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Topic:Animal Health
Animal Health encompasses a broad range of topics focused on maintaining and improving the well-being of equine species. This field addresses various aspects of horse care, including disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of health conditions. Key areas of interest include equine nutrition, vaccination protocols, parasite control, dental care, and the management of chronic conditions such as laminitis and colic. Additionally, animal health research in horses investigates the impact of exercise and training on physical health, the role of genetics in disease susceptibility, and the development of new therapeutic approaches. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the latest advancements, challenges, and best practices in preserving and enhancing the health of horses.
Development of lymphocyte blastogenic response in the neonatal period of foals. The blastogenic response of lymphocytes and serum concentration of cortisol from eighteen foals were evaluated during various stages of the neonatal period. The results of blastogenic responses were expressed by a stimulation index (SI). Blastogenic response to three mitogens was lowest at birth (PHA: 1.17 +/- 0.02, Con A: 1.11 +/- 0.05 and PWM: 1.02 +/- 0.01), then increased gradually with slight variations postpartum. The serum concentration of cortisol was highest at birth (44.0 ng/ml) and decreased rapidly to 19.3 ng/ml within 1 week postpartum, and then was maintained at this level. The h...
Evaluation of some prophylactic therapies for the idiopathic headshaker syndrome. Eighteen horses affected by the idiopathic headshaker syndrome were studied in an owner assessed trial to test the efficacy of some prophylactic therapies. Riding the affected animal with a veil over the nostrils gave varying degrees of temporary relief in three of 10 horses. Local (intra-nasal) corticosteroid therapy was reported to be slightly effective in three of nine horses, but treatment with sodium cromoglycate, systemic corticosteroid, flunixin meglumine and an antihistamine were generally ineffective. Bilateral infraorbital neurectomy provided sustained relief in three of seven horses...
Insulin and glucose response following oral glucose administration in well-conditioned ponies. Twenty-three well-conditioned ponies were evaluated for insulin and glucose response following oral glucose administration (1 g/kg bodyweight [bwt] as a 20 per cent solution). Ponies were defined as normal if total insulin secretion (TIS) was less than 149 mu iu/ml h and the glucose concentration was below 11.1 +/- 0.11 mmol/litre (200 +/- 2 mg/dl) at all times following oral glucose administration. When glucose concentrations were maintained below 11.1 +/- 0.11 mmol/litre, the area under the glucose curve (TG) was less than 17.4 mmol/litre/h (314 mg/dl/h). The ponies were assigned to four gro...
A review and update of animal toxicoses associated with fumonisin-contaminated feeds and production of fumonisins by Fusarium isolates. During the 1989 corn harvest season, numerous reports of equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM) outbreaks and a pulmonary edema (PPE) syndrome in swine from several regions of the United States were received by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), Ames, Iowa. Previous and concurrent research linked Fusarium moniliforme and fumonisin-contaminated feeds to both diseases. Chemical and mycological investigations revealed fumonisin B1 (FB1) concentrations of 20 to 360 ppm in suspect swine feeds and 8 to 117 ppm in suspect equine feeds. Nonproblem feeds contained concentrations below 8...
Influence of feeding schedule on the absorption of orally administered flunixin in the horse. The effects of access to hay and of restricted feeding on the pharmacokinetics of flunixin administered orally to six healthy ponies were compared in a cross-over study. No access to feed for a few hours before and after flunixin administration resulted in rapid absorption with a mean peak plasma concentration of 2.84 +/- 0.28 micrograms/ml attained in an average time of 0.76 +/- 0.18 h, followed by an exponential decline in plasma concentration. A lower peak plasma concentration was obtained when ponies had free access to hay before and after drug dosing. The mean maximum concentration (Cmax)...
A review of the primary dysautonomias of domestic animals. Primary dysautonomias appear to be the result of initial damage to the protein synthetic pathway of a specific neuronal population, but despite detailed morphological study of several species there is, as yet, no indication of the precise lesion or the nature of the causal agent. The very marked similarities between the species with regard to lesion type, distribution, the age group affected and the geographical restrictions of occurrence would suggest a very similar, if not common, aetiology. There is no explanation, however, for the 70 year gap between its appearance in horses and its subseq...
The pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of high-dose methocarbamol in horses. The haemodynamic, respiratory and behavioural effects and pharmacokinetics of methocarbamol were studied in eight healthy, adult horses after intravenous (i.v.) and oral administration of large dosages. Heart rate, cardiac output, mean pulmonary arterial blood pressure, systolic, diastolic and mean aortic blood pressure, respiratory rate and arterial blood gases did not change after either i.v. (30 mg/kg bodyweight [bwt]) or oral (50 and 100 mg/kg bwt) dosages of methocarbamol. Mild to moderate depression was observed in five of eight horses administered i.v. methocarbamol, and in all horses a...
The veterinary importance of the toxic syndrome induced by ionophores. Monensin, lasalocid, salinomycin, narasin and maduramicin are carboxylic ionophores intended for use as anticoccidial drugs for poultry and as growth promotants for ruminants. Generally, ionophores have been found safe and effective in the target animals receiving recommended dosage levels. However, toxic syndromes can result from overdosage and misuse situations. More information and reports of adverse reactions are available for monensin than the other ionophores because of monensin's longstanding and widespread use in the poultry and livestock industries. Care must be exercised in the diagn...
Species richness in helminth communities: the importance of multiple congeners. Using data sets derived from published literature, the contribution of congeneric species to helminth component community richness is evaluated. Consideration of the frequency distribution of congeners in relation to host and parasite groups reveals that the distributions are unimodal, that singletons are the commonest class and that the frequency of occurrence of congeners decreases with increasing number of species per genus. Congeners may be found in any group of hosts or parasites, but are more common amongst cestodes of aquatic birds. Two patterns of occurrence of congeneric species are r...
Effects of equine chorionic gonadotropin on reproductive performance in anestrous mink. The incidence of anestrous mink during the normal breeding season has been reported to be as high as 5%. We sought to induce estrus in these mink by using various doses of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Seventy-five female mink maintained under standard ranch conditions failed to demonstrate estrus during the annual breeding season in March. These anestrous mink were randomly assigned to treatment groups. Treatments were given on March 16 and again on March 18. On these 2 d, mink were treated with equal doses of saline, 25, 50, or 100 IU of eCG, or ...
The influence of surgery and anaesthesia on the pharmacokinetics of pethidine in the horse. The plasma concentration of pethidine was measured in 16 horses, after its administration intravenously (i.v.) at a dose rate of 1 mg/kg bodyweight (bwt). In eight animals studied before surgery, the plasma levels of the drug decreased in a bi-exponential manner with a distributive half life of 3 mins and an elimination half life of 57.7 mins. Total body clearance was 17.7 ml/kg bwt/min. The remaining horses were investigated immediately after a period of anaesthesia and surgery and in these animals the drug exhibited smaller volumes of distribution (V1 cand Vdarea) and a significantly lower c...
Effect of chronic hypoxia on breathing and EMGs of respiratory muscles in awake ponies. Breathing, diaphragmatic and transversus abdominis electromyograms (EMGdi and EMGta, respectively), and arterial blood gases were studied during normoxia (arterial PO2 = 95 Torr) and 48 h of hypoxia (arterial PO2 = 40-50 Torr) in intact (n = 11) and carotid body-denervated (CBD, n = 9) awake ponies. In intact ponies, arterial PCO2 was 7, 5, 9, and 11 Torr below control (P less than 0.01) at 1 and 10 min and 5 and 24-48 h of hypoxia, respectively. In CBD ponies, arterial PCO2 was 3-4 Torr below control (P less than 0.01) at 4, 5, 6, and 24 h of hypoxia. In intact ponies, pulmonary ventilation, ...
The implications of naturally occurring levels of fumonisins in corn for human and animal health. Contamination of corn with the fungus Fusarium moniliforme and its secondary metabolites, the fumonisins, has been associated with several human and animal diseases. This paper summarizes present knowledge and presents new data on the levels of fumonisins present in foods and feeds associated with these diseases as well as in commercial corn and corn-based products. The doses of fumonisins to which humans and animals consuming these products would be exposed are compared with those doses known to produce LEM in horses and hepatocarcinogenesis in rats. It is concluded that the known naturally o...
Cardiovascular effects of dopexamine HCl in conscious and halothane-anaesthetised horses. The cardiovascular effects of serial increasing infusions of dopexamine HCl were investigated in six conscious (1, 2, 4, 6, 10 micrograms/kg bodyweight [bwt]/min) and eight (0.5, 1, 5, 10, 20 micrograms/kg bwt/min) halothane-anaesthetised horses. Dopexamine produced dose-dependent increases in heart rate, +dP/dtmax' -dP/dtmax and cardiac output, and a decrease in systemic vascular resistance in conscious and halothane-anaesthetised horses. Mean arterial blood pressure did not change in conscious horses but increased to a maximum value at 10 micrograms/kg bwt/min in halothane-anaesthetised hors...
The spectrum of antibiotic resistance in human and veterinary isolates of Escherichia coli collected from 1984-86 in northern India. This study was undertaken to assess the spectrum of drug resistance prevalent in Escherichia coli isolates from human and animal populations in Northern India. Three hundred and two isolates of Escherichia coli isolated from various infections of humans (47 from diarrhoea; 101 from urinary tract infection) and veterinary animals (17 from poultry septicaemia; 75 from bovine diarrhoea; 14 from ovine diarrhoea and 48 from equine metritis) were studied for their susceptibility to ampicillin, cephaloridine, amoxycillin, cloxacillin, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, and tri...
Species restrictions demonstrated by the stimulation of equine cells with recombinant human interleukin-1. Equine thymocytes, which respond to equine monocyte supernatants, do not respond to stimulation with recombinant human interleukin-1 alpha and beta, and equine synovial fibroblasts show a limited response in the form of prostaglandin E2 production without any evidence of neutral metalloproteinase production. Human interleukin-1 beta was about three to ten times as active on equine synovial cells as human interleukin-1 alpha in terms of prostaglandin E2 production. This preliminary evidence would suggest that there are qualitative and quantitative differences in the way recombinant human interl...
Putative fragile sites in the horse karyotype. After fluorouracil/5-bromodeoxyuridine synchronization and subsequent FPG-staining, the karyotype of 15 phenotypically normal horses displayed several breaks and gaps. Twelve bands 1q24, 4p12, 8q23, 11p12, 16q21, 17q21, 23q31, 23q32, Xp21, Xq22, Xq25 and Xq27 showed relatively frequent fragility. After thymidine/cytidine synchronization and subsequent GWL-banding the same horses display karyotypes without any fragility. Hence it is suggested that the above listed bands harbour folate and/or 5-bromodeoxyuridine sensitive fragile sites.
Cardiovascular effects and fatalities associated with intravenous administration of doxycycline to horses and ponies. Intravenous use of doxycycline in horses is associated with deleterious side effects on the cardiovascular system which may result in fatalities. At dosages and infusion rates used in these studies, supraventricular tachycardia, systemic arterial hypertension, clinical signs of discomfort, collapse and death were observed. Results of the present study suggest that the intravenous use of doxycycline should be avoided in horses.
Healing of transected equine superficial digital flexor tendons with and without tenorrhaphy. Healing of transected superficial digital flexor tendons was evaluated mechanically and histologically in eight horses. Tendons sutured with polyglyconate had higher loads at failure than nonsutured tendons at weeks 5 and 9. The tendon stress at failure (force per unit area) was higher in the sutured tendons at week 5 but not at week 9, reflecting the increased size of the scar at week 9. Histologically, scars after tenorrhaphy were consistently more mature than nonsutured tenotomy scars. The mean maturity score for sutured tendons was higher than for nonsutured tendons at weeks 5 and 9. Overa...
A new genetic variant Z2 in the Pi system of horses. A new genetic variant in the horse Pi system, designated Z2, was reported in Polish Arabs by using two-dimensional agarose polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The frequencies of Pi alleles F, G, L, L2, N, S, U, W, Z and Z2 were found to be 0.036, 0.005, 0.171, 0.013, 0.008, 0.237, 0.416, 0.003, 0.107 and 0.004 respectively.
Attempted reinnervation of the equine larynx using a muscle pedicle graft. Laryngeal hemiplegia was induced in 4 ponies via a left recurrent laryngeal neurectomy. Reinnervation of the denervated left cricoarytenoideus dorsalis muscle was then attempted using a muscle pedicle graft from the right cricoarytenoideus dorsalis muscle. In 3 ponies there was no return of abductor function and failure of graft survival. In the fourth pony there was return of abductor function along with survival of the muscle bridge, however, there was evidence of reinnervation across the neurectomy site. Muscle-to-muscle neurotization of the paralyzed equine larynx, utilizing the cricoaryte...
