Stuck for something to do this weekend?

Twiglet says hi to Phil. She isn't put off by dogs, and Phil isn't put off by cats who aren't put off by dogs. Fortunately.

This weekend we’ve collected some links to keep you informed and entertained.

I loved this article on www.newphilospher.com in which Patrick Stokes asks “where does passion for your career end and Stockholm Syndrome begin?” or (for those seeking a more literal veterinary angle) whether we should teach the hamster to enjoy his or her wheel.

What would you do if diagnosed with a terminal illness? Veterinary dentist Lisa Milella closed her practice the very next day and embarked on a mission to use her skills to help wildlife in need and teach other veterinarians. Read about it here or help her support International Animal Rescue here.

Australian children’s author and illustrator Alison Lester (interviewed previously by SAT here) has just relaunched her website. She’s an animal lover and her drawings are fantastic. I bought her Noni the Pony cards but suspect I’ll end up framing them.

This video which has donethe rounds of the internet shows Duffy, a blind dog seeing its owners for the first time following surgery to remove cataracts (in this case a complication of diabetes).

OKGO are and will always be one of my favourite bands, thanks in part due to their doggy film clip (click here or see below). 

This week they released their new video for The Writing's on the Wall… it’s a strangely up-beat break up song with a brilliant music video. Its hard not to watch it about 5000 times. On the day the clip was released on Rolling Stone and everyone in the world wanted a piece of the band, I have it on good authority that lead singer Damian Kulash was out taking his dogs for a drive/walk. 

I liked this interview with “the Mark Twain of dog writers”, who said that

One of the differences between pets and working animals is that sometimes the working animal is right and you’re wrong. That’s a big difference. Every now and then, the animal has the moral authority. If I give a wrong command out there, and the dog fails to take it, is the dog wrong for not taking my command, or am I wrong for giving the wrong command?

Pets can be right too!

Don’t forget to livestream SPARCS, a free, TED-style conference allabout canine science. You don’t need a login – just view from the comfort of your home/office/favourite café/dog park/jacuzzi (be safe with electricity people).

Finally, if you're Sydney based and looking for some Saturday night excitement, don't miss the Frocks "Frocking for a Cause". If all goes according to plan, myself and pet groomer Amanda just might deliver on a commitment we made some time ago.

Cognitive enhancement: is this something the vet profession needs?

One surefire way I could enhance my academic performance would be to somehow prevent Hero from sitting on and eating my notes.

Have you ever had to have three, four, five, even six coffees to stay awake to cram for exams? Or maybe get through a late night exploratory surgery? I always thought of performance enhancing drugs as something that only high-level athletes indulged in, but in fact they are used by desk jockeys, students, veterinarians, surgeons, concert pianists and people in just about any field.

You might think you’re taking that No-Doz out of choice, but use of these kinds of drugs to facilitate work output is quietly becoming the norm. One pill to stay awake won’t hurt, will it? Think about it: if everyone did this all the time, it would become the new norm. Suddenly, the decision not to take these may not be a choice.

Take study for example. There are plenty of reports of people using drugs like Ritalin to enhance their concentration. And have you heard about people using beta-blockers to get over stage fright when defending their PhD? But Drs Nicole Vincent and Emma Jane reckon that taking smart drugs, or cognitive enhancement, is ethically risky business.

Check out their argument in The Conversation here. (Here's one of my favourite quotes below).

Advances in science and technology subtly shape our lives by gradually, and often imperceptibly, changing the moral, legal and social landscape. What we expect of ourselves and of one another also changes with the times. It changes with what we think people are capable of doing and what we think is reasonable to expect people to be capable of doing.

You can also view Dr Vincent’s Ted Presentation here.

If you don’t like the idea of an employer or indeed colleagues expecting an artificially enhanced you – to the point that you can’t fulfil your duties adequately without some form of cognitive enhancement - then it’s worth considering whether you indulge in any enhancers at all. We're already connected to employers and colleagues 24/7 via ever-present smartphones. Do we really want them, in some sense, inside us?

BTW, if you’re currently studying and stuck for study tips, check out this post on exam study tips;  or this post on how to study in vet school.

Interview with Associate Professor Tom Gottlieb about infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship and one awesome Aussie shepherd

Associate Professor Tom Gottlieb with Jamaica.

This week we were fortunate enough to catch a cuppa with Associate Professor Tom Gottlieb, a senior specialist in microbiology and infectious diseases at Concord Hospital, past president of the Australasian Society for InfectiousDiseases, current president of the Australian Society for Antimicrobials and owner or cohabiter with Jamaica, an affable Australian Shepherd who prefers that no one expresses her anal glands thank you very much.

I’m always excited when I meet our medical counterparts. What kind of cases do they see? Do they catch diseases from their patients? Do they love their dogs as much as we do? So many questions. If you’re as curious as I am you might want to head on up to the ASID Zoonoses Conference in Brisbane next month.

How did you get involved working with infectious diseases? Do you have any favourite infectious diseases?

Like most things in medicine you stumble into it. It all makes sense looking backwards but somehow going forwards its just random choices you make. As a trainee I worked in New Guinea and in New Guinea it was all infectious disease and in my time it was all TB.

My favourite diagnosis is TB because it presents in so many different ways, each patient is a surprise in some way even though the management is very guideline driven.

In infectious diseases the hardest cases are the silly little old ulcers in elderly people because they are so hard to manage whereas exotic diseases like TB and typhoid are not that difficult to manage but people think they are. So there is glory in managing some of those exotic diseases but far less glory, and often much harder to manage the mundane things.

Once you start in infectious diseases you realise that it is centered around antibiotic management, so in the last 10-20 years the big interest has been antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance because they go hand in hand.

In your role in ASID you’ve been integral in organising a symposium on zoonoses. Why should veterinarians and doctors learn about zoonotic disease together?

When I was training we had a wonderful workshop at the zoo one day with vets and doctors and it hit me that a lot of the common infections we talked about we had seen in patients but vets had had themselves – contracted from their patients.

And I realised there was a lot of commonality. We tackle infections often slightly differently. Some things I suspect veterinarians have cottoned onto earlier and got onto the right approach and in some areas doctors might have stumbled onto faster than vets. For example, I think one area that doctors do well (or better now than they used to) is infection control and antibiotic management, partly because we have been forced down that line through regulation. Regulation is the most effective form of control, sadly, because we are not easily pulled into line unless forced to. I suspect vets are the same and I think in these two areas we’ve been laggards in - or vets need to do catch up on?

We organised a summit about antibiotic resistance in 2011 where we tried to pull all common groups together and we realised there was a way to go with antibiotic resistance in veterinary or zoonotic infections as well. At the same time the concept of “one health” was taking off (which is the new black) and we thought it was a great opportunity to bring us all together. We organised the zoonoses meeting partly out of subliminal intent to set up a dialogue about antibiotic use in animals.

When the meeting happened I was surprised at how much common interest and how much fun we have learning about each other’s strands of medicine. It was such a success that just like any good party, we wanted to do it again.

I've always wondered if infectious disease physicians are more likely to catch infectious diseases due to a higher risk of exposure to infectious diseases. Is there any truth in this?

No, I don’t think so. I don’t know anyone who has had any more infections than anyone else. And partly - and unlike vets – this may be because we have referred patients from GPs or the emergency department and so there is an expectation by the time the patient comes, to know which way the wind is blowing. You can anticipate things in referred patients, but you cannot anticipate left field things, new events and diseases like SARS. When that came long nobody was prepared. The point about SARS is we stopped thinking and we admitted patients with respiratory infections and we didn’t protect ourselves from respiratory droplets when common sense tells you that you should be protected. SARS caught us unawares because infection control wasn’t up to it. But in a day to day experience we can anticipate the risks fairly easily and therefore I don’t think it is a major issue.

The other thing is that most infectious disease aren’t contagious - they are caused by microorganism that are often unique to that person and you have to try very hard, by whatever exposure such as sexual  contact or insect bite, to get it. That’s unlikely to happen in my office.

It’s when we’re unprepared and we don’t set up systems to deal with risks we should have anticipated, that’s where we get caught. Hence the point about the first meeting with vets. The doctors at the meeting talked about patients with psittacosis, while just about every vet in the room had had it. It comes back to the issue of infection control and thinking through systems to make sure these are well covered to prevent infection of the vet or transmission of drug resistant organisms.

How did you meet your Jamaica?

Our other dog had died and we felt utterly relieved to be dog free. We could travel without guilt. Bring on Italy, Spain. A few months after the deat, we went to Fox Studios for a dog owners’ day, which was mostly people bringing their own pets for a walk around. But there were a couple there with two Aussie shepherds and their litter. We got smitten in that very moment and we bought the runt of the litter.

And our only regret is we didn’t buy two runts. Great error of judgement, that was. The runt of the litter turned out to be a wonderful dog with a fantastic personality which keeps us honest. (The previous dog was thoroughly loved and died of old age).

Jamaica takes the fam for a walk.

How would you describe your relationship with Jamaica?

Intimate. Your animals become your children, particularly when your children leave home or give you grief, suddenly the dog is seen as being much easier to manage and deal with and so much cheaper to run.

How do you spend time together?

In idle moments we sit on the lounge and we peer deep into each other’s eyes. At other times we walk because I am the designated walker on weekends. She is slowing down a bit as she is not as partial to hills anymore, and nor am I, so we’re slowing down together or maybe she is moulding herself to me.

We talk. Well, I am sure she is talking to me, and at times out of desperation I talk to her. When does madness creep in? When you start answering or writing letters? But talking is okay isn't it?

Jamaica is easy company and has a circuit of friends who are happy to take her in for walks and stays and she is always looked after. Your life revolves around having your dog catered to because the guilt is too much! So any non-dog holidays are anticipated by dog organisation moments.

How could you not love this dog???

Does your infectious disease knowledge inform the way you relate to Jamaica?

Does infectious disease knowledge inform the way I deal with my children? Its often through benign neglect and often to the consternation of my dear wife who felt I was never there for the major illnesses and never took them seriously when I was there. And sadly I have a similar attitude to Jamaica which is a “she’ll be right” approach. That said its held out fairly well.

You learn to be a little bit - not blasé, but not to get panicked by illness - because you have to deal with it every day. That probably informs how you deal with family medical stresses, you don’t push the panic button so fast - til you really do need to.

What do you think Jamaica thinks about veterinarians?

The only major setback Jamaica has was when both Frances and I were away and so imposed on our friendly vet friend to do a home visit. At which point he did something to Jamaica that she has never forgiven him for [expressed her anal glands] and now she starts barking when he is within a 5km radius of our house. That’s an exaggeration. Probably 1km. He comes to the door and she growls, she eventually settles down but she doesn’t growl at anyone else. I have learnt. Dogs or Jamaica, don’t forget indignities like that.

Is that a halo?

How has living with Jamaica changed you as a human being?

I wish things would change me as a human being but I suspect I am immutable. A few people have commented on that, and mentioned they wish there was a way.

I have learned to appreciate certain things in life. Poor Jamaica gets two chicken wings a day and has had that for last ten years on instigation of the same vet. And every night when she gets two chicken wings has unbridled enthusiasm and joy for the same bloody chicken wings.

It makes you realise that you can get sheer exultation out of simple things - you don’t have to look too far beyond what is under your nose, so to speak.

Dogs also teach you unconditional love, and that’s why we seek those animals.

Me and my brother grew up in a very fastidious house as my mother obsessed by cleanliness and didn’t have animals even though she was brought up on a farm. Funnily enough when we both left home we got animals immediately. Girlfriends and dogs, can’t remember which came first nor which were bigger priorities. . Having an animal in your house changes the dynamic…and its fantastic.

You get too preoccupied if there are only humans. The animal needs and relationship adds an extra dimension to your household life and I think we’re all better for it. When our first dog died, we said we didn’t want another dog. Now we could travel. And now Jamaica is getting older we think the same – when she goes we will travel and not worry about the dog. But I cannot help but think there will be another dog around the corner. They force you to walk and not focus on yourself and talk about doggy issues.

As an addendum I’ve been asked for photos and realised I should do more selfies with the dog. A selfie with Jamaica in Centennial park to compete with selfies with Wife in Italy or Spain. That could be a new resolution.

Thank you Tom! Clearly, behind every good infectious diseases physician there is a great dog. Meantime if you need even more encouragement to attend the ASID conference, its also a chance to meet Nobel Prize laureate (and veterinarian) Peter Doherty. You can read his message for vets here.

All you needed to know about dog science…from your toilet?

Those canine-minded readers out there need to know that this weekend, Friday-Sunday (June 20-22 - US Eastern time), you can catch a FREE, online, TED-style canine science conference (SPARCS). You don't need to be a vet or vet student, you just need to be interested in dogs. 

It’s live and free and you don’t even need so much as a login. As the organisers say, “you too can watch any bits of the dog science conference live and for free from your couch, bed, toilet or any other location of your choosing - we even know of several “watch parties” around the world”.

I’m a sucker for a nerd-fest and the concept of a watch party. So what is SPARCS?

Society for the Promotion of Applied Research in Canine Science — better known as #SPARCS2014 — is being held for a live audience in Newport, RI and broadcasting for free worldwide with TED-quality production.

The conference shares current research in dog behavior, cognition, welfare and training with a general, inquisitive, and dog-loving audience. 

The line-up includes internationally respected and high profile dog researchers including Patricia McConnell, Simon Gadbois, Ray Coppinger, Sam Gosling, James Serpell and Clive Wynne among others.

Each day has an incredibly doggie theme featuring 6 to 8 daily talks. Viewers around the world can pop in (and out) at any time.

Day 1 (Friday, June 20): Aggression & Conflict

Day 2 (Saturday, June 21): Personality & Temperament

Day 3 (Sunday, June 22): Science in Training

The full schedule with talk times can be found here:

Brochure: http://bit.ly/SZ8FmI
Schedule (desktop version): http://bit.ly/1i212rO
Schedule (mobile version): http://bit.ly/1lxdLS2 

Just click this link to Free Live Stream of SPARCS conference: http://caninescience.info/live-stream/

Last year’s SPARCS conference broadcast live to over 20,000 people around the world from over 50 countries. This year, SPARCS is expecting significantly more viewers.

You can also follow the conference on the Do You Believe In Dog? Blog. They will be tweeting from @Doubelieveindog , and if people tune in online (particularly on Twitter with #SPARCS2014 ) anyone can directly participate.

[And if you don't have a twitter account, do yourself a favour - its easy, its a brilliant source of news - often several days before the ordinary news covers it - and its not as labour intensive as other social media].

Canine scientists Julie Hecht and Mia Cobb will be answering online questions, interviewing each speaker — pulling questions from social media, and moderating daily end-of-the-day panels where viewers can directly engage researchers.

Hungry for more? Read our interview with the exceptional Mia Cobb here or this interview with fantastic SPARCS founder, the inspirational Prescott Breeden (in which he reveals how SPARCS came about) here. AND if you are having a SPARCS watch party, send us your party pics!!!

Interview with Maria Temelkos, vet nurse who rocks

The awesome Maria T brings her enthusiasm in spades wherever she goes.

This week SAT interviewed Maria Temelkos, veterinary nurse by day and vocalist for all-girl, award winning cover band The Frocks. Having experienced their raw energy I count myself among their fans – of which there are oodles. Just a fortnight ago the Frocks took out a MO Award for the best dance show band in Sydney (it’s like the Logies for live entertainment - you can read about the MO Awards here).

Go the Frocks!

At the time Maria got the news, she was feeding a kitten. I don't know about you, but I like my dance/show bands to be compassionate to all critters. Here's what Maria had to share with us.

What is your day job?

I’m a veterinary nurse at Sydney Animal Hospitals. I just completed my Certificate 4 in vet nursing and I’m looking at doing emergency care at TAFE next year. I also take any chance I get to manage The Frocks as well as events and fund raisers. I really enjoy collaborating with venue managers, building a rapport with entertainment managers and agents. I’m very lucky, I work part time and they are very flexible at work in terms of what I do and what I want to do.

Maria cops a lick from a grateful patient.

How long have you been rocking?

I’ve been in bands since I was 18. My mum was a singer and I used to do choir and little performances at school so I knew I could sing, but it really developed when I joined my brother’s band (Big Bad Wolf). He had me fill in at rehearsals now and then, and then I said I wanted to join the band. The only reason my parents let me was because my brother was in the band. I had a bit of a break in my 20s but I’ve been singing again since I was 29.

How did The Frocks come about?

It happened when I had basically stopped performing for a short period of time, I was at a party with a group of friends, sitting around, having a few drinks. We found out that each of us had a musical background - someone could play guitar, someone could play bass, someone could sing. We laughed and said we should get together and start an all-girl band.

Within a week we had started jamming at someone’s house and the Frocks was formed. Originally we didn’t have a drummer, so we played without drums and a backing track for a year and a half. We’ve generally had the same line up, although we have had some changes as with any band. Our guitarist left – so Lisa moved over to playing guitar as she was playing bass. It’s much easier to find a female bass player than it is finding a female guitarist. Our new bass player would only join if her friend Raelene could join – and Raelene was a drummer. So its been Marnie, Raelene, Lisa, Louise and me. Marnie and Raelene are leaving so we have a new singer and a new drummer coming on board, so it’s a big change but it will bring new life to the band, and a new look.

How did you get our first gig?

We were lucky enough that our first gig was at the Newtown Hotel. Roger Z who was manager at the time needed a band, it just came about through networking. We ended up with less than twenty bucks each that night but we didn’t care, we wanted to get our name out. There’s only so much you can do in a garage or someone’s lounge room. That one gig turned to two then four then eight. I was not manager material, I didn’t know how to do that at the time, so it was a learning process for me as well.

Maria belts out a tune.

Over the years I got to learn how to network, interact with event managers from other venues and build rapport with those clients. It was also about our name, The Frocks. Once word got around people would come to see us. And managers from one venue know other managers, and would call them and say “Hey listen, try them out”. To this day when you say the Frocks people say “I know that band!” Event managers started calling me instead of the other way around.

The Frocks have loyal fans that turn up to every gig. Can you tell us a bit about them?

We do have loyal fans, we are a band that performs music that people love, its a great night out for everybody. We also try to create an environment that is friendly – it doesn’t matter what age, sex, background, whether you’re straight or gay, we make sure people feel safe to have fun and be themselves. We’re also an approachable band. We don’t just get up off stage and leave, we like to interact with the crowd and our fans and thank them at the end of the night. For our loyal fans it’s a gig that they can look forward to at the end of the week.

The Frocks seems to raise an awful lot of money for charity?

That is my number one, the girls and I love doing charity work, whether it’s raising money for kids with cancer, or WSPA or Oscar’s Law. We’re actually planning a fundraiser for bears through WSPA, which will be called Frocks, Fur, Feathers and Fins. I’m looking at doing a lot more fundraisers…anywhere we can help anybody raise money for a good cause, we’re there.

The Frocks want Oscar's Law to abolish puppy factories.

There’s a bit of a contrast between vet nursing and fronting a band. Would you pick one over the other?

There’s a huge contrast, but I am blessed and thank God every day because I am doing two things I am passionate about. I am passionate about helping animals and I am passionate about singing and performing. I can’t pick one over the other, I will always be working with animals and I will always be singing. And they help people in different ways. I’ve had people come up to me after a gig and say “you helped me forget about my problems” or “you put a smile on my face”. I love hearing that.

Do you live with any non-human animals?

I’ve got five cats: Tabitha, Gia, Mac, DK and CK, a Spoodle called Cargo and a Pomeranian-Papillion cross called Jet. The cats are all from work.

Cat adoption. An occupational hazard for vet nurses? Maria can handle it.

One more question. Your top five guaranteed floor-fillerz right now?

Definitely Blurred Lines; Sex is On Fire; Moves Like Jagger and our Pat Benetar double-shot classic Hit Me with Your Best Shot and All Fired Up. There’s also the Frocks version of What’s Up by 4NonBlondes. We Frocked it up and made it into a dance version.

Thanks Maria. You can catch The Frocks this weekend at the George’s River Sailing Club or check out the Frocks website here for details of their other gigs.

Monday morning motivation: how to start a vet school with fifty pounds (well, in the 1800s anyway)

Ripley eats her dinner on the bench so her hungry canine housemate doesn't get it all first. And she has a GREAT view of the TV from this position.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about higher education resources and reforms (as you do), and lamenting my own list of things to do (who doesn’t do that?) so I was absolutely fascinated to read about the guy behind the Royal Dick vet school. He wasn’t wealthy but he saw a need for a vet school and just started one - and bankrolled the school with his own cash. I can’t see that happening today (though William Dick likely didn’t have to contend with the degree of bureaucracy around today, and probably didn’t have Youtube/Facebook/Twitter to distract him from just getting the job done).

The passage comes from Brian Wain’s “Vets in Kelso”, a book I can’t find in print (if anyone knows the details please let me know, it was published in the UK in 1986). [And if you're really impatient at least read the very last paragraph - but you'll probably want to read the whole thing to make sense of it].

Vets in Kelso by Brian Wain.

William Dick’s story is an interesting one. He was born in White Horse Close, Edinburgh in 1793 and educated locally. After leaving school he worked with his father, John, a farrier of unusual ability. William had a great interest in the ailments of horses and his father gave him a lot of encouragement to study them. Now the University City of Edinburgh at this time was a hot-bed of genius and sparked off an idea in the young man’s mind to found a veterinary school. Dr JohnBarclay, a director of the Highland Society, was sympathetic to the idea and did much to help him. He persuaded William to attend Professor Coleman’s course at the London Veterinary School. This School had been founded in 1791 by the Frenchman, Charles Vial de Sainbel, and was the only veterinary school in the British Isles at the time.

Young Dick completed his veterinary course satisfactorily and obtained his diploma. He then returned to Edinburgh and lectured to students on Veterinary matters for five years in two institutions, gaining valuable teaching experience. In 1823 the University authorities recognised the desirability of a veterinary school but not wishing to take action themselves referred the matter to the Highland Society. The latter approved a grant of 50 pounds to Dick to implement a course of lectures on veterinary science. Thus the Highland School’s Veterinary School came into being. William Dick, furnished with his father’s Clyde Street forge and tools of the trade for practical instruction, began his first course of lectures on the diseases of the horse, black cattle, sheep and other domestic animals. Twenty-five students attended the course of forty-six lectures for a fee of two gns.

On satisfactorily completing the course to the required standard Dick’s students received the “Certificate of the Highland Society”. The Highland Society were delighted with the School’s progress and publicised the venture, encouraging the intelligent working blacksmith. The School grew and by 1833 larger premises were needed and so a new lecture room, museum, dissecting room, infirmary and forge were constructed. These were paid for by Dick personally out of funds from his extensive private practice.

Regarding his professional skill and abilities it is written “He was head and shoulders above his contemporaries, his opinion was sought throughout the land, and in law suits his word was final.” By 1839 there were one hundred students at the School, and the titles of College and Professor were bestowed upon the School and lecturer in response to a student petition.

Dick never married but his elder sister Mary was a pillar of strength and looked after the finances of the School. In 1844 the Veterinary Art became a profession when the Royal Collegeof Veterinary Surgeons (R.C.V.S.) was established. One of the first undertakings of this governing body was to try to standardise the examinations of the Edinburgh and London Schools before allowing graduates membership of the R.C.V.S. This in practice was not successful and produced a great deal of friction between Edinburgh and London. Many of Dick’s students preferred the Highland Society’s Certificate rather than the Diploma of the Royal College. This unsatisfactory state of affairs was not resolved in Dick’s lifetime. It took until 1880 before the Highland Society Certificate was phased out and William Robertson of Kelso played a major role in sorting out the differences.

In 1865 there was an outbreak of cattle plague in England and the Highland Society asked Dick to go south and study it. The ageing professor who was suffering from heart disease went, but the exertion proved too much for him and he died on the 4^th of April, 1866. Charnock Bradley later wrote that “the foundation of the Dick Vet was remarkable, for no wealthy man had endowed it: no public subscription list brought it into being: no appeal was made to or support given by a state: a famous University could not help. A poor man, the son of poor parents, started out on a venture supported by nothing more than a promise of 50 pounds. He cut his coat according to his cloth and continued so to cut it – weaving the cloth himself.”

It doesn't sound like much of a way to go but on the other hand William Dick was clearly a doer - so probably better that he went while working as I doubt he would have opted for a quiet retirement. Of course doing isn't everything and success isn't measured in the number of vet schools one has founded (thank goodness). Check out this fantastic interview with Bradley Viner on success in practice here.