Horse Leg Research Articles

Anti-oxidation and Anti-wrinkling Effects of Jeju Horse Leg Bone Hydrolysates.

This study focused on the anti-oxidative and collagenase- and elastase inhibition effects of low molecular weight peptides (LMP) from commercial Jeju horse leg bone hydrolysates (JHLB) on pancreatin, via enzymatic hydrolysis. Cell viability of dermal fibroblasts exposed to UVB radiation upon treatment with LMP from JHLB was evaluated. Determination of the antioxidant activity of various concentrations of LMP from JHLB were carried out by assessing 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethybenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). The DPPH radical scavenging activity of LMP from JHLB (20 mg/mL) was 92.21% and ABTS radical scavenging activity (15 mg/mL) was 99.50%. FRAP activity (30 mg/mL) was 364.72 μM/TE and ORAC activity (1 mg/mL) was 101.85 μM/TE. The anti-wrinkle potential was assessed by evaluating the elastase- and collagenase inhibition potential of these LMP. We found that 200 mg/mL of LMP from JHLB inhibited elastase activity by 41.32%, and 100 mg/mL of LMP from JHLB inhibited collagenase activity by 91.32%. The cell viability of untreated HS68 human dermal fibroblasts was 45% when exposed to a UVB radiation dose of 100 mJ/cm2. After 24 h of incubation with 500 μg/mL LMP from JHLB, the cell viability increased to 60%. These results indicate that LMP from JHLB has potential utility as an anti-oxidant and anti-wrinkle agent in the food and cosmetic industry. Additional in vivo tests should be carried out to further characterize these potential benefits.

Eligius, Schutzpatron der Tierärztinnen und Tierärzte

Saint Eligius became the saint patron of farriers and veterinarians in the 13th century. This was first mentioned by Jordanus Ruffus, emperor Frederic the 2nd's equerry, who refers to a gregorian hymnal dedicated to Eligius. The legend says that Eliguis amputated a horse's foot, shoed it and placed it back on the horse's leg. This legend might have replaced the Germanic cult described in the incantations of Merseburg. In Switzerland the veneration of Eligius is particularly spread in the canton of Lucerne.

On the Necessity of Including Joint Passive Dynamics in the Impedance Control of Robotic Legs

Bioinspired quadruped robots are among the best robot designs for field missions over the complex terrain encountered in extraterrestrial landscapes and disaster scenarios caused by natural and human-made catastrophes, such as those caused by nuclear power plant accidents and radiological emergencies. For such applications, the performance characteristics of the robots should include high mobility, adaptability to the terrain, the ability to handle a large payload and good endurance. Nature can provide inspiration for quadruped designs that are well suited for traversing complex terrain. Horse legs are an example of a structure that has evolved to exhibit good performance characteristics. In this paper, a leg design exhibiting the key features of horse legs is briefly described. This leg is an underactuated mechanism because it has two actively driven degrees of freedom (DOFs) and one passively driven DOF. In this work, two control laws intended to be use in the stan ce phase are described: a control law that considers passive mechanism dynamics and a second law that neglects these dynamics. The performance of the two control laws is experimentally evaluated and compared. The results indicate that the first control law better achieves the control goal; however, the use of the second is not completely unjustified.

Body size and the neural control of movement

Summary Nervous systems, muscles, and motor organs (biomechanics) generate movement cooperatively and should therefore change coordinately as body size changes. Proving this hypothesis requires a description of the nervous system, muscle, and biomechanics of individual species and comparison of these properties across a collection of species spanning a large size range. Obtaining these data in even one species is daunting, and we are far from reaching a general theory of how nervous system, muscle, and biomechanics depend on body size. Sufficient cross-species data nonetheless exist to identify some consequences of body size on the neural control of movement, which form the focus of this Primer: for example, locomotor cycle period depends on leg length; large animals should devote more neural resources to hazard avoidance and stride correction; the importance of gravity and momentum increases, and of passive muscle properties decreases, with limb size; and the medium in which movements occur affects these size dependencies. These considerations suggest that, in applying biological data to robotic design, proper ‘size' should be maintained across all levels (i.e., if small-animal neural mechanisms are used, so should small-animal muscle and biomechanical properties).

On the Biomimetic Design of Agile-Robot Legs

The development of functional legged robots has encountered its limits in human-made actuation technology. This paper describes research on the biomimetic design of legs for agile quadrupeds. A biomimetic leg concept that extracts key principles from horse legs which are responsible for the agile and powerful locomotion of these animals is presented. The proposed biomimetic leg model defines the effective leg length, leg kinematics, limb mass distribution, actuator power, and elastic energy recovery as determinants of agile locomotion, and values for these five key elements are given. The transfer of the extracted principles to technological instantiations is analyzed in detail, considering the availability of current materials, structures and actuators. A real leg prototype has been developed following the biomimetic leg concept proposed. The actuation system is based on the hybrid use of series elasticity and magneto-rheological dampers which provides variable compliance for natural motion. From the experimental evaluation of this prototype, conclusions on the current technological barriers to achieve real functional legged robots to walk dynamically in agile locomotion are presented.

Dviejų retų žodžių etimologijos

ETYMOLOGIES OF TWO RARE WORDS Summary Lith. subinė (subinė, subinė) “arse”, suben- exclusively in compounds, dial, sabinikė “id.”, a diminutive, are the most obscure words regarding their orgin. The juxtaposition sub i nkaulis “coccyx” : sab i nkaulis “id.” : b i nkaulis “lump, knob on a horse leg” makes it possible first of all to segment -kaulis (: kaulas “bone”) and subin-, sabin-, bin- and then to divide the latter morphemes into prefixes su-, sa- and a root bin-. Thus subinė, suben- and sabinikė consist most likely of prefixes su-, sa- “with” and the words *binė, *benė meaning “buttock”. Lith. dial, svasva “daughter; sister” (< *svesrv-a) evidently derives from IE *suekruH- “mother-in-law” and presents itself as a feminine counterpart of Lith. sesuras “father-in-law” < IE *suekuro-.

The use of acupuncture beads to control exuberant granulation tissue in equine skin wounds: A preliminary study

SummarySkin lacerations on the hind legs of horses often cause large defects on the cranial surface of the hock and cannon regions. The treatment of these present significant logistic problems due to the amount of movement of the area and the difficulties of bandaging and immobilisation, as well as a tendency to form exuberant granulation tissue (or ‘proud flesh’)Acupuncture beads were used as a means of suppressing granulation and maximising epithelial ingrowth, using the principle that ‘acupuncture has been shown to help bring the body back towards normality’. The aim in these cases was healing of the skin lesions with the least effort and cost possible.The technique eliminated the need for resection of any granulation tissue after the beads were implanted, the amount of bandaging was drastically reduced and eliminated in a lot of cases, and the results were cosmetically very acceptable and functional. Digital photography and measurements of the changes in the size of the lesions were used to document the results.This study shows that the formation of exuberant granulation tissue or ‘proud flesh’ in equine skin wounds on the cranial surface of the hock and cannon bone can be controlled by a single acupuncture bead treatment. Long‐term follow‐up of the cases over 18+ months confirms the ongoing effects of the acupuncture beads, resulting in the completion of wound healing and reduction of fibrosis.

The effect of gait and digital flexor muscle activation on limb compliance in the forelimb of the horse Equus caballus.

A horse's legs are compressed during the stance phase, storing and then returning elastic strain energy in spring-like muscle-tendon units. The arrangement of the muscle-tendon units around the lever-like joints means that as the leg shortens the muscle-tendon units are stretched. The forelimb anatomy means that the leg can be conceptually divided into two springs: the proximal spring, from the scapula to the elbow, and the distal spring, from the elbow to the foot. In this paper we report the results of a series of experiments testing the hypothesis that there is minimal scope for muscle contraction in either spring to adjust limb compliance. Firstly, we demonstrate that the distal, passive leg spring changes length by 127 mm (range 106-128 mm) at gallop and the proximal spring by 12 mm (9-15 mm). Secondly, we demonstrate that there is a linear relationship between limb force and metacarpo-phalangeal (MCP) joint angle that is minimally influenced by digital flexor muscle activation in vitro or as a function of gait in vivo. Finally, we determined the relationship between MCP joint angle and vertical ground-reaction force at trot and then predicted the forelimb peak vertical ground-reaction force during a 12 m s(-1) gallop on a treadmill. These were 12.79 N kg(-1) body mass (BM) (range 12.07-13.73 N kg(-1) BM) for the lead forelimb and 15.23 N kg(-1) BM (13.51-17.10 N kg(-1) BM) for the non-lead forelimb.

To hunt or not to hunt? A feeding enrichment experiment with captive large felids

AbstractIt is often difficult to promote the successful performance of feeding behaviors in zoos, especially for carnivores. Feeding enrichment provides these opportunities and often improves behavioral indications of an animal's well‐being and the experience of the zoo visitor. The effectiveness of two different feeding enrichment techniques was evaluated on five subjects in two species of felids: African lions and Sumatran tigers. The activity budgets of each cat were compared before, during, and after enrichment, focusing on activity levels, frequency and variety of feeding behaviors, and occurrence of stereotypic behaviors. The presentation of live fish increased the variety and frequency of feeding behaviors, while presentation of horse leg bones increased the frequency of these behaviors. Fish reduced the tigers' stereotypic behavior from 60% of scans to 30% of scans on the day of presentation, and this change was maintained for 2 days following enrichment. Bone presentation also reduced stereotypic behavior and increased nonstereotypic activity in both species. Both of these techniques appear to have sustained effects on behavior lasting at least 2 days after presentation, which may indicate their ability to alter the animals' underlying activity patterns. Zoo Biol 22:189–198, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Drawing From Life: Representing a Spiritual Tradition

In the fourteenth century choir stalls of Chester Cathedral there is a wood carving of an elephant, or at least a fourteenth century woodcarver's attempt to represent one on the basis of hearsay and description. The beast has a trunk, but otherwise looks a lot like a horse, with a heavy body, or heavy for a horse. The ears are large, but only by the standards of horses, and it has a horse's legs and hooves. Acquaintance with real elephants would no doubt have helped, but the representation of unfamiliar spiritual traditions is more complicated. Acquaintance, even appropriation, can be vitiated by preconceptions. Sometimes the Christian template of the horse can obscure the outlines of the Buddhist elephant, and the legacy of a formerly dominant Western version of Christianity, which has surely compromised the availability of that tradition, still lingers in the popular (Western) mind. In its vulgar form it leads to the assumption that a 'religious person' has 'convictions', and is 'committed' to certain 'beliefs'.1 Contemporary Buddhists have resisted this imposition, and try to represent Buddhism in a way that reveals the error, insisting on the dominance of practice over belief. Unfortunately, contemporary Buddhists and contemporary Christians do not know each other very well, and distorting projections can go in both directions, unless we start to listen to each other's talk, as a preliminary, perhaps, to engaging one another in conversation.

Drawing From Life: Representing a Spiritual Tradition

In the fourteenth century choir stalls of Chester Cathedral there is a wood carving of an elephant, or at least a fourteenth century woodcarver's attempt to represent one on the basis of hearsay and description. The beast has a trunk, but otherwise looks a lot like a horse, with a heavy body, or heavy for a horse. The ears are large, but only by the standards of horses, and it has a horse's legs and hooves. Acquaintance with real elephants would no doubt have helped, but the representation of unfamiliar spiritual traditions is more complicated. Acquaintance, even appropriation, can be vitiated by preconceptions. Sometimes the Christian template of the horse can obscure the outlines of the Buddhist elephant, and the legacy of a formerly dominant Western version of Christianity, which has surely compromised the availability of that tradition, still lingers in the popular (Western) mind. In its vulgar form it leads to the assumption that a 'religious person' has 'convictions', and is 'committed' to certain 'beliefs'.1 Contemporary Buddhists have resisted this imposition, and try to represent Buddhism in a way that reveals the error, insisting on the dominance of practice over belief. Unfortunately, contemporary Buddhists and contemporary Christians do not know each other very well, and distorting projections can go in both directions, unless we start to listen to each other's talk, as a preliminary, perhaps, to engaging one another in conversation.

Oncocercose eqüina: diagnóstico e verificação da hematofagia por simulídeos e culicóides, prováveis vetores no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Onchocerca cervicalis Railliet & Henry, 1910 is a nematode that parasite equines. Its ocurrence has already been reported in the States of Mato Grosso and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Different diagnostic techniques were used in this study to establish the prevalence of the parasite in Rio de Janeiro State and the biting behaviour of the simuliid and ceratopogonid species suspected of being vectors was studied. All of the biopsies made in the region of the withers, shoulder and umbilicus of 57 animals were negative. Necropsies carried out on 28 equines revealed 4 to be positive for the parasite; 2 for microfilariae and 2 for adults. Simuliid flies showed preference for biting the ventral region and ceratopogonids the lower parts of the legs of horses. It was concluded that a more detailed investigation is required to determine a better diagnostic technique in order to verify prevalence rates of the parasite in horses in the State.

The influence of bandage characteristics and inter-individual application variations on underneath bandage pressures

INTRODUCTION:: Cohesive bandages are applied to the legs of racehorses and horses with limb injuries for protection (prevention of abrasion) and support (reduction of movement at the fetlock joint). The support capacity of all commercially available bandages has been questioned. Consequently, the protection aspect of bandaging and the negative side effects, which can be caused by bandaging (eg pressure induced ischemia with subsequent necrosis), were emphasized. High pressures underneath bandages were shown to cause reduced blood flow. Pressures underneath certain types of bandages were shown to be higher than under others. It is unclear if these differences were due to differences in material characteristics between the bandage types or caused by differences in application by the trainers. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) if differences between different types of bandages are observed if these are applied similarly and (b) if earlier observed differences in pressures underneath bandages are reproducible when wrapped by different trainers. METHODS AND MATERIAL:: (a) A wrapping machine for the application of bandages to an artificial joint (simulating the human knee joint) was designed and built. The machine allows to wrap bandages with adjustable, constant tension under well defined wrapping angles in order to simulate a wrapping technique similar to the wrapping by trainers. The artificial joint is equipped with two pressure sensors (Parotec, Germany). After bandage application, the artificial joint was placed in a specially designed testing machine and cycled through 200 cycles from 0 degrees to 90 degrees of flexion at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. Pressure data were collected at a frequency of 20 Hz. The force required to unwind the bandage from its core was measured with a material testing machine. Five samples each of four different 4" wide cohesive bandages were tested: 'E': high modulus latex, 'V': low mod. latex, 'C': low mod. latex, 'F': medium mod. laminate non-latex. All bandages were applied at manufacturer suggested tensions (50% intercept length). (b) Fifth-three trainers from the Kentucky Horse Center (Lexington, KY) and the Payson Park Training Facility (Indiantown, FL) volunteered for the study. They applied their favoured brand and a type 'F' bandage to an artificial horse limb. Underneath bandage pressures were collected using a pressure mat (Mikro Emed, Novel GmbH, Germany) placed over the fetlock joint. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:: (a) Maximum pressures during maximum flexion underneath the type 'E' bandage (5.7+/-0.4 N/cm(2)) were significantly higher than for all other bandages (no difference between other bandages, range 3.5+/-0.6 to 4.0+/-0.4 N/cm). The unwinding force for the type 'F' bandage was significantly lower (10.1+/-5.5N) than for all other bandages (range 22.7+/-11.3 to 42.3+/-15.1N). (b) Trainers applied the type 'E' bandage significantly tighter than the other bandages (18.7+/-3.7 N/cm(2) vs a range of 7.5+/-5.4 to 10.4+/-6.1 N/cm(2)); a tendency was observed that the type 'F' bandage was applied looser than the type 'V' bandage. The results of part (b) of this study are consistent with the earlier study. Based on the results of part (a) of this study it can be speculated that (I) The high pressures underneath the type 'E' bandage are clearly due to its material characteristics, and (II) The differences between the other bandages are not caused by material characteristics but probably by the differences in unwinding force. If the unwinding force is higher than the force required to extend the bandage to 50% intercept length, trainers will probably wrap tighter as suggested and desired.

A Theory of Mixed Chains Applied to Safety Factors in Biological Systems

The skeleton of a leg is a chain of bones, breakage of any one of which makes the whole leg useless. The oxygen-transport system of mammals is a chain of processes, any one of which may limit the rate of use of oxygen. The simple argument that a chain is as strong as its weakest link suggests that chains both of structures and of processes would be best designed to have the strengths or capacities of all their links matched. However, this paper shows that if the performance of a link built to a given design is to some extent unpredictable, it may be better to design links for unequal performance. In chains of structures, links made from less expensive or more variable materials should be designed to be somewhat stronger than others. In chains of processes, the plant for less expensive or more predictable processes should be designed for higher maximum rates of working. These conclusions offer possible explanations for some observations regarding frequencies of fracture in horse leg bones and the diffusing capacities of mammalian lungs.

Ultrasonographic anatomy of the dorsal and abaxial aspects of the equine fetlock.

This paper describes normal ultrasound images of the soft tissues of the dorsal and abaxial aspects of the equine fetlock. The palmar aspect of the fetlock is not discussed because it is related to the suspensory apparatus and flexor tendon anatomy which has been previously described. Ultrasound scanning was performed with 7.5 MHz linear or 10 MHz sector probes and recorded on 7.5 cm U-matic videocassettes allowing further retrospective data analysis, computer manipulation and good image reproducibility. Sagittal, parasagittal, frontal and transverse ultrasound scans of 13 lameness free mature horses were compared to anatomically dissected leg specimens, anatomical sections and Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans of isolated limbs. The results are focused on the comparison between anatomical sections and ultrasonograms performed on the legs of nonlame horses. Ultrasonography was demonstrated to be a very accurate imaging procedure for soft tissue structures at the dorsal and abaxial aspects of the equine fetlock. Under clinical conditions, a thorough knowledge of normal ultrasonographic anatomy is critical for an accurate diagnosis of fetlock soft tissue injury.

Pathways of lymph flow from superficial tissues in the legs of horses

Pathways of peripheral lymph flow from the legs in horses were studied with casts, and with light and electron microscopic techniques. Although lymph nodes in horses occur in large groups, each lymph vessel draining from the periphery appeared to terminate on a single node within a group. The larger branches of each vessel divided either on the node surface or after penetrating into the node, and 25 to 60 terminal afferent vessels entered either the subcapsular, medullary or trabecular sinuses. Numerous initial efferent lymphatics arose either within the medulla, or at its surface, and they often coalesced to form an anastomosing network on the node surface. Almost all of the one to four efferent lymphatics that left the vicinity of the node terminated on other nodes, usually within more centrally placed groups. This arrangement may aid in the amplification and propagation of immune responses initiated in primary nodes.

The technician using ultrasound

The technician using ultrasound

Mechanical properties and bone density of bone samples from horses with and without suffering fracture.

Mechanical properties and bone density of bone from the horse were studied. Two kinds of bone samples were used : one was taken from legs of horses suffering in racing (fractured sample) and the other from legs horses which were killed for other reasons (non fractured sample). The dynamic stiffness and tan δ were measured by a viscoelastic spectrometer. A bone densitometer was used in density measurement. No substantial difference in values of dynamic stiffness and density was observed in two kinds of samples. On the other hand, the values of tan δ for the fractured sample were definitely lower than those for the non fractured one. It was inferred that the fractured sample was more brittle than the non fractured sample.

The Mesh Expansion Method of Suturing Wounds on the Legs of Horses

Wound closure utilizing tension‐relieving incisions located in the skin adjacent to the wound of horses was evaluated in three experiments. Healing of lower limb wounds was compared in four treatment groups; wounds sutured under tension, wounds sutured with 7 mm and 10 mm tension relieving incisions, and unsutured controls. The wounds sutured using 10 mm tension relieving incisions healed significantly faster than the other three groups (p &gt; 0.05). The mesh expansion technique was further evaluated in four‐week‐old granulating wounds. The technique was found to be unsuccessful because the tension relieving incisions that were used were too small and postoperative support was inadequate. The technique was evaluated in two clinical patients, both of which had large metatarsal lacerations. Tension relieving incisions of approximately 15 mm were made and full leg walking bar casts were applied. Both wounds had healed almost completely on removal of the casts four weeks postoperatively.

The Biography Man

Your autobiography! he said them, standing gilded in the morning sun like a sparkling tournament trophy. We will write your very own Take it from me. My company. His company, a back-Eastern somewhere wholesale publisher making books inexpensive like fine wines in the cellar. more who buy, the cheaper they come! hailing them from the wagon all circus curlicue red yellow and golden with a steed stamping and whinnying on the dusty streets. The children first saw him arrive, an edge of town voyager in the dawn with leather straps, champing horse, all silver buckles, spokes and copper rims, pulling into the townsquare at day break and throwing the side open for everyone gaze upon leather and goldtrim books. Your own biography, your own life story! printed on qual ity paper, inexpensive labor of speciality house can afford it because ... because of pot-boilers which allow the philanthropist owner (everyone knows how crazy philanthropist millionaires are) take huge trash-novel profits and send wagonmen through green little midwest towns offer books, books, . everyone loves books! books about your very own life. Bound and goldtrimmed, don't forget that, printed and sent you and see these here on display now, from Bainbridge over in Ohio, and Star City back in Indiana. Anyone have relatives in Star City? The crowd pushing closer the wagon now like leaves blown against autumn trees, staring up at the traveling salesman, possible snake-oil man for the suspicious sheriff run out of town. Up closer now, necks like marionettes, twisting see the books. Step up! Browse! Thumb through the life stories of your cousins! Children dashing under the quiet nibbling horse's legs, chasing with gunsticks, and parents hollering be quiet. The leading citizens, the mayor and city coun cilmen, all pinstripe and tophat and smile-vote formality, standing one side on the way the office for coffee and business. Only ten dollars! he shouts, to leave a legacy for your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren! This last striking that golden note in the hearts of all men who sire children, as every man wants be immortal, every man has his pride. Now perking up, husbands turning and smiling and nodding at wives, a twinkle in their eyes, this sounds nice doesn't it now, a life story give 1