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de Carvalho JRG, Del Puppo D, Littiere TDO, de Sales NAA, Silva ACY, Ribeiro G, de Almeida FN, Alves BG, Gatto IRH, Ramos GV, Ferraz GDC. Functional infrared thermography imaging can be used to assess the effectiveness of Maxicam Gel ® in pre-emptively treating transient synovitis and lameness in horses. Front Vet Sci 2024; 11:1399815. [PMID: 38919154 PMCID: PMC11197459 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1399815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Diagnosing and treating lameness in horses is essential to improving their welfare. In equine orthopedic practice, infrared thermography (IRT) can indirectly detect soreness. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can treat painful and inflammatory processes in horses. Using IRT, the efficacy of meloxicam (Maxicam Gel®) was evaluated in pre-treating transient synovitis in horses induced by a middle carpal joint injection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from E. coli 055:B5 at a dose of 10 endotoxin units. Methods In a cross-over design, six healthy horses were randomly assigned to receive either 0.6 mg/kg of oral Maxicam Gel® (MAXVO) or a mock administration (control group, C) following a two-week washout period. IRT of the middle carpal joint, visual lameness assessment and joint circumference were recorded over time. Clinical and hematological evaluations were performed. Synovial fluid aspirates were analyzed for total nucleated cell count, total protein, and prostaglandin E2. A mixed effects analysis of variance was performed for repeated measures over time, followed by Tukey's test. A multinomial logistic regression was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between a thermography temperature change and the lameness score. Results There were no changes in joint circumference. The MAXVO group showed a lower rectal temperature 4 h after synovitis induction. The C group presented an increase in neutrophils and a decrease in total hemoglobin and hematocrit 8 h after induction. No changes were observed in the synovial fluid between groups. The horses that received meloxicam did not show clinically significant lameness at any time, while the C group showed an increase in lameness 2, 4, and 8 h after synovitis induction. Discussion IRT indicated that the skin surface temperature of the middle carpal joint was lower in horses who received meloxicam, suggesting a reduction in the inflammatory process induced by LPS. It was observed that the maximum temperature peaks in the dorsopalmar and lateropalmar positions can be utilized to predict the severity of lameness, particularly when the temperature rises above 34°C. Horses pre-treated with meloxicam showed either reduced or no indication of mild to moderate pain and presented a lowehr thermographic temperature, which indicates the effectiveness of Maxicam Gel® as an anti-inflammatory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Júlia Ribeiro Garcia de Carvalho
- Laboratory of Equine Exercise Physiology and Pharmacology (LAFEQ), Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, FCAV/UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Debora Del Puppo
- Research and Development Department, Ourofino Animal Health Company, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Thayssa de Oliveira Littiere
- Laboratory of Equine Exercise Physiology and Pharmacology (LAFEQ), Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, FCAV/UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Nathali Adrielli Agassi de Sales
- Laboratory of Equine Exercise Physiology and Pharmacology (LAFEQ), Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, FCAV/UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Ana Carolina Yamamoto Silva
- Laboratory of Equine Exercise Physiology and Pharmacology (LAFEQ), Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, FCAV/UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Gesiane Ribeiro
- Veterinary and Animal Research Centre (CECAV), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lusófona University - Lisbon University Centre, Lisbon, Portugal
| | | | - Bruna Gomes Alves
- Research and Development Department, Ourofino Animal Health Company, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Gabriel Vieira Ramos
- Equine Sports Medicine Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, FCAV/UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Guilherme de Camargo Ferraz
- Laboratory of Equine Exercise Physiology and Pharmacology (LAFEQ), Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, FCAV/UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
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Ask K, Rhodin M, Rashid-Engström M, Hernlund E, Andersen PH. Changes in the equine facial repertoire during different orthopedic pain intensities. Sci Rep 2024; 14:129. [PMID: 38167926 PMCID: PMC10762010 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50383-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
A number of facial expressions are associated with pain in horses, however, the entire display of facial activities during orthopedic pain have yet to be described. The aim of the present study was to exhaustively map changes in facial activities in eight resting horses during a progression from sound to mild and moderate degree of orthopedic pain, induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) administered in the tarsocrural joint. Lameness progression and regression was measured by objective gait analysis during movement, and facial activities were described by EquiFACS in video sequences (n = 348, total length 892.5 min) of the horses obtained when resting in their box stalls. Predictive modeling identified 16 action units and action descriptors, related to ears, eyes, and lower face. Lower lip depressor (AU16), lips part (AU25), half blink (AU47), single ear forward (SEAD101) and single ear rotator (SEAD104) were selected as co-occurring significantly more in horses with pain than in horses without pain. The major change in co-occurring facial activities occurred in the transition from no pain to mild pain. In conclusion, resting horses with induced orthopedic pain showed a dynamic upper and lower facial repertoire and the relationship between level of pain intensity and facial activity appears complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina Ask
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Marie Rhodin
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Elin Hernlund
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Pia Haubro Andersen
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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Maldonado MD, Parkinson SD, Story MR, Haussler KK. The Effect of Chiropractic Treatment on Limb Lameness and Concurrent Axial Skeleton Pain and Dysfunction in Horses. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12202845. [PMID: 36290230 PMCID: PMC9597761 DOI: 10.3390/ani12202845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Revised: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Chiropractic care is a common treatment modality used in equine practice to manage back pain and stiffness but has limited evidence for treating lameness. The objective of this blinded, controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of chiropractic treatment on chronic lameness and concurrent axial skeleton pain and dysfunction. Two groups of horses with multiple limb lameness (polo) or isolated hind limb lameness (Quarter Horses) were enrolled. Outcome measures included subjective and objective measures of lameness, spinal pain and stiffness, epaxial muscle hypertonicity, and mechanical nociceptive thresholds collected on days 0, 14, and 28. Chiropractic treatment was applied on days 0, 7, 14, and 21. No treatment was applied to control horses. Data was analyzed by a mixed model fit separately for each response variable (p < 0.05) and was examined within each group of horses individually. Significant treatment effects were noted in subjective measures of hind limb and whole-body lameness scores and vertebral stiffness. Limited or inconsistent therapeutic effects were noted in objective lameness scores and other measures of axial skeleton pain and dysfunction. The lack of pathoanatomical diagnoses, multilimb lameness, and lack of validated outcome measures likely had negative impacts on the results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikaela D. Maldonado
- Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Samantha D. Parkinson
- Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Melinda R. Story
- Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Kevin K. Haussler
- Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
- Correspondence:
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Ask K, Andersen PH, Tamminen LM, Rhodin M, Hernlund E. Performance of four equine pain scales and their association to movement asymmetry in horses with induced orthopedic pain. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:938022. [PMID: 36032285 PMCID: PMC9411665 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.938022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective This study investigated the relationship between orthopedic pain experienced at rest, and degree of movement asymmetry during trot in horses with induced reversible acute arthritis. Orthopedic pain was assessed with the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS), the Equine Utrecht University Scale of Facial Assessment of Pain (EQUUS-FAP), the Equine Pain Scale (EPS), and the Composite Orthopedic Pain Scale (CPS). Reliability and diagnostic accuracy were evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and area under the curve (AUC). Study design and animals Eight healthy horses were included in this experimental study, with each horse acting as its own control. Methods Orthopedic pain was induced by intra-articular lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration. Serial pain assessments were performed before induction and during pain progression and regression, where three observers independently and simultaneously assessed pain at rest with the four scales. Movement asymmetry was measured once before induction and a minimum of four times after induction, using objective gait analysis. Results On average 6.6 (standard deviation 1.2) objective gait analyses and 12.1 (2.4) pain assessments were performed per horse. The ICC for each scale was 0.75 (CPS), 0.65 (EPS), 0.52 (HGS), and 0.43 (EQUUS-FAP). Total pain scores of all scales were significantly associated with an increase in movement asymmetry (R2 values ranging from −0.0649 to 0.493); with CPS pain scores being most closely associated with movement asymmetry. AUC varied between scales and observers, and CPS was the only scale where all observers had a good diagnostic accuracy (AUC > 0.72). Conclusions and clinical relevance This study identified significant associations between pain experienced at rest and degree of movement asymmetry for all scales. Pain scores obtained using CPS were most closely associated with movement asymmetry. CPS was also the most accurate and reliable pain scale. All scales had varying linear and non-linear relations between total pain scores and movement asymmetry, illustrating challenges with orthopedic pain assessment during rest in subtly lame horses since movement asymmetry needs to be rather high before total pain score increase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina Ask
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
- *Correspondence: Katrina Ask
| | - Pia Haubro Andersen
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lena-Mari Tamminen
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Marie Rhodin
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Elin Hernlund
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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Wrangberg T, Kendall A. Who Is Healthy? A Review of How Equine Control Groups Are Defined in Clinical Orthopaedic Research 1999-2021. Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol 2022; 35:213-219. [PMID: 35512819 DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1745756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Proper identification of healthy subjects is essential in case-control studies. However, standardized definitions of healthy controls are lacking in equine orthopaedic research. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to define the non-invasive methods used for selecting healthy control horses in osteoarthritis (OA), desmitis and tendinitis research. METHODS Systematic review. Case-control studies with a healthy control group and longitudinal studies where horses had to be healthy at the start were included. Studies where joints were visualized by arthroscopy or post-mortem examination were excluded. RESULTS From 2,472 OA papers and 2,746 desmitis/tendinitis papers, 127 and 84 papers met the inclusion criteria respectively. For OA, 11 methods were identified for defining healthy subjects with a median of three methods used per paper. Dynamic examination, radiographic evaluation and clinical examination were the most frequent. Eight different methods were identified in the desmitis/tendinitis papers with a median of three methods per paper; ultrasonography, clinical- and dynamic examination were the most frequent. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the OA and desmitis/tendinitis studies used similar methods for defining subjects as healthy, but the way the examinations were performed and interpreted was inconsistent. In several studies, healthy controls were not examined for lameness. The most common methods have limitations for detecting horses with early OA, which may have implications for interpretation of results. Standardized use of more sensitive and objective methods could be beneficial.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - A Kendall
- Division of Pathology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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Sharing pain: Using pain domain transfer for video recognition of low grade orthopedic pain in horses. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0263854. [PMID: 35245288 PMCID: PMC8896717 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Orthopedic disorders are common among horses, often leading to euthanasia, which often could have been avoided with earlier detection. These conditions often create varying degrees of subtle long-term pain. It is challenging to train a visual pain recognition method with video data depicting such pain, since the resulting pain behavior also is subtle, sparsely appearing, and varying, making it challenging for even an expert human labeller to provide accurate ground-truth for the data. We show that a model trained solely on a dataset of horses with acute experimental pain (where labeling is less ambiguous) can aid recognition of the more subtle displays of orthopedic pain. Moreover, we present a human expert baseline for the problem, as well as an extensive empirical study of various domain transfer methods and of what is detected by the pain recognition method trained on clean experimental pain in the orthopedic dataset. Finally, this is accompanied with a discussion around the challenges posed by real-world animal behavior datasets and how best practices can be established for similar fine-grained action recognition tasks. Our code is available at https://github.com/sofiabroome/painface-recognition.
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Andersen PH, Broomé S, Rashid M, Lundblad J, Ask K, Li Z, Hernlund E, Rhodin M, Kjellström H. Towards Machine Recognition of Facial Expressions of Pain in Horses. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:1643. [PMID: 34206077 PMCID: PMC8229776 DOI: 10.3390/ani11061643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Revised: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Automated recognition of human facial expressions of pain and emotions is to a certain degree a solved problem, using approaches based on computer vision and machine learning. However, the application of such methods to horses has proven difficult. Major barriers are the lack of sufficiently large, annotated databases for horses and difficulties in obtaining correct classifications of pain because horses are non-verbal. This review describes our work to overcome these barriers, using two different approaches. One involves the use of a manual, but relatively objective, classification system for facial activity (Facial Action Coding System), where data are analyzed for pain expressions after coding using machine learning principles. We have devised tools that can aid manual labeling by identifying the faces and facial keypoints of horses. This approach provides promising results in the automated recognition of facial action units from images. The second approach, recurrent neural network end-to-end learning, requires less extraction of features and representations from the video but instead depends on large volumes of video data with ground truth. Our preliminary results suggest clearly that dynamics are important for pain recognition and show that combinations of recurrent neural networks can classify experimental pain in a small number of horses better than human raters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pia Haubro Andersen
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden; (J.L.); (K.A.); (E.H.); (M.R.)
| | - Sofia Broomé
- Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE 100044 Stockholm, Sweden; (S.B.); (Z.L.)
| | - Maheen Rashid
- Department of Computer Science, University of California at Davis, California, CA 95616, USA;
| | - Johan Lundblad
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden; (J.L.); (K.A.); (E.H.); (M.R.)
| | - Katrina Ask
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden; (J.L.); (K.A.); (E.H.); (M.R.)
| | - Zhenghong Li
- Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE 100044 Stockholm, Sweden; (S.B.); (Z.L.)
- Department of Computer Science, Stony Brook University, New York, NY 11794, USA
| | - Elin Hernlund
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden; (J.L.); (K.A.); (E.H.); (M.R.)
| | - Marie Rhodin
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden; (J.L.); (K.A.); (E.H.); (M.R.)
| | - Hedvig Kjellström
- Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE 100044 Stockholm, Sweden; (S.B.); (Z.L.)
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