Assessment of post-operative pain in cats: a case study on veterinary students of Universiti Putra Malaysia.

The ability to assess and control pain is listed as one of the desired Day One competencies among veterinary graduates. As such, a study was conducted to examine the current status and effectiveness of a video-based training module on the attitude toward and knowledge of pain assessment in cats among fourth- and final-year veterinary students of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in January of 2013. A total of 92 students participated in this study, resulting in a response rate of 60.1%. Upon completion of a pre-training survey, the respondents undertook an interactive video-based presentation, followed by a post-training survey. The majority of the students (96.7%) agreed on the importance of pain management. Before the training, many (76.1%) disagreed that they had received adequate training, while 53.3% were not confident in their pain-recognition skills. After training, their knowledge and confidence in pain assessment increased. Responses to the survey were not associated with differences in gender, level of study, or field of interest. Students were found to have mistaken some physiologic parameters as good pain indicators after ovariohysterectomy. Their assessment of three standardized video cases revealed that they could recognize prominent signs of pain but failed to identify changes in behavior that were more subtle. Refinement to the training module is required to address the above deficiencies.

Pre-emptive multimodal analgesia with tramadol and ketamine-lidocaine infusion for suppression of central sensitization in a dog model of ovariohysterectomy.

OBJECTIVES: The effects of pre-emptive infusion of ketamine-lidocaine with tramadol on the suppression of central sensitization were investigated in a dog ovariohysterectomy model. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve dogs were randomly assigned to two groups: ketamine-lidocaine-tramadol (KLT) and tramadol (T) groups. Both groups received intravenous tramadol 4 mg/kg body weight as premedication. Immediately after induction, the KLT group received ketamine and lidocaine at 0.5 and 2 mg/kg loading dose, followed by continuous rate infusion of 50 and 100 µg/kg/min, respectively, for 2 hours. Dogs in T group received saline bolus and continuous rate infusion at equi-volume. Intraoperatively, hemodynamic responses to surgical stimulation were recorded, whereas postoperative pain was evaluated using an algometer and short form of the Glasgow composite measure pain scale. RESULTS: Intraoperatively, hemodynamic responses to surgical stimulation were obtunded to a greater degree in KLT compared to T group. Postoperatively, the pain scores increased only for the first hour in KLT group, compared to 12 hours in T group. Mechanical thresholds at the abdomen decreased postoperatively between 12 and 60 hours in KLT group versus the entire 72 hours in T group. Thresholds at tibia and radius in both groups increased in the immediate 1 hour postoperatively, but decreased thereafter. Significant decrement of thresholds from baseline were detected in the tibia at 24, 42, and 60 hours in KLT group compared to 24-72 hours in T group, and in the radius between 36 and 48 hours in T group, but none in KLT group. CONCLUSION: Addition of pre-emptive ketamine-lidocaine infusion to single intravenous dose of tramadol enhanced attenuation of central sensitization and improved intra- and postoperative analgesia.

Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of Bali bull (Bos javanicus) seminal plasma proteins and their relationship with semen quality.

The present study evaluated the relationship between Bali bull (Bos javanicus) seminal plasma proteins and different semen quality parameters. Semen samples from 10 mature Bali bulls were evaluated for conventional semen parameters (general motility, viability, and normal morphology), sperm functionality (acrosome reaction, sperm penetration rate, sperm penetration index), sperm kinetics (computer-assisted semen analysis parameters such as sperm velocity), and sperm morphology (acrosome and membrane integrity). Frozen-thawed semen with higher sperm motility, viability, acrosome integrity, and membrane integrity (P < 0.05) are consistently higher in acrosome reaction and sperm penetration assay. Three bulls showed the highest, four bulls displayed the medium, and the remaining three bulls showed the lowest for all sperm parameters and SPA. The proteome maps of seminal plasma from high-quality and low-quality Bali bulls were also established. Seminal plasma of both high-quality and low-quality Bali bulls was subjected to two-dimensional SDS-PAGE with isoelectric point ranged from 3 to 10 and molecular weight from 10 to 250 kDa. Approximately 116 spots were detected with Blue Silver stain, and of these spots, 29 were selected and identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS/MS. A majority of the proteins visualized in the seminal plasma two-dimensional maps was successfully identified. An essential group of the identified spots represented binder of sperm 1 (BSP1), clusterin, spermadhesin, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP-2), and phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Other proteins found in high abundance included seminal ribonuclease, serum albumin, cationic trypsin, and peptide similar to ß2 microglobulin. Thus, a reference map of Bali bull seminal plasma proteins has been generated for the very first time and can be used to relate protein pattern changes to physiopathologic events that may influence Bali bull reproductive performance.