VETERINARY STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

Best Vet Scholarships from National Organizations and Colleges

Students aspiring to be veterinarians are truly committed to the profession and to helping animals. But veterinary programs can be unforgiving when it comes to length of time to earn the degree and cost for funding. Thankfully there are many options for scholarships.

National Organizations

We Care Paws-itive Dog Club Scholarship is available to students who are majoring in an animal-related medical field.

The Thoroughbred Scholarship is available to students who wish to pursue a career in veterinary medicine or agricultural science with an emphasis on equine medicine, racetrack management or equine business management. To be eligible, students must be 25 years of age or younger, have at least a C average in high school and must show a financial need. See the pdf.

The Saul T. Wilson Jr. Scholarship Program is for undergraduates and graduates enrolled in college full time and in good academic standing. Undergraduates must have completed at least 2 years of a 4 year pre-veterinary medicine or some other biomedical science program. Graduates must have completed no more than 1 year of study in veterinary medicine. Students must agree to work for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service during school breaks. See the pdf.

The American Kennel Club sponsors the Veterinary Student Scholarships to full time students enrolled at a veterinary school in the U.S. Students are selected for scholarships based on academic achievement, financial need and activities with purebred dogs or related.

School Specific

Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Massachusetts offers several scholarship opportunities:

• George I. Alden Scholarship Fund provides assistance to deserving students studying veterinary medicine.
• Rosamond "Darby" A. Chambers Scholarship Fund proves scholarships to veterinary medicine students.
• John F. and Georgia O'Neill Flagg Scholarship Fund for Wildlife Medicine provide assistance to students who are studying veterinary medicine with an emphasis on wildlife medicine.

Scholarship with Restrictions

Veterinary Scholarship Trust of New England awards yearly scholarships to New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont) students attending any veterinary school in the U.S. as long as they are in good standing.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers scholarships for full time students who are in financial need and from disadvantaged backgrounds. Students must be enrolled in a degree program for nursing or health professions.

Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges offers several scholarships:

• The Harold Wetterberg Foundation awards scholarships to current or past New Jersey residents who are currently enrolled in post-graduate education in the veterinary medicine field.

• The Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention is for students enrolled in a bachelor's degree program in any health science field. This is a writing competition.

• The Hill's Public Health Award is for students enrolled in a veterinary program at a college associated with the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions. This is another writing competition with veterinary medicine as the topic.

CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS

Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular human pathogen, is one of three bacterial species in the genus Chlamydia. C. trachomatis is Gram-indeterminate (i.e. cannot be stained with the Gram stain); structurally the organism is Gram-negative. Identified in 1907, C. trachomatis was the first chlamydial agent discovered in humans.

C. trachomatis includes three human biovars: trachoma (serovars A, B, Ba or C), urethritis (serovars D-K), and lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV, serovars L1, 2 and 3). Many, but not all, C. trachomatis strains have an extrachromosomal plasmid.

Chlamydia species are readily identified and distinguished from other chlamydial species using DNA-based tests.

Most strains of C. trachomatis are recognized by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to epitopes in the VS4 region of MOMP. However, these mAbs may also cross-react with two other Chlamydia species, C. suis and C. muridarum.

C. trachomatis is an obligate intracellular pathogen (i.e. the bacterium lives within human cells) and can cause numerous disease states in both men and women. Both sexes can display urethritis, proctitis (rectal disease and bleeding), trachoma, and infertility. The bacterium can cause prostatitis and epididymitis in men. In women, cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, and acute or chronic pelvic pain are frequent complications. C. trachomatis is also an important neonatal pathogen, where it can lead to infections of the eye (trachoma) and pulmonary complications.

C. trachomatis may be treated with any of several antibiotics: azithromycin, erythromycin or doxycycline/tetracycline.

DOXYCYCLINE

Doxycycline is a tetracycline antibiotic. It works by slowing the growth of bacteria in the body.

Doxycycline is used to treat many different bacterial infections, such as urinary tract infections, acne, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, periodontitis (gum disease), and others. Doxycycline is also used to treat blemishes, bumps, and acne-like lesions caused by rosacea. It will not treat facial redness caused by rosacea. Doxycycline may be used in combination with other medicines to treat certain amoeba infections.

Do not use doxycycline if you are pregnant. It could cause harm to the unborn baby, including permanent discoloration of the teeth later in life. Doxycycline can make birth control pills less effective. Use a second method of birth control while you are taking doxycycline to keep from getting pregnant. Doxycycline passes into breast milk and may affect bone and tooth development in a nursing baby. Do not take this medication without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

Do not use this medication if you are allergic to doxycycline, or to similar medicines such as demeclocycline (Declomycin), minocycline (Dynacin, Minocin, Solodyn, Vectrin), or tetracycline (Brodspec, Panmycin, Sumycin, Tetracap).

If you have liver or kidney disease, you may need a dose adjustment or special tests to safely take doxycycline.

Do not give doxycycline to a child younger than 8 years old. It can cause permanent yellowing or graying of the teeth, and it can affect a child's growth. Throw away any unused tablets or capsules when they expire or when there are no longer needed. Do not take any doxycycline after the expiration date printed on the bottle. Expired doxycycline can cause a dangerous syndrome resulting in damage to the kidneys.

Do not use doxycycline if you are allergic to doxycycline, or to similar medicines such as demeclocycline (Declomycin), minocycline (Dynacin, Minocin, Solodyn, Vectrin), or tetracycline (Brodspec, Panmycin, Sumycin, Tetracap). Before taking this medicine, tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney disease. You may not be able to take doxycycline, or you may need a dose adjustment or special tests during treatment.

If you are using doxycycline to treat gonorrhea, your doctor may test you to make sure you do not also have syphilis, another sexually transmitted disease.

Do not use doxycycline syrup (Vibramycin) without first talking to your doctor if you have asthma or are allergic to sulfites.

FDA pregnancy category D. This medication can cause harm to an unborn baby, including permanent discoloration of the teeth later in life. Do not use doxycycline without your doctor's consent if you are pregnant. Tell your doctor if you become pregnant during treatment. Doxycycline can make birth control pills less effective. Use a non-hormonal method of birth control (such as a condom, diaphragm, spermicide) to prevent pregnancy while you are taking this medication. Doxycycline passes into breast milk and may affect bone and tooth development in a nursing infant. Do not take this medication without first talking to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby. Children younger than 8 years old should not take doxycycline. This medication can cause permanent tooth discoloration and can also affect a child's growth.

ANIMAL WELFARE

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological state of non-human animals. The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights.

Systematic concern for animal welfare can be based on awareness that non-human animals are sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being, especially when they are used for food, in animal testing, as pets, or in other ways. These concerns can include how animals are killed for food, how they are used for scientific research, how they are kept as pets, and how human activities affect the survival of endangered species.

An ancient object of concern in some civilizations, animal welfare began to take a larger place in western public policy in 19th century Britain. Today it is a significant focus of interest or activity in veterinary science, in ethics, and in animal welfare organizations.

There are two forms of criticism of the concept of animal welfare, coming from diametrically opposite positions. One view, dating back centuries, asserts that animals are not consciously aware and hence are unable to experience poor welfare. The other view is based on the animal rights position that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of animals by humans is unacceptable. Some authorities thus treat animal welfare and animal rights as two opposing positions. Accordingly, some animal right proponents argue that the perception of better animal welfare facilitates continued and increased exploitation of animals. Others see the increasing concern for animal welfare as incremental steps towards animal rights.

Motivations to improve the welfare of animals stems from sympathy and empathy. It can also be based on self-interest. For example, animal producers might improve welfare in order to meet consumer demand for products from high welfare systems. Typically, stronger concern is given to animals that are useful to humans (farm animals, pets etc.) than those that are not (pests, wild animals etc.). The different level of sentience that various species possess, or the perception of such differences, also create a shifting level of concern. Somewhat related to this is size, with larger animals being favored.

There is some evidence to suggest that empathy is an inherited trait. Women have greater concern for animals than men in some societies, possibly the result of it being an evolutionarily beneficial trait in societies where women take care of domesticated animals while men hunt. Interestingly, more women have animal phobias than men. But animal phobias are at least partly genetically determined, and this indicates that attitudes towards animals have a genetic component. Also, children exhibit empathy for animals at a very early age , when external influences cannot be an adequate explanation.

Laws punishing cruelty to animals tend to not just be based on welfare concerns but the belief that such behavior has repercussions toward the treatment of other humans by the animal abusers. Another argument against animal cruelty is based on aesthetics.

External factors that affect people's concern for animal welfare include affluence, education, cultural heritage and religious beliefs. Increased affluence in many regions for the past few decades afforded consumers the disposable income to purchase products from high welfare systems. The adaptation of more economically efficient farming systems in these regions were at the expense of animal welfare and to the financial benefit of consumers, both of which were factors in driving the demand for higher welfare for farm animals.

Interest in animal welfare continues to grow, with increasing attention being paid to it by the media, governmental and non-governmental organizations. The volume of scientific research on animal welfare has also increased significantly.

DESCRIPTION OF IN PAPYRO

In papyro: referring to experiments or studies carried out only on paper. For example, the term may be applied to epidemiological studies that do not involve clinical subjects, such as meta-analysis. The term is similar to phrases such as in vivo, in vitro, or in silico. Like the latter, in papyro (the correct Latin is in papȳrō) has no actual Latin meaning and was constructed as an analogue to the more popular and longstanding biological sciences terms (vivo and vitro). In papyro is mutually exclusive from in vitro and in vivo, but overlaps with in silico - that is, a study carried out through computer/abstract simulations can also be considered in papyro.

DESCRIPTION OF IN SITU

In biology, in situ means to examine the phenomenon exactly in place where it occurs (i.e. without moving it to some special medium).

In the case of observations or photographs of living animals, it means that the organism was observed (and photographed) in the wild, exactly as it was found and exactly where it was found. The organism had not been not moved to another (perhaps more convenient) location such as an aquarium.

This phrase in situ when used in laboratory science such as cell science can mean something intermediate between in vivo and in vitro. For example, examining a cell within a whole organ intact and under perfusion may be in situ investigation. This would not be in vivo as the donor is sacrificed before experimentation, but it would not be the same as working with the cell alone (a common scenario for in vitro experiments).

In vitro was among the first attempts to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze natural occurrences in the lab. Eventually, the limitation of in vitro experimentation was that they were not conducted in natural environments. To compensate for this problem, in vivo experimentation allowed testing to occur in the originate organism or environment. To bridge the dichotomy of benefits associated with both methodologies, in situ experimentation allowed the controlled aspects of in vitro to become coalesced with the natural environmental compositions of in vivo experimentation.

In conservation of genetic resources, "in situ conservation" (also "on-site conservation") is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat, as opposed to ex situ conservation (also "off-site conservation").

In oncology: for a carcinoma, in situ means that malignant cells are present as a tumor but has not metastasized, or invaded, beyond the original site where the tumor was discovered. This can happen anywhere in the body, such as the skin, breast tissue, or lung. This type of tumor can often, depending on where it is located, be removed by surgery.

In medicine in-situ means that cancer cells have not passed through the basal lamina. Basically it means the tumor has not invaded lamina propria or the deeper portions of the tissue. Because metastasis generally requires a carcinoma to 'break through' the basement membrane, chances for metastasis is very low.