A disposable, canister-free negative-pressure wound therapy device proves feasible, but of inferior efficacy to conventional therapies for treating cutaneous wounds in dogs.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of a canister-free negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) device (PICO™ 1.6, Smith & Nephew Medical Ltd) and evaluate its effect on early phases of wound healing in canine experimental cutaneous wounds.

Animals: 5 adult spayed female research Beagles.

The Horse as a Model for the Study of Cutaneous Wound Healing.

Cutaneous wounds are a major problem in both human and equine medicine. The economic cost of treating skin wounds and related complications in humans and horses is high, and in both species, particular types of chronic wounds do not respond well to current therapies, leading to suffering and morbidity. Conventional methods for the treatment of cutaneous wounds are generic and have not changed significantly in decades.

Anti-fibrotic Actions of Equine Interleukin-10 on Transforming Growth Factor-Beta1-Stimulated Dermal Fibroblasts Isolated From Limbs of Horses.

Fibroproliferative disorders occur in both humans and horses following skin injury. In horses, wound healing on the limb is often complicated by the formation of fibroproliferative exuberant granulation tissue, characterized by persistent expression of pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) and deficient expression of anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL-10). IL-10 has been shown to directly modulate fibrotic gene expression in human fibroblasts, so we hypothesized that equine IL-10 (eIL-10) may exert similar anti-fibrotic effects on equine dermal fibroblasts.

Flipping the Passive Radiology Elective by Including Active Learning.

Objectives: Exposure to radiology in undergraduate medical education is often restricted by other curriculum demands. Designing an effective radiology elective for medical students who choose to supplement their education can be challenging as it is often a passive observership-style elective. In this study, we examined the impact of incorporating an online learning platform and electronic book into radiology electives to stimulate active learning.

Creating Disability-Competent Medical Students Via Community Outreach.

Introduction: Medical students often have limited exposure to providing care to physically and cognitively disabled patients. To address this gap, Involvement with Disability Education and Advancement (IDEA) was started in 2015 at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). The organization provides NJMS students the opportunity to visit a school dedicated to disabled students and lead educational sessions on health topics.

Development of a computer-based quantification method for immunohistochemically-stained tissues and its application to study mast cells in equine wound healing (proof of concept).

Background: There is a growing interest in the scientific community to use computer-based software programs for the quantification of cells during physiological and pathophysiological processes. Drawbacks of computer-based methods currently used to quantify immunohistochemical staining are the complexity of use, expense of software and overly-simplified descriptions of protocol thereby limiting reproducibility. The precise role of mast cells in equine cutaneous wound healing is unknown.

In vitro biomechanical properties of sole tissues: Comparison between healthy and ulcerated bovine claws.

Sole ulcers are reportedly one of the most prevalent diseases associated with lameness in dairy cattle, significantly affecting animal welfare and farm profitability. The degree to which sole soft tissues, healthy or ulcerated, are able to maintain their structure and function when subjected to compressive forces remains unknown. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to assess sole tissue biomechanics in healthy and ulcerated claws and to describe correlated histology.

Our education, our concerns: The impact on medical student education of COVID-19.

As COVID‐19 impacts medical education worldwide, lack of patient contact and in‐person courses creates concern for medical students. This commentary presents a call to action from students who want to be educated and prepared for their futures.

Feasibility of a disposable canister-free negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) device for treating open wounds in horses.

Background: Wounds are among the most common medical conditions affecting horses and have a major economic impact on the horse industry. Wound healing in horses is distinct to that documented in other species, and often results in delayed healing and extensive scarring, with compromised functional and aesthetic outcomes. To date, there is no conventional method objectively proven to accelerate healing or to successfully prevent complications associated with second intention healing.

Use of next generation sequencing to investigate the microbiota of experimentally induced wounds and the effect of bandaging in horses.

Objectives: To use next generation sequencing to characterize the microbiota of horses during healing of skin wounds in two anatomical locations (body and limb) known to present different healing patterns; and to investigate the impact of bandaging on bacterial communities of skin wounds located on the limbs of horses.

Methods: Full-thickness skin wounds were created on the distal extremity of both thoracic limbs and on one lateral mid-thoracic wall of four healthy horses. Limb wounds were randomly assigned to bandaging or not.

Choosing the Best Approach to Wound Management and Closure.

This article aims to help the practitioner by providing the tools to decide which type of closure or healing is best in a given situation. An overview of the main criteria and the different approaches to wound closure is presented. Each wound must be considered as a unique problem that requires a clinician to take into account all of its characteristics and limits to determine the best management approach.

Treatment of limb wounds of horses with orf virus IL-10 and VEGF-E accelerates resolution of exuberant granulation tissue, but does not prevent its development.

Bandaging of limb wounds in horses leads to formation of exuberant granulation tissue (EGT) that retards healing due to protracted inflammation, aberrant vascularisation and delayed epithelialisation. EGT is not observed if wounds are left undressed or when wounds are on the body. A previous study showed that short-term administration of proteins derived from orf virus dampened inflammation and promoted epithelialisation of open wounds in horses.

A hypoxia response element in the Vegfa promoter is required for basal Vegfa expression in skin and for optimal granulation tissue formation during wound healing in mice.

Hypoxia in skin wounds is thought to contribute to healing through the induction of hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). Although HIF-1 can regulate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (Vegfa), whether hypoxia and HIF-1 are required to induce Vegfa expression in the context of wound healing is unknown. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated Vegfa expression and wound healing in mutant mice that lack a functional HIF-1 binding site in the Vegfa promoter.

Short-term treatment of equine wounds with orf virus IL-10 and VEGF-E dampens inflammation and promotes repair processes without accelerating closure.

Healing is delayed in limb wounds relative to body wounds of horses, partly because of sustained inflammation and inefficient angiogenesis. In laboratory animals, proteins derived from orf virus modulate these processes and enhance healing. We aimed to compare immune cell trafficking and the inflammatory, vascular, and epidermal responses in body and limb wounds of horses and then to investigate the impact of orf virus interleukin-10 and vascular endothelial growth factor-E on these processes.

Orf virus interleukin-10 and vascular endothelial growth factor-E modulate gene expression in cultured equine dermal fibroblasts.

Background: Wounds in horses often exhibit sustained inflammation and inefficient vascularization, leading to excessive fibrosis and clinical complications such as "proud flesh". Orf virus-derived proteins, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-E and interleukin (ovIL)-10, enhance angiogenesis and control inflammation and fibrosis in skin wounds of laboratory animals.

Hypothesis/objectives: The study aimed to determine if equine dermal cells respond to VEGF-E and ovIL-10.

Heart rate variability in relation to stress in the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).

This study describes a safe, reliable, and accessible means to measure heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) and evaluates the use of HRV as a physiological correlate of stress in the Asian elephant. A probabilistic model indicates that HRV measurements may adequately distinguish between stressed and non-stressed elephants.

A cross-sectional survey on wounds in horses in New Zealand.

Aim: To determine the frequency and type of skin wounds encountered by New Zealand veterinarians in their equine patients, the duration and estimated costs of treatment as well as the expected outcomes for these wounds.

Methods: An online survey was sent to all veterinarians registered with the New Zealand Equine Veterinary Association. The survey comprised questions on the location and experience of respondents, the number of wound-related cases in relation to the total equine caseload, the type and anatomical location of wounds treated, the frequency, duration and costs of treatments, the outcome of wound treatment and an estimate of the most common causes of death or euthanasia in their equine patients.

Differentiation of equine induced pluripotent stem cells into a keratinocyte lineage.

Reasons For Performing Study: Skin trauma in horses often leads to the development of chronic nonhealing wounds that lack a keratinocyte cover, vital for healing. Reports in mouse and man confirm the possibility of generating functional keratinocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), thus presenting myriad potential applications for wound management or treatment of skin disease. Similarly, differentiation of equine iPSC (eiPSC) into a keratinocyte lineage should provide opportunities for the advancement of veterinary regenerative medicine.

Osteopontin expression in healing wounds of horses and in human keloids.

Reasons For Performing Study: Convincing evidence shows that persistent or excessive expression of osteopontin (OPN) is linked to fibroproliferation of various organs in laboratory animals and in man, such that its downregulation is a logical therapeutic objective.

Objectives: To investigate OPN expression in an equine model of wound healing and in clinical specimens of equine exuberant granulation tissue and human keloids in an effort to better understand the contribution of this protein to inflammation-associated skin fibrosis.

Study Design: Description of gene and protein expression in an experimental equine model of wound healing and clinical specimens in horse and man.

Immune potential of allogeneic equine induced pluripotent stem cells.

Reasons For Performing Study: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have brought immense hope to cellular therapy and regenerative medicine. However, the antigenicity of iPSC has not been well documented and remains a hurdle for clinical applications. Expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules by human and murine iPSC is downregulated, making these cells potentially safe for transplantation.

Tuberculosis in Laos, who is at risk: the mahouts or their elephants?

SUMMARY Tuberculosis (TB) in elephants has the potential to infect humans and is an increasing public health concern. Lao PDR is one of the last countries where elephants are still used for timber extraction and where they live in close contact with their mahouts. There are 500 animals at work in the country, some interacting with wild herds.

Validity and reliability of the iPhone to measure rib hump in scoliosis.

Study Design: This was a prospective blinded validity and reliability analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was validation and reliability evaluation of the Scoligauge iPhone app.

Background: The scoliometer is used to clinically measure the rib hump in scoliosis as a means to evaluate the axial trunk rotation.

Validation of a novel technique for creating simulated radiographs using computed tomography datasets.

Understanding radiographic anatomy and the effects of varying patient and radiographic tube positioning on image quality can be a challenge for students. The purposes of this study were to develop and validate a novel technique for creating simulated radiographs using computed tomography (CT) datasets. A DICOM viewer (ORS Visual) plug-in was developed with the ability to move and deform cuboidal volumetric CT datasets, and to produce images simulating the effects of tube-patient-detector distance and angulation.