News

Tigers in serious trouble around the world, including the US

Source:
As many Asian countries prepare to celebrate Year of the Tiger beginning February 14, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports that tigers are in crisis around the world, including here in the United States, where more tigers are kept in captivity than are alive in the wild throughout Asia. As few as 3,200 tigers exist in the wild in Asia where they are threatened by poaching, habitat loss, illegal trafficking and the conversion of forests for infrastructure and plantations.

WWF is releasing a new interactive map of the world's top 10 tiger trouble spots and the main threats against tigers. WWF is also launching a campaign: Tx2: Double or Nothing to support tiger range states in their goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.

Read more ...

Prion leaves lasting mark on memory

Source:
Prions are a special class of proteins best known as the source for mad cow and other neurodegenerative diseases. Despite this negative reputation, according to a new report in the February 5th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, a prion may also have important and very positive roles in brain function. The researchers suggest that a prion-like protein may participate in memory in higher eukaryotes, from sea slugs on up. "The persistence of memory is a fundamental problem," said Kausik Si of Stowers Institute for Medical Research. "Experiences are temporal; they happen once, but somehow must lead to changes in the brain that are somewhat permanent." Those changes must be mediated by molecules, including proteins. "The question is: how can you maintain a stable state with unstable biological molecules," Si said. And now, research conducted by Si in collaboration with Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, suggests that prions may be one solution to that problem. Prions are distinguished by their ability to assume at least two distinct conformational states, one of which is dominant and self-perpetuating. That means that once a protein switches to its "prion state" it has the ability to convert other "non-prion" proteins to that state as well. Therefore, once engaged, the "prion state" is self-renewing and stable.

Read more ...

Chickens 'one-up' humans in ability to see color

Source:
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have peered deep into the eye of the chicken and found a masterpiece of biological design. Scientists mapped five types of light receptors in the chicken's eye. They discovered the receptors were laid out in interwoven mosaics that maximized the chicken's ability to see many colors in any given part of the retina, the light-sensing structure at the back of the eye. "Based on this analysis, birds have clearly one-upped us in several ways in terms of color vision," says Joseph C. Corbo, M.D., Ph.D., senior author and assistant professor of pathology and immunology and of genetics. "Color receptor organization in the chicken retina greatly exceeds that seen in most other retinas and certainly that in most mammalian retinas." Corbo plans follow-up studies of how this organization is established. He says such insights could eventually help scientists seeking to use stem cells and other new techniques to treat the nearly 200 genetic disorders that can cause various forms of blindness. Scientists published their results in the journal PLoS One.

Read more ...

AVMA and WebMD join forces to offer online pet information

Source:
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and WebMD have teamed up to launch a pet health community called the Pet Health Exchange. Visitors to the new site can discuss pet health issues with AVMA member veterinarians.

"The AVMA is concerned about the vast amount of misinformation about pet health that can be found on the Internet," explains Dr. Larry R. Corry, president of the AVMA. "Through this collaboration with an established and respected resource, we hope to give pet owners an opportunity to get accurate, sound advice about animals in general and, more specifically, about their pets."

More than 20 veterinary Guest Experts are involved in the Healthy Pets Exchange to date. The Guest Experts encourage discussion and help owners ask the right questions of their pet's veterinarian to open a dialogue that can lead to the most appropriate diagnosis and treatments for their pets.

"The Pet Health Exchange will help pet owners keep up to date on pet information about their pet's health, so they can provide the very best care for their animals," says Dr. Corry. "But no online community, no matter how well it is done, can ever be a substitute for the relationship between veterinarians and their clients."

The link to the new Pet Health Exchange is on the upper right on the www.webmd.com, and you can also visit the new WebMD Health Pet Exchange directly at http://exchanges.webmd.com/pet-health-exchange. For any other information about veterinary medicine, please visit www.avma.org.

Bacteria toxic to wound-treating maggots

Source:
Bacteria that infect chronic wounds can be deadly to maggot 'biosurgeons' used to treat the lesions, show researchers writing in the journal Microbiology. The findings could lead to more effective treatment of wounds and the development of novel antibiotics. Scientists from the Copenhagen Wound Healing Centre, Statens Serum Institut and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark showed that maggots applied to simulated wounds heavily infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were unable to treat the wound and were left dead after 20 hours. Chronic wounds, such as leg ulcers, affect 1% of the Western population and are painful and difficult to treat.

Use of maggots to disinfect wounds is an ancient practice that regained popularity in the early 1990s. Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT) is now a standard procedure at wound care centres all over the world, in which sterile larvae from the green bottle fly Lucilia sericata are applied to the wound either directly or contained within a sealed nylon bag. The maggots gently ingest necrotic (dead) tissue and kill ingested bacteria in the gut. In addition, the maggots secrete antimicrobial compounds into the wound, help reduce inflammation and promote wound healing. The actual biological mechanisms responsible for the process are still largely a mystery.

Read more ...

Benefits of badger culling not long lasting for reducing cattle TB

Source:
Badger culling is unlikely to be a cost-effective way of helping control cattle TB in Britain, according to research published February 10 in PLoS ONE. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London, say their findings suggest that the benefits of repeated widespread badger culling, in terms of reducing the incidence of cattle TB, disappear within four years after the culling has ended.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a disease in cattle that has a serious financial impact on farmers in Britain, as infected animals have to be slaughtered. In 2008, 2,738 herds were infected with bTB, costing the government over £100 million. Wild badgers [Taxidea taxus, a nocturnal mammal of the weasel family] can become infected with bTB and are known to transmit the infection to cattle. Because of this, UK governments have tested various means of badger culling to control bTB infection in cattle over the past 30 years.

Read more ...

Vets warn against dangerous dogs issue becoming party political

Source:
Vets have welcomed the Government consultation on reforming dangerous dogs legislation but called on politicians not to let the issue become a political football during the forthcoming election campaign.

Responding to the announcement by the Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs that Defra will consult the public on reform of the legislation and compulsory microchipping, Professor Bill Reilly, President of the BVA, said:

“The BVA has been lobbying the Government and Opposition hard for a change in dangerous dogs legislation and so we are delighted that the Government is now considering reforming the hugely unpopular and ineffective Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

“The BVA believes very strongly in the principle of deed not breed – targeting dogs for their actions, not what they look like – and we hope to see new legislation that tackles the actions of irresponsible pet owners that can cause dogs to become aggressive.

Read more ...

Vets welcome extension to UK pet travel protection

Source:
The European Parliament has voted 618 votes to 17 for an extension to the transitional arrangements contained within the regulation on the non-commercial movement of pet animals (Reg. 998/2003) which afford the UK additional protection against rabies, ticks and tapeworms.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) have been lobbying MEPs to support the extension and have strongly welcomed this decision.

The transitional arrangements allow the UK to impose stricter measures on the entry of pet animals and are designed to protect the UK from rabies, ticks and tapeworms (Echinococcus multilocularis).

The vote in the European Parliament today supports an extension of these arrangements until the end of 2011 and puts in place a system so that permanent measures can be imposed in the future for entry to specific Member States based on scientific evidence. The decision will have to be ratified by the European Agriculture Council before coming into force.

Commenting, Professor Bill Reilly, President of the BVA, said:

“The Pet Travel Scheme affords the UK’s pet, wildlife and human populations protection from serious diseases and parasites and we have long argued for these arrangements to remain until scientific evidence can prove that the risk is manageable.

“The BVA and BSAVA have worked closely with Defra to secure this extension to the arrangements and we will now be pushing for investment in additional scientific research that will give us a clearer picture of the threat of the parasite Echinococcus multilocularis and other exotic and emerging diseases.”

Read more ...

NCVEI and Vetpartners Profitability Estimator Tool Now Available on NCVEI Website

Source:
Citing a growing need by private practitioners for information about the profitability of their practices, the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues (NCVEI) and VetPartners announces the release of the Profitability Estimator. “Profitability is the one single metric that allows business owners to judge the level of their economic success. Unfortunately, most practice owners don’t get financial reports that give them this information” said Dr. Karen E. Felsted, CPA, MS, CVPM, CEO of NCVEI. “The Profitability Estimator is designed to fill that gap and give practice owners and managers the information they need to make intelligent business decisions.”

NCVEI and VetPartners collaborated on the design of the tool. “In recent years, members of the Veterinary Valuation Resource Council of VetPartners have seen an increase in the number of practices with no value or an exceptionally low value when appraised—i.e. No-Lo Practices” said Dr. Christine Merle, MBA, CVPM, Executive Director of VetPartners. “Quite unexpectedly, appraisers were also seeing low values in practices you would never normally expect it in. This low value was driven primarily by a lack of profitability and, to make matters worse, most owners of these low–profit practices were not even aware of their poor financial situation.”

Jerry Davies elected RCVS Junior Vice-President

Source:
Dr Jerry Davies was elected Junior Vice-President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons at yesterday's RCVS Council meeting. He was uncontested and is due to take up office on RCVS Day on 2 July 2010.

Jerry graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 1974. He then spent two years in the Department of Surgery as a House Surgeon. After a brief spell in general practice he returned to the RVC, gaining a PhD (equine gastrointestinal disease) and a Diploma in Veterinary Radiology. He held the posts of Lecturer in Veterinary Radiology and then Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Surgery.

Read more ...

Syndicate content