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Clinical practice guideline recommendations related to screening and treatment can change markedly over time as new evidence about best practices and clinical outcomes of various treatments emerges. In a first-of-its-kind study, Penn Medicine researchers examined high-level recommendations published by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) between 1998 and 2007 and found that recommendations which were supported by multiple randomized controlled trials were the most "durable" and least likely to change over time.

Intestinal worms are the most feared problem among horse owners. To prevent them, the entire herd is systematically dewormed without any preventive control.

When Cornell veterinarians found half-foot-long worms living in their feline patients, they had discovered something new: The worms, Dracunculus insignis , had never before been seen in cats. Published in the February issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, the findings document the first proof that this raccoon parasite can infect cats.

Dolphin health took a toxic nosedive in one of the areas hit hard by the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a new study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that includes work by Cornell scientists. Published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in December 2013, their work makes a strong association between the spill and the deterioration in dolphin health in a region of the Gulf of Mexico that received heavy and prolonged oil exposure.

Overpopulation in cats is recognised to contribute to high numbers of cats entering rescue shelters each year. New research suggests that the high number of unwanted kittens may be due to common misconceptions held by cat owners. The research led by academics at the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences is published online in the Veterinary Record .

Academics at The University of Nottingham have launched two free internet resources for vets. Scientists from the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM) at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science have launched BEstBETS for VETS ( www.bestbetsforvets.org ) and VetSRev ( www.nottingham.ac.uk/cevm/vetsrev ).

A topical general anesthetic for amphibians developed by veterinary researchers at Illinois could be a low-cost, easy-to-administer tool for scientists conducting research in the field. Cane toads were used in the study. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Veterinary researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a general anesthetic for amphibians that is administered through their skin.

Ageing animals from their teeth goes back to the time that man first started keeping animals. New research has applied modern statistical techniques to investigate the association between the stages of dentition in cattle and their age to give a more detailed explanation of the differences between the sexes and various breeds of cattle in the UK.

Despite current recommendations by UK welfare organisations that cats should be neutered at four months, a new study from the 'Bristol Cats' study cohort has shown that 85 per cent of pet cats are not neutered by the recommended age possibly due to cat owners needing better information about when to neuter their cat.

A study has gained new insight into domestic dogs' fear responses to noises. The behavioural response by dogs to noises can be extreme in nature, distressing for owners and a welfare issue for dogs. The research by academics from the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol, and funded by the RSPCA , is published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science .

The UK dog population is estimated to be around ten million, with dogs producing approximately 1,000 tonnes of excrement each day. New research has shown that dogs act as a major source of the parasite egg, Toxocara, which can potentially contaminate the public environment and infect humans.

Headshaking syndrome is when a horse shakes or jerks its head uncontrollably for no apparent reason. There are striking clinical similarities between facial pain syndromes in people, most notably trigeminal neuralgia, and headshaking in horses. Although some progress has been made towards both diagnosing and treating the condition in horses, the pathology of the disease remains unknown and further research is needed.

Dogs with hemangiosarcoma that were treated with a compound derived from the Coriolus versicolor mushroom had the longest survival times ever reported for dogs with the disease. These promising findings offer hope that the compound may one day offer cancer patients - human and canine alike - a viable alternative or complementary treatment to traditional chemotherapies.

In a two-day-old mouse, a heart attack causes active stem cells to grow new heart cells; a few months later, the heart is mostly repaired. But in an adult mouse, recovery from such an attack leads to classic after-effects: scar tissue, permanent loss of function and life-threatening arrhythmias.

Aspects of a horse training method made famous by Monty Roberts, author of the The Man Who Listens to Horses , have been called into question by research at the University of Sydney. "This training technique was popularised worldwide by Roberts as the Join-Up method and was used by him to train Queen Elizabeth's horses at her personal request," said Cath Henshall, a Master of Animal Science candidate in the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University.

With no guidelines on how best to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on pets, only 6 percent of dogs and cats that suffer cardiac arrests in the hospital survive to go home. Now the Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation, or RECOVER, offers the first evidence-based recommendations to resuscitate dogs and cats in cardiac arrest.

The management of influenza outbreaks in horses will directly benefit from research by the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney. "We have demonstrated in non-laboratory conditions how air temperature, humidity and wind velocity influence the spread of influenza viruses. It puts us in a much better position to understand an actual outbreak of influenza in horse populations, under natural conditions," said Navneet Dhand , the principal investigator of the research project.

Planned changes to the way vets are allowed to conduct TB tests could have a dramatic impact on rural veterinary practices and fail to address quality control issues surrounding tests for bovine tuberculosis, University research has found. The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) recently announced their intention to require veterinary practices in England to competitively tender for TB tests in specific geographical areas.

A new osteoarthritis drug combination trialled by University of Sydney researchers could significantly extend the working life of racing and other performance horses and could potentially benefit humans. Various medications have been assessed for the treatment of osteoarthritis in horses, but this is one of the first studies to show a new drug combination has the ability to slow down damage to joints, rather than just alleviate pain.

A simple application of honey to horses' leg wounds results in smaller wound sizes and faster healing time, University of Sydney researchers have found. Honey has been used to treat wounds in humans since ancient Egypt, but this study, using manuka honey from New Zealand, is the first time in the world a clinical trial has been conducted in horses.