Mental health in the veterinary profession: an individual or organisational focus?

The veterinary profession is experiencing a shortage of veterinarians, with attrition recognised as a substantial contributor. Research has also indicated increased levels of mental ill health and alarming suicide rates in practitioners. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of eleven modifiable workplace factors on mental health outcomes, job appreciation and intention to leave the veterinary profession. The second aim was to ascertain whether workplace factors influence mental health outcomes after controlling for individual resilience. An online survey was completed by 73 practising Australian veterinarians. Unfavourable workplace factors correlated with adverse outcomes including depression, stress, reduced job appreciation and increased likelihood of leaving both the role and the profession. Workplace factors remained linked with the outcomes of job appreciation, depression and stress whilst controlling for practitioner resilience. Job appreciation was a significant predictor of intention to leave both the current role and the profession. Via multiple linear regression, two categories were identified as associated with improved psychological outcomes and job appreciation. These were workplace factors that represent breaks from workload and control or decision latitude in the workplace. Whilst resilience represents a key area for intervention, workplace factors potentially represent an easier-to-modify area for intervention.     

Controlling microbial contamination on beef and lamb meat during processing

SUMMARY The microbiological quality of carcases, meat and environmental surfaces was evaluated in commercial boning rooms processing beef and lamb. There was considerable variation in the level of microbial contamination on both carcases and meat, with counts ranging from less than 20 to 10⁸/cm² on carcases and to 2 times 10⁷/cm² on meat. The level of microbial contamination on meat was influenced by the level of carcase contamination at boning and by the boning process itself. Carcase contamination was the major determinant of microbiological quality, as more than 70% of carcases had microbial counts greater than 10³/cm². Cutting boards were a major source for microbial dissemination during boning, particularly when carcase counts were less than 10³/cm². If carcases were heavily contaminated, the contamination of processing surfaces was irrelevant in determining microbial loads on meat. Where carcase contamination was at low to moderate levels, the contribution of the boning process to the contamination on meat assumed increased significance. Under these conditions, improved sanitation of cutting surfaces in the boning room resulted in a significant reduction in microbial contamination on the surface of meat. These results can form the basis for ensuring that improvements made in carcase management before boning, to improve microbiological quality, will be preserved through attention to cutting board hygiene during boning.     

Acute cortisol responses of calves to scoop dehorning using local anaesthesia and/or cautery of the wound

Objective To measure plasma cortisol responses in calves dehorned using a scoop after administration of local anaesthesia and/or cautery of the wounds.
Design A physiological study with controls.
Procedure There were six treatments: control handling with and without local anaesthesia, dehorning, dehorning after local anaesthesia, dehorning followed by wound cautery, and dehorning after local anaesthesia followed by wound cautery. Blood samples were taken before and after dehorning.
Results Dehorning caused an increase in plasma cortisol concentrations, which decreased a little to plateau values and then declined to pretreatment values 3 to 4 h after dehorning. The peak was smaller after local anaesthesia was administered but when its effects wore off, cortisol concentrations increased and thereafter were similar to those in the dehorned animals. The combination of local anaesthesia and cautery resulted in a plasma cortisol response similar to those in control calves with or without local anaesthesia.
Conclusions If plasma cortisol concentrations reflect the distress being experienced by the calves, then local anaesthesia reduces the acute distress for about 3 h after dehorning but not during the subsequent 3 to 4 h. Combining local anaesthetic and cautery prevented the significant increase in plasma cortisol following dehorning and may eliminate the acute distress caused by scoop dehorning.     

Enteritis in sheep and goats due to Yersinia enterocolitica infection

Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 5, serotype 02,3 was isolated from the intestine of 38 sheep and 8 goats submitted to the laboratory for disease diagnosis. Infected animals were usually young, had diarrhoea and were in poor condition or emaciated. A number were moribund or dead when submitted. Characteristic microabscesses were demonstrated in the intestine of 5 of 38 sheep and 3 of 8 goats and no alternative cause of morbidity or mortality was established in these animals. Of the 33 sheep and 5 goats infected with Y. enterocolitica in which microabscesses were not demonstrated, a number of other diagnoses were made, including internal parasitism (18), selenium deficiency or white muscle disease (6) and cobalt deficiency (2), so that morbidity and mortality were possibly unrelated to Y. enterocolitica infection. Five of 6 sheep exposed experimentally by mouth to Y. enterocolitica biotype 5, serotype 02,3 developed an intestinal infection. Although infected sheep showed no clinical evidence of disease and haematological and biochemical indices remained normal, multiple intestinal microabscesses typical of yersiniosis were demonstrated in 3 of 5 infected sheep. It is concluded that Y. enterocolitica biotype 5, serotype 02,3 is an enteropathogen of sheep and goats. Since sheep and goats may be the specific hosts of this bacterium, its virulence for these species is apparently low. Morbidity and mortality may, therefore, be unusual manifestations of infection.     

Influence of a riparian wetland on nitrate and herbicides exported from an agricultural field

Agrochemicals are a major source of nonpoint pollution. Forested corridors along stream channels (riparian zones) are thought to be potential sites for removal of agricultural contaminants from ground and surface waters. First-order riparian wetlands are reputed to be especially effective at groundwater remediation. The study site is a fairly typical (for eastern Maryland) small, first-order stream in an agricultural watershed. Preferential flow supplies most of the stream water within the riparian headwater wetland. This upstream area also contains the highest average stream N and pesticide loads in the entire first-order riparian system. Zones of active groundwater emergence onto the surface display high concentrations of nitrate throughout the soil profile and in the exfiltrating water, whereas inactive areas (where there is no visible upwelling) show rapid attenuation of nitrate with decreasing depths. Atrazine degradation products appear to penetrate more readily through the most active upwelling zones, and there is a correlation between zones of high nitrate and high atrazine metabolite levels. Deethylatrazine/atrazine ratios (DAR) seem to indicate that stream flow is dominated by ground water and that much of the ground water may have reached the stream via preferential flow. Remediative processes appear to be very complex, heterogeneous, and variable in these systems, so additional research is needed before effective formulation and application of riparian zone initiatives and guidelines can be accomplished.     

Mineralization and volatile loss of nitrogen from soils treated with coal combustion byproducts

There is an increasing need to find a suitable means for disposal of coal combustion byproducts because of the increasing world-wide production of these byproducts. This need has prompted interest in the use of land disposal, but there are concerns that this use may degrade the quality of soil. To determine the influence of coal combustion byproducts on the transformation and fate of soil N and assess the potential impact of land disposal on soil quality, we studied the effects of two combustion byproducts (fly ash and bed ash) applied at rates of 22.5, 45, 90, and 180 Mg ha^-1 on mineralization and volatile loss of N from soil. Studies comparing the influence of the byproducts on these processes showed that whereas fly ash had little influence on the fate of soil N, bed ash caused substantial mineralization of organic soil N and volatile loss of this N as NH₃. Studies monitoring the pH of soils treated with bed ash showed that soil pH increased immediately after this treatment, with values reaching as high as 12.8. These studies indicated that such extreme alkaline conditions caused chemical degradation and volatile loss of as much as 10% of the organic N in soil, and they provide strong evidence that the improper disposal of bed ash on land can have a substantial negative impact on soil quality.     

Formation of phosphoryl triamide by decomposition of thiophosphoryl triamide in soil

Summary Thiophosphoryl triamide inhibits soil urease activity when added to soil and is under consideration as a fertilizer amendment for retarding hydrolysis of urea fertilizer by soil urease. Work reported showed that this compound is a poor inhibitor of jackbean urease and that its ability to retard soil urease activity is due to its decomposition in soil with formation of phosphoryl triamide, which is a potent inhibitor of urease activity. This conclusion was supported by studies showing a close relationship between the peak area of the ³¹P-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal from phosphoryl triamide in thiophosphoryl triamide solutions that had been incubated with soil for various times and the ability of these solutions to inhibit jackbean urease activity.     

Cloacal papillomatosis in the absence of herpesvirus and papillomavirus in a sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)

CASE HISTORY A 21-year-old male sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) was presented following the sudden appearance of blood associated with the passage of faeces and urates.

CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS: There was fresh blood-staining of the feathers around the vent. The dorsal mucosal wall of the proctodeum was erythematous and roughened in appearance. An endoscopic biopsy was performed, and histological examination revealed multiple fronds of epithelium; the mucosa varied from simple to pseudostratified columnar epithelium, with diffuse hyperplasia of goblet cells. The underlying connective tissue stroma was well vascularised and was infiltrated with mixed inflammatory cells, comprising granulocytic cells and macrophages. PCR testing for both herpesvirus and papillomavirus, using consensus primers, was negative.

DIAGNOSIS: Cloacal papillomatosis.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This case manifested typical clinical signs and histological lesions of cloacal papillomatosis in the absence of demonstrable herpesvirus or papillomavirus. Veterinarians need to consider this disease in the differential diagnosis of blood in the droppings of parrots and cockatoos even in countries where psittacine herpesviruses are exotic diseases.     

Blood supply of the ovine adrenal gland and its relevance in adrenal autotransplantation

SUMMARY The arterial supply and venous drainage of 62 left and 5 right ovine adrenal glands is described, and the contribution of individual arteries to successful adrenal gland autotransplantation was evaluated. Arterial flow was measured by direct collection from the draining adrenal vein. Assessment of function of the transplanted adrenal gland was made from survival of the sheep and by the cortisol response to infusion of ACTH and the aldosterone secretory response to infusion of angiotensin II or potassium. For the left adrenal, the principal arterial supply was from the renal artery in 21 (34%), a lumbar artery in 32 (52%), and the anterior mesenteric artery in 3. The total blood flow was 5.0 ± SEM 0.4 mL/min, the flow from the renal branch 2.3 ± 0.3 mL/min, and the principal lumbar branch 2.6 ± 0.3 mL/min. Venous drainage from the left adrenal was via a major adrenal vein to the left renal vein, but additional tributaries to the renal vein were present in 26% . The arterial supply to the adrenal is regional and omission of a branch at transplantation could result in infarction of portion of the gland. By defining arterial supply and measuring blood flow, selection of the appropriate artery or multiple arteries can achieve an adrenal gland autotransplant survival of 90% .