Understanding and evaluating veterinary clinical research

Results from investigations conducted in clinical settings contribute greatly to determining how veterinarians practice medicine. It is important for the practitioner to understand how clinical information is collected, analyzed, and communicated in journals and presentations at conferences. Clinical research is either retrospective in observational studies, looking at historical medical records as the source of data, or prospective in both experimental and observational studies, where the study is designed before any patients are included. Prospective, experimental studies provide the more reliable results, although they form a minority of published reports. Randomized, controlled trials are the most reliable format, and attempts should be made to use this design more often in veterinary medicine. Care must be taken in the conduct of clinical research to reduce sources of bias that can yield false findings, particularly in small, retrospective studies. Statistical analysis is the key to data interpretation, but must be applied appropriately to avoid either wrong assumptions or misconception. Regardless of how studies are conducted, it is important for the practitioner to be an astute reader of the clinical literature. An understanding of clinical research methods will result in better medical standard of care recommendations and practice.     

山东潍坊地区PMWS临床病例的病理学研究

本研究对山东省潍坊地区8个猪场的断奶后仔猪多系统衰竭综合征(postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome,PMWS)疑似病例在进行病原学诊断的基础上,作了系统的病理学研究,旨在为潍坊地区PMWS的诊断提供病理学诊断依据。结果表明潍坊地区PMWS病猪主要组织病理学变化表现为淋巴结和脾脏中缺少淋巴细胞,严重的单核、巨噬细胞和嗜酸性粒细胞浸润。在淋巴组织中出现类上皮样细胞以及合胞体性多核巨细胞形成的肉芽肿,巨噬细胞胞浆内有病毒包涵体。肺有间质性、支气管性肺炎;肝脏出现以肝细胞局灶性坏死、淋巴细胞浸润为特征的病变;肾脏有轻至重度的多灶性间质性肾炎;并表现不同程度的间质性心肌炎和非化脓性脑炎的病变。     

Echocardiography as a research and clinical tool in veterinary medicine

Echocardiography is the accepted term for the study of cardiac ultrasound. Although a relatively new tool for the study of the heart in man it has already found wide acceptance in the area of cardiac research and in the study of clinical cardiac disease. Animals had often been used in the early experiments with cardiac ultrasound, but only recently has echocardiography been used as a research and clinical tool in veterinary medicine. In this report echocardiography is used in the research of anesthetic effects on ventricular function and clinically in the diagnosis of congestive cardiomyopathy in a cat, ventricular septal defect in a calf, and pericardial effusion in a dog. Echocardiography is now an important adjunct to the field of veterinary cardiology.     

Thromboelastography in equine medicine: Technique and use in clinical research

Thromboelastography (TEG) is a viscoelastic, whole blood‐based assay that integrates information from both the cellular and soluble components of coagulation, providing a global evaluation of the haemostatic system. This contrasts with the conventional coagulation assays (i.e. platelet count, prothrombin time [PT], activated partial thromboplastin time [aPTT] and fibrinogen concentration [FIB]), which only provide information about one component (e.g. clotting factors in the case of PT and aPTT) of the haemostatic process, requiring the combination of several assays for a complete evaluation of haemostasis. Thromboelastography is an old technology that has been used in human medicine for over 50 years. However, it is relatively new in veterinary medicine and has only been applied to horses in the last 5 years. Clinical applications in human medicine include diagnosis and monitoring of coagulopathies. Currently, extensive research is being carried out to expand the use of TEG in dogs and cats. Therefore, it is expected that the use of this technique will also further expand in horses in the near future. To date, the available studies in the equine species have evaluated TEG in healthy horses, horses with gastrointestinal disease, septic foals, horses with exercise‐induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) and a filly with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. The main objective of this review is to introduce the TEG technique to equine clinicians, providing information on how the TEG functions, blood sample collection and processing, variables measured and their interpretations, normal reference values and areas of potential clinical application.