Medicine

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Antimicrobial stewardship: What it is and why it matters

Antimicrobials have tremendous therapeutic benefits in human and veterinary patients. After vaccination, antibiotics are probably the most important medical intervention of the 20th century in terms of reducing suffering and death. Of course, antimicrobials can also have significant adverse effects. And any use of antimicrobials, including appropriate therapeutic use, creates a selection pressure that can result in emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or an increase in the abundance of resistant bacteria. Adverse effects and the development of resistance reduce the potential benefits of antibiotics. Antimicrobial stewardship is the concept of using antibiotics in a manner that maximizes their benefits, minimizes risks, and conserves the effectiveness of these important drugs.1 Changing when and how we use antibiotics is the key to achieving these goals. Antimicrobial stewardship involves three general strategies: 1) Preventing infectious disease occurrence 2) Reducing overall antimicrobial use 3) Using antimicrobials in ways that maximize the benefits, minimize the adverse effects, and reduce the development of antibiotic resistance Preventing infections Preventing bacterial infections automatically reduces the need for, and hence the use of, antimicrobials. This involves encouraging clients to provide appropriate husbandry and preventive care, including vaccination, proper nutrition, isolation of sick animals, and other prophylactic measures. Prevention of …
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Photo op: How thermal imaging is helping keep pets healthy

Thermal imaging devices are in use for many applications where quick identification of temperature change is helpful. Thermography is used in industry, outer space, the military, by your local HVAC guy, and for medical screening. Currently, thermal imaging is in the news because of temperature-screening devices used in airports. As businesses, social venues, and event and travel spaces develop safer protocols for gathering people, temperature screening has become widespread. Temperature screening thermography uses a variety of devices ranging from low-end handheld scanners up to medical-grade devices with the same detailed specifications required for evaluation of human and veterinary patients. High-end temperature screening systems use facial recognition software to calculate body temperature from the medial canthus of the eye, which is the most accurate superficial point for evaluating core body temperature.1 These systems measure temperatures from six feet away, allowing for safe, contactless use. Further, they "flag" elevated temperature; the person then undergoes a secondary screening protocol. Medical thermography is more than 70 years old. Early devices were expensive, cumbersome, and not practical for widespread clinical application. In 1980, reports began validating thermal imaging as a tool for the evaluation of musculoskeletal conditions in horses.2,3 By 2001, multiple publications had established …
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Is immunotherapy the key to wiping out canine cancer?

An intact and functional immune system is essential to protect an organism against invading pathogens and infectious disease. However, the immune system also plays a pivotal role in identifying and eliminating transformed cells that, if left unchecked, would progress to cancer. Clinical evidence of the immune system's ability to control cancer comes from a number of observations in both the veterinary and medical settings. Consider the following examples: Cats receiving chronic immunosuppression following renal transplant have a higher incidence of lymphoma compared with the general feline population1,2 Spontaneous regression of transmissible venereal tumor is associated with an increased proportion of tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells3 Canine osteosarcoma patients that develop bacterial infections after limb-sparing surgery experience significantly prolonged survival times.4 The presence of tumor-specific, cytotoxic T cells within tumors, such as ovarian carcinoma, confers a favorable prognosis,5 whereas infiltration with regulatory or suppressor T cells confers a worse prognosis6 These observations, coupled with two decades of experimentation in murine cancer models, indicate that finding ways to initiate, augment, and broaden a patient's antitumor immune response holds promise for the treatment and possible prevention of cancer. Indeed, this is the aim of cancer immunotherapy, and recent advances in this field have …