Activity of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase associated with progesterone production in bovine granulosa cells cultured under different concentrations of serum, insulin-like growth factor I, and gonadotropin

Three-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) is the enzyme responsible for progesterone production. This study aimed to determine whether 3β-HSD activity can be shown to reflect progesterone production by granulosa cells cultured under different serum conditions and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations. Large bovine follicles were dissected from abattoir ovaries to recover granulosa cells. Cells were washed, stained for viability, and plated for 48 h in basic medium with or without 5% foetal calf serum (FCS). Subsequently, cells were exposed to FSH (1 ng/mL), LH (10 or 100 ng/mL), or FSH (1 ng/mL) + IGF-I (1 or 10 ng/mL) in a serum-free medium for another 96 h to predict degree of luteinisation. Before and after incubation, granulosa cells were stained for 3β-HSD activity. The high dose of IGF-I (10 ng/mL) increased (P < 0.05) progesterone secretion over 2.5-fold compared with FSH alone or the low dose of IGF-I (1 ng/mL) in cells preincubated with FCS. This was clearly reflected by darker 3β-HSD staining than in cells exposed to FSH and low dose IGF-I

Does Simulator Training in Teaching Undergraduate Vet Students to Calve a Cow Improve Confidence and Ensure Successful Learning Outcome?

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an online and practical blended learning approach using a calving simulator. This was assessed by the change in self-assessed confidence of 4th year BVMS students to calve a cow (ΔC) plus a formative OSCE (O). 347 eligible students over 3 years of study were allocated to: 1. No calving simulator training, lecture only in the previous year (LEC), (ΔC n=53,O n=60) 2. LEC + video of the calving simulator (computer assisted learning (CAL), (ΔC n=57, O n=59) 3. LEC + practical class delivering calving simulator training (SIM), (ΔC n=87, c n=95) 4. LEC + CAL + SIM (ΔC n=83, O n=84) Results: The OSCE pass rate outcome and mean numerical score increased (p<0.01) when students received either CAL, SIM, or both in addition to LEC, and the pass rate further increased when SIM was added to the CAL (p=0.03). Exposure to SIM increased (p<0.01) the mean numerical ΔC from LEC or LEC+CAL. The number of students with positive ΔC increased (p<0.01) when CAL was added to LEC, but far more when they received SIM independent of CAL. Conclusions: These results indicate access to the calving simulator model increases not only the calving OSCE pass rate outcome and numerical score but importantly causes the most noticeable change in confidence. Tailored blended learning approaches can increase the OSCE pass rate when added to the lecture, and online resources can positively influence student confidence of this practical task. These findings are relevant with the increased emphasis on online teaching delivery

Quantitative proteomic profiling of bovine follicular fluid during follicle development

Bovine follicular fluid (FF) constitutes the microenvironment of follicles and includes various biologically active proteins. We performed a study involving 18 healthy non-lactating Holstein cows to determine the protein expression profile of FF at key-stages of follicular development. Follicles were individually aspirated in vivo at pre-deviation (F1∼7.0mm); deviation (F1∼8.5mm); post-deviation (F1∼12.0mm); and pre-ovulatory stages of follicle development, which were confirmed by measurement of follicular estradiol and progesterone concentrations. The FF from nine cows were selected for proteomic analysis. After albumin depletion, triplicates of pooled FF were reduced, alkylated, and digested with trypsin. The resulting peptides were labelled with TMTsixplex and quantified using LC-MS/MS. A total of 143 proteins was identified and assigned to a variety of biological processes, including response to stimulus and metabolic processes. Twenty-two differentially (P < 0.05) expressed proteins were found between stages indicating intrafollicular changes over development, with expected deviation time critical to modulate the protein expression. For instance, high concentrations of follistatin, inhibin, serglycin, spondin-1, fibrinogen, and anti-testosterone antibody were found during early stages of follicular development. In contrast, apolipoprotein H, alpha-2-macroglobulin, plasminogen, antithrombin-III, and immunoglobulins were increased after deviation. Amongst the differentially abundant proteins, 19 were found to be associated with steroidogenesis. Pathway analysis identified proteins that were mainly associated with the acute phase response signaling, coagulation system, complement system, liver/retinoid X receptor activation, and biosynthesis of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen. The differentially expressed proteins provide insights into the size-dependent protein changes in the ovarian follicle microenvironment that could influence follicular function

Does Student Competence and Confidence in Calving Cows Improve after Implementation of a Calving Simulator as Part of a Blended Learning Approach?

New graduates are challenged by problem calvings often presenting as emergencies. Case exposure and thus practice opportunities are limited during the veterinary programme; however, this is a Day 1 skill. The overall educational aim was to explore whether student learning is consistently enhanced by a blended approach which combines online video resources (CAL) with calving model simulator practice (SIM). Here we are presenting three years of data on student attainment of skills and, importantly, confidence levels, evaluated via OSCE (n=298) and self rating numeric scales (n=277), respectively. Multivariable logistic regression identified that teaching modality and OSCE assessor (not cohort year) influenced OSCE pass rates (PRs). The greatest increase in OSCE PRs was observed with the SIM or CAL&SIM (OR 8.262(95% CI 2.034 – 11.892) and 11.465(95% CI 4.707 – 27.923)) respectively. Being assessed by an external assessor also had a positive influence on OSCE PRs. Multivariable logistic regression identified teaching modality, experience and confidence before teaching (not cohort year) as improving overall confidence levels. Teaching group had the biggest effect with SIM and CAL&SIM both having a positive effect on confidence (OR 10.894 (95% CI 4.547 – 26.103) and 18.449 (95% CI 7.438 – 45.760) respectively). Having some calving experience and being more confident before teaching also had a positive effect. In conclusion, the blended approach, in particular, using the calving simulator appears to be of benefit to the PRs of a calving OSCE and to self-declared confidence of veterinary undergraduates when faced with a cow calving

Veterinary Student Competence and Confidence in Calving Cows after Simulator Training in a Blended Learning Approach

Background New graduates are challenged by problem calvings often presenting as emergencies out of hours, and thus may not consider going into farm animal practice. Case exposure and practice opportunities are limited during the veterinary programme especially given recognised challenges with Extra Mural Studies (EMS) (RCVS, 2021); however, many of the veterinary accrediting bodies state that calving a cow is a Day One Competence (ECCVT, 2019; Molgaard et al., 2018; RCVS, 2022; Salisbury et al., 2019). Simulation has been successfully used in large animal veterinary education (Anderson et al., 2021; Baillie et al., 2005; Ferreira et al., 2021; Nagel et al., 2015), but integrating simulator practice into the curriculum using a blended approach together with online material has more limited evidence within the literature. Aims The aim of this study was to investigate the success of the blended approach on student confidence levels (CONF) and competence (COM) in calving a cow, and importantly, what students are concerned about and what they looked forward to when considering calving cows. An additional aim was to explore any demographic factors that influence CONF and COM. Materials and Methods Out of the 347 eligible fourth year veterinary students over three academic study years, 300 gave consent for their data to be used. The study took place over 3.5 weeks within a six-week teaching period in each study year. Before any teaching, consenting students were allocated to one of four teaching groups and received: lectures (delivered in previous years) only (LEC, n = 60), online video material on calving using the high-fidelity simulator (computer assisted learning, CAL, n = 59), calving simulator practical for 1.5 hours (SIM, n = 96) and the blended approach, CAL preparation before the practical, CAL&SIM (n = 85). Before and after exposure to teaching, students were asked to complete a questionnaire with three sections: 1. Demographic questions (gender, age, country of origin, calving experience levels and intention following graduation) 2. Calving CONF which was self-assessed on a scale of 1-5 for 13 specific calving tasks (e.g. assessing for room, extracting the calf) 3. Free text response questions asking students what they were concerned about and what they looked forward to in relation to calving cows, and what would increase their CONF and COM. Student COM was assessed in a formative calving OSCE which was scheduled 3.5 weeks into the teaching period (so half of the students had received the simulator practical). Multiple logistic binary regression was applied to determine any effect of teaching group, demographic or CONF ratings on OSCE Pass outcome, and effect of teaching group, demographic or before teaching CONF ratings on CONF after teaching. Free text responses were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Of the 300 consenting students, 77.3% were female, 22% were male and 0.3% would rather not say their gender. The average age was 23.4 years (95% CI 23.0 – 23.8). Most of the students were from Europe (54%) with students also from North America (32%), Asia (12%) and Africa (2%). One third (32%) had minimal/no calving experience and two thirds (68%) declared some or even lots of experience. Forty two percent of students would encounter a cow calving based on their career intention following graduation. For CONF, 295 consenting students had a complete data set. Self-assessed calving CONF before teaching was 34.3/65 (95% CI 33.41 to 35.29). After teaching, higher CONF were seen after exposure to the SIM (42.3, 95% CI 40.9 – 43.8) alone or blended with the CAL (44.3, 95% CI 42.8 – 45.7) when compared to both the LEC (33.3, 95% CI 31.2 – 35.5) and CAL (35.4, 95% CI 33.5 – 37.4) teaching groups. CAL exposure did not lead to increased CONF. Multivariable logistic regression identified teaching group as influencing CONF after teaching, with the delivery of the SIM alone or with the CAL enhancing CONF compared to LEC (SIM OR 10.9, 95% CI 4.5 – 26 and CAL&SIM 18.4, 95% CI 7.4 – 45.8 respectively, p <0.05). Prior calving experience and rating more confident before teaching slightly enhanced CONF after teaching (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.34 – 4.64, and 3, 95% CI 1.34 – 6.32 respectively, p <0.05). For COM, 298 consenting students had a complete data set. The proportion of pass and excellent students in the LEC teaching group (40%) was lower compared to all other teaching groups (CAL 73%, SIM 84%, CAL&SIM 87%). Adding the SIM to the CAL also led to a higher proportion of passes, but the proportions of passes were similar between the SIM and CAL&SIM groups. Having the SIM practical tended to lead to more students passing the OSCE compared with video resources alone (CAL). Multivariable logistic regression identified that teaching group and OSCE assessor type (e.g. internal staff, peer assessor, external practitioner) influenced OSCE pass rates (PR), with the greatest increase in OSCE PR observed after CAL&SIM compared to LEC (OR 11.5, 95% CI 4.7 – 27.9, p <0.05). Before teaching, students looked forward to success, doing a good job and being competent at calving cows while also improving animal welfare. Concerns were raised about not managing, not having enough experience/confidence and having to deal with difficult cases and complications. After SIM delivery students were more specific with their concerns, such as doing harm to the cow/calf, stating issues related to the size of the calf and the implication for the farmer:vet relationship if the calving did not go well. The majority of students felt that additional practice would improve their CONF and COM. Conclusion Implementation of a SIM to teach students how to calve cows has a very positive impact on self-assessed student confidence and allows them to voice specific technical concerns. The SIM as part of a blended learning approach also improves the outcome of a calving skill assessment. The magnitude and significance of these effects during real calving scenarios, and impact on cow/calf health and welfare, still warrants further investigation. This study also highlights the importance of students being involved in calvings while on EMS both in relation to skill and confidence, crucial for practice choice upon graduation