Experimental comparative study of arterial implants made of silicone reinforced with polyester fabric and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in rabbits aorta.

Objectives: the aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of a new silicone vascular prostheses with PTFE vascular prostheses, on a rabbit experimental model.

Methods: forty rabbits underwent infra-renal aorta replacement with 4 mm diameter prostheses, twenty animals with PDMS and twenty animals with PTFE (control group). Retrograde aortic angiography was performed to assess patency.

Post-mortem CT vs necropsy in feline medicine.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare post-mortem CT findings with necropsy findings in domestic cats.

Methods: Post-mortem CT and necropsies were performed in 20 cadavers of domestic cats. The sensitivity, specificity and agreement between the post-mortem CT and necropsy findings were determined.

Experimental implantation of an arterial substitute made of silicone reinforced with polyester fabric in rabbits.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze silicone tubes with an internal diameter of 4 mm as a possible material for vascular prostheses.

Methods: Grafts were implanted into the infrarenal aortas of 33 rabbits. Fluoroscopic examinations were performed within 150 days after surgical implantation.

Brain activity and medical diagnosis: an EEG study.

Background: Despite new brain imaging techniques that have improved the study of the underlying processes of human decision-making, to the best of our knowledge, there have been very few studies that have attempted to investigate brain activity during medical diagnostic processing. We investigated brain electroencephalography (EEG) activity associated with diagnostic decision-making in the realm of veterinary medicine using X-rays as a fundamental auxiliary test. EEG signals were analysed using Principal Components (PCA) and Logistic Regression Analysis

Results: The principal component analysis revealed three patterns that accounted for 85% of the total variance in the EEG activity recorded while veterinary doctors read a clinical history, examined an X-ray image pertinent to a medical case, and selected among alternative diagnostic hypotheses.

Estimating the optimal control of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis by the use of a mathematical model.

We argue that the strategy of culling infected dogs is not the most efficient way to control zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) and that, in the presence of alternative control strategies with better potential results, official programs of compulsory culling adopted by some countries are inefficient and unethical. We base our arguments on a mathematical model for the study of control strategies against ZVL, which allows the comparison of the efficacies of 5, alternative strategies. We demonstrate that the culling program, previously questioned on both theoretical and practical grounds is the less effective control strategy.