The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not Icelandic horses are less severely affected in clinical symptoms of cough or decreased performance than other breeds of horses. A breed variation in chronic respiratory disease severity was suspected based on clinical experience at the Institution for surgery & medicine, large animal, SLU Uppsala. A retrospective journal study of 17 Icelandic horses and 17 Swedish Standardbred horses with chronic problems with cough and/or decreased performance compared several measurements of disease severity. The clinical signs, physical examination and laboratory testing results compared were respiratory rate, abdominal breathing, lung auscultation, endoscopy results, broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) results and the blood gases pO2 and pCO2. All parameters were available for all 34 individuals except for the blood gases, which were analysed, in only four Icelandic horses and four Swedish Standardbred horses. The only parameters that appeared different between the two groups were respiratory rate and pO2. The four Icelandic horses, which had blood gases analysed, had more severe hypoxemia.

Dysfunction of the upper respiratory tract is a common cause of impaired performance and intolerance to exercise in racehorses and include several upper airway obstructions. The ones termed dynamic obstructions are primarily seen during physical exertion and affected horses often appear to be normal during endoscope examination at rest. The correlation between diagnoses made at rest respectively exercise is low, suggesting that an examination at rest alone is likely to be insufficient. The upper respiratory tract is exposed to great differences in pressure throughout the respiratory cycle; variations that are further altered during strenuous exercise and affect the rigidity of upper airway structures. In presence of great fluctuations in pressure, stability is achieved through coordinated and synchronous neuromuscular mechanisms. Due to nerve damage or anatomical abnormalities, these functions may be disrupted and further cause a dynamic collapse of the upper respiratory tract when pressure changes become too severe. The etiology behind the neuromuscular dysfunction is not yet fully understood.

During late autumn/winter in the years of 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 a questionnaire study was made in Västra Götaland county in the south west of Sweden. Inspectors responsible of animal welfare answered the questionnaires during their routine visits to different horse stables in the county. The questionnaires contained questions about the number of horses at the farm, hoof condition, body condition, how often the horses were fed outside and the pasture condition. The purpose of this study was to investigate if a connection could be seen between environmental factors and health factors within the horses in this material. The connections that were analysed were between; hoof health and pasture condition, how many times the horses were fed outside and the body condition and between the number of horses in the pasture and pasture condition.

ABSTRACT Background: Health and ill-health are multifaceted concepts. Previous research has shown that physical activity and the level of cardio respiratory are important parts of leading a healthy lifestyle. Possibly, it?s so important that the Occupational Health Service should focus even more on this.Aim: The aim was to investigate if there was a relationship between the level of cardio respiratory fitness and self-rated health, and between the level of cardio respiratory fitness and physical and mental ill-health.Method: The study was conducted using a quantitative method in the form of a cross sectional study. Data was collected from an Occupational Health Service, containing answers to a questionnaire on work environment and health and test values ??from completed cycle fitness tests.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. These are characterized by a chronic inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. Living with chronic illness meant that life changed significantly. Quality of life was affected for these individuals and was stressful in their lives. Aim: The aim was to describe the experiences of living with inflammatory bowel disease. Method: A qualitative literature review was chosen to analyze articles that were related to the aim of this study. Results: Based on the chosen articles five themes were created; Commuting between hope and fear, symptoms of the disease and medication become everyday focus, struggling with  the new identity, desire to control the disease- do I control my illness or does it control me and social relationships are affected. Conclusion: Inflammatory bowel disease is a distressing disease and can cause limitations in social life due to lack of knowledge by others about the disease. The affected felt a loss of control in their life due to the difficulty in managing the symptoms.

Respiratory disease with airway inflammation as main characteristic is common in the horse. It is a syndrome that is not yet fully understood. The etiology, pathogenesis and classification into different disease states are subjects for discussion and under continuous revision. Despite a number of modern techniques, the diagnostic procedure is challenging. There is no test considered to be gold standard when diagnosing these diseases.

The conservation of great apes faces many challenges, one of which is the threat of infectious disease outbreaks. Zoonotic transmission of respiratory diseases from humans to wild great apes has recently been confirmed. Since respiratory disease is one of the major causes of death in both gorillas and chimpanzees, this gives reason for major concern. Little is known about the risks of disease transmission from humans to great apes in natural environments, and there is a need for systematic risk evaluation. Researchers, conservation staff and tourists spend time in very close proximity of wild great apes, sometimes during long time periods, which poses a potential risk of disease spillover. However, the presence of researchers and tourists has been shown to decrease the risk of poaching, making the matter increasingly complex.

Causes of thrombocytopenia in dogs ? a retrospective study of 123 cases The purpose of this retrospective case study was to determine which diseases are associated with thrombocytopenia in Swedish dogs. Records of 123 dogs with thrombocytopenia were evaluated. The most common cause was neoplasia-associated thrombocytopenia (32%). The largest proportion within this group was unspecified neoplasia.

Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) is a respiratory disorder that most commonly affects young horses performing at a high level. The clinical signs are often mild but the disorder can cause a marked decrease in performance to a point where the horse has to be taken of training and competing. The aetiology underlying IAD is not yet fully understood. One current theory is that a type I-hypersensitivity reaction due to allergens in the environment is the cause in some horses. The most reliable diagnostic method is a bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) since it reflects the inflammatory status in the most distal parts of the lungs, which are affected in IAD.

Respiratory infections are one of the major causes of disease in sheep throughout the world. In the beginning of 2008 the Swedish National Veterinary Institute and the Swedish Animal Health Service together started a project about respiratory infections in Swedish sheep. This study is an initial part of that project and the aim of this study was to investigate different sampling possibilities with focus on nasal swabs. This study is composed partly of a literature review on causative agents of respiratory infections in sheep and existing sampling methods, and partly of an experimental study comprising 56 sheep. These sheep were sampled with both an ordinary nasal swab and a guarded nasal swab. Before the start of this study there was to our knowledge no described method for sampling sheep with a guarded swab.

AbstractBackground: Inflammatory bowel disease involves major changes where psychological and physical stress becomes a part of ones daily life. The ability to adapt and cope well with the situation, increases the chances of feeling satisfied with life. There are various management strategies that people with IBD use to cope with their daily life.Aim: The aim of this study is to describe strategies that people with inflammatory bowel disease use to manage their daily lives. A further purpose is to describe the study group in the included articles.Method: A descriptive literature review. This study is based on 12 scientific articles, searched in the databases Cinahl and Pubmed.

Hos patient med inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) har nutrition en central betydelse. Nutrition ska betraktas som en medicinsk behandling samtidigt som nutrition är ett av sjuksköterskans omvårdnadsansvar. Syftet var att belysa nutritionsbehovet hos patient med inflammatory bowel diseases. Resultatet baseras på 15 vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultatet visar att patient med IBD lider av malnutrition eller ligger i riskzon för att bli malnutrierad.

The Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) causes bronchiolitis and interstitial pneumonia, predominantly in calves, and is a major cause of bovine respiratory disease worldwide. In humans, BRSV is paralleled by the closely related Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), an important cause of respiratory disease, most severe in infants.The clinical signs and pathology during RSV infection is caused, not only by the direct effects of viral replication, but also by the response of the host immune system. The immunopathology of RSV has long obfuscated our understanding of the disease, and development of effective treatment and vaccines will be very difficult until greater knowledge is gained.One of the components of the immune system that has come into focus in RSV research the last few years, is the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). The TLR4 receptor is well known as the receptor that binds lipopolysaccaride (LPS), and initiates the host response to bacterial infection. Recently, it has been shown that the fusion protein of RSV also interacts with, and up-regulates the expression of, the TLR4 receptor.

Obesity is the most common nutritional disorder, and is defined as an accumulation of excessive amounts of adipose tissue in the body. Obesity is a condition where an animal exceeds its optimum body weight by more than 10-25%. Risk factors associated with obesity may include breed, age, castration or high energy intake relative to energy consumption. The consequences of obesity are believed to be metabolic and hormonal changes, as well as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, orthopedic problems, tumors and premature death. Prevention and early detection of obesity leads to better health care.

The purpose of this study was to describe how adolescents aged 12-18 years with inflammatory bowel disease experience their illness and what coping strategies they use to manage their illness and improve their wellbeing. The method used was a descriptive literature study, and the result of the study included 15 scientific articles. Our results showed that IBD affected the adolescent?s everyday life and social life with friends, family and activities. The adolescents also reported that they experienced a feeling of vulnerability, altered body image and that they saw themselves as different from healthy subjects.