Cases and Abstracts- see what fellow vet students are working on!

By Keiko Petrosky

Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

ABSTRACT: EVALUATING GRADING SYSTEMS FOR ACCURATE PROGNOSIS OF CANINE CUTANEOUS MAST CELL TUMORS

Keiko Y. Petrosky and Barbara J. Davis

Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (TCSVM)

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Pathology

North Grafton, MA

Cutaneous mast cell tumors are common malignant tumors in dogs, composing 10% of all canine tumor diagnoses at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (TCSVM), but commonly used histologic grading systems to assess MCT has limited application with respect to clinical outcome.  Recently, a 2-tiered grading system has been published to better guide prognosis.  Based on the newer criteria, we reclassified MCT with respect to outcome in (n = 402) TCSVM cases over 8 years and in (n = 54) cases with 48-month follow-up.  The Student t-test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the significance of association between outcome and histological grade.  Significance of association between survival times and histological grade was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and appropriate Cox analysis.  Although median survival time correlated with the 3-tiered assessments, most tumors (82%) were classified as grade 2 with a wide distribution of survival times.  After reclassification of all tumors to either low- or high-grade, survival times remained significantly correlated with tumor grade, including those previously classified as grade 2.  Most (94%) of the patients diagnosed with grade 2 tumors reclassified as low-grade and reached the end of the four-year time point; however the survival time for patients diagnosed with grade 2 tumors reclassified as high-grade varied significantly.  We are now evaluating additional biomarkers as tools to predict clinical outcomes.  Preliminary studies show that the traditional proliferation markers AgNOR and Ki67 and aberrant localization of KIT may be useful in further describing these high grade tumors.

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Veterinary Schools use SAVMA Grant funds for creative educational opportunities

Check out some of the fantastic things veterinary schools have been doing with grant money from SAVMA committees lately:

The Atlantic Veterinary College used a grant from SAVMA's Education and Professional Development Committee (EPDC) to host an Oil Spill workshop:

The Oil Spill Rehabilitation Course offered by the AVC Aquatics & Marine Wildlife
Club this spring was a great success! Dr. Helene Van Doninck, a TriState Certified
trainer from the Cobequid Rehabilitation Center in Truro, NS spent two days
teaching eager students, technicians and faculty about the realities of oil spills and
methods in rehabilitation of oiled wildlife. This included a one-day wetlab using
bird cadavers, which allowed the students to practice the handling and clean-up
techniques learned in the previous days lectures. The cost of Dr. Van Doninck’s
accommodations while at the course was graciously covered by a grant received
from SAVMA and the Education and Licensure Grant.

Michigan State University used an EPDC grant to hold a special lunch meeting on antimicrobial resistance

On October 12, the One Health Club at Michigan State's CVM held a panel on antimicrobial resistance
over lunch. Our panel consisted of Dr. Coretta Patterson, a small animal internist, Dr. Ron Erskine, a
food animal veterinarian with special interest in dairy cattle, Dr. Bo Norby, a veterinarian with special
interest in epidemiology and bovine tuberculosis, and Dr. Anthony Ognjan, an infectious disease
specialist in human medicine. These speakers came to answer questions and discuss the unique
challenges of antimicrobial resistance in their specific area of medicine. We were very happy to
welcome members of every veterinary school class and students from the MSU medical school to attend
and participate in asking questions of this panel.

We received very positive feedback from both those who attended and members of the panel.
Everyone seemed to learn a lot, especially with the presence of a human medicine perspective. We
all concluded that in order to understand such a large scale problem as antimicrobial resistance, the
participation of all areas of medicine (veterinary, human, environmental, etc.) is required.

The One Health Club would like to thank SAVMA EPDC for providing us with the funds to carry out this
informative and constructive meeting. We hope to continue to explore this topic in further panels.

Keep up the good and creative work! Thanks to the EPDC for offering the Education and Licensure Grant and to AVC and MSU's students for putting SAVMA's funds to good use! Keep an eye on your email for upcoming grant opportunities from SAVMA.

Return to Regularly Scheduled Blogging

Dear Readers-

We apologize for the interruption in posting this fall- rest assured we are now back to normal! Thank you for your understanding, your reading, and your creative submissions. :)

Thanks,

Ashley Smit

The Vet Gazette Editor

Life as a Vet Student- Advice to the Class of 2015

By Maite Torres

Kansas State University

Class of 2014

After so many years of hard work I finally made it! Now I’m extremely proud to say that I’m a second year veterinary student at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University! EMAW!!

 My first year of vet school counts as the most amazing, stressful, exciting, overwhelming and surprising year of my life. The most memorable part of it actually happened before it started: the day I found out that I was admitted. As many of us do, I applied to multiple schools; however, being a veterinary technician for our Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, being in love with the school and its people, and being a resident of Kansas, all my energy was focused on staying here. To my surprise, God and the CVM had a very special birthday present for me: “You’ve been admitted to KSU-CVM!”. I couldn’t find a way to contain my happiness.

                                     

                                 CVM-KSU Class of 2014 Logo (Photo: Melissa Watts)

Now, as classes began, things started to become a little bit tougher. Coming from Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean, I had and continue to have plenty of things to become adjusted to (even after being in the states for two years already).  Besides climate, language, and culture changes, I have to deal with many other issues. For example, the fact that I come from a loud culture makes it very hard for me to hear (soft voices) and understand what someone is saying if I’m unable to see the person’s face, or the fact that I’m still learning plenty of common phrases that aren’t taught in an English course but in everyday life. Other events that made the transition rough was the fact that I’m here on my own, (all of my family is in Puerto Rico); I had to quit the most exciting and amazing job I’ve ever had, (Zoological Medicine and Dermatology veterinary technician); I had to learn how to balance my personal life with my professional life; and learn how to live off student loans, in other words how to budget time and money. But, if you ask me which of all of these was the hardest transition I would have to say letting my job go; it took me more than one full semester to get over it. However, all of these sacrifices are completely worth it! I’m having the time of my life, making my dream come true.

Dr. James Carpenter and I

              Isla Verde, Puerto Rico

                      Academically, I think the hardest part of the freshman year is the ice breaking event: the first test, the BONES test. Everyone is wondering what it will be like, everyone is nervous, everyone is anxiously awaiting the outcome. Amazingly, everyone passes it and we realize that it is simply another test. All of our late night study sessions paid off. We learned that if we study hard enough the outcome will be what we all expect: to pass! After the first test is out of our way, we have a great celebration called the SHAFT party and then the rest of the year just continues to roll.

I’m so grateful and blessed to be here. I have made great friends, friends I love as the sisters I don’t have, clinicians I love as family, classmates I wouldn’t trade for anything because thanks to them I’ve grown as a person and as a professional. I wouldn’t have made it without the support of my family, my boyfriend’s support and help, and without my friends  

Now, second year BRING IT ON!

Creative Corner- "Flight"

By Kelsey Shaw

Cornell University