Dissociative Anaesthesia During Field and Hospital Conditions for Castration of Colts

The principal aim of this study was to evaluate dissociative anaesthesia for castration of colts during field conditions. Three dissociative anaesthetic protocols were evaluated during castration of colts in an animal hospital. The protocol considered to be the most suitable was thereafter evaluated during castration of colts under field conditions. Respiratory and haemodynamic parameters and the response to surgery were determined during anaesthesia. All horses breathed air spontaneously during anaesthesia. Under hospital conditions 26 colts were randomised to receive one of three anaesthetic protocols: Romifidine and tiletamine-zolazepam (RZ); acepromazine, romifidine and tiletamine-zolazepam (ARZ); or acepromazine, romifidine, butorphanol and tiletamine-zolazepam (ARBZ). The surgeon was blinded to the anaesthetic protocol used and decided whether supplemental anaesthesia was needed to complete surgery. Under field conditions 31 colts were castrated during anaesthesia with the ARBZ protocol. All inductions, anaesthesia and recoveries were calm and without excitation under both hospital and field conditions. Surgery was performed within 5–20 minutes after the horses had assumed lateral recumbency during both hospital and field castrations. Under hospital conditions some horses needed supplemental anaesthesia with all three anaesthetic protocols to complete surgery. Interestingly, none of the horses castrated with protocol ARBZ under field conditions needed additional anaesthesia. Cardiorespiratory changes were within acceptable limits in these clinically healthy colts

Higher CSF/serum free-T4 ratio is associated with improvement of quality of life during treatment with L-thyroxine

Up to 20% of individuals with primary hypothyroidism treated with L-thyroxine still suffer from severe symptoms. These are supposedly brain derived and involve both cognitive and emotional domains. Previously, no consistent relationship has been found between thyroid hormones (TH) or TSH levels in blood and quality of life (QoL). Recently, we reported an association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/serum free-thyroxine (f-T4) ratio and QoL, in juvenile hypothyroid patients. Here, we investigated if CSF/serum f-T4 ratio and QoL estimates correlate also during L-thyroxine treatment. Moreover, the CSF biomarker neurogranin (Ng) was used as a biomarker for synaptic function and integrity in clinical research. Ng is partially controlled by TH and therefore we investigated the relationship between QoL parameters and Ng levels. Patients diagnosed with primary hypothyroidism were investigated using vital parameters, serum and CSF analyses of TH, TSH, Ng and QoL questionnaires. Similar procedures were performed after 6 months of treatment. The most marked associations with QoL were found for CSF/serum f-T4 ratio, which was strongly related to several QoL parameters such as the mental subscore of SF-36 (r = 0.83, p <.0005). Ng, which did not differ from that in our healthy controls, was lower in some patients during treatment and higher in others. However, the change in Ng during treatment was significantly correlated with QoL parameters including the mental subscore of SF-36 (r = −0.86, p <.0001). In addition, the CSF/serum f-T4 ratio correlated with the change in Ng (r = −0.75, p =.001). Our results suggest that the ratio between CSF and serum f-T4 is an important biomarker for QoL during treatment of patients with primary hypothyroidism, so far in research, but in the future maybe also in clinical settings. Moreover, this ratio also correlates with the changes in Ng levels during L-thyroxine treatment, further supporting the impact of the TH balance between serum and CSF on QoL

Heat balance in trotters during intense exercise

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate heat balance; especially heat loss and heat load. Four standardbred trotters (geldings, 3-8 years, 420-520 kg) performed twice an inclined (1.4 ) incremental treadmill exercise test in two minutes steps (7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 m/s) in indoor conditions (15 C, 40% Relative humidity). The recovery was monitored for 120 minutes. We measured throughout the entire experiment: heart rate, respiratory rate and temperatures in central venous blood, the gluteus medius muscle and radiated from skin. Oxygen uptake and sweat rate were measured during exercise and 30 minutes after exercise. The rate of non-evaporative heat loss was estimated from measured parameters. The data were analysed for correlations. The results showed that as the intensity of work increase, the pathways of dissipated heat shifted; skin non-evaporative (75% š20%), sweat (4% š55%), and respiratory (21% š25%) heat loss. We found the following correlations between 1) central venous temperature and muscle temperature (R2= 0.81), 2) central venous temperature and oxygen uptake (R2= 0.85), 3) intensity of work (%VO2 max) and momentary heat load in W.m-2 (R2= 0.97), 4) accumulated heat load and muscle temperature (individual R2= 0.94-0.99, overall R2= 0.71) during exercise, where specific heat of the horse was estimated to 2500 J.kg-1 . C-1. During recovery there was no obvious correlation between accumulated heat load and muscle temperature, which indicated a shift of heat within the body. The results obtained provide useful data for modelling heat balance and thermoregulation within the horse during exercise, especially the preliminary estimation of specific heat.vo

Application of 3-D ensemble variational data assimilation to a Baltic Sea reanalysis 1989-2013

A 3-D ensemble variational (3DEnVar) data assimilation method has been implemented and tested for oceanographic data assimilation of sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), sea ice concentration (SIC), and salinity and temperature profiles. To damp spurious long-range correlations in the ensemble statistics, horizontal and vertical localisation was implemented using empirical orthogonal functions. The results show that the 3DEnVar method is indeed possible to use in oceanographic data assimilation. So far, only a seasonally dependent ensemble has been used, based on historical model simulations. Near-surface experiments showed that the ensemble statistics gave inhomogeneous and anisotropic horizontal structure functions, and assimilation of real SST and SIC fields gave smooth, realistic increment fields. The implementation was multivariate, and results showed that the cross-correlations between variables work in an intuitive way, for example, decreasing SST where SIC was increased and vice versa. The profile data assimilation also gave good results. The results from a 25-year reanalysis showed that the vertical salinity and temperature structure were significantly improved, compared to both dependent and independent data