CHALLENGES IN VETERINARY

Our career involve a lot of different areas, so we can say that is a multidisciplinary career. These areas are constant challenges for us. Some of them are:

1) Technology: the importance of technology is increasing, because the productive demands are increasing too. Therefore is necessary that we develop them. One example is biotechnology, we have a subject called Reproductive biotechnology, in this teach us topics like in vitro fertilization, transfer of embryos, and so on. With these techniques we can to produce more protein for human consumes. In the other hand, with reproductive biotechnology we can decrease the loss of endangered species.


2) Social Matters: in my opinion, this area isn`t tackle very deeply, but we must to change it, because we have to take part in matters like animal responsible possession and animal welfare laws. At present we haven`t an ethic subject in our faculty, so we have to study this area ourselves.
In any area that we work, from clinical medicine, animal production to public health we must to concern about social matters, because finally we work for human beings, but through animals.
Also, we work in safety alimentary, so is our responsibility to produce quality food to the population.
Other important matter is our participation in emergency situation like earthquake, epidemic, and so on. Because we have to implement measures of control for protect to the population against infectious agents, which will increase in this situations.


3) Education: this is a very extensive topic; some examples about our role in education are the research. Scientist research can increase the knowledge about animal diseases and in some cases human diseases, with more information about this we can to educate to the population about prevention measures, also is important and is our responsibility to educate about animal responsible possession.
Moreover, we can teach to small producers some productive strategies for increase the effectiveness of this process and to help them to progress.
In the other hand, we can work in municipality, devising health education programs, for example about food safety, like programs that teach how to cook seafood principally in “holy week”.

Scientists discover new coral species in Galapagos waters

Many scientists thought that the current atmospheric pollution would extinct a big part of coral in the nearby future. Moreover, the temperature also plays a important role, like El Niño phenomenon, this is a periodic event which affects weather.
Coral reefs are formed by deposits of calcium carbonate. These receive nutrients from a symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae, this plant is responsible for their beautiful colour. The problem is that when temperatures rise the algae dies. The El Niño phenomenon increase the temperature for 23-29ºC to 30ºC and one of them happened in 1982–1983, killed around 95% of the coral in the Galapagos islads .
Scientists thought that Honeycomb coral had been extinct in 1997-1998 by the last big El Niño phenomenon.
Nevertheless this year, scientists have discovered three new coral species in Galapagos islands, and one of them is the Honeycomb coral. This fact has increased the hope that the coral reef be more resistant to the rising water temperatures than they expected. Appeared the algae might be adapting to warmer temperatures.
This discovery was covering a not studied in the last decades area, in addition they found some species that wasn`t discovered around Galapagos, and probably new species coral.
The result of the study suggest that a lot of coral dies for the increas of temperature because some species need more time to adapt to this change. Whereas some species can adapt very quickly.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/09/coral-new-species-galapagos

Improving our faculty facilities:

Firstly, I have to say that I like very much the facilities of our faculty, because it is more warm that the typical faculties, but I don`t deny, that the structure can and must to be improve.
Our faculty is characterized for being very simple, with enormous green areas and dogs for everywhere, one dining hall, which is really bad, four bathrooms, fields and one swimming pool. obviously it has other kind of things, like chemistry/biochemistry and pathology laboratories, autpsy room, one library, two computers room, one hospital, a educational farm and so on. Therefore we have facilities for to study, to practice and to relax. It sounds great, but there are some things, which in my opinion are important and should be change. For this is necessary that the authorities put themselves in the place of students and decide to use the funds to do improvements in the faculty. Nevertheless, first the students have to decide wich are the more imperative facilities improvement and expose them to the faculty authorities.
Next, some examples of things to need improvement and aren`t very difficult to do.

1- Dining hall: it`s very small and if it doesn`t get full is because the food it isn`t good and also it`s expensive, so the majority prefer to eat junk food which is not healthy. The attention is bad as well, Therefore it isn`t the infraestructure the only problem here.
2- Field: will be very useful a roofed field, this way we can use it when is raining and play sports all the year.
3- Educational farm: is necessary a paved way, because when it rains, the ground turn to quagmire.
I think that is really important to improve the quality of life of the animals in this farm, principally the cows, they don`t have shade, beds, drinking-trough with clean water, and so forth, and is our duty like vets to concern about it.
In the long term, would be good to bring more laboratory equipment, like autoclave, x-rays and ultrasound machines, so we can do more things instead of only see them.