uc davis | Horse Racing Free Tips

New California Veterinary Emergency Team To Coordinate Training, Response

University of California, Davis, leaders, veterinarians and California legislators unveiled on Tuesday a new emergency program to help rescue animals in disasters. Called the California Veterinary Emergency Team and administered by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the program will support and train a network of government agencies, individuals and organizations to aid domestic animals and livestock during emergencies.

California is providing $3 million a year for the California Veterinary Emergency Team, under legislation authored by Sen. Steve Glazer and incorporated into the state budget recently signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The program will be modeled after the UC Davis-led Oiled Wildlife Care Network, created in 1994 to mobilize volunteers and professionals to rescue and treat shorebirds and other wildlife that are injured during oil spills.

“We want to create a robust, coordinated effort statewide to help animals during disasters,” said Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network and executive director of the One Health Institute. “The California Veterinary Emergency Team will bring together state and county agencies and organizations charged with emergency response to help them organize, train and adopt best practices.”

A primary goal of the new California Veterinary Emergency Team is to increase response capacity and help standardize disaster response across counties, bringing together disparate and fragmented groups. Currently, the California Animal Response Emergency System, or CARES, within the California Department of Food and Agriculture is charged with managing evacuation and care of animals during emergencies. They also work with community animal response teams and nonprofit organizations.

“Recent wildfires have overwhelmed the state's ability to safely evacuate and care for household animals and livestock,” Sen. Glazer said. “Twice in the past five years we have had to call on Texas to send an emergency team to assist. That puts not just animals at risk but also increases the danger for residents and first responders if people stay behind fire lines because they fear their animals will not be cared for. We need this new team to help train, coordinate and lead the hundreds of volunteers who are eager to help. Our goal is a team that is ready to respond anywhere in the state with a mobile command center, a clinic if necessary, and the veterinarians, equipment and medicine to get the job done.”

The California Veterinary Emergency Team would be available to mobilize response to disasters anywhere in California, operating under a memorandum of understanding with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Office of Emergency Services. Between disasters, the team would recruit, train and drill volunteers, conduct research, and train veterinarians and veterinary students on best practices in shelter and emergency medicine.

UC Davis has provided leadership in veterinary disaster response through its Veterinary Emergency Response Team, Wildlife Disaster Network partnership formed with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and its Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital disaster patient care. UC Davis VERT and hospital teams typically triage, evaluate, treat and/or rescue more than 1,000 animals in the field in every fire. During the 2018 Camp Fire alone, the teams helped more than 1500 animals, including 70 that were brought in for treatment at the hospital.

“The funding of the California Veterinary Emergency Team provides unprecedented resources that will bring multiple partners across the state of California together to enhance recruitment, coordination, and training of volunteers, veterinarians and veterinary students in best practices in disaster response and sheltering of animals in disasters,” said Michael Lairmore, former dean and distinguished professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Lairmore said the university is committed to working with partners across the state to ensure that the California Veterinary Emergency Team program is successful. Developing the California Veterinary Emergency Team is expected to take some time. It's anticipated the program will be in an organizational phase during this fire season.

The post New California Veterinary Emergency Team To Coordinate Training, Response appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

PET Scan Research On Racehorses Translates To Clinical Breakthroughs For Sport, Pleasure Horses

Standing equine positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is not just for racehorses anymore. In the first four months since the installation of the MILEPET scanner at the UC Davis veterinary hospital, 100 horses have been imaged; more than half were performance and pleasure horses.

Fractures in horses are often fatal, so diagnosing and preventing these leg injuries are essential to equine health. Pioneered at UC Davis in 2016, equine PET imaging initially required horses to undergo general anesthesia, with 150 horses imaged over five years. Modifications to allow PET imaging on standing horses under sedation greatly increased its applications.

Under the guidance of UC Davis veterinary radiologists, the original MILEPET scanner has been in use at Santa Anita Park since December 2019, where it has provided imaging at the molecular level to monitor racehorse health and guide training and medical care. In a year and a half, more than 200 racehorses have been imaged with the scanner, several on multiple occasions. In addition, the increased safety, reduced costs, and improved ease of use of the new scanner is now also responsible for the expansion of its use into other disciplines.

PET imaging has become simple with the MILEPET scanner. A small dose of a radioactive dye is injected about 30 minutes prior to imaging. This dye distributes through the body and accumulates at sites of active injuries. The horse is then sedated similarly as with many veterinary procedures, such as taking X-rays. The scanner is wheeled up to the horse and an openable ring of detectors loosely closes around the limb. It takes between 3-5 minutes to image each site. In less than 30 minutes, both front feet and both front fetlocks can be imaged.

Radiographs alone of foot lameness show unremarkable results. But when fused with PET, a collateral ligament attachment injury and a bruised heel are revealed.

Of the recent 100 horses imaged at UC Davis, 45 were racehorses from Golden Gate Fields. The main area of focus in these horses is the fetlock, as this is the most common site of injuries that can lead to catastrophic breakdowns. The other 55 horses represent a diverse population of UC Davis veterinary hospital patients, including high-level showjumpers, western performance horses, and pleasure horses. In this population, hooves and fetlocks have been the areas most commonly imaged, as they are the most common sources of lameness.

Standing PET has also been successfully utilized for imaging of the hock. Lameness localized to the hock can be challenging, as X-rays and ultrasound are inconclusive in a number of cases. Standing hock MRI is difficult because the horse needs to remain still for 45 minutes. Within 10 minutes, a PET scan can help identify arthritis or suspensory issues as the cause of the lameness.

“Beyond the impressive numbers, the type of cases scanned has also changed,” explained Dr. Mathieu Spriet, the radiologist leading equine PET development at UC Davis. “PET used to be considered the last imaging resort when all other imaging modalities had been exhausted and more information was still needed. Now, PET can be considered as an option earlier in the diagnostic process.”

Different imaging modalities can also be combined to provide the most accurate picture. In some cases, PET and X-rays will provide all the information necessary to decide on a treatment plan. In other cases, MRI of a specific area can be performed after PET, and the combination of PET and MRI data provides the most comprehensive assessment of the situation.

Another interesting novel application of PET is for the assessment of laminitis. This severely debilitating condition can be difficult to manage, and monitoring the activity of the disease is particularly important for adapting trimming and shoeing to make the horse comfortable. PET provides information not only on the inflammation present in the hoof, but also about the health of the coronary band, the area responsible for hoof growth.

[Story Continues Below]

“It is exciting to see an imaging modality that started here as a long-shot idea more than six years ago to now be in full clinical use at the UC Davis veterinary hospital,” said Dr. Spriet. “The continued support from our Center for Equine Health and the collaborative work with LONGMILE Veterinary Imaging have been paramount to this success.”

The use of PET will keep growing in the sport and pleasure horse populations. Ease of use and affordability make it an excellent first choice for advanced imaging, as the costs and time to image two feet and two fetlocks with PET are less than for the MRI of a single foot. In addition to being used for identification of an injury, the “functional” imaging properties of PET—assessing the activity of injuries—are particularly helpful for monitoring rehabilitation.

The post PET Scan Research On Racehorses Translates To Clinical Breakthroughs For Sport, Pleasure Horses appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

UC Davis Standing Equine PET Scanner Now In Use At Golden Gate Fields

The UC Davis standing equine positron emission tomography (PET) scanner is officially in use at Golden Gate Fields racetrack in Berkeley, CA, providing imaging at the molecular level to monitor racehorse health and guide training and medical care. The scanner (the MILEPET from LONGMILE Veterinary Imaging) allows for imaging of a horse's leg while under mild sedation, eliminating the time, cost, and health risks associated with general anesthesia. In use at the UC Davis veterinary hospital since March, the instrument has been transported by a team of UC Davis veterinarians and technicians to the equine hospital at Golden Gate Fields once a week for the past month.

Dr. Mathieu Spriet, the equine radiologist who pioneered equine PET, is very enthusiastic about this new development. “Running the PET scanner at Golden Gate Fields brings multiple benefits,” said Spriet. “First, it provides Northern California horseracing with the same technology that has helped improve racehorse health and safety in Southern California. Second, it demonstrates that the equine PET scanner can be efficiently transported and shared between multiple sites, reducing costs and increasing availability. And finally, it opens the door to more research opportunities with performing multicenter studies.”

This achievement was made possible thanks to support from the UC Davis Center for Equine Health and the Stronach Group, owners of the Golden Gate Fields racetrack. Both parties have been intimately involved with the development of equine PET. The Center for Equine Health was at the origin of the very first equine PET performed in Davis in 2015 and has since supported the development of the modality by funding several research projects as well as a clinical program. The Stronach Group has had a key role in the last two years by providing partial support to develop the first scanner allowing imaging of standing horses in an effort to prevent catastrophic breakdown in racehorses.

The original MILEPET, owned by the Southern California Equine Foundation with support from the Stronach Group, has been in use at Santa Anita Park since December 2019. In a year and a half, over 200 horses have been imaged with the scanner, several on multiple occasions. Research projects supported by the Grayson Jockey Club and the Dolly Green Research Foundations have helped characterize the value of PET scanning in racehorses. The PET scanner is ideal for imaging the fetlock (the horse's ankle), which is the most common site for catastrophic injuries in racehorses. The first research study performed at Santa Anita demonstrated that PET was far superior to bone scan, another imaging technique in use at the racetrack, for identifying injuries in the sesamoid bones (the small bones at the back of the ankle). Two subsequent studies demonstrated the value of PET to monitor injuries while healing and joint health as horses go back into training.

The use of PET at Santa Anita, in combination with the use of MRI and medication rule changes, is one of several factors that have led to a marked decrease in the number of fatalities between 2019 and 2020. Based on this success, the Stronach Group was eager to offer the same technology at Golden Gate Fields. The proximity to UC Davis offered a unique opportunity to utilize the scanner at both sites. It is currently available at the UC Davis veterinary hospital four days a week and one day a week at Golden Gate Fields. The relative small size (4 x 5 feet, 300 lbs) and mobility of the scanner make it possible to load in a trailer, drive the hour from Davis to Berkeley, and start scanning about 30 minutes after arriving at the racetrack.

To date, 36 horses have been scanned in the first six weeks of operation at Golden Gate Fields. All scans are performed by a UC Davis team led by Dr. Mathieu Spriet and a Golden Gate Fields team, led by Dr. Casille Batten, veterinarian for the Stronach Group. All four fetlocks of a horse can be imaged in 15 to 30 minutes. A new barn was built at the Golden Gate Fields equine hospital specifically for the PET horses, making it possible to scan six horses in one imaging session. Up to 12 horses can be imaged in one day. Two projects, one evaluating horses with injuries and the other assessing horses with no signs of injuries, are ongoing with the support of the Oak Tree and Dolly Green Research Foundations. Both studies aim at comparing findings from horses imaged at Golden Gate Fields with those imaged at Santa Anita. As the two sites use different types of race surfaces, (i.e. synthetic at Golden Gate Fields and dirt at Santa Anita), these studies will help document and compare the effect of the different surfaces on the horses' bones.

Day 1 Of Baffert Appeals Hearing Casts Doubt On Laboratory Procedures

The Arkansas Racing Commission has heard its first in two days of evidence related to an appeal from trainer Bob Baffert from his high profile 2020 cases in the state. Baffert is appealing two post-race positive drug tests — one from 2020 Arkansas Derby winner Charlatan and one from stablemate Gamine, who ran at Oaklawn on the same day — as well as a subsequent 15-day suspension issued by stewards for those positives.

The stewards issued their ruling in July 2020 following the races in May. Baffert has said publicly the two positive tests, both for lidocaine, were due to the use of an over-the-counter pain patch by top assistant Jimmy Barnes.

A split sample test performed by the University of Calfornia-Davis lab also revealed the presence of lidocaine metabolites.

At Monday's hearing, attorneys for Baffert outlined seven reasons why they believe the three rulings (the two disqualifications and trainer suspension) should be dropped, primarily focusing on the actions of the drug testing lab.

At the start of 2020, Truesdail Laboratories in Irvine, Calif., was the facility contracted to perform drug testing for Arkansas racing. In March, Truesdail lost its accreditation for horse racing testing from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and as a result, it also lost its accreditation from the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). Some jurisdictions, including Arkansas, could no longer legally send their samples to Truesdail without those accreditations.

Truesdail decided to subcontract out some of its work from affected jurisdictions to Industrial Laboratories, which had maintained all the required accreditations. Baffert's attorneys maintain that the terms of the commission's contract with Truesdail doesn't permit subcontracting for drug testing, although the commission disputes this. Dr. Anthony Fontana, technical services manager at Truesdail, said it's actually quite common for one lab to subcontract out to another under various circumstances, such as equipment failure or other logistical issues.

Because of the lab shuffle, post-race samples from Arkansas Derby weekend were sent to Truesdail, which checked them, logged them into the lab's computer system. From there, it seems a number of mistakes were made. Testimony from Truesdail project manager Julie Hagihara revealed that the blood and urine samples from Charlatan, though correctly identified as coming from a colt at the time of collection, were logged by Truesdail as coming from a gelding. Hagihara pointed out that a horse's gender is not considered to be relevant for the purposes of testing for lidocaine.

The samples from Charlatan and Gamine were taken out of the cooler that transported them from the track to Truesdail and put in different coolers for the trip to Industrial – which Baffert's attorneys said was done without the proper paperwork validating the chain of custody.

Representatives of both Industrial and UC-Davis indicated the samples they received were still in the original containers with the red tape seals intact. Baffert attorney Craig Robertson drew several witnesses' attention to a case involving a betamethasone overage by Steve Hobby at the same meet which he says was dismissed in part because the stewards had chain of custody concerns when Truesdail repackaged samples before sending on them to Industrial for testing.

But Dr. Joseph Lokanc, commission veterinarian for the commission, remembered that there was more to the chain of custody question in that case.

“I thought the defect was, when they checked it in, the samples were not cool, there were things missing and as a result they didn't have the chain of custody on that,” Lokanc recalled.

About two weeks after the race, Truesdail officials erroneously told the racing commission that all samples from the Arkansas Derby card were clear. Several days later, Truesdail contacted the commission to notify them of the mistake.

Hagihara signed the original paperwork certifying the positive test, even though she was employed by a different laboratory than the one that conducted the testing – which Baffert's legal team believes invalidates the certification.

Truesdail's accreditation woes in 2020 were not its first; in 2015, the lab was the subject of a quality check by the RMTC after the Indiana Horse Racing Commission voiced concerns over seven missed drug overages revealed during an audit. It has now regained ISO accreditation but not its RMTC accreditation. RMTC lifted its accreditation suspension of the lab in August 2020, but suspended it again in February of this year. Industrial now has a direct contract to do drug testing for the Arkansas commission.

“This current RMTC suspension had nothing to do with our technical ability or faulty systems,” said Fontana. “RMTC itself is not an internationally-recognized accreditation body. They are an advisory board for the industry that offers a form of accreditation but it's not internationally-recognized.”

Fontana currently serves on the RMTC's Scientific Advisory Committee, according to Truesdail's website.

Split samples that were taken on race day were tested by the University of California-Davis, which actually detected a higher concentration of lidocaine metabolites than Industrial had. Testimony revealed that other horses during the Oaklawn meet also had levels of lidocaine in their post-race samples, although the others did not exceed the regulatory threshold to qualify as violations.

Baffert is not scheduled to formally testify at the appeals hearing, which will continue Tuesday, but was present at the proceedings in case he needed to field questions from commissioners.

The post Day 1 Of Baffert Appeals Hearing Casts Doubt On Laboratory Procedures appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post