Week 12: RNA Vaccines, Ultrasound lab, and Acupuncture!
Week 12 started out with a quick little endocrinology quiz followed by some lectures on calcium regulation and pathology of the parathyroid gland. Serum calcium is tightly regulated and needs to remain in a narrow window or else pathology can occur. That means that it’s regulation is fairly complex and can be impacted by many hormones. After learning about calcium regulation and the parathyroid gland, we then had a nice lunch talk from Merck that focused on the advancements in their new RNA vaccines.
The main “selling point” of Nobivac’s new vaccine is that it targets the dendritic cell. A dendritic cell can be thought of as a “scout” for the immune system. These little guys are constantly patrolling areas of the body for harmful invaders such as bacteria and viruses. Once they find something suspicious, they take a little sample which is called an antigen. They then carry this antigen to the other immune cells (T cells) to alert them and kickstart the body’s defense mechanisms. The vaccine’s outer protein shell recognizes dendritic cells and facilitates delivery. The RNA message teaches the dendritic cell how to recognize an infectious agent (no living organism, it’s essentially a genetic code) and can be adapted for new diseases in faster time. For a limited time after entering the dendritic cell, the RNA makes multiple copies of itself which helps the B cells and T cells provide multiple layers of immune protection. Some advantages of this new vaccine is that there is now a direct line of communication with the dendritic cells and a short-term ability to amplify the “message”. The vaccine is also low volume (0.5mL dose) which makes it easier to administer along with being adjuvant, thimerosal, and preservative free. Utilizing an RNA vaccine provides flexibility to substitute different RNA messages, allowing a swift response to emerging threats. It’s exciting to see these new advances in medicine and see how they can be beneficial to our patients in the future!
The rest of the afternoon consisted of a fun case-based discussion focused on the adrenal glands. We did a deep dive into Addison’s disease, also known as hyperadrenocorticism, and learned how animals with this disease would present, the best diagnostics, and ultimately how to treat the patient. This was a great way to bring all of the past week’s topics together and see how all of the different pathways tie together along with what happens when things go awry. I then took Churro for a stroll with his buddy Clover before heading back to teach the undergraduates about preventative care! It’s always a blast to go over the basics and watch students begin to understand the “why” behind giving certain vaccines or oral preventatives along with things they may have never hear about such a tittering. Vaccinating on the typical schedule recommended by the vaccine company is what we are taught in vet school but if you want to limit the number of vaccines that your pet receives you can perform an antibody titer. This involves collecting a blood sample and sending it off to a lab to measure the concentration of antibodies present in the blood. This can help the veterinarian determine the vaccination/protection status of an animal which will help them make a more educated decision on whether or not they should booster the vaccine. While this does take an extra step it is a way to provide more individualized care to each patient and make sure that they are not getting vaccines that they do not need!
Tuesday morning started out with a fun hot yoga session followed by a quick swim before heading to Madeline’s clinic to help with a few ultrasounds. There were three little pups that needed to get some things check and it was a privilege to learn from Dr Laurenson who explained everything she was seeing in great depth! My ultrasound skills are still in the early development stage so having someone explain the normals as well as the abnormals is such a benefit! The remainder of Tuesday consisted of learning about the pancreas and diabetes. The rest of the afternoon included some studying and quality time with Churro.
Wednesday morning started out with a quick run with Churro followed by Steve’s hot Pilates class. Steve brought out the lovely bands again, so the burn was intensified. We then transitioned into a lecture on pathology associated with the pancreas which was a nice way to bring together the lectures from the prior day. The afternoon consisted of an interesting case-based discussion centered around a hyperthyroid cat.
Hyperthyroidism is a common endocrinopathy in our feline friends, so it was nice to learn more about the disease and what is occurring on a physiologic level. We also were able to explore the different diagnostics that we would use to diagnose this disease along with the recommended treatment.
Wednesday afternoon consisted of a committee meeting with all of the SAVMA Symposium teams. It was awesome to touch base and see where everyone was at with their part of the project. The official registration platform opens on Monday, so things are definitely getting real! After that meeting some members of the Integrative Veterinary Medicine Club got together to celebrate our faculty mentor, Dr. Koh, who left UC Davis at the end of October to pursue a career outside of academia and open a new hospital! Dr. Koh has been an influential pillar in the lives of many students and while we are all sad to see him go, we are excited for the next chapter of his journey! Although he won’t be at UC Davis any longer, he is still teaching the acupuncture certification through Chi University so we will still have the opportunity to learn under his awesome mentorship!
Wednesday evening wrapped up with a final meeting centered around the upcoming Covelo clinic. This is a weekend “pop-up” clinic that is put together a few times a year to provide veterinary services to underserved communities. This event will be happening next weekend, so the goal of this meeting was to get everyone on the same page and make sure that we are all set for the upcoming clinic.
Thursday morning began with a nice hot yoga session followed by a quick swim. We then had a pathology lab that made us dive a little deeper into the histology of the endocrine tissues especially the pancreas and thyroid gland. It was interesting to see these tissues on a cellular level and actually understand how they function. After a quick break we transitioned into a fun ultrasound lab and Churro got to join in on the fun. I don’t know if he thought it was fun, but he got to go to Petco after and pick out a toy, so it ended up being ok. This lab gave us the ability to practice finding the main abdominal organs and learning how to differentiate them in the slew of gray that shows up on the ultrasound machine. The ultrasound experience earlier in the week at Madeline’s clinic helped this lab make more sense. The rest of the afternoon included some errands and studying for the upcoming endocrinology exam.
Friday morning started off with a 6-mile run with Churro followed by the start of our reproductive block. We had a few lectures on reproductive hormones and how they act differently in the male and female. During these lectures myself and a few of the other Cal Poly SLO graduates started recognizing the diagrams and realized that the textbook that we had all read for our reproduction class is the same one that they are using in our reproduction block in vet school! I have said this a million times, but Cal Poly sets their students up for success and those courses have made vet school much more enjoyable! That afternoon we had a quick endocrinology review session and then the rest of the afternoon was spent studying and hanging out with Churro.
Saturday started out with a quick run with Churro followed by the first in-person acupuncture training session! The lectures have been virtual and self-paced, so this was the first time that the class had met as a group, and it was so fun to see everyone and get some hands-on experience with animals. We are a fairly small group (only 10 students), and we were split into two groups so that we could maximize our instructor time. We are all doing “mixed animal” meaning we are learning equine and companion animal acupuncture, so our weekend sessions are split with one day working on a horse and the other day spent on the dog. Churro got to come along for the adventure and was the “demo pup” for the lab. I’m sure he didn’t know what he signed up for when I adopted him, but I think that acupuncture was one of the better demos that he has taken part in. He was relaxed for most of the day, and I even caught him falling asleep a few times. On Saturday I was in the equine group and got to learn about 63 points and go through a full Traditional Chinese Medicine exam / treatment plan. It was a lot of information but by the end of the day things started to make sense and it was fun to needle some of the more common points! At the end of the day, we met up as a full group and reviewed some key aspects of the TCVM exam. The rest of the night was spent studying.
Sunday followed a similar schedule except I was now in the canine group and got to work on Churro. We learned a comparable number of points in the dog and it was interesting to learn the similarities and differences between the canine and equine points. Before we needled Churro, Dr. Koh had us needle ourselves and hooked us up to the electroacupuncture machine so that we could feel and understand what our patients feel. We then walked through a full TCVM exam on Churro and then treated him based on our findings.
This weekend was such a fun way to step back from school but continue to learn ways to improve the health of our patients. I had also convinced Jenn to take the course with me so it was awesome to spend the weekend with her and catch up! She has been such a big part of my veterinary journey and learning new things with her by my side is such a fun experience. The rest of the evening was spent reviewing for the upcoming endocrinology final!
Quote of the week: Hailie - “Dr. Koh, are we going to know anatomy as well as you after this course?” Dr. Koh - “No”
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