In an effort to increase suicide awareness skills among veterinary undergraduates, a three‐hour suicide awareness workshop (safeTALK) was delivered to third‐year Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies undergraduates as part of their professional development curriculum. Students were able to opt out of the session by contacting the course organisers. A total of 26 of 151 (17 per cent) third‐year students attended the workshop, and 17 completed a feedback questionnaire. The vast majority of the students reported that after completing the workshop they were more likely or much more likely to recognise the signs of a person at risk of suicide, approach a person at risk of suicide, ask a person about suicide, and connect a person at risk of suicide with help. Five veterinary academics attended a two‐day Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) course, and all reported that the course was effective in improving suicide awareness and intervention skills.
Abstract This study set out to determine the pattern of development and distribution of the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in the intestinal tract of the equine fetus and neonate. Intestinal tissue samples from 12 naturally aborted equine fetuses and three euthanized neonates were collected and fixed in formalin prior to applying standard immunohistochemical labelling techniques targeting the c‐Kit protein of the ICC. At 6 months of gestation, a network of ICC was present in the myenteric plexus region of both the small and the large intestine. ICC were also present within the circular muscle layer. In the large intestine, a proximal to distal gradient of distribution was evident, with few ICC observed in the more distal parts of the large intestine in the younger fetuses compared with the near‐term animals. A transmural gradient of distribution was also evident within the large intestine, with the most luminal part of the muscularis externa being the last area to be colonized by ICC. This region did not appear fully developed until the early neonatal period. An increased density of ICC was noted throughout the large intestine in the regions of the taenial bands in all animals. This study is the first to describe ICC development and distribution in the equine fetus and neonate.
Summary Equine gastrointestinal motility is a central issue in cases of equine colic, post operative convalescence and alimentary conditions encountered in practice. There are significant syndromes of intestinal dysmotility in the horse such as obstructive disorders and post operative ileus that are still poorly understood. This review describes the various areas of research that aim to elucidate the pathogenesis of intestinal hypo‐ or hypermotility by research methods, which include studies at the cellular level, and those that employ in vitro or in vivo techniques of evaluating the physiology and mechanical means of ingesta transit through the alimentary tract. The review discusses future directions for studies which will hopefully lead to better understanding and appropriate measures for diagnosis, therapy and prevention of ileus and other motility disorders.
The major challenge in veterinary undergraduate admissions is to select those students with most suitability for veterinary training and careers from a large and diverse pool of applicants with very high academic ability. This paper describes a review of the admissions processes of the seven veterinary schools in the UK. There was significant commonality in the entry requirements and the criteria upon which the schools made decisions on candidates. There was some variation in the procedures used by individual schools to select candidates, but common themes existed within these processes. All of the schools evaluated both academic and non‐academic factors for individual applicants, and all used interviews in some format as a selection tool after an initial short‐listing process. The procedures and approaches to selection processes are compared and discussed.
Post-operative ileus (POI) is a serious condition which any horse undergoing abdominal surgery is at risk of developing, leading to increased hospitalisation time and resulting costs. Advances in the understanding of the development of equine POI are mainly based on human and rodent literature, where manipulation-induced inflammation has been identified as a trigger, with activation of resident muscularis externa macrophages playing a crucial role in the pathophysiology. Despite many pharmacological trials in all species, there is no single completely successful treatment for POI, highlighting that the condition is multifactorial in cause and requires a multimodal approach to minimise its incidence.
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