of this phenomenon is that the virus has to mutate to be able to cause FIP and in the majority of the carrier cats this mutation never occurs. FIP is very hard to diagnose because the symptoms are diffuse and a completely accurate diagnosis can almost exclusively be established during a postmortem necropsy.

Emerging infectious diseases poses a great future threat, not only to humans but also to domestic animals and wildlife. Even though the majority of these infections only cause minor health problems, the relatively recent emergence of HIV clearly illustrates that the next major human pandemic may surface at any time. Regardless of what the name indicates, most emerging human pathogens are not believed to be recently evolved, but to have existed previously in the natural environment. Most emerging pathogens are zoonotic, i.e. able to infect animals besides humans.

Bull terrier hereditary nephritis is caused by a mutation that leads to an inadequate synthesis of collagen type IV, which is an important component in the basement membranes. The inheritance of the mutation is autosomal dominant in bull terriers and progression to renal failure takes variable time, from several months to ten years. Proteinuria is the first clinical sign of the disease and the diagnosis is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy of renal tissue where typical ultrastructural changes in the glomerular basement membrane (GBM), thickening and multilaminar splitting are found. This study was performed in order to find out the occurrence of hereditary nephritis in bull terriers in Sweden through examination of urine samples and renal tissue and comparisons with how the disease is described in the literature. Urine samples from 76 Swedish bull terriers were collected and examined for proteinuria.

This study aims to highlight the crisis and adjustment process in individuals who suffered myocardial infarction. The research questions focus on the informants? experiences of the crisis and life adjustment process, and illuminate the coping strategies that the informants describe important. By using a narrative method and applyingthe crisis theory and coping theory as theoretical guidelines, this study endeavors to illuminate individuals' experiences of the disease from their own perspective. The empirical material consists of four life stories gatheredthrough semi-structured interviews.