|
News you need to know  Top
The cancer fight heats up
A professor at North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine is turning up the heat on cancerous tumors in dogs in an effort to fight the disease in both animals and humans. Dr. Don Thrall is using high-intensity heat, along with conventional radiation, to treat dogs with naturally occurring tumors, which are better disease models than tumors created in the laboratory. If the therapy shows some benefit in animals, it likely will be successful in treating human cancers. For more information, contact David Green at (919) 513-6662 or david_green@ncsu.edu.
Putting the herpes virus to work
As they look for new gene therapies to advance cancer treatment, Dr. Konstantin Kousoulas and his colleagues at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine have their sights on a herpes virus that may be able to fight breast cancer. Although herpes viruses get a bad rap because they cause embarrassing lesions like cold sores, they are proving beneficial in fighting other, more serious diseases. According to Kousoulas, the herpes virus engineered at LSU destroys cancer cells and has the potential to work as a vaccine to prevent cancer from spreading. For more information, contact Ginger Guttner at (225) 578-9922 or gguttner@vetmed.lsu.edu.
Sniffing out the dangers of black mold
Researchers at Michigan State University have determined that toxins in black mold can kill nerve cells in mice that are essential to the sense of smell. The findings, the first of their kind according to Dr. Jack Harkema, a professor in the university's College of Veterinary Medicine, may help in detecting whether similar cell death occurs in humans exposed to toxic black mold. The mold can be found lurking in damp basements and behind the walls of flood-damaged homes. Toxic black mold has already been linked to dangerous respiratory conditions in humans. For more information on Dr. Harkema's study, contact Linda Chadderdon at (517) 355-5165 or chadderd@cvm.msu.edu. For more information on how black mold can affect pet health, go to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association at http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.231.5.731.
News you might not know Top
Taking the bite out of rabies shots
Rabies vaccinations for people could be less painful and less expensive because of research being conducted by Dr. Zhen Fu and his colleagues at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine. Fu's study focuses on developing a new rabies vaccine for both people and animals. He is working on a vaccine potent enough that people would need fewer than the five shots currently required for those bitten by rabid animals or animals suspected of being rabid. The vaccines would also be used in domestic and wild animals to protect them from rabies infection. For more information, contact Tracy Giese at (706) 583-5485 or tellus@vet.uga.edu.
News you can use Top
A sampling of interesting upcoming events and pet-related campaigns ...
American Association of Equine Practitioners Annual Convention, Dec. 1, 2007 – Dec. 5, 2007: More than 4,000 equine veterinarians will gather in Orlando, Fla., to share their insights and learn from the experts on such topics as Lessons from Barbaro, Equine Disaster Preparedness, and Managing Infectious Disease Outbreaks at Events and Farms. For more information, go to http://www.aaep.org/convention.htm.
|
