Dear Colleague,
On behalf of the local organizing committee for the EVECCS 2010 Congress I would like to make you aware that Registration is now OPEN.
Below is a flyer for the event. You can find further information and register at www.eveccs2010.org
With small animal veterinarian and nursing programmes, an equine programme, social events and a beautiful city EVECCS 2010 is set to be a success. Why not come and join us?
Please help us by distributing this email to anyone you know who may be interested in attending.
Please note Royal Canin offers a number of free registrations to young veterinarians and vet nurses on a first come first served basis, young applicants should book and pay for their registrations and Royal Canin will refund them prior to Congress if they are selected within the first group.
If you are interested in submitting an abstract then please also see the information on the website.
Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you in Cambridge.
Toby Birch
EVECCS 2010 Local Organising Committee
www.eveccs2010.org
EVECCS 2010 will be held from 18th - 20th June 2010 at the University Arms, Cambridge CB2 1AD
A Pre-congress day will be held on 17th June 2010
Programme attached. A registration form can be downloaded from the 'news' section of the website.
Dear SAMSoc colleagues,
Many will remember the talk Prof Martin Bland gave at our meeting last year. His secretary has asked me to post the following advert for a course on statistics for vets this October (four day) entitled 'Introduction to Statistics for Vets', to be delivered by Professor Bland himself at the University of York. Attached is the flyer.
Regards,
Stijn.
SAMSoc Autumn meet taking place at Warwick University 25th October 2019.
Visit www.samsoc.org to register!
Do you have an interesting or unusual small animal medicine case that would be suitable to present as an oral abstract? The Small Animal Medicine Society (SAMSoc) is currently inviting submissions for the case report session during the pre BSAVA satellite meeting on April 1st 2009.
This Competition is open to anyone with an interest in canine or feline medicine. Suitable cases should have interesting discussion points but need not necessarily be so unusual that they would be considered publishable.
Three case reports will be selected by the SAMSOC committee for presentation during the meeting (12 minutes plus 3 minute for questions).
Successful selection entitles the author to free registration for the meeting.
At the end of the session the audience will vote by ballot for their favourite case report. Each presenter will then be awarded a prize which has been kindly donated by Vetoquinol: 1st place £300, 2nd place £150, 3rd place £50.
If you are interested in submitting a case report for consideration please contact Alison Ridyard (Alison.Ridyard@ed.ac.uk.) for details.
The deadline for submission is February 1st 2009
We're delighted to announce details of the SAMSoc Pre-BSAVA Satellite Meeting:
Date: Wednesday April 1st 2009Venue: Hall 8a, ICC, Birmingham
Timetable:
8.30 - 9am
Registration
9 - 10
Thoracic CT
Charlotte Whatmough (UK)
10 - 11
Thoracoscopy for medics
Eric Monnet (USA)
11 - 11.30
Break
11.30-12.15
Case Reports - sponsored by Vetoquinol
12.15 - 1.15
Current management of Diabetes Mellitus in people
Dr Aldibbiat (UK)
1.15 -2.30
Lunch
2.30-3.30
A logical approach to changed mental status
Natasha Olby (USA)
3.30-4.30
Interpretation of bone marrow cytology
Reinhard Mischke (Germany)
4.30-5pm
AGM
Satellite meeting fees (lunch is included) - members £65, Non members £95. SAMSOC annual membership - £25
We would like to invite submission of interesting case reports. There will be three presentations each lasting 12 minutes (plus 3 minutes for questions). If you have a case that you would like to present please e-mail an outline (up to 500 words) to Alison.Ridyard@ed.ac.uk by the 1st February 2009. The programme co-ordinators will review the submissions and inform people of the selected cases by the 1st March 2009. This is a chance for sharing your interesting and unusual cases with the group and we look forward to some interesting submissions. This year in addition to free registration, there will be prizes for the best case reports (first prize £300, second £150 , third £50).
If you are interested in joining the society or attending the meeting contact medicinereferrals@hotmail.com or iab@vetspecialists.co.uk. You may also click here for more details.
If you wish to register for the SAMSoc pre-BSAVA meeting on April 2009 then please print the attached form and send the completed form and payment to the address shown.
Please note that the deadline for catering arrangements is March 13th. Lunch will only be provided to those who have registered and paid before this date!
We would like to announce a new facility in the SAMSoc website. We are inviting members to list details of any clinical trials that they are currently undertaking, within the SAMSoc Wiki.
Our hope is that by distributing this information to our members, case recruitment for your study will increase. It may also lead to collaboration with other groups.
In time, it will also build into a valuable, searchable database of research work carried out by our members.
After completion and successful publication of any trails you have posted, we would appreciate it if you could post an abstract of the work (within the Wiki with an appropriate journal citation) for our members to view.
Details of how to upload your trail data and the information required in the post can be found in the Wiki section of the SAMSoc page (you will find Wiki in the quick links menu on the right of the page). If you have any problems please contact us.
A "News" feature will be distributed intermittently to all members to summaries deatils of recently posted trails
Our first research post is from Stijn Niessen of the RVC. He is inviting vets, nurses and owners to complete a short questionnaire on patients undergoing therapy for diabetes mellitus. Further details on how to source the questionnaires can be found in his post in the SAMSoc Wiki.
Brain Catchpole and Lucy Davidson are collaborating with a number of centres to investigate the genetic basis of several canine endocrine disorders.They are keen to recruit samples (serum and EDTA blood) from dogs suffering from the following disorders:
· neonatal diabetes mellitus (i.e. diabetes onset < 1 yr of age)
· diabetes in high risk breeds (Samoyed, Cairn terrier, Tibetan terrier, Polish Lowland Sheepdog)
· dioestrus diabetes
· lymphocytic thyroiditis / hypothyroidism
· hypoadrenocorticism
Further details can be found in the WIKI of the SAMSOC website
Other projects posted on the SAMSOC website
Stijn Nelson’s Diabetes Treatment Survey for vets, nurses and owners – further details for case recruitment can be found in the WIKI
If you would like to announce recruitment details for a clinical trial, please logo onto to the SAMSoc Wiki or contact a member of the SAMSOC committee.
After a record number of submissions we are please to announce that the 3 finalists have been selected. In no particular order they are
The cases will be presented during the SAMSOC day and audience voting will select the winner.
Registration forms and the speaker schedule for the SAMSOC meeting 1st April 2009 can be found on the website ( alternatively contact medicinereferrals@hotmail.com or iab@vetspecialists.co.uk ).
Note - we are unable to provide a lunch for registrations received after March 12th
Hi everyone,
We hope that everyone who was able to attend this years SAMSOC meeting enjoyed the day.
We are already starting to consider lecture subjects for next year so if you have any ideas please contact us.
Stijn is currently processing the feedback questionaires, but would like to hear from any members who did not come, particularly if it was because you didn't find the program appealing. We hope there are not many of the latter, but if you didn't like the look of the programme we would find your comments invaluable.
Alison Ridyard has stepped down from the programme commitee and we would like to thank her again for her hard work during the last five years. During the AGM Sheena Warmen was voted in as her replacement .
I am sure you will agree the case report session (sponsored by Vetoquinol) was a success. The winners based on audience voting were
Thanks again to all of the members who submitted a report and we hope we can look forward to another quality case report session next year. We are currently working on securing prize sponsership for next years submission
Picture shows: Prize winners, from left to right - Russell Roan (Vetoquinol), Flo Juvet (3rd place), Alistair Stewart (2nd place) and Lucy Goodwin (1st place), Ian Battersby
Membership renewal information attached.
Feline Chronic Kidney Disease: Use of oral phosphate binders -
Harriet Syme and Colleagues RVC
As part of ongoing research into Feline Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) at the Royal Veterinary College, and the Clinical Investigation Centre (CIC) is working with an animal health company to verify the efficacy of a novel palatable phosphate binder that will hopefully proceed to drug registration.
Recruited cases with be entitled to free diagnostic tests including initial ultrasound, serial biochemistry, urinalysis, blood pressure analysis and fundic examination. In addition to comprehensive investigation of renal disease by internal medicine clinicians with a special interest in this field
Voucher will also be provided to assist with ongoing care at the referring practice
Further details ( including contacts) about the project can be found in the WIKI of the SAMSOC website
Other projects posted on the SAMSOC website ( within the Wiki)
· Brain Catchpole and Lucy Davidson are collaborating with a number of centres to investigate the genetic basis of several canine endocrine disorders. They are keen to recruit samples (serum and EDTA blood) from dogs suffering from a number of endocrine disorders – see wiki section
· Stijn Nelson’s Diabetes Treatment Survey for vets, nurses and owners – further details for case recruitment can be found in the WIKI
NOTE- If you would like to announce recruitment details for a clinical trial, please logo onto to the SAMSoc Wiki or contact a member of the SAMSOC committee.
The SAMSOC committee is please to announce that Vetoquinol has agreed to sponser next years case report competition.
The competition will have a similar format to last year with audience voting deciding the winners from the 3 choosen finalists
1st -£300
2nd -£150
3rd - £50
We will circulate more details later in the year but in the mean time keep an eye out for suitable cases
Ian
Congenital PSS in Birman Cats - DNA Project
Angie Hibbert and Proffessor Tim Gruffydd-Jones at the Feline Centre (Bristol) In conjunction with Professor Leslie Lyons (UC Davies) are currently looking into the predispoistion of Birman cats to congenital porotsystemic shunts. They are looking to obtain DNA smaples from affected cats and their siblings. A simple buccal swab is required and if possible details of the cats pedigree.
More details can be found in the SAMSOC Wiki
Harriet Syme and Colleagues RVC are recruiting cases for a clinical trail evaluating the use of oral phosphate binders in Feline Chronic Kidney Disease -
Stijn Nelson’s Diabetes Treatment Survey for vets, nurses and owners
Brain Catchpole and Lucy Davidson are collaborating with a number of centres to investigate the genetic basis of several canine endocrine disorders. They are keen to recruit samples (serum and EDTA blood) from dogs suffering from a number of endocrine disorders
Feedback Form Responses pre-BSAVA Satellite Meeting SAMSOC 2009
Below you will find feedback from people attending the 2009 SAMSOC satellite meeting. You'll find that the great majority of people had a great day. We hope to use positive and negative comments to make the 2010 meeting even more worthwhile! Do you still want to provide feedback? (even if you did not attend, i.e. why not?), please drop a line on: sniessen@rvc.ac.uk or simply respond to this news item on this website, by hitting the reply button.
SAMSOC Programme Committee
Administration/facilities: Responses (%)
Registration procedure
1. Poor 0 0%
2. Adequate 0 0%
3. Good 7/22 32%
4. Excellent 15/22 68%
Lecture room facilities
2. Adequate 5/22 23%
3. Good 13/22 59%
4. Excellent 4/22 18%
Comments: too cold (6/22), noisy at times (1/22), chairs too close to screen (1/22), liked set-up with tables more (1/22)
Quality and quantity of refreshments
2. Adequate 1/22 4.5%
3. Good 11/22 50%
4. Excellent 9/22 41%
Comments: nice biscuits (1/22); excellent lunch (1/22), cold tea (1/22)
Value for money
3. Good 9/22 41%
4. Excellent 13/22 59%
Programme/lectures
1. Thoracic CT
a. Delivery
i. Poor 0 0%
ii. Adequate 0 0%
iii. Good 8/22 36%
iv. Excellent 13/22 59%
b. Content
iii. Good 7/22 32%
iv. Excellent 14/22 64%
c. Notes
ii. Adequate 1/22 5%
iii. Good 10/22 45%
iv. Excellent 9/22 41%
d. Good choice for program?
Comments: 1/22: very educational and helpful to have images
2. Thoracoscopy for medics
iii. Good 9/22 41%
iii. Good 11/22 50%
iv. Excellent 10/22 45%
iii. Good 17/22 77%
iv. Excellent 4/22 18%
ii. Adequate 6/22` 27%
iv. Excellent 8/22 36%
Comments: 1/22 excellent images of thoracoscopy
3. Case reports
iii. Good 15/22 68%
iii. Good 14/22 64%
i. Poor n/a
ii. Adequate n/a
iii. Good n/a
iv. Excellent n/a
Comments: 1/22: would like notes for this as well
iv. Excellent 10/22 44%
4. Current management of diabetes mellitus in people
ii. Adequate 2/22 9%
iii. Good 12/22 55%
iv. Excellent 7/22 32%
Comments: 8/22: notes poor since missing
iv. Excellent 11/22 50%
Comments: 1/22: very interesting
5. A logical approach to changed mental status
iii. Good 1/22 5%
iv. Excellent 20/22 91%
iii. Good 2/22 9%
iv. Excellent 19/22 86%
iii. Good 4/22 18%
iv. Excellent 15/22 68%
iii. Good 3/22 14%
iv. Excellent 18/22 82%
Comments: 1/22: Really excellent; 1/22: excellent presentation and case studies
6. Interpretation of bone marrow cytology
ii. Adequate 7/22 32%
iv. Excellent 12/22 55%
ii. Adequate 5/22 23%
ii. Adequate 3/22 14%
iv. Excellent 6/22 27%
Comments: 1/22: very entertaining!
Comments: 1/22: very entertaining, excellent pictures of cytology; very helpful; 1/22: good choice for program but turned into a list
General individual comments
1. I wonder if too many topics were quite specialist this year; ie maybe great for us academics but not so attractive for practitioners?
2. Later start (10am – or even 9.30am); reduced registration fees for interns/residents; no lunch in place of reduced rate
3. Really liked the human presentations; please continue with this tradition
4. Might be worth concentrating on 1 or 2 themes for the day? Consider shorter talks? 45 minutes long enough per speaker?
5. Enjoy the human presentation and comparative aspect – please continue this tradition! Excellent day – thank you!
6. Superb meeting, all the practical tips and information were really useful and the speakers were all excellent – more of the same standard next year please!
7. Appropriately pitched for medicine certificate level, would be great to have a specialist day.
8. Initially dubious about the heterogeneous nature of the lectures but actually it worked very well. The case reports are a very good thing – enjoyable to give residents a forum to present cases.
Stijn Niessen 26 June 2009
Please see attached file for information on submitting clinical research abstracts for BSAVA 2010
Deadline for submissions is October 29th
I am please to announce that we have our first mini case report posted on the SAMSOC website :-
Pharyngeal pain and oral ulceration as the presenting signs in 2 cases of canine gastric adenocarcinomaZoe Belshaw, MA Vet MB Cert SAM MRCVSHills' Resident in Small Animal Internal Medicine, QVSH, Cambridge.
To view the case report enter the SAMSOC media section here.
If you would like help loading a case report or details of a research project please feel free to contact me or any other member of the SAMSOC committee
All the best
Just wanted to say a big thank you to all of the SAMSOC memebers who over the last couple of years have donated old text books. Over the last few months I have received photos and messages via WVS that are copied below. So once again thank you.
For those of you who don't know I collect old veterinary textbooks for the Worldwide Veterinary Service. This is a charity that is involved in a number of project around the world with small and large animals.
WVS send volunteer veterinary surgeons from the UK to help charities around the world in a variety of projects. One of the aims of WVS is to provide those volunteers with educational resources that can assist them in their work. Donated textbooks are used by the vets when treating animal but also to teach locals basic first aid that can help not only with animal welfare but in the case of farm animal their productivity. An simple example is teaching an african farmer how to assess a cows foot when it is lame. Locals being taught simple first aid could them treat their own animal e.g. a stone in a shoe., which previously would have been over looked. For more details of WVS work log on to www.wvs.org.uk
Admittedly old text books gathering dust do make a study look more impressive, but lets be honest how often do we open them!! If you still have old equine text, old cattle text, a copy of slater that you bought when you (briefly ) thought about being a surgeon or even just updated your medical text those books could be invaluable in another place. Donating is a win win situation for all, the books will be greatly received and used ( see below), you get a warm fuzzy feeling and you open up a load of space for that wall mounted flat screen you have always wanted or another DIY project you had in mind.
Joking aside If you do have any textbook ( preferable less than 10-12 years old) that you would like to donate and feel could be useful please contact me by commenting on this new feature below or direct by e mail ( iab@vetspecialists.co.uk)
Some of the messages I have received
The books were sent to veterinarians working at the charities in Cape Town, South Africa.
I have attached a couple of photos to this email We send out donated textbooks to charities where veterinary resources are scarce, so these donations are incredibly valuable to the veterinarians who use them. The photos attached show vets at the Cat Assistance Team (CAT) and TEARS (The Emma Animal Rescue Society), receiving donated veterinary textbooks!
“Our dedicated, hard-working veterinarian, Dr Slyvia Shortreed (in photo) expressed the need to purchase a textbook which would help her in her work. Rita Brock from Cat Assistance Team suggested that we approach Worldwide Veterinary Service. Rita sent an email, and within 10 days, two textbooks entitled Textbook of Veterinary Medicine Volumes 1 & 2 by Ettinger / Feldman were delivered to the astonished Sylvia…. Needless to say Sylvia was delighted with her early Christmas present and most grateful to Worldwide Veterinary Service for their donation”
We also received an email from Rita Brock of CAT which said:
"Compassion knows no boundaries! It gave me enormous pleasure to be a link in this chain and see Slyvia’s delight when John and Janet handed her the books this morning. The Ettinger’s will be put to brilliant use at the TEARS surgery. Many animals will benefit from them in the future. I am extremely grateful for your support – you are making a huge difference to a tiny organisation on the other end of the world. Today confirmed my favourite saying: nothing is impossible.”
This year we also sent some textbooks to PDSA South Africa and received the following response:
“We would like to thank you most sincerely for donating veterinary reference books to us. These books have been given to the hospital staff of the Cape Town PDSA Hospital and will be exceptionally useful in training our Animal Welfare Officers. The staff requested me to cover the books in self adhesive plastic – to ensure they are taken care of – and our staff are working through them on a rotational basis”
.
Exocrine Pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) Treatment Study
Aran Mas, P-J.M.Noble , A.J.German
EPI is a common condition in dogs with early response to therapy being critical for positive outcomes (Batchelor et al, 2007). Pancreatic enzyme supplementation is the key component of therapy in EPI. Numerous enzyme preparations exist for use in dogs, some of which are enteric-coated and some uncoated. Although one retrospective study on treatment of EPI suggested a better response with uncoated preparations (Hall et al., 1991), there was no difference in response amongst preparations in a more recent study (Batchelor et al., 2007). However, prospective clinical trials, on treatment of EPI, are lacking.
The Small Animal Teaching Hospital, University of Liverpool, is performing the first randomised double-blind trial to examine the effect of enteric coating on efficacy of pancreatic enzyme supplementation in the treatment of canine EPI. We are aiming to recruit dogs recently diagnosed with EPI for inclusion in this trial. Enrolled patients will undergo clinical evaluation, two months of treatment and follow-up advice, all free of charge.
Inclusion/exclusion criteria and contact detail can be found in the SAMSOC Wiki
Other Projects listed in the SAMSOC WIKI
Angie Hibbert at the Feline Centre (Bristol)- Congenital PSS in Birman Cats - DNA Project
Harriet Syme and Colleagues RVC - are recruiting cases for a clinical trail evaluating the use of oral phosphate binders in Feline Chronic Kidney Disease
Stijn Nelson’s- Diabetes Treatment Survey for vets, nurses and owners
Brain Catchpole and Lucy Davidson - are collaborating with a number of centres to investigate the genetic basis of several canine endocrine disorders. They are keen to recruit samples (serum and EDTA blood) from dogs suffering from a number of endocrine disorders
The commitee are pleased to announce plans for a CPD travel scholarship award of £250 which will be open to application from SAMSOC members
Details for applications will be announce in 7-10 days.
Other News
The feline acromegaly lecture vote is still ongoing so please log onto the site and have your say and suggest any other lecture topic ideas
Research posts
There have been no recent new posting in the wiki but as a refresher please find a list of all the projects posted to date that are currently recruiting cases.
The Small Animal Medicine Society is pleased to announce the launch of the SAMSOC Travel Scholarship
The scholarship, worth £250, can be awarded to any SAMSOC member undertaking CPD to study a particular aspect of Small Animal Medicine.
Applicants should describe how they would use the award in 300-400 words and are free to choose the topic to be studied. Recipients of the award are required to undertake the CPD within the subsequent 12 months.
Following completion of their trip the winner is required to write a summary article (approx 1000 words) which will be submitted to the Veterinary press for publication and placed on the SAMSOC website.
The award is only open to SAMSOC members.
Applications should be sent to the Ian Battersby ( iab@vetspecialists.co.uk ) to arrive no later than 31st December 2009, the successful applicant will be notified within 6 weeks. The award will be presented at the SAMSOC Meeting on 7th April 2010.
Call for Research Reports / Research Abstracts 2010 ACVIM Forum Scientific Program SUMBISSION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 1, 2009 The ACVIM invites submission of research reports and research abstracts for short communications at the 2010 ACVIM Forum, June 9 - 12, 2010, in Anaheim, California. ACVIM Diplomates, ACVIM Candidates, members of other specialty groups, and those working in areas related to veterinary internal medicine are encouraged to submit. Research reports will be published in the online 2010 ACVIM Forum Proceedings and research abstracts will be published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (JVIM) as well as in the online and CD-Rom 2010 ACVIM Forum Proceedings. Abstracts may be submitted for consideration in the research report category (25-minute presentation) if presented by an active researcher the field. PhD candidates, post-doctoral students, and young faculty may be considered, but ACVIM Candidates and other residents may not present in this category. If a research report is not accepted, the submission form will provide an option for you to have the abstract considered for presentation as a research abstract (15-minute presentation) instead. Anyone may submit abstracts to be considered in the research abstract category. ACVIM Candidates may be eligible for award. Awards will be given to selected research abstract presenters (or poster authors) who are active residents in an approved ACVIM training program, or who have completed an ACVIM approved residency within the last 6 months but are not yet ACVIM Board-certified. These abstracts will be judged on the quality of both the research and oral or poster presentation. Two types of research abstract communications will be available: - Oral presentation, strictly limited to 12 minutes with 3 additional minutes for questions. - Posters (4' × 8' in dimension), available for viewing throughout the meeting. During specified periods the posters must be attended by one or more of the authors to answer specific questions. If the poster is entered in the ACVIM resident competition, the author must attend the poster to interact with the judges. All submissions must adhere to the requirements outlined in the ACVIM Guidelines for Research Reports / Research Abstracts. Note: Abstracts that exceed the length limit will not be considered. Excessively poor grammar or clarity of writing may be grounds for abstract rejection. No abstract may be submitted that will have been submitted as a full-length publication before the abstract submission deadline of December 1, 2009. Abstracts that have been published as an abstract and / or presented elsewhere within the 9 months previous to the 2010 ACVIM Forum may be submitted for consideration, but must pass the ACVIM abstract review process as for any abstract. The place of prior publication and / or presentation and copyright permission must be disclosed at the time of abstract submission. Abstracts describing a single case report are unacceptable. Abstracts describing a study using clinical cases that lack confirmed, definitive diagnoses are not acceptable. Abstracts that present data “fractionated” into two or more abstracts when they could be combined into one are discouraged (e.g. regarding test validation, methodology development, or establishing a normal range without application to a population with sufficient power to demonstrate statistical significance). Animals used in the described study are expected to have received humane care, i.e. according to the principles outlined in the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and / or the humane care guidelines found at the author’s institution. Authors must attest to this on the electronic submission form. Deadline: All submissions must be made online using the ACVIM electronic submission form found under the Research Abstracts link at www.ACVIMForum.org. Abstracts must be submitted by 11:59 pm MST, December 1, 2009 to be considered for presentation. The online submission form will be deactivated as of 12:00 am MST, December 2.
SMALL ANIMAL MEDICINE SOCIETY Case Report Competition 2010
Sponsored by Vetoquinol
Do you have an interesting or unusual small animal medicine case that would be suitable to present as an oral abstract. The Small Animal Medicine Society is currently inviting submissions for the case report session during the pre BSAVA satellite meeting on April 7th 2010.
This Competition is open to anyone with an interest in canine or feline medicine. Suitable cases should be have interesting discussion points but need not be so unusual that they would be considered publishable.
At the end of the session the audience will vote by ballot for their favourite case report. Each presenter will then be awarded a prize which has been kindly donated by Vetoquinol.
1st place £300,
2nd place £150
3rd place £50
If you are interested in submitting a case report please contact Stijn Neilson ( sniessen@RVC.AC.UK )or Sheena Warmen (Sheena.Warman@bristol.ac.uk) for details. Deadline for submission is February 1st 2010