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

Vård som tvång - Har Sverige som stat en tradition av tvångsingripanden mot personer smittade med sexuellt överförbara sjukdomar och då särskilt HIV/AIDS?

This essay means to determine if Sweden as a nation is a radical state when it comes to venereal diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. In order to investigate whether or not Sweden is a radical state a historical exposition of the interventions of the personal sphere through legislation will be made. Ever since the 1700th century, the Swedish state has paid for the medical care in exchange for the intrusion of the population’s personal sphere. Since the mid 1800s, compulsory care has been possible for people who would not willingly admit to care. Since then, compulsory care has been common in the Swedish health system. A brief description of the cholera epidemic, mental health system and addictive care will be made in order to determine if the venereal diseases were treated different and more radical than the non-venereal diseases. In the 19th century, cholera killed around 37,000 people in Sweden. The disease was highly contagious and spread through the poorly constructed water system. In order to stop the spread towns were sealed and infected people were locked in their houses. The mentally ill have since the mid 1800s been object for invasive legislation. Since then they have been institutionalised, sterilized and lobotomised for the states wellbeing. Addictives have also been object for invasive legislation. When HIV/AIDS was brought to people’s attention in the US in 1980, no one in Sweden gave any notice to it. Not until February 1982 was the first article on the matter published. Thereafter came the public panic, partly because no one knew how the disease spread and partly because the lack of cure and medicine. To hinder the spread, laws and bans that were directed specifically towards the gay community were founded. The bathhouse-law was founded in order to stop men having unprotected sex with other men in anonymous surroundings. A new law concerning disease control came a few years later that was remade in order to include the HIV-virus and gay men was not allowed to donate blood anymore. The bathhouse-law is now void and the law of disease control have been updated once more with less impact of the HIV-virus but the restrictions surrounding blood donations remains.Denna uppsats ämnar redogöra för frågan om Sverige som tradition är en ingripande stat vad gäller personer smittade med sexuellt överförbara sjukdomar. I huvudsak kommer uppsatsen handla om HIV/AIDS och hur den svenska staten bemötte de smittade under 1980-talet och framåt. För att på ett lämpligt sätt tydliggöra mönstret i hur Sverige som stat har ingripit på personers privatliv kommer uppsatsen genom en historisk genomgång redogöra för de olika tvångsingreppen som skett genom lagstiftning. Sedan 1600-talet har den svenska staten bekostat vården för befolkningen i utbyte mot att de gått med på inskränkningar i deras privatliv. Sedan mitten av 1800-talet har tvångsintagning på hospital varit möjligt för personer som inte medgav vård och därefter har tvångsingripanden varit vanligt i den svenska vårdapparaten. För att kunna se om staten särbehandlade sexuellt överförbara sjukdomar kommer en kort jämförelse med koleraepidemin, sinnessjukvården och missbrukarvården att göras. Kolera, som smittades i huvudsak via vattensystem, orsakade ca 37,000 personers liv under mitten av 1800-talet och var en mycket smittsam och dödlig sjukdom. Sinnessjuka har sedan mitten av 1800-talet utsatts för tvångsingrepp så som tvångsintagning på institutioner, sterilisering och lobotomering. Missbrukare har även dem tvångsintagits på anstalter för vård. När HIV/AIDS uppmärksammades i främst USA år 1980 förblev det tyst i Sverige. Först i februari 1982 publicerades den första artikeln om AIDS i Sverige. Därefter kom den allmänna paniken då man i början inte visste hur sjukdomen smittades och inga botemedel eller bromsmedel fanns. För att hindra smittospridningen instiftades lagar och åtgärder vidtogs riktade specifikt mot män som har sex med män. Bastuklubbslagen kom till för att hindra män att ha anonymt och oskyddat sex med varandra. Även en ny smittskyddslag kom ett par år senare med specifika åtgärder för HIV-smittade och homosexuella män förbjöds donera blod. I och med lagen blev tvångsundersökningar och tvångsisolering av personer som inte frivilligt gick med på vård möjligt. Bastuklubbslagen är numera upphävd och smittskyddslagen har ersatts med en ny men restriktionerna kring att donera blod finns kvar

Measuring the Impact of Environmental Constraints on Hydropower Flexibility

Implementation of EU’s Water Framework directive, meant to ensure sustainability of the hydropower production, may lead to new environmental constraints on hydropower systems. This can result in loss of production, reduced operational flexibility and consequently reduced income from production. Flexibility is here defined as the ability to adapt production to variations in power prices, whereas the production income is strongly influenced by the price level and sum production. This paper presents and evaluates two different measures that are used to quantify how new constraints affect system flexibility in the Norway and Sweden. These measures are the established Flexibility Factor, comparing achieved price with average price, and an imaginary equivalent electrical storage unit, which is parametrized by the equivalent storage and power capacity needed to compensate for the lost flexibility. The calculation and evaluation of the two measures are exemplified using two Norwegian water courses.Measuring the Impact of Environmental Constraints on Hydropower FlexibilityacceptedVersio

Grey-box model identification via evolutionary computing

This paper presents an evolutionary grey-box model identification methodology that makes the best use of a priori knowledge on a clear-box model with a global structural representation of the physical system under study, whilst incorporating accurate blackbox models for immeasurable and local nonlinearities of a practical system. The evolutionary technique is applied to building dominant structural identification with local parametric tuning without the need of a differentiable performance index in the presence of noisy data. It is shown that the evolutionary technique provides an excellent fitting performance and is capable of accommodating multiple objectives such as to examine the relationships between model complexity and fitting accuracy during the model building process. Validation results show that the proposed method offers robust, uncluttered and accurate models for two practical systems. It is expected that this type of grey-box models will accommodate many practical engineering systems for a better modelling accuracy

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

Validation of three-dimensional hydrodynamic models of the Gulf of Finland

A model-intercomparison study was conducted, the first of its kind for the Baltic Sea, whose aim was to systematically simulate the basic three-dimensional hydrographic properties of a realistic, complex basin. Simulations of the hydrographic features of the Gulf of Finland for the summer–autumn of 1996 by six three-dimensional hydrodynamic models were compared. Validation was undertaken using more than 300 vertical hydrographic profiles of salinity and temperature. The analysis of model performance, including averaging of the ensemble results, was undertaken with a view to assessing the potential suitability of the models in reproducing the physics of the Baltic Sea accurately enough to serve as a basis for accurate simulations of biogeochemistry once ecosystem models are incorporated. The performance of the models was generally satisfactory. Nevertheless, all the models had some difficulties in correctly simulating vertical profiles of temperature and salinity, and hence mixed layer dynamics, particularly in the eastern Gulf of Finland. Results emphasized the need for high resolution in both vertical and horizontal directions in order to resolve the complex dynamics and bathymetry of the Baltic Sea. Future work needs to consider the choice of mixing and advection schemes, moving to higher resolution, high-frequency forcing, and the accurate representation of river discharges and boundary conditions

Effect of sedation with detomidine and butorphanol on pulmonary gas exchange in the horse

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sedation with α₂-agonists in the horse is reported to be accompanied by impairment of arterial oxygenation. The present study was undertaken to investigate pulmonary gas exchange using the Multiple Inert Gas Elimination Technique (MIGET), during sedation with the α₂-agonist detomidine alone and in combination with the opioid butorphanol.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seven Standardbred trotter horses aged 3–7 years and weighing 380–520 kg, were studied. The protocol consisted of three consecutive measurements; in the unsedated horse, after intravenous administration of detomidine (0.02 mg/kg) and after subsequent butorphanol administration (0.025 mg/kg). Pulmonary function and haemodynamic effects were investigated. The distribution of ventilation-perfusion ratios (V_A/Q) was estimated with MIGET.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During detomidine sedation, arterial oxygen tension (PaO₂) decreased (12.8 ± 0.7 to 10.8 ± 1.2 kPa) and arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO₂) increased (5.9 ± 0.3 to 6.1 ± 0.2 kPa) compared to measurements in the unsedated horse. Mismatch between ventilation and perfusion in the lungs was evident, but no increase in intrapulmonary shunt could be detected. Respiratory rate and minute ventilation did not change. Heart rate and cardiac output decreased, while pulmonary and systemic blood pressure and vascular resistance increased. Addition of butorphanol resulted in a significant decrease in ventilation and increase in PaCO₂. Alveolar-arterial oxygen content difference P(A-a)O₂remained impaired after butorphanol administration, the V_A/Q distribution improved as the decreased ventilation and persistent low blood flow was well matched. Also after subsequent butorphanol no increase in intrapulmonary shunt was evident.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of the present study suggest that both pulmonary and cardiovascular factors contribute to the impaired pulmonary gas exchange during detomidine and butorphanol sedation in the horse.</p