skin track;turning your skin to a touchscreen.

A lab at Carnegie Mellon University has made a device that turns the wearer's skin to act as a touchscreen. The Future Interfaces Group, part of the university, have created 'SkinTrack', which "enabled continuous tracking on the skin". A ring, worn on the non-watch hand, emits a "high frequency AC signal" that connect to a sensing wristband, much like the strap of a traditional smartwatch, which is fitted with electrodes.When the ring finger touches the watch-wearing hand, a signal is sent to the watch and allows wearers to navigate their device using their skin. A number of commands are also possible - you can sign documents, for example, and tracing particular letters will bring up particular apps, for example ('E' for email or 'F' for Facebook). Users can also drag apps off of their device and onto their skin, creating "spatial shortcuts", as well as play games, using their finger and arm as controls. The team hopes that it could be used in future development of smartwatches because it is "compact, non-invasive, low-cost and low-powered." The team envision the technology being integrated into future smartwatches, supporting rich touch interactions beyond the confines of the small touchscreen. read more at wired.co.uk

MOTION SENSORS DETECTS LAMENESS IN HORSES.

A research carried out in the university of Missouri-Columbia has come up with a motion sensor called a lameness locator that effectively detects lameness faster than the subjective eye-test. The study published in the Equine Veterinary Journal, Keegan and co-author Meghan McCracken, an equine surgery resident at MU, put special adjustable shoes on horses that temporarily induced symptoms of lameness. The horses were then monitored by the Lameness Locator as well as by a number of veterinarians using any lameness testing methods they wished. If no lameness was detected by either the veterinarians or the Lameness Locator, the special shoes were adjusted slightly to increase the symptoms of lameness. This process was repeated until both the Lameness Locator and the participating veterinarians properly identified in which leg of the horse the lameness was occurring. Keegan and McCracken found that the Lameness Locator was able to correctly identify lameness earlier than veterinarians using subjective eye test methods more than 58 percent of the time and more than 67 percent of the time when the lameness occurred in the hind legs of the horse. Keegan attributes this to the sensors' high sensitivity levels. There are two reasons why the Lameness Locator is better than the naked eye, It samples motion at a higher frequency beyond the capability of the human eye and it removes the bias that frequently accompanies human subjective evaluation. The most common ailment to affect a horse is lameness , equine lameness may begin subtly and can range from a simple mild problem affecting a single limb to a more complicated one affecting multiple limbs, veterinarians and horse owners know that early detection is the key to successful outcomes.If veterinarians can detect lameness earlier, before it gets too bad, it makes treatment much easier. Lameness often goes undetected or undiagnosed entirely, which can cause owners to retire horses earlier than needed, simply because they cannot figure out why the horses are unhealthy. The Lameness Locator, which is now in commercial use, places small sensors on the horse's head, right front limb and croup, near the tail. The sensors monitor and record the horse's torso movement while the horse is trotting. The recorded information is then transferred to a computer or mobile device and compared against databases recorded from the movement of healthy horses and other lame horses. The computer is then able to diagnose whether or not the horse is lame. diagnostic kits # sensor # equine health # computer

CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL IN HORSES.

A new technique has been developed to ease diagnosis issues in horses,the procedure uses a camera pill to aid visualization of the gut. The research was carried out by veterinary researcher Dr. Julia Montgomery in the U of S Western College of Veterinary Medicine. Montgomery worked with equine surgeon Dr. Joe Bracamonte and Khan Wahid, a specialist in health informatics and imaging in the College of Engineering. The team used an endoscopy capsule about the size and shape of a vitamin pill with a camera to have a look inside a horse. The capsule pill endoscopy offers a powerful new tool to diagnose diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and cancer, or to check surgical sites. Researchers could use it to see how well drugs to stimulate bowel action are working, or to answer basic questions such as determining what normal small intestine function looks like. The advantage of this method of diagnosis is that the inside of the horse can be viewed and a better understanding gained as to the normal operations of the intestine,with little or no stress to the animal. The other forms of diagnosis prior to this are endoscopy,exploratory surgery, or laparascopy. The "camera pills" have been in use for human medicine for some time, but have just been used in equine health. The team used in the horse by administering the capsule through a stomach tube directly to the horse's stomach. The journey down the track was noted for the next eight hours, as the capsule and its camera made its way through the horse's small intestine, offering a continuous picture of what was going on. This will really ease diagnosis issues and speed up treatment in horses,thus ensuring equine health is maintained when eventually available.The team plans to run more tests in the next few months on different horses to gather more data so as to provide capsule pill specific to the horses. diagnosis# diagnostic kits# equine health # data #

Diagnosis of enteric diseases in pigs(1).

Sampling by walking: The socks will be 
analysed after having visited the batch. In Denmark, reducing antibiotic treatments in Danish pig production has been a political aim for the past 20 years. A total ban on growth promoters was issued in 1999 which led to a situation where veterinarians only prescribe antibiotics for treatment of clinical cases of disease. As a consequence of an increased total consumption, the yellow card system was issued in 2008 - where farmers who exceed a certain level of antibiotics are penalized by the public authorities. It has resulted in more focus on reducing the antibiotic consumption, through prevention but also by reducing the number of treatment days and the dosage. This increased focus on reduction of antibiotic consumption has led to diseases like diarrhoea and intestinal infections being quite widespread in Denmark, especially in weaners but also finisher pigs where treatments for diarrhoea and intestinal infections are the number one indication for treatment. This has enhanced a lot of researches and techniques for the purpose of improving diagnostics for intestinal infections and, in the end, improving the possibilities of treatment and reducing the antibiotic consumption for these diseases. It became apparent from these studies that so-called Lawsonia diarrhoea was also caused by other bacteria, including E. coli, Brachyspira species and of course Lawsonia intracellularis. In the same period, quantitative PCR tests were developed, and these were validated in research projects in order to improve the diagnostic possibilities for each practicing veterinarian. This has led to the development of what is generally known as ‘the sock method’ which consists of taking a standard sock, walking around all pens in the section to be tested, and the sock is then tested with the quantitative PCR test. The number of bacteria can be used to assess the financial impact and whether there are health-related conditions present in the animals tested. One of the major challenges as a consequence of the reduction of antibiotics is that seven days’ treatment at certain times has been reduced to mainly clinical indication of maximum five days and in many cases down to three days’ treatment. At the same time, the dosage of antibiotics has also sometimes been reduced. Based on these changes in treatment strategies, the timing of antibiotic treatments at batch level has become extremely important. There is a very big risk of targeting pigs for antibiotic treatment at the wrong time and being either too soon or too late. This phenomenon is known from practice, but also from research it has turned out that batches of pigs without signs of diarrhoea can still reveal a very large proportion of animals having intestinal infections. On the other hand, there are situations where there are actually outbreaks of clinical diarrhoea with no or a low occurrence of bacterial intestinal infections in the pigs that have diarrhoea. These situations include conditions as ‘unspecific colitis’ or the newly defined ‘low pathogen’ (LP) diarrhoea. In a present PhD study, it is considered whether sock samples and laboratory diagnostics could be used routinely as a decision tool for determining when treatment should be started in the individual batch. The first preliminary results indicate that it is possible to a certain extent, but currently this would require repeated laboratory tests in each batch of pigs, taking up a considerable amount of time and effort. There is therefore a professional reason to develop such so-called ‘pen site tests’ where farmers will be able to assess the level of pathogens on a daily basis – even in batches without any clinical signs of disease. materials from pig progress.

ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION AND SEX.

A rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex, not a mosquito bite, has been reported in the US.A patient infected in Dallas, Texas, is likely to have been infected by sexual contact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told the BBC The person had not travelled to infected areas but their partner had returned from Venezuela. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. It is spreading through the Americas and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease linked to the virus a global public health emergency. The American Red Cross has meanwhile urged prospective blood donors returning from Zika-hit countries to wait at least 28 days before donating their blood. The "self-deferral" should apply to people returning from Mexico, the Caribbean or Central or South America during the past four weeks, the Red Cross said in a statement. If Zika can readily spread through sex, then it poses a risk to every country not just those with the Aedes mosquito. The authorities have said sexual transmission is rare, but last year they would have said any case of Zika was rare, too. This explosive outbreak has caught the world by surprise and many key questions remain unanswered. Exactly how common or rare is sexual transmission? Can it be spread by the 80% of people who show no symptoms? How long does the virus persist in semen? When is it safe to have sex again? What should men do after visiting affected countries? Can women also spread the virus through sex? However, this is not a new HIV/Aids moment. HIV infection is incurable and dramatically shortens lives without daily medication. Zika infections are short, mild and pose a significant threat only in pregnancy. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director for CDC, said this was the first case it had dealt with involving a "non-traveller"."We don't believe this was spread through mosquito bites, but we do believe it was spread through a sexual contact."A statement issued by the CDC said the best way to avoid Zika virus infection was "to prevent mosquito bites and to avoid exposure to semen from someone who has been exposed to Zika".The case is "significant" if it was definitely transmitted through sexual contact, Alaka Basu, a senior fellow for public health at the UN Foundation. Story credit BBC.

AVIAN INFLUENZA SURVEILLANCE EFFORTS.

The governments of Canada and British Columbia are investing CAD$ 300,000 (€200,000) to strengthen the surveillance, early detection, and response measures to avian flu. The funding will be used to enhance the resources at the Ministry of Agriculture's Animal Health Centre in Abbotsford, British Colombia with specialized equipment to diagnose samples collected in the Ministry's avian flu surveillance efforts. The Ministry of Agriculture will also be targeting owners of small poultry flocks by hosting workshops in different regions focusing on poultry health, and the sharing of information and resources such as the Small Flock Poultry Health Manual. Funds will also be used to support a rapid response to any future outbreaks by having mobile equipment to help any infected poultry premises with the humane depopulation of infected bird populations within the province at all times and to train more people in the use. Education about the virus and biosecurity procedures are paramount to prevention and spread of the bird flu virus.The basic clean, wash and disinfection on farms , better management practices and restriction of visitors to farms play vital roles to stem spread of diseases. Early detection/diagnosis is key to prevent incidence in other farms and wide spread infection over a wide radius range to prevent economic losses. Ministry of Agriculture staff began a pilot surveillance project that collected sediment samples at ponds and wetlands used by wild waterfowl following the December 2014 avian flu outbreak in the Fraser Valley. A research group has worked at developing cutting edge technological advances to be able to test the samples collected from the pilot project for the presence of avian flu strains. Funds will be used to transfer this new technology to the Animal Health Centre. As the pilot project evolves into ongoing surveillance, the ability to diagnose the samples quickly at the Animal Health Centre will greatly enhance early detection efforts. Source; portions of story from world poultry.

MICROSCOPE MADE FROM SMART PHONES.

Learn how smart phones are simplifying disease diagnosis;http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2015/05/microscope-made-smart-phone-diagnoses-deadly-african-parasite

CANCER DIAGNOSIS IN DOGS.

A new test for cancer diagnosis is fast and very accurate ,https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/health-and-care-issues/new-canine-cancer-blood-test-available

New Approach for Viewing Equine Kidneys with Ultrasound

New Approach for Viewing Equine Kidneys with Ultrasound

Equine Diagnostic Imaging 101

Equine Diagnostic Imaging 101

BOVINE PAPILLOMATOSIS.

Papillomatosis also referred to as warts.Its caused by a virus and are various species that are specific.calves are most susceptible. Bovine warts are caused by contagious virus,the papilloma virus.This usually spread by contact from infected cattle to non infected cattle or indirectly from feeders,halters and restraining equipment.

The warts are like cauliflower lesions or flat thickened lesions on the neck,head,trunk,teats and penis.These lesions normally appear 1-6 months after infection and not all infected cattle show lesions. 

The lesions normally spread from ears to other sites,cattle with ear tags or tatoos are prone to infection with secondary bacteria thus causing wide spread purulent discharges . Cattle with these lesion are properly examined if presented for slaughter in the abattoir and the skin should be condemned.