Recommendations for management of equine athletes with cardiovascular abnormalities.

Murmurs and arrhythmias are commonly detected in equine athletes. Assessing the relevance of these cardiovascular abnormalities in the performance horse can be challenging. Determining the impact of a cardiovascular disorder on performance, life expectancy, horse and rider or driver safety relative to the owner's future expectations is paramount. A comprehensive assessment of the cardiovascular abnormality detected is essential to determine its severity and achieve these aims. This consensus statement presents a general approach to the assessment of cardiovascular abnormalities, followed by a discussion of the common murmurs and arrhythmias. The description, diagnosis, evaluation, and prognosis are considered for each cardiovascular abnormality. The recommendations presented herein are based on available literature and a consensus of the panelists. While the majority of horses with cardiovascular abnormalities have a useful performance life, periodic reexaminations are indicated for those with clinically relevant cardiovascular disease. Horses with pulmonary hypertension, CHF, or complex ventricular arrhythmias should not be ridden or driven.

An extract of neem leaves reduces anxiety without causing motor side effects in an experimental model.

Anxiety modulation often requires pharmaceutical intervention, and though effective in the short-term, benzodiazepines may cause impaired motor function. As a potential alternative, anxiety-modulating effects of a neem leaf (Azadirachta indica, A Juss) extract were investigated using ethological analysis of rat behaviour on an elevated X maze and compared with diazepam treatment. Sexually immature female Sprague-Dawley rats received 0.07 or 7 mg/kg neem leaf steroidal extract, a sham injection, a 1% DMSO/saline vehicle, 2 mg/kg diazepam or no treatment one hour prior to a recorded five-minute exploration of the elevated X maze. Neem matched diazepam in anxiety reduction as both treatments caused a decrease in per cent protected stretched-attend postures (PPSAP). Neem treatment had no effect on closed arm entries or total rears, distinguishing it pharmacologically from diazepam which resulted in a predictable decrease in those locomotor measures. Whereas both neem and diazepam reduced anxiety in complex ethological behavioural indices, only neem produced anxiolysis without motor deficiency.

Progress in medical education in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies: implementation of problem-based learning at the St. Augustine Campus.

This paper reviews some of the developmental procedures regarding changes in Medical Education within the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies. Discussed are some of the constraints experienced in attempting curriculum changes in the established Medical School at Mona, Jamaica, as compared with the implementation of a Problem-based Learning Strategy curriculum at the Eric Williams Medical Complex, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. At Mona, integration of disciplines, Community-health and other programmes were attempted. However, it was at the Eric Williams Complex, a new school, that the Faculty of Medical Sciences was able to implement a problem-based programme.

Ethics and law in the medical curriculum--a university of the West Indies perspective.

The Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS), University of the West Indies, recognizes that ethics and law are not currently given adequate importance in the training of health professionals. FMS also recognizes the rapid advancement of technology, such as transplants, artificial organs, in vitro fertilization, life-sustaining equipment and euthanasia, as well as the ever-increasing prevalence of malpractice. Thus, two conferences were held to consider the implementation of ethics and law in the medical curriculum. The conferences recommended an increased input into the curriculum of ethics and law, and that this programme be taught and examined in all the medical years. The article discusses implementation strategies.

Mesolimbic deficits exacerbate amphetamine treatment. Clinical implications for drug abusers.

Amphetamine, a common drug used by abusers, is able to produce a schizophreniform psychosis in man. The experiment reported here examined amphetamine in relation to its role in the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) and the globus pallidus. The effects produced by apomorphine, a direct dopamine (DA) agonist, were compared with those of amphetamine, a known indirect DA agonist. The data revealed that amphetamine in NAS-lesioned animals produced very active stereotypy which intensified with time. This effect was blocked by pallidal lesioning. Apomorphine in pallidectomised rats produced persistent stereotypy, but of diminished intensity. The results are discussed in terms of the mediating roles of the NAS and globus pallidus on behavioural sequelae.

Photoreceptor evoked potentials and phototactic behaviour in Cercaria caribbea LXXI cable.

1. Transient potential changes evoked in response to light stimuli, and presumably arising from rhabdomeric eye-spots in the cercarial body, were recorded for the first time, to our knowledge, in helminth parasites. 2. Pigmented Cercaria caribbea LXXI gave a very slowly adapting response to maintained light stimulus, while a non-pigmented variety appeared to emit a stronger, rapidly adapting response to light onset. 3. Swimming towards a directional light source is disrupted by several neuropharmacological agents, which presumably disturb synaptic transmission in the nerve/muscle system. 4. The light evoked potentials were unaffected by these same agents and therefore, appeared to be directly recorded receptor potentials.