Practicality, Usefulness, and Limits of Pulse Oximetry in Critical Small Animal Patients

Pulse oximetry holds the promise of wide application for monitoring and assessing pulmonary function in small animal patients. Although the saturation as read by pulse oximetry (SpO2) has previously been shown to be accurate in healthy dogs, its accuracy and usefulness have not been demonstrated in critical small animal patients. The present study assessed the accuracy and usefulness of a pulse oximeter (Ohmeda Biox 3740, Ohmeda, Louisville, CO) in a small animal intensive care unit. The instrument yielded readings in 48 of 51 attempts in 33 animals (25 dogs, 8 cats). Criteria were developed to reject spurious readings; when these criteria were applied, the actual calculated SaO2 differed from the SpO2 by O.26 +2.2%, with a correlation of 0.87 (p<0.0001). The 95% confidence interval was +4.4%, comparable to the accepted level in humans. No ill effects from SpO2 were apparent in the patients, and the instrument was useful in monitoring the progress of critical animals. However, uncritical use of the oximeter could have led to gross patient mismanagement, as SpO2 readings as much as 29% different from SaO2 were sometimes obtained.     

Inability of goldenseal to interfere with the detection of morphine in urine

Preparations of the herb, goldenseal, have been used in an attempt to thwart detection of morphine in urine of human addicts and racing horses. To assess the potential of goldenseal to interfere with equine drug detection, horses were dosed with morphine (0.1 mg/kg IV) and, in one experimental series, also with goldenseal (60 mg/kg, p.o.). Goldenseal resulted in significant increases in urine volume, specific gravity and acidity. A significant decrease in total morphine excreted occurred 5–6 hours after dosing. It was concluded that with inclusion of an efficient hydrolysis step in the analysis, goldenseal was unlikely to interfere with urine tests for morphine, even if water loading was included in the dosing regimen.     

The shared landscape: what does aesthetics have to do with ecology?

This collaborative essay grows out of a debate about the relationship between aesthetics and ecology and the possibility of an “ecological aesthetic” that affects landscape planning, design, and management. We describe our common understandings and unresolved questions about this relationship, including the importance of aesthetics in understanding and affecting landscape change and the ways in which aesthetics and ecology may have either complementary or contradictory implications for a landscape. To help understand these issues, we first outline a conceptual model of the aesthetics–ecology relationship. We posit that: 1. While human and environmental phenomena occur at widely varying scales, humans engage with environmental phenomena at a particular scale: that of human experience of our landscape surroundings. That is the human “perceptible realm.” 2. Interactions within this realm give rise to aesthetic experiences, which can lead to changes affecting humans and the landscape, and thus ecosystems. 3. Context affects aesthetic experience of landscapes. Context includes both effects of different landscape types (wild, agricultural, cultural, and metropolitan landscapes) and effects of different personal–social situational activities or concerns. We argue that some contexts elicit aesthetic experiences that have traditionally been called “scenic beauty,” while other contexts elicit different aesthetic experiences, such as perceived care, attachment, and identity. Last, we discuss how interventions through landscape planning, design, and management; or through enhanced knowledge might establish desirable relationships between aesthetics and ecology, and we examine the controversial characteristics of such ecological aesthetics. While these interventions may help sustain beneficial landscape patterns and practices, they are inherently normative, and we consider their ethical implications.     

Intervertebral disk prolapse in a ferret.

This case report describes the diagnosis and resolution of an inter-vertebral disk prolapse in a 6-year-old ferret. No predisposing causes were found in the patient's history. A right hemilaminectomy, performed 1 week after presentation, was chosen to treat the patient surgically, and complete remission of clinical signs was achieved 2 months after presentation.     

The control of rotting and browning of litchi fruit by hot benomyl and plastic film

Browning, weight loss and rotting of litchis (Litchi chinensis Sonn) were studied in 3 seasons with fruit from several growing-areas in Australia. Post-harvest wastage was reduced when the fruit were dipped in hot benomyl and packed in plastic film. A benomyl dip (0.05% at 52°C for 2 min) followed by packing the fruit in punnets and over-wrapping with a “cling” pvc film (0.01 mm thickness) is suggested for controlling rotting, browning and loss in weight at temperatures of 20–30°C.     

Active and Passive Immunity to Bovine Viral Respiratory Diseases in Beef Calves After Shipment

Fifteen steers were vaccinated after shipment with a modified live virus vaccine containing infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), bovine virus diarrhea (BVD), and bovine myxovirus parainfluenza-3 (PI3), and 16 unvaccinated steers were kept as controls. Geometric mean titers one month after vaccination were highest to BVD, followed by PI3 and IBR. Weight gains were higher during 30 days after vaccination in the controls. One case of acute respiratory disease developed in one vaccinated calf. Revaccination 79 days after the first dose increased antibody to PI3 and BVD virus but not IBR. In a second trial, no clinical respiratory disease developed after shipment of 13 heifers that received an antibacterial-antiviral antiserum or in the 12 controls. Weight gains 30 days after shipment were identical in both groups.     

Chronic Nasal Disease in the Dog: Its Radiographic Diagnosis

The radiographic signs of 40 dogs with chronic nasal disease were tabulated and compared with the definitive diagnoses. Erosion of the vomer bone and/or an external mass were present in 16 of 18 dogs that had nasal tumors. Areas of radiolucency in the nasal cavity were present in 8 of 15 dogs that had nasal fungal disease. Radiographic examination did not provide a highly reliable diagnosis for all dogs with chronic nasal disease.     

Symposium on Diseases of Gats—IV. Feline Geriatrics

Abstract— A review of the problems associated with senile changes in the cat. Husbandry and management are discussed together with an outline of the conditions most frequently found in the aged animal in the various body systems.
Résumé— –Examen des problémes relatifs aux transformations séniles chez le chat. Discussion de la conduite à tenir et des soins à donner; apercu des troubles les plus fréquents rencontrés chez l'animal agé dans les différents systèmes de l'organisme.
Zusammenfassung— Ein Überblick über die mit den Altersveränderungen bei der Katin ez Verbindung stehenden Probleme. Es wird über die Zucht ünd Beaufsichtigung gesprochen und eine kurze Beschreibung der Zustände, die in den verschidenen Körpersystemen des gealterten Tieres am häufigsten auftreten, gegeben.