Effect of a single intravenous injection of branched chain amino acids on body temperature of cats undergoing general anesthesia.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a single intravenous injection of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) on body temperature in cats undergoing general anesthesia. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, blinded, randomized, crossover, experimental study. ANIMALS: A total of 10 healthy adult cats (five female and five male). METHODS: Cats were anesthetized three times with three different treatments in a random order: 3 mL kg-1 lactated Ringer's solution (LRS), 100 mg kg-1 BCAAs (B100) or 200 mg kg-1 BCAAs (B200) solution immediately before induction of anesthesia. After induction, rectal temperature was measured every 5 minutes. Blood samples were collected for the measurement of blood glucose (BG) just before induction, at the end of the 90 minute period of anesthesia, and 24 hours after anesthesia induction. The differences between baseline and each subsequent rectal temperature, and BG measurements were analyzed. Areas under the curve (AUCs) for temperature differences were calculated for each animal for the anesthetic period (AUCT0-90). Parametric or nonparametric data were analyzed by one-way repeated measures anova or Friedman test. A value of p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in AUCT0-90 between groups: 41.6 ± 7.7 for LRS, 43.4 ± 6.9 for B100 and 42.9 ± 7.5 for B200 (p = 0.368). No significant differences were observed in BG between groups at 90 minutes and 24 hours after anesthesia induction (p = 0.283 and p = 0.089, respectively). The incidence of hypoglycemia [BG ≤ 3.17 mmol L-1 (57 mg dL-1)] after anesthesia tended to be higher in both B100 (4/10 cats) and B200 groups (3/10 cats) than in LRS group (1/10 cats). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A single, preanesthetic intravenous injection of BCAAs did not attenuate heat loss during anesthesia. More cats were hypoglycemic in the BCAA groups than in the LRS group.

Veterinarians' attitudes towards use of nutraceuticals.

The objective of this study was to assess veterinarians' understanding of nutraceutical use in humans and companion animals and their motivation and circumstances for recommending nutraceuticals to clients. We administered a cross-sectional survey to veterinarians attending continuing education sessions at the University of Georgia (USA) College of Veterinary Medicine from 2012 to 2015 (N = 126). Information regarding veterinarians' age, year of graduation, practice focus, and typical approaches to nutraceutical use was compiled from the returned surveys. The results indicated that veterinarians are more familiar with nutraceutical use in animals than in humans and primarily recommend nutraceuticals to their clients for preventative purposes and/or due to client interest. Veterinarians believed that nutraceuticals were most useful for osteoarthritis and therefore use omega-3 fatty acid and glucosamine/chondroitin products more often than other products for both their patients and their own pets. Safety and efficacy were the most important considerations when deciding which nutraceuticals to recommend to clients. The survey results show that veterinarians are familiar with nutraceuticals and open to their use in patients when they perceive these products to be safe and efficacious.

L'objectif de la présente étude était d'évaluer la compréhension des vétérinaires de l'utilisation des nutraceutiques chez les humains et les animaux de compagnie et leurs motivations et circonstances pour recommander des nutraceutiques aux clients. Nous avons réalisé une enquête transversale auprès de vétérinaires participant à des sessions de formation continue au College of Veterinary Medicine de l'University of Georgia (USA) entre 2012 et 2015 (N = 126). Les informations concernant l'âge, l'année de diplomation, le domaine de pratique, et les approches typiques à l'utilisation des nutraceutiques furent compilées à partir des questionnaires retournés par les vétérinaires. Les résultats indiquèrent que les vétérinaires sont plus familiers avec l'utilisation des nutraceutiques chez les animaux que chez les humains, et qu'ils recommandent les nutraceutiques à leurs clients à des fins préventives et/ou étant donné l'intérêt du client. Les vétérinaires croyaient que les nutraceutiques étaient les plus utiles lors d'ostéo-arthrose et ainsi utilisent des produits avec acides gras oméga-3 et glucosamine/chondroïtine plus souvent que les autres produits autant pour leurs patients que leurs propres animaux. La sécurité et l'efficacité étaient les facteurs les plus importants lors du choix des nutraceutiques à recommander aux clients. Les résultats de l'enquête démontrent que les vétérinaires sont familiers avec les nutraceutiques et sont favorables à leur utilisation chez des patients lorsqu'ils considèrent ces produits comme sécuritaires et efficaces.(Traduit par Docteur Serge Messier).

Over-the-counter stimulant, depressant, and nootropic use by veterinary students.

US veterinary students are subject to significant stress throughout their veterinary education. In this article, the authors characterize the use of over-the-counter (OTC) medications and relate their use to stress in a veterinary student population. Of the students sampled, 35% were OTC medication users; 33% of these were regular OTC medication users. Forty-three percent of students were energy drink (ED) users; 45% of these were regular ED users. OTC medication users had significantly higher stress scores than non-OTC medication users, and ED users had significantly higher anxiety scores than non-ED users. The most common reasons for use given by OTC medication users were to help with studying and to fall asleep at night. Depression scores were significantly higher for juniors and sophomores than for freshmen. Depression, stress, and anxiety scores were all lower in the Colorado State University students when compared with the University of Georgia students. OTC medication and ED veterinary student users had distinct characteristics that differed from those of nonusers. Users suffered from more stress and anxiety and had more difficulties with sleep, which may have affected their overall health and academic performance. Educating veterinary students about the consequences of using OTC medication and ED and providing counseling support may be of benefit to veterinary students' psychological well-being.