Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

Heel movement and foot biomechanics in aluminium nail‐on and indirect glue‐on fabric cuff shoes in horses

Abstract Background Heel movement is critical to shock absorption and vascular perfusion of the equine digit. Conventional horseshoeing techniques are suspected to restrict natural hoof deformation, affecting hoof biomechanics. Several studies have explored the effects of shoeing...

Inhibition of RNA-m6A Methylation in Breast Cancer Cells Carrying TP53 R273H Mutant Reactivates Natural Killer Cells for Anticancer Immunity

Oncogenic p53 mutant proteins not only promote cancer cell proliferation but also evade immune destruction for tumor progression. Besides hijacking immune checkpoints, p53 mutants in cancer cells may deactivate anticancer immune cells for evasion. Herein, we report that p53 R273H...

Prophage-encoding engineered bacteria enable prophylactic lytic phage therapy for enteric infection in mice

Phage therapy is a promising antibacterial approach but it has limited efficacy against enteric bacterial infections, such as Salmonella enterica Typhimurium (STm). Here we hypothesized that establishing high concentrations of a pathogen-targeting phage in the gut before infectio...

Bacteria synthesize a bacteriocin within the cell membrane

ABSTRACT Bacteria use bacteriocins to kill competitors and shape microbial communities. Many bacteriocins are ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), a diverse class of natural products and a source of new antimicrobials. The diversity of bacte...

From bird viremia to bird surveillance: identifiability in a multi-scale vector-borne model of Usutu virus infection

Abstract Usutu virus is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus, maintained through an enzootic cycle involving wild birds and mosquitoes, with occasional spillover to humans. Understanding how interactions across these biological scales shape transmission dynamics is essential for...

Primary Care Clinical Rotations Are Associated with Shifts in Senior Veterinary Students’ Perceptions of Scope, Complexity, and Career Alignment

The study objective was to evaluate changes in senior veterinary students' perceptions of companion animal primary care and career preferences following a primary care clinical rotation. A multi-institutional survey was administered to veterinary students at 10 US colleges of vet...

Extracellular membrane vesicles—previously unrecognized components of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of biofilm-associated infections, in which communities of bacterial cells are encased in an extracellular matrix composed of polysaccharides, proteins, and extracellular DNA (eDNA) that protect bacteria from host immune defense an...