The next patient is a sick fish,what to do? (Part II)

In the first article the clinical history, water testing and clinical examination were described. In this article the therapy and surgery procedures of fish will be discussed. The risk for prescribing drugs for consumption fish will be underlined. A reference list is enclosed for interested veterinarians.     

The next patient is a sick fish,what to do? (part I)

Many health problems in fish are the result of living in poor environmental conditions. The clinical history is very important, not only of the fish, but also of the water quality. Watertesting is presented and after making the clinical examination, a diagnosis can be made. In the second article therapy and surgical procedures are discussed.     

Bias—Is it a problem,and what should we do?

Observational studies are prone to two types of errors: random and systematic. Random error arises as a result of variation between samples that might be drawn in a study and can be reduced by increasing the sample size. Systematic error arises from problems with the study design or the methods used to obtain the study data and is not influenced by sample size. Over the last 20 years, veterinary epidemiologists have made great progress in dealing more effectively with random error (particularly through the use of multilevel models) but paid relatively little attention to systematic error. Systematic errors can arise from unmeasured confounders, selection bias and information bias. Unmeasured confounders include both factors which are known to be confounders but which were not measured in a study and factors which are not known to be confounders. Confounders can bias results toward or away from the null. The impact of selection bias can also be difficult to predict and can be negligible or large. Although the direction of information bias is generally toward the null, this cannot be guaranteed and its impact might be very large. Methods of dealing with systematic errors include: qualitative assessment, quantitative bias analysis and incorporation of bias parameters into the statistical analyses.     

Poultry science: The next 20 years?

1. The theme of the lecture is that research in poultry science has moved too far in the direction of molecular biology and away from studies with whole animals. This has happened partly because exciting prospects are opening up in the field of gene manipulation but mainly because of the use of inappropriate referees to evaluate research proposals.

2. Agricultural research is defined as work intended to benefit agriculture and directed towards those problems which seem capable of solution. Science research is something else. Too much of the money allocated for agricultural and biotechnology research is being spent on science research. The system of rewarding agricultural scientists needs to be adjusted away from counting papers published.

3. Some examples are given of problems in poultry science which seem likely to be soluble by gene manipulation. These include “essential” amino acid synthesis within the chicken, improvement of shell strength, the prevention of many diseases, but probably not the improvement of quantitative traits or of behavioural adaptation to intensive husbandry.

4. Examples are also given of problems likely to require empirical solutions, such as the benefits of acclimatisation or the long‐term response to a lighting programme. Here the need is to develop better theories to guide modelling activities.

5. The author concludes that there is much research that can and should be done in poultry science in the next 20 years but calls for a recognition that some problems cannot be solved by a “fundamental” approach but will need experiments with whole animals coupled with model‐building activities.     

Computed tomography in equine orthopaedics – the next great leap?

Computed tomography (CT) generates sectional, multiplanar images based on x-ray attenuation properties of the subject. Contrast within images is based on differences in relative tissue density. It can resolve subtle structural abnormalities within bone and soft tissue and, as such, it has potential, among other uses, to screen for pathology within bones of the appendicular skeleton in racehorses, which could predispose to catastrophic fractures. Recent technological advances have made the possibility of performing CT imaging in the standing horse a viable clinical alternative. This commentary reviews some recent developments in this field of clinical imaging in the horse.