Background: Vaccination is central to preventive companion animal care, but implementation may vary across clinical settings, client circumstances, and rabies-control priorities. Aim: This study described vaccination practices among companion animal practitioners in the Philippines and examined veterinarians’ perceived factors related to vaccination practices and compliance barriers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among veterinarians engaged in companion animal practice. The survey covered respondent profile, vaccination practices, perception statements, and five open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, perception domains were assessed for reliability, and exploratory associations were evaluated using chi-square tests and modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Qualitative responses were analyzed using mixed deductive-inductive thematic coding. Results: A total of 270 respondents were included. Cost or financial difficulty was the highest-ranked perceived barrier to owner compliance, with 129 respondents (47.8%) ranking it first. Most respondents recommended starting core vaccines at 6–8 weeks (249/270, 92.2%), administered rabies vaccination at 3 to <4 months (259/270, 95.9%), used reminders always or often (242/270, 89.6%), and gave annual vaccination after completion of the core vaccine program (268/270, 99.3%). Antibody titer testing before vaccination was uncommon (208/270, 77.0% did not perform it at all), and 182/270 respondents (67.4%) reported that vaccine refrigerators or chillers had thermometers. Exploratory analyses identified unadjusted associations among selected profile variables, attribution-domain scores, and vaccination-related practices, but none remained significant after Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate adjustment. Qualitative themes emphasized disease risk or health benefit, client education and awareness, cost, and time, schedule, and logistical constraints. Conclusion: Vaccination practices among companion animal practitioners in the Philippines appear shaped by financial, logistical, educational, and practice-system factors. Locally adapted guidance, client education, reminder systems, vaccine-handling support, conservative use of titer-based decision-making, and clearer feline vaccine-site documentation may support more consistent companion animal vaccination practices.
Background: Organic acid (OA) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) are gaining attention as sustainable alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in poultry. Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of OA and SC, alone or in combination, on growth, carcass traits, meat quality, and shelf life of broiler chickens. Methods: A total of 196-day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to seven treatments, with four replicates of seven birds each, and reared for 42 days. T1 (control), T2 (OA, 5 g/kg), T3 (OA, 10 g/kg), T4 (SC, 0.25 g/kg), T5 (SC, 0.75 g/kg), T6 (OA, 5 g/kg + SC, 0.25 g/kg), and T7 (OA, 10 g/kg + SC, 0.75 g/kg). Growth was recorded weekly. Day 42 assessed carcass, organ, and meat quality [microbial load and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS)] parameters. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and Tukey’s HSD test. Results: Final body weight and weight gain were higher (p = 0.003 and p = 0.004) in supplemented groups, peaking in T7 (2505 ± 60 and 2463 ± 59 g). The feed conversion ratio was significantly improved (p = 0.002) in all groups. The greatest improvement was in T7 (1.58 ± 0.02) compared to control (1.86 ± 0.04). Mortality was lower in T7 than in T3, T5, and T6 (0.8% ± 0.5%) versus control (4.0% ± 1.2%; p = 0.018). Carcass traits improved significantly in the supplemented groups (p ≤ 0.004), with T7 showing the highest dressing percentage (74.8% ± 0.8%), the highest breast muscle weight (585 ± 16 g), and the lowest abdominal fat weight (26.8 ± 2.4 g). The GI and spleen weights increased (p = 0.003 and p = 0.001, respectively), while the intestinal weight decreased (p = 0.002) in the supplemented groups. Meat quality improved significantly (p ≤ 0.004); T7 had the highest water-holding capacity (72.6% ± 1.8%) and the lowest cooking (21.0% ± 1.0%) and drip loss (2.5% ± 0.2%). T7 reduced microbial counts and TBARS, extending refrigerated shelf life. Conclusion: Combined supplementation with OA and SC at higher concentrations (OA 10 g/kg + SC 0.75 g/kg) improves the examined parameters in broiler chickens.
Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease that affects different tissues, including connective tissue, through persistent hyper-glycemia combined with cellular stress. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the metabolic, histological, and cellular morphometric changes in the rats achilleas tendon of experimentally induced diabetes. Methods: Rats were subjected to experimental diabetes, then after blood glucose levels, body weight, and histological alterations were examined at different time points. Histological examination focused on fascicular organization, cellular density, and nuclear morphometry using ImageJ, and statistical analyses. Results: A significant increase in fasting blood glucose levels confirmed successful induction of diabetes (p < 0.0001). Body weight analysis showed significant time-dependent progression in control animals, while diabetic animals exhibited decreased weight, particularly at the later stages (30 days). Histologically, collagen fiber organization remained largely preserved in diabetic groups. However, significant cellular alterations were observed, including reduced intra-fascicular cell number, early nuclear shortening, and progressive transformation of fusiform cells into rounded cells, suggesting an early chondroid-metaplasia. Morphometric analysis revealed significant differences in nuclear morphology (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Diabetes induces early cellular and morphometric alterations in tendon tissue prior to major structural changes in collagen organization. These findings suggest that cellular components are primary targets of diabetic damage and may serve as early indicators of tissue degeneration.
Background: Veterinary education requires sustained academic engagement, practical competence, and psychosocial resilience. Multi-institutional evidence on conditions associated with veterinary students\' academic performance in the Philippines remains limited. Aim: To examine demographic, academic, personal, curricular, psychological, and student-reported factors associated with self-reported previous-semester grade point average (GPA) among veterinary students in participating Philippine schools. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive-analytical mixed-methods online survey included 2,642 students from 17 harmonised institutions. Quantitative analyses comprised descriptive statistics, internal-consistency assessment, chi-square tests with Cramér\'s V, institution-clustered ordered logistic regression, a binary logistic sensitivity analysis, and false-discovery-rate-adjusted item-level models. Three-coder inductive content analysis was applied to open-ended responses. Results: Regular student status had the largest bivariate association with GPA (Cramér\'s V = 0.434); high-school GPA showed a smaller association (V = 0.139). In the year-level-adjusted ordered model (n = 2,229), regular students had higher odds of belonging to a better GPA category than irregular students (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.907, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.247-12.240), whereas higher year level was associated with lower odds (aOR per standard deviation = 0.472, 95% CI: 0.354-0.630). Broad personal, curricular, and psychological scores were not associated with ordered GPA. The binary sensitivity model showed a small threshold-specific inverse association for the curricular score (aOR = 0.855, 95% CI: 0.734-0.995). After false-discovery-rate adjustment, time-management skills, conducive living conditions, and reliable internet or technology access were positively associated with higher GPA categories. Qualitative themes emphasised stress, time management, sleep, financial constraints, study strategies, and help-seeking. Conclusion: Academic support planning may prioritise early progression monitoring, structured advising, learning-resource access, practical-skills support, and accessible wellness services, particularly for students with disrupted course progression. The cross-sectional associations require longitudinal confirmation.
Background: Lameness in dairy cattle is a serious health, welfare, and economic problem. Effective control partly depends on farmers’ ability to recognize early signs, understand preventable risk factors, and adopt timely treatment and preventive practices. Evidence on these farmer-level determinants is scarce in Bangladesh’s cooperative smallholder dairy systems. Aim: This study assessed the knowledge and perceptions of dairy farmers and reported on farm management practices related to lameness in a major milk-producing cooperative area of Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from July 2022 to June 2023 among 270 dairy farmers from 60 small- to medium-sized MilkVita-affiliated farms in Shahjadpur Upazila, Sirajganj District. Ten factual knowledge items were scored as correct (1) or incorrect/do not know (0), and the total scores were classified a priori as low (0–4), moderate (5–7), or high (8–10). In a provisional sensitivity analysis reconstructed from the published aggregate tables, we modeled high knowledge (8–10) versus low-to-moderate knowledge (0–7) using mixed-effects logistic regression, with farm as a random intercept and education, previous cattle health training, herd size, and farming experience as fixed effects. Results: Knowledge was low, moderate, and high among 43.7%, 38.5%, and 17.8% of respondents, respectively. In the provisional reconstructed model, secondary education or above (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.94–9.92; p < 0.001) and previous cattle-health training (aOR 6.24, 95% CI 2.88–13.52; p < 0.001) showed the strongest adjusted associations with high knowledge. Farming experience of at least 5 years showed a weaker borderline association (aOR 2.32, 95% CI 0.96–5.60; p = 0.061), whereas herd size did not remain independently associated with high knowledge. These values are synthetic sensitivity estimates and cannot be reported as empirical findings without reanalysis of the authentic records. Conclusion: This study identifies a marked knowledge-practice gap within a MilkVita-affiliated smallholder dairy system: recognition of pain did not consistently translate into production and welfare consequences awareness, early detection, preventive hoof care, or prompt professional treatment. Cooperative-based practical training, improved veterinary referral pathways, and simple hoof-health records are required.
