Publications by authors named "Handel I"

Background: No treatment other than platelet administration is known to protect against spontaneous hemorrhage in thrombocytopenic dogs.

Objectives: Primary: determine if treatment with ε-aminocaproic acid (EACA) decreases the requirement for blood transfusions and improves outcome in dogs with severe thrombocytopenia. Secondary: find evidence of hyperfibrinolysis and determine the effect EACA administration on rapid (rTEG) and tissue plasminogen activator-spiked (tPA-rTEG) thromboelastography parameters.

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Objectives: To investigate the association between body mass and hypotension during general anaesthesia in dogs undergoing surgical and diagnostic procedures within a referral hospital.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective evaluation of the anaesthetic records of 1789 dogs was performed. Data on signalment, anaesthetic protocol and physiological variables, including mean arterial pressure, were collected.

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Background: To achieve an excellent functional and cosmetic result, primary closure is preferred over leaving wounds to heal by secondary intention. However, traumatic wounds are often under excessive tension during wound closure and incorrect suture technique can compromise microcirculation, leading to skin necrosis and impaired wound healing.

Objective: To describe an inexpensive and effective tension relief technique that helps the successful primary closure of a variety of equine wounds at high risk of dehiscence.

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Accurate measurement of equine body weight is important for evaluating medication dosages and feed quantities. Different methods exist for measuring body weight, including weigh tapes (WT), though accuracy varies. Measurements could be affected by external variables, such as time of day, human error, or uneven surfaces, and also horse-based variables, such as height and body condition score (BCS).

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Background: After completion of TB treatment patients may remain at risk of co-morbidity and mortality. We determined the survival and predictors of all-cause mortality after completing TB treatment among ART-experienced patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis of all ART experienced patients who completed TB treatment at a specialist HIV clinic in Uganda, between 2009 and 2014.

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Background: Skin closure of laparotomy incisions using topical 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (2-OCA) mesh provides a secure bactericidal barrier in humans, which may reduce the risk of postoperative incisional complications. However, the benefits of using this mesh have not been objectively assessed in horses.

Methods: From 2009 to 2020, three methods of skin closure were used following laparotomy for acute colic, including metallic staples (MS), suture (ST) and cyanoacrylate mesh (DP).

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Despite sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounting for ~20% of the global cattle population, prevalence estimates and related risk factors of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) are still poorly described. The increased sensitivity of the IFN-γ assay and its practical benefits suggest the test could be useful to investigate bTB epidemiology in SSA. This study used a population-based sample to estimate bTB prevalence, identify risk factors and estimate the effective reproductive rate in Cameroonian cattle populations.

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Background: Metabolic profiles differ between healthy humans and those with inflammatory bowel disease. Few studies have examined metabolic profiles in dogs with chronic enteropathy (CE).

Hypothesis: Serum metabolic profiles of dogs with CE are significantly different from those of healthy dogs.

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The interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) assay and single comparative cervical skin test (SCITT) are used to estimate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) prevalence globally. Prevalence estimates of bTB, caused by , are poorly quantified in many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cattle populations. Furthermore, antemortem diagnostic performance can vary at different stages of bTB pathogenesis and in different cattle populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease causing significant reproductive issues in livestock and hemorrhagic fever in humans, often linked to El Niño weather patterns.
  • A serological study in Cameroon sampled 1,458 cattle from various herds, revealing a seroprevalence of 6.5% in the Northwest Region and 8.2% in the Vina Division, indicating a low but present infection rate.
  • The findings suggest RVF may have endemic stability in this region, highlighting the necessity for improved surveillance and a One Health approach to address the clinical and asymptomatic impacts on both humans and livestock.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have affected the welfare and health of dogs due to surges in adoptions and purchases, changes in the physical and mental health and financial status of dog owners, changes in dogs' lifestyle and routines and limited access to veterinary care. The aims of this study were to investigate whether COVID-19 restrictions were associated with differences in Labrador retrievers' lifestyle, routine care, insurance status, illness incidence or veterinary attendance with an illness, who were living in England and enrolled in Dogslife, an owner-based cohort study. Longitudinal questionnaire data from Dogslife that was relevant to the dates between the 23rd of March and the 4th of July 2020, during COVID-19 restrictions in England, were compared to data between the same dates in previous years from 2011 to 2019 using mixed regression models and adjusted chi-squared tests.

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Dog-mediated rabies kills tens of thousands of people each year in India, representing one third of the estimated global rabies burden. Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have set a target for global dog-mediated human rabies elimination by 2030, examples of large-scale dog vaccination programs demonstrating elimination remain limited in Africa and Asia. We describe the development of a data-driven rabies elimination program from 2013 to 2019 in Goa State, India, culminating in human rabies elimination and a 92% reduction in monthly canine rabies cases.

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The ability to teach is recognized as a core skill for many professionals, including veterinarians, but undergraduate opportunities to develop this skill are not always available. A complementary teaching certificate offered during the clinical years of an undergraduate veterinary program was evaluated to investigate student experiences of the program and the perceived benefits and challenges of participating. The study used a mixed methods approach with questionnaires to provide an overview of the participant experience and semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper insight into students' experiences of the program.

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Background: Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne viral zoonotic disease distributed across several continents and recognized as an ongoing health threat. In humans, the infection can progress to a severe disease with high fatality, raising public health concerns due to the limited prophylactic and therapeutic options available. Animal species, clinically unaffected by the virus, serve as viral reservoirs and amplifier hosts, and can be a valuable tool for surveillance.

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Objective: To compare the success rates and time taken to cannulate the jugular, cephalic, and lateral saphenous veins using a cutdown technique by personnel with 4 different levels of experience.

Design: Prospective ex vivo study.

Setting: Veterinary university teaching hospital.

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Background: The Branham sign is a baroreceptor response that follows patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure. Although described in dogs following both interventional and surgical ductal closure, a direct comparison of the Branham sign elicited by these two techniques has not been made.

Aim: Since closure with an Amplatz canine ductal occluder (ACDO) occurs over 10 minutes and surgical ligation (SL) is more rapid, we hypothesized that the Branham sign following occlusion of a PDA with an ACDO would be less severe than following SL.

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Rabies causes approximately 20,000 human deaths in India each year. Nearly all of these occur following dog bites. Large-scale, high-coverage dog rabies vaccination campaigns are the cornerstone of rabies elimination strategies in both human and dog populations, although this is particularly challenging to achieve in India as a large proportion of the dog population are free-roaming and unowned.

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Objective: To evaluate the association between RBC distribution width (RDW) and in-hospital mortality, length of hospitalization, and leukocyte count in critically ill dogs.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: University teaching hospital.

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Background: Metabolic profiling identifies seasonal variance of serum metabolites in humans. Despite the presence of seasonal disease patterns, no studies have assessed whether serum metabolites vary seasonally in dogs.

Hypothesis: There is seasonal variation in the serum metabolite profiles of healthy dogs.

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Postoperative radiation therapy (RT) may be beneficial for dogs with anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinoma (ASAC). Clinically significant late toxicities have been reported in up to 65% of dogs with perianal tumors following non-conformal definitive RT, particularly when fractions of 3 Gy or higher are prescribed. The primary objective of this prospective, descriptive study was to evaluate tolerability of a novel 3D conformal RT (3DCRT) protocol in a group of dogs.

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Vitamin D has a well-established role in skeletal health and is increasingly linked to chronic disease and mortality in humans and companion animals. Despite the clear significance of vitamin D for health and obvious implications for fitness under natural conditions, no longitudinal study has tested whether the circulating concentration of vitamin D is under natural selection in the wild. Here, we show that concentrations of dietary-derived vitamin D and endogenously produced vitamin D  metabolites are heritable and largely polygenic in a wild population of Soay sheep (Ovis aries).

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Objectives: The steroid hormone vitamin D has roles in immunomodulation and bone health. Insufficiency is associated with susceptibility to respiratory infections. We report 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) measurements in hospitalised people with COVID-19 and influenza A and in survivors of critical illness to test the hypotheses that vitamin D insufficiency scales with illness severity and persists in survivors.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A study conducted near the Serengeti National Park assessed T. parva prevalence in 770 cattle, finding an overall prevalence of 5.07%, with older cattle showing higher rates despite low tick counts on most animals.
  • * The research revealed that farmers substantially use acaricides for tick control, but concerns arise about the sustainability of these practices due to potential resistance in ticks from frequent applications.
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East Coast fever (ECF) in cattle is caused by the Apicomplexan protozoan parasite , transmitted by the three-host tick . The African buffalo () is the natural host for but does not suffer disease, whereas ECF is often fatal in cattle. The genetic relationship between populations circulating in cattle and buffalo is poorly understood, and has not been studied in sympatric buffalo and cattle.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study in Cameroon found that certain bacterial zoonoses (Brucella, Coxiella burnetii, and Leptospira hardjo) are present in local cattle, with varying seroprevalence rates across different regions and cattle types.
  • Seroprevalence for Brucella was low, especially in pastoral cattle (4.2% in Northwest Region vs. 1.1% in Vina Division), while Leptospira hardjo was significantly higher (30.7% and 35.9% in the respective regions), and Coxiella burnetii showed similar rates across both areas (14.6% and 12.4%).
  • Factors influencing seropositivity included sheep ownership,
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