The effect of uterine-derived mesenchymal stromal cells for the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis: A pilot study.

Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a common allergic skin condition among dogs that may respond to treatment with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of allogeneic uterine tissue-derived MSCs (UMSCs) for the reduction and control of clinical signs associated with cAD. At two sites, seven client-owned dogs with cAD received two doses of approximately 3.

Impact of allogeneic feline uterine-derived mesenchymal stromal cell intravenous treatment on renal function of nephrectomized cats with chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common condition and leading cause of mortality in cats. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) may have a therapeutic effect on CKD. The aim of this pilot study was to determine efficacy of systemically-administered allogeneic uterine tissue-derived MSCs (UMSCs) in cats with CKD.

Financial costs for teaching in rural and urban Australian general practices: is there a difference?

Objective: To determine if the financial costs of teaching GP registrars differs between rural and urban practices.

Design: Cost-benefit analysis of teaching activities in private GP for GP vocational training. Data were obtained from a survey of general practitioners in South Australia and Western Australia.

Is different better?: models of teaching and their influence on the net financial outcome for general practice teaching posts.

Background: In Australia, training for general practice (GP) occurs within private practices and their involvement in teaching can have significant financial costs. At the same time there are growing demands for clinical places for all disciplines and for GP there is concern that there are insufficient teaching practices to meet the demand at the medical student, prevocational and vocational training levels. One option to address this may be to change how teaching occurs in the practice.

Getting governance right for a sustainable regionalised business model.

The 1998 Ministerial Review of General Practice Training identified several areas for improvement that led to major changes in the provision of general practice training, including the establishment of General Practice Education and Training (GPET) and the regionalisation of training. The regionalised training business model has been in place for nearly 10 years, and several key organisations have been involved in its evolution, including the Australian Government, speciality colleges, GPET and regionalised training providers. Both the college-focused and regionalised-focused models have had some successes.

To teach or not to teach? A cost-benefit analysis of teaching in private general practice.

Objective: To identify the financial costs and benefits associated with teaching in private general practice.

Design: Cost-benefit analysis of teaching in private general practice across three levels of training--undergraduate medical training, prevocational training and general practice vocational training--using data from a 2007 survey of general practitioners in South Australia.

Setting And Participants: GPs and practices teaching in association with the Adelaide to Outback GP Training Program or the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Adelaide.

Teaching capacity in general practice: results from a survey of practices and supervisors in South Australia.

Objective: To ascertain the teaching load of general practices, the capacity for expansion of general practice-based teaching and the support required to achieve this.

Design, Setting And Participants: Questionnaire-based survey of general practitioners and practices who were teaching medical students, junior doctors or GP registrars in partnership with the Adelaide to Outback GP Training Program or the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Adelaide in South Australia in 2007.

Main Outcome Measures: Current teaching load of general practices; GPs' reasons for teaching; capacity of practices to increase teaching loads; and support required to realise practices' full teaching capacity.

Effect of intraarticular injection of autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem and regenerative cells on clinical signs of chronic osteoarthritis of the elbow joint in dogs.

Autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (AD-MSC) therapy involves harvesting fat from the patient, isolating the stem and regenerative cells, and administering the cells back to the patient. Autologous AD-MSC therapy in veterinary regenerative medicine has been commercially available since 2003. Previously reported results from a blinded, controlled trial in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis of the coxofemoral (hip) joint demonstrated efficacy of a single intraarticular injection of autologous AD-MSC therapy.

Evaluation of a novel precision template-guided biopsy system for detecting prostate cancer.

Objective: To explore the ability of a novel transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) device (TargetScan, Envisioneering Medical Technologies, St. Louis MO) that creates a three-dimensional map of the prostate and calculates an optimal biopsy scheme, to accurately sample the prostate and define the true extent of disease, as standard TRUS-guided prostate biopsy relies on the operator to distribute the biopsy sites, often resulting in under- and oversampling regions of the gland.

Patients And Methods: In a multicentre retrospective chart review evaluating patients who had a TargetScan prostate biopsy between January 2006 and June 2007, we determined the overall cancer detection rate in all patients and in subgroups based on prostate specific antigen level, digital rectal examination, and indication for biopsy.

Effect of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem and regenerative cells on lameness in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis of the coxofemoral joints: a randomized, double-blinded, multicenter, controlled trial.

Autologous stem cell therapy in the field of regenerative veterinary medicine involves harvesting tissue, such as fat, from the patient, isolating the stem and regenerative cells, and administering the cells back to the patient. Autologous adipose-derived stem cell therapy has been commercially available since 2003, and the current study evaluated such therapy in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis of the hip. Dogs treated with adipose-derived stem cell therapy had significantly improved scores for lameness and the compiled scores for lameness, pain, and range of motion compared with control dogs.

Characterization and differentiation of equine umbilical cord-derived matrix cells.

Stem cells are being evaluated in numerous human clinical trials and are commercially used in veterinary medicine to treat horses and dogs. Stem cell differentiation, homing to disease sites, growth and cytokine factor modulation, and low antigenicity contribute to their therapeutic success. Bone marrow and adipose tissue are the two most common sources of adult-derived stem cells in animals.

A person-practice-program fit--evaluation of a GP training placement process.

Background: The placement of general practice registrars in vocational training practices can be a difficult process if both educational and organisational needs are to be met.

Methods: A telephone survey of 22 registrars and 24 supervisors was conducted to evaluate the placement matching process used by the Adelaide To Outback (A2O) GP Training Program.

Results: Overall, registrars and supervisors were satisfied with all components of the placement matching process.

The challenges of teaching in a general practice setting.

An attractive strategy to meet the increasing need for medical education is teaching in community general practice. General practice will be in a position to meet and sustain this need only if various conditions are met, including: Teaching is undertaken in general practice at all levels of medical education (medical student, postgraduate years 1-3 and GP vocational training); Standards and quality of teaching are maintained while the number of sites involved increases; Further Australian research is conducted into innovative models of general practice teaching and their cost-effectiveness; and Appropriate remuneration and infrastructure is available to support practices and general practitioners involved in teaching.

General practice placements for pre-registration junior doctors: adding value to intern education and training.

Objective: To examine pre-registration junior doctors' perceptions of the value of a general practice term in their training program.

Design, Setting And Participants: Semi-structured interviews, in five teaching hospitals in South Australia in 2005, with 20 pre-registration junior doctors (interns) who had completed a general practice term and at least one core term of intern training.

Main Outcome Measure: Comparisons between general practice and teaching hospital core training terms with respect to the domains of junior doctor education.

Efficacy of a canarypox-vectored recombinant vaccine expressing the hemagglutinin gene of equine influenza H3N8 virus in the protection of ponies from viral challenge.

Objective: To determine onset and duration of immunity provided by a 2- or 3-dose series of a new canarypox-vectored recombinant vaccine for equine influenza virus (rCP-EIV vaccine) expressing the hemagglutinin genes of influenza H3N8 virus strains A/eq/Kentucky/94 and A/eq/Newmarket/2/93 in ponies.

Animals: Forty-nine 1- to 3-year-old male Welsh Mountain Ponies that were seronegative for equine influenza virus.

Procedures: Vaccinated and control ponies were challenged with aerosolized influenza virus A/eq/Sussex/89 (H3N8), representative of the Eurasian lineage of circulating influenza viruses.

Electrographic imaging of recognition memory in 34-38 week gestation intrauterine growth restricted newborns.

Electrophysiological imaging of recognition memory using event-related potentials (ERPs) in intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR) newborns allows assessment of recognition memory before the onset of multiple confounding variables. Animal models that reproduce the physiologic components associated with IUGR have demonstrated adverse effects on the hippocampus, a structure that is essential to normal memory processing. Previous electrophysiologic studies have demonstrated shortened auditory-evoked potential (AEP) and visual-evoked potential (VEP) latencies in IUGR infants suggesting accelerated neural maturation in response to the adverse in-utero environment.