Comparison of the scope of practice of physician associates with that of healthcare professions with prescribing responsibility from point of registration.

Physician associates (PAs) have been practising in the UK since the mid-2000s and are due to be regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC) after summer 2024. Presently, PAs are not able to prescribe prescription-only medication (POM), but this is anticipated to change following GMC regulation. This research compared the scope of practice (SoP) of PAs with other healthcare professionals who have some level of prescribing authority from the point of registration, to establish the need for PAs to prescribe POM and to explore which of the prescribing authority options would fit the PA role.

Validation of an Alternative Small Stem Assay for Blight Resistance in Chestnut Seedlings and Recommendations for Broader Use.

We evaluated an alternative small stem assay (AltSSA) for blight resistance in backcross hybrid chestnut trees (). Whereas standard small stem assays (SSAs) are done by inoculating small incisions in stems, in our AltSSA, 4- to 5-mm stems are cut off, and the exposed (living) stem tips are inoculated with discs of inoculum and temporarily covered with plastic sleeves. Intended primarily for forward selection, this method was designed to be easy to implement, to consistently induce cankering, and to better enable seedling recovery via the development of lateral shoots from the lower stem.

Is our bTB policy one of the worst attempts to control a major notifiable disease ever seen?

A group of experienced vets argue that the lack of control of endemically TB-infected communities of badgers has resulted in a bovine TB dilemma that is worse now than it was 50 years ago.

'It's oxymoronic for vets to be activist vegans'.

argues that livestock farming is essential to meet the global demand for food and that vets should be focusing on improving the food-animal cycle rather than abolishing it.