What A Week It’s Been!

Cystocentesis & Cystotomy in a Feline

Ahhhhh, so the week is almost over. It’s Thursday night and I’m sitting at home after some dinner and just relaxing for a bit. I had my physiology lab test today which went alright for the most part and then had to run to surgery afterwards to help my friend Faye with a cystocentesis and cystotomy procedure. We finished within 2 hours and everyone worked hard, so we were the first ones out of the 3 groups in lab today.

I realized that I do a bad thing when I have a lot of stuff to do in a day. If I have a lot to do and a lot to study for or have an impending exam that day I’ll take every short break I have and run to the cafeteria for a snack. I think today I ran to the cafeteria about 3 times to get something to eat. It’s kind of a bad habit of mine… always wanting something sweet to fill in the gaps between classes, tests and such. I was on such a roll with the exercise bit for the last month but this past week I wasn’t able to actually do any exercise. Usually I’d run or do some type of cardio for at least 30 minutes to an hour and I was able to fit a little weight lifting into all of the craziness. But this past week has been a blur and I’ve been feeling more tired and cranky than usual.

I don’t like to get up in the morning. My alarm goes off and I hit snooze thinking to myself, “Just 15 more minutes…”. That is why I set two alarms… I can never really get up the first time unless I push myself.

So now after dinner I’m feeling relaxed and sitting at my computer I’ve decided to tweak the background and color a little bit for the site. Nothing really flashy, but just something to make it more pleasing to the eye. Belle, one of my surgery teammates, visits my blog a lot and said that the color I put in the first revision of this site I did yesterday was quite interesting since it was a lavender or lilac color. She said it was kind of girly looking, but to tell you the truth I get that a lot. (Just so you know, I’m red-green colorblind. :P ). I always make mistakes like that when it comes to designing and art… oh well. I’ll leave the colors to people who really know which ones are pleasing to the eye.

Gonna rest a bit… maybe get some coffee with some friends later and then hit the sack. The week is almost over but it isn’t quite yet as I have to run to my equine rotation tomorrow at the veterinary teaching hospital in the morning.

I’ll leave you all with a picture of me helping out Faye during our surgical procedure today. Catch you all later!

A Parasitology Lesson

So I’m done studying for the Parasitology laboratory exam that I have tomorrow (or should I say later today! It’s morning here already… =P). To be specific, I don’t only study parasites in my VPAR 131 class. The class is actually entitled Veterinary Entomology & Protozoology. So not only do I have to learn about the different types of parasites that affect different species of animals; I also have to learn about what they particularly transmit and what diseases they may cause.

So here are some interesting things I’ve learned from the 13 lab exercises that I’ve pored over. I’ll give you all one item per exercise.

1. Insect Morphology – The cockroach is a good specimen to study general insect anatomy since its morphology has stayed relatively primitive and therefore basic throughout the years. This serves as a good starting off point when first learning about parasitology.
2. Mosquitoes – Anopheles spp. has spotted wings and Aedes spp. is known as the “Tiger Mosquito” due to its distinct banded legs.
3. Sandflies, Biting Midges & Blackflies – All of these are small flies measuring 1-5mm long. That means they are able to bypass regular mosquito nets and fit through those tiny holes!
4. Houseflies, Stableflies and Buffaloflies – Musca domestica has 4 solid bands on its thorax, has a 3-segmented antenna, no maxilla and mandible and constantly regurgitates on every food source it lands on. Gross!
5. Tabanids or Horseflies – Chrysops spp. has two common species, C. dispar and C. signifer. One can be distinguished from the other since C. dispar has an inverted-V marking on its dorsal abdomen, while C. signifer has a ring-like marking on the dorsum of the abdomen.
6. Myiasis Flies – In Sarcophaga spp., males can be distinguished from females grossly by looking looking for very prominent, bright red genitalia (the hypopygium) on its posterior end.
7. Larvae of Other Myiasis Flies – In Hypoderma spp., there is an absence of oral hooks and the presence of flat tubercles and small spines on all segments except the last one in H. lineatum and the last two in H. bovis.
8. Posterior Stigmal Plates of Myiasis-Causing Larvae – In examining stigmal plates, one should examine the shape and distance between them, the shape, number and orientation of spiracular slits, the degree of sclerotization and completeness of the peritreme ring and the character of the buttons. (This is kind of funny to me because stigmal plates are basically the “ass prints” of these insects. Ha!)
9. Hippoboscid Flies – Pseudolynchia canariensis (the pigeon louse fly) is the intermediate host of Haemoproteus columbae, a blood protozoan of pigeon and the causative agent of pigeon malaria.
10. Bedbugs and Kissing Bugs – The common bed bug (Cimex spp.) females have a copulatory orifice that contains two organs: the outer organ of Ribaga and an inner organ of Berlese.
11. Fleas – The flea Xenopsylla cheopsis (rat flea) was responsible for helping transmit the Bubonic Plague in man since it was a mechanical vector of Pasteurella (Yersinia) pestis.
12. Sucking Lice of Mammals (Suborder Anoplura) – Family Haematopinidae has paratergal plates and all pairs of legs are equal in size. This is not the case with Family Linognathidae.
13. Chewing (Biting) Lice of Mammals (Suborder Mallophaga) – In Subfamily Amblycera, Heterodoxus longitarsus stands out since its head is triangular. This louse affects dogs and wallabys.

Yeah, pretty interesting huh? There were a lot more cool things that I’ve learned about these parasites in the course, but I’m a little tired and it’s 1:24 in the morning. I have to wake up for my 9am Pathology lab later so I’m going to hit the sack.

I hope you enjoyed this little lesson in Parasitology! Now off to bed for me!