The Veterinary record
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The Veterinary record · Feb 2005
Comparative StudyComparison of sodium bicarbonate and carbicarb for the treatment of metabolic acidosis in newborn calves.
Carbicarb (an equimolar mixture of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate) was compared with sodium bicarbonate alone for the treatment of acidosis in newborn calves: 25 of 49 calves with a blood pH at birth of less than 7-2 and a base deficit of less than -3 mmol/litre were treated intravenously with sodium bicarbonate and 24 were treated with carbicarb. The doses were calculated on the basis of the base deficit in a blood sample taken 10 minutes after birth, and further blood samples were taken immediately after the treatment and 30 and 60 minutes after the treatment for the determination of acid-base status, blood gases and haematological and biochemical variables. ⋯ There was no increase in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide after treatment with either sodium bicarbonate or carbicarb. Both treatments were associated with an increase in sodium concentration and decreases in the total erythrocyte count, haematocrit and haemoglobin concentration.
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The Veterinary record · Nov 2004
Investigations of the motivation underlying Norwegian dairy farmers' use of homoeopathy.
Eighteen Norwegian dairy farmers were interviewed to examine their reasons for using homoeopathic treatments in managing their herds' health. Overall, they chose the treatments on the basis of factors related to their personal experience, considerations of individual animals and the framework for dairy production. For individual animals homoeopathy was used as an alternative to conventional veterinary treatment, but at the herd level it was used to complement it. ⋯ In individual cases, the severity of disease, previous experience and the farmers' personal knowledge and resources were important. These factors parallel those found to influence the use of complementary and alternative therapies in human medicine. The lack of understanding and documentation of the effects of homoeopathic remedies was not important to the farmers, and they valued personal experience more highly than scientific evidence or the opposition to homoeopathy encountered within the veterinary profession.
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The Veterinary record · Nov 2004
Historical ArticleLiverpool Veterinary School: the first 100 years.
In 1904, Liverpool veterinary school became the first UK veterinary school to be incorporated into a university. This weekend, it marks its centenary with a symposium celebrating veterinary science and its contribution to animal and human health and welfare. Here, Alison Kraft traces the history of the school and argues that its foundation was a turning point for veterinary education in the UK.
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The Veterinary record · May 2004
Use of a topical disinfectant as part of a hoof care programme for horses with diseases of the hoof capsule.
Twenty-three horses with persistent hoof horn defects were treated topically with a hoof disinfectant as part of a hoof care programme for a year. The active ingredients of the disinfectant were a poloaximer-iodine complex, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, isopropyl alcohol and propylene glycol. ⋯ At the beginning of the study all the horn samples contained large numbers of bacteria, and samples from eight of the horses also had fungal hyphae intermingled with the bacteria. After the application of the hoof disinfectant and adjustments to their diet, there were rapid improvements in the gross appearance of the feet of all the horses; some of them improved within two to three weeks and by 12 weeks the horn quality of all the horses had greatly improved.