How to improve the efficiency of veterinary laboratories.

Veterinary laboratories around the globe are currently facing a number of important challenges. These challenges include an ageing workforce, lack of trained veterinary specialists, increased stringency for test validation, increasing emphasis on quality management, safety standards and certified accreditation processes, increasing regulation and audit processes and high costs of replacement infrastructure. Importantly, increased collaboration and linkages are high on the agenda in most countries to enhance efficiency within the sector.

Distal limb and paw injuries.

Distal limb reconstruction is complicated by the paucity of local tissues and the frequent association of orthopedic injury with cutaneous loss. Second-intention healing or skin stretching techniques are used for wounds involving less than a 30% circumference of the limb. Skin grafts are recommended for reconstruction of larger superficial wounds after establishing a bed of granulation tissue or for immediate reconstruction of clean wounds overlying healthy muscle.

Health protocol for translocation of free-ranging elk.

When considering an elk (Cervus elaphus) restoration program, wildlife managers must evaluate the positive and negative elements of translocation. We prepared this protocol to give an overview of health considerations associated with translocation of elk, with an emphasis on movement of free-ranging elk from western North America to the southeastern USA. We evaluated infectious agents and ectoparasites reported in elk from two perspectives.

Biogeography of helminth parasitism in Lemmus Link (Arvicolinae), with the description of Paranoplocephala fellmani n. sp. (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) from the Norwegian lemming L. lemmus (Linnaeus).

We describe the gastrointestinal helminth fauna of true lemmings (Lemmus spp., Arvicolinae) based on published and original material throughout the Holarctic range of these hosts. According to the existing data, the helminth fauna of true lemmings consists of three widespread and/or locally common taxa: Hymenolepis horrida (sensu lato) (Hymenolepididae), Anoplocephaloides lemmi (Anoplocephalidae) and Heligmosomoides spp.

Agricultural consultancy--a career choice for veterinarians.

Objective: To document the personal, educational and professional skills that characterise veterinarians pursuing careers as agricultural consultants and to determine the future direction for veterinary-related advisory services to agriculture in Australia.

Design: Thirty-six veterinarians practising as consultants in agriculture throughout Australia were sent a postal survey in 1994.

Procedure: A descriptive analysis was chosen because of the relatively small population available to sample.

Helminth communities in Audouin's gulls, Larus audouinii from Chafarinas Islands (western Mediterranean).

A survey of intestinal helminth communities of Audouin's gulls Larus audouinii, from their breeding colonies in Chafarinas Islands, western Mediterranean, Spain was conducted to determine the abundance and species diversity of intestinal parasites of these birds. The sample of 58 gulls harbored intestinal helminth infracommunities composed of species that are gull generalists, including the digeneans Cardiocephalus longicollis, Knipowitschiatrema nicolai, Condylocotyla pilodora, and Aporchis massiliensis, and the cestode Tetrabothrius cylindraceus. Two nematodes are waterfowl generalists (Cosmocephalus obvelatus and Paracuaria adunca), whereas the digenean Acanthotrema armata is an Audouin's gull specialist.

Morphological evidence of cyclic changes observed in Leydig cells of a chimeric mouse.

Light and electron microscopy were employed in studying morphologic heterogeneity in Leydig cells (LC) in situ, as manifested in a chimeric mouse. This mouse was chosen to take advantage of increased LC concentration in territories of agametic tubules (Hrudka et al., 1989).

A survey of farmers' attitudes to services provided by consulting veterinarians to the Western Australian sheep industry.

A postal survey was conducted of 80 sheep farmers in the Kojonup and Esperance districts of Western Australia to establish what they wanted from a veterinary service. Twenty five of the farmers surveyed used a sheep consultant, 25 did not, and 30 were interested in employing one. Farmers were asked questions about themselves and their attitudes to private veterinarians who provide specialist services to sheep farmers.

Temporal study of staphylococcal species on the skin of human subjects in isolation and clonal analysis of Staphylococcus capitis by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

The staphylococcal skin floras of an isolated group of subjects were studied for 1 year. A wide variation in isolation patterns was found for different species. Staphylococcus intermedius, previously thought to be of veterinary origin, was found to be part of the resident flora of some subjects, and this may indicate a wider role for it in clinical infection.