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in reply to: Finding new homes for some plastic bones #5446
Hi Amber,
I might be interested as well if you can provide some further details on what you have. Feel free to email me snicoll@rvc.ac.uk
Thanks
BW
Sarahin reply to: Sourcing cows eyes #5021Hi Saiyma,
Blades Biological also supplies preserved cows eyes for dissection.BW
Sarahin reply to: Health and Safety – Formaldehyde levels #3845Hi all,
Does anyone know for definite whether this new legislation re. formalin levels actually came into force in the UK? I know the legislation was copied across pre-brexit (and it can be found on legislation.gov.uk) and as of 11th(?) July the EU now operates with a 0.3ppm WEL, but at the moment the HSE has not updated their website to reflect the change. It’s a bit confusing whether we are or aren’t supposed to be adhering to the new levels. Is anyone operating as if the changes have been applied in the UK or is what is still written on the HSE website (ie. 2ppm WEL) what everyone is still working to?
Thanks
BW
Sarahin reply to: Embalming foetal foal #2868Hi Catherine,
Sorry for the late reply. I hope the embalm went well!
It has been a while since we last did one but I believe we followed the natural direction of blood flow and injected into an umbilical vein. Depending on how much umbilicus you have there should be two which then merge before they enter the body so either should be fine. We then put drains into all the other vessels and then monitored what came out of them. When it was obvious it was embalming fluid exiting via a drain we then clamped it off. Technically though I don’t think it would make too much difference if you did inject via an umbilical artery and sometimes it can be tricky to figure out whats what in the umbilicus anyway.
We used our standard dodge mix that we use for our dogs without any issues, and we have done this with both foetal foals and foetal lambs and achieved a good fix. These specimens are then stored in sealed plastic bags until required for dissection (usually refrigerated as well), and used either as demonstration specimens or for student dissection competition specimens. In terms of long term storage once dissected they are usually stored in the same way and then providing the dissection is of good quality we have been plastinating them.
We don’t pot things any more as in comparison to plastination they are not as user friendly. We find this particularly relevant to anything that is overly large as the volume of fluid involved and the resulting weight make them very difficult to move around and more likely to spring a leak. We do have some old large pots made previously and they just don’t get used because of these issues.
As I said I hope it went well.
Darcy is well and sends her regards :-)
Best Wishes
Sarahin reply to: Embalming foetal foal #2858Hi Catherine,
I would definitely recommend going through the umbilicus to embalm the foetus as it works really well in my experience. Then afterwards if you want to also preserve the foetal membranes I would recommend immersing the whole specimen in your preferred embalming solution. They are thin enough that immersion will be sufficient to preserve them. An interesting problem you might encounter if your embalming solution used for immersion is coloured and the foetus has a pale coat/tail etc., you may end up with an unusually coloured foetus!! :-)
BW
Sarahin reply to: Ventilation #1456Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. Would still love to hear from others (particularly some more of the vet schools) about your ventilation. The more evidence I can gather the better.
Thank you.
SarahI regularly read the posts, and have on occasion contributed. I think the forum is excellent as an archive both for members questions/solutions, but also very importantly for previous news magazine and journal editions. Echoing a previous comment, there are a lot of folders/categories to choose from which I have personally found can be confusing when searching for something or deciding the appropriate place to post. It took me a minute to locate this discussion! Could it be streamlined a little….fewer but broader categories? I also use the facebook page, but I agree it should only be for networking/socialising (of members only), not the specifics of our work which shouldn’t be in the public domain.
BW
Sarahin reply to: Fact or Fiction? #1261Hi Don,
Yes it seems to be something that has been handed down over the years here at the RVC. I wanted to find some evidence so I could mention it in one of my DATS modules but I couldn’t find anything which does seem a little strange!
in reply to: Embalming Fluid #1258We are currently in the process of converting to Dodge but as we are still working through our stores of specimens embalmed in our past method we have yet to do a great deal of dissection using dodge embalmed ones. The couple of things we have had our students dissect (pony and a goose…..random I know) the feedback was that any odour was in fact less “offensive”. It is something we will be monitoring as we go along but I would also definitely be interested to hear from others as well.
in reply to: Embalming Fluid #1257We are currently in the process of converting to Dodge but as we are still working through our stores of specimens embalmed in our past method we have yet to do a great deal of dissection using dodge embalmed ones. The couple of things we have had our students dissect (pony and a goose…..random I know) the feedback was that any odour was in fact less “offensive”. It is something we will be monitoring as we go along but I would also definitely be interested to hear from others as well.
in reply to: For Sale: Large Animal Frames #1215Hi Kirsty,
Yes we do still have them however I don’t believe they do dismantle at all really. I suppose the castors could probably be removed but I suspect that wouldn’t be much help to you.
If you are potentially still interested let me know and I will send you the dimensions.BTW Welcome to the IAS!
Sarah
in reply to: Departmental Support for IAS #1212Hi Ali,
I just wanted to firstly echo everything John and Carys have said and add a couple of things A major benefit I have found is the ability to stay in touch with the changing regulations we are all subject to in one way or another. As an individual or single institution it is very difficult to keep up to date with these things especially since a lot of regulations are discussed/decided at the European Level, but with the wide range of contacts/members the IAS has there are essentially many more eyes on the ball and you are more likely to get a heads up before changes rather than being caught unawares later on. A good example of this would be the ongoing proposals to reduce allowable exposure to formaldehyde in the air, which we at the RVC have been able to future proof ourselves against if and when it happens. I doubt we would know anything about it without my being a member of the IAS!
Also I am aware that many members (myself included from the point of view of veterinary anatomy) can find it tricky to get support from employers to attend meetings when the meeting schedule, which although interesting does not always contain speakers/topics relevant to their place of work. However I know we are working hard to make sure that there are speakers at meetings to appeal to all members. Again from the veterinary anatomy point of view the next two scientific meetings are at Liverpool and Glasgow both of which have vet schools so I am hopefull there will definately be something included for all of us in the schedules.
With regards to Johns request on members experiences with membership in various establishments I will add that I pay my own membership fees. I used to get my workplace to pay by including it with the spring meeting fees but of late this has not been an available option. However my workplace has been willing to support/finance attending meetings, which I am hopeful will continue.
BW
Sarah
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