Lifelines
The official newsletter of the College of Veterinary Medicine
June 2009 - Vol. 4, No. 6
Top Stories
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Responding to the call
Under the Microscope
Responding to the Call
KSVDL assists with winning science project
When working in a veterinary diagnostic lab you face many situations, some routine and some unique. Susan Moore from the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) came across one of those unique situations when she got an e-mail from Paige Bodner, an 8th grader from Stevensville, Mont. Bodner was working on a project for the upcoming science fair at her school and had a favor to ask of the KSVDL. The idea for the project started in October when Bodner’s brother was one of 70 people in Stevensville who received a post exposure vaccination after coming in contact with a rabid bat. Bodner’s parents, both veterinarians, had received the vaccination more than 15 years ago. This made Bodner wonder how the people who received the vaccination 15 or more years ago would compare to someone vaccinated within the last year. At this point, Bodner rounded up five volunteers of each classification and sent a letter to Moore and the KSVDL asking if they could run her tests at a discount price for her. The KSDVL is one of only two labs in the United States that can run rabies titers. After hearing Bodner’s request for a discount, the KSVDL did her one better and ran the tests for free. Bodner found that the more recent vaccinations were stronger, but that the people who had received the vaccine 15 or more years ago were still sufficiently vaccinated.
With her first-place finish in the school biological project category, Bodner made the front page of the newspaper and landed a spot at the Montana State Science Fair where she received a gold ribbon. In her thank-you letter to Moore and the KSVDL, Bodner stated “I learned a lot of what rabies is and I couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks!” This may have been a situation that was unique to the KSVDL but their response was anything but unique. Whether it is by running routine tests, facing unusual challenges, or even assisting in a junior high science fair project in Montana the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab has no problem responding to the call. |
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A few months later, Moore received a thank-you card from Bodner and a copy of the newspaper reporting her winning project in her school’s science fair, as well as a copy of her typed-up report. “It was nice to be part of Paige’s investigation of rabies vaccine response,” Moore said.
Executive education program helps grads
Two Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine alumni have completed a two-year continuing education program at the University of Illinois. Drs. Tara S. Donovan and Jason D. Miller, both K-State DVMs from the class of 1998, finished the 10 two-day sessions in April 2009. The Executive Veterinary Program (EVP) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a continuing education program for veterinarians who hope to enhance their business, communication and planning skills. The EVP centered on swine health management and covered main problem solving-skills faced by veterinarians in the swine medicine field. There were 39 veterinarians who completed the program. Since the program was started at the University of Illinois in 1991, there have been 214 graduates from the EVP classes. |
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Essay contest proves fruitful for two CVM students
The 2009 JF Smithcors Essay Contest was held in May and proved to be a success for K-State College of Veterinary Medicine students Valerie Livingston and Tiffany Lee. Livingston took second place in the contest with her essay titled “Foot and Mouth Disease: A Story of Resilience.” While Lee captured third place with her essay, “Brisket Disease in Cattle: A Brief Overview and History.” The contest received a total of 12 papers from three institutions. Ashley Mitek, from the University of Illinois, took the top place finish with an essay titled, “From Early Man to Man o' War: A History of the Cribbing Horse.” The JF Smithcors Essay contest hopes to have a larger number of essays from more places next year. |
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Photo gallery: Commencement 2009
Commencement 2009 was a special time this past May. Below are some of special moments for this year's class.
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Congratulations to...
... the 2009 All-University Indoor Soccer Champions - the Veterinary Medicine men. Team roster: Daniel Christensen, Russell Cain, Dustin Schmid, Michael Izen, David Weinstein, Scott Jablonski, Jon Nauss, Luis Itturiaga, Michael Walsh, Scott Ripperger, Stephan Gibson, Nilo Fanska.
Under the Microscope
Dr. Brian Caserto, Pathology Resident Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Family Information: Married to wife Lisia for five years, no kids
Where is the one place you would most like to visit? Ireland Who is someone that you look up to? The late James Oliver Rigney Jr. (aka author Robert Jordan) If you could have tickets to one show or concert, what would you want to see? Great Big Sea (folk band from Newfoundland) If you could go back in time what time period would you visit and why? Anywhere from 1000 A.D. to 1400 A.D. I would have liked to have seen the building of a great Gothic cathedral. My favorite is the cathedral at Chartres, France (construction began in 1195 A.D.) What is something that you would like to do over the summer? I’d like to play a round of golf or at least go to a driving range. |
Place of birth: Mount Kisco, N.Y. (that's the technical answer, but I grew up in Somers, N.Y. - they're both in southern New York state)
Pets: Three catsCheck it Out at the Library
Read up, online!
by Carol Elmore
Last month I discussed NetLibrary found at www.lib.k-state.edu/db as a source of electronic books (ebooks). Many other sources of ebooks are available. One of these sources available to Kansas residents is through the State Library of Kansas’ Library Card. The card is free. You can register for a temporary card at www.kslc.org. After registering for this temporary card, you have 30 days to verify your Kansas residency at your local library.
To download ebooks using your Kansas Library Card go to: http://kansas.lib.overdrive.com and click on the link on the left hand side of the screen under “Collections” that says “view all eBooks.” When you decide to check out one of the eBooks, you’ll need to put your Kansas Library Card number in the box that asks for your PIN. Your date of birth will also be added in the box under the PIN. You will also need to download software that will allow you to read your ebook. Adobe Digital Editions is a reader you can download for free through the State Library.
Many of the available ebooks are on veterinary topics. I downloaded “101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers” and found other titles such as “Adopting a Pet for Dummies,” “Animals Day and Night,” “Breeding Horses” and “Natural Pet Food Cookbook.” Currently there are 424 titles that can be downloaded. The checkout period is seven days, but the time can be renewed if no one else has requested the title. The only equipment that is needed to download these ebooks is a Windows PC or some other Mobipocket device such as a Blackberrry or a Smartphone that permits digital downloads.
There are other electronic devices on the market that are made exclusively for downloading and reading digital books. One of the most popular ones is Kindle available at www.amazon.com, which is a wireless device that can display newspapers, magazines and books on a screen approximately the size of a standard sheet of paper. Downloads must be purchased from Amazon and range in price from approximately $9.99 for current books to $.99 for classics. Some books can be downloaded for free. Sony also makes a similar device called the Sony Reader. Many newspapers are developing their own digital newspaper readers that will be available by the end of the year. Textbooks publishers are also looking at these kinds of readers as replacements for print textbooks in the near future as a means to save money on the costs of printing and distributing their textbooks.
Remember, if you have any questions about ebooks, be sure to ask for help from one of the staff members at the Veterinary Medical Library/DISC.
News Ticker
Dr. Thomas Schermerhorn presented at the ACVIM Forum in Montreal, Canada, from June 3-6. Topics: Anatomy of a Research Project, The enigma of feline carbohydrate metabolism, Extended abstract, Molecular Characterization of the feline glucokinase gene.
Dr. Bonnie Rush presented at the ACVIM Forum in Montreal, Canada, on June 3. Topic: Clinical Outcome Assessment to Meet AVMA COE Requirements.
Dr. Michele Borgarelli presented at the ACVIM Forum in Montreal, Canada, on June 3. Topic: Mitral Valve Anatomy in Normal Dogs: An Anatomical and Echocardiographic Study.
Dr. Greg Grauer presented at the ACVIM Forum in Montreal, Canada, on June 5. Topic: Upper Urinary Tract Case Discussions.
Dr. Morgan Scott was asked to serve on the World Health Organization Advisory Group in Copenhagen, Denmark. The group will first meet for five days June 15-19, 2009.
New Arrivals/Recent Departures
Welcome to:
Rachael Sullivan - DMP
Xi Li - DMP
Thanks and goodbye to:
Trent Armbrust - VMTH
Ligiong Lan - A & P
Lifelines is published each month by the Development and Alumni Affairs Office at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Editors are Joe Montgomery, jmontgom@vet.k-state.edu, and Dusty Dhuyvetter, ddhuyvet@vet.kstate.edu