Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies thesis and dissertation collection
The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies teaches postgraduate and undergraduate degree programmes, the latter providing the necessary training for a future career as a veterinary surgeon, and undertakes research across a range of veterinary-related fields.Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies is part of The College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine.
This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
Recent Submissions
-
Modelling climate change impacts on European grassland-based livestock systems
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-11-30)Climate change is leading to higher temperatures and altered rainfall patterns across Europe. These changes are likely to have major impacts on plant life. This is particularly relevant for livestock production systems ... -
Investigation of genetic and non-genetic factors influencing ewe reproductive performance in a Scottish hill flock
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-11-30)Hill sheep farming is the backbone of the Scottish sheep farming industry. Due to the low productivity of hill sheep breeds and the changes in EU subsidy support system, the number of breeding ewes declined significantly ... -
Role of microRNAs in Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus infection
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-11-30)Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) is a lung cancer that affects sheep, caused by jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV). OPA is present in most sheeprearing countries of the world, but, at present, there are no reliable ... -
Transcriptome analysis of Primordial Germ Cells of birds
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-11-30)Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are germline competent cells which form the functional gametes of the animal. The potential usage of avian PGCs in producing genetically modified birds has driven research in the derivation ... -
Veterinary Transition Study - investigating the transition from veterinary student to practising veterinary surgeon: prospective cohort study
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-08-04)This is a study of mental health and transition. Despite concern about professional mental health, and a suicide rate among veterinary surgeons three to four times that of the general population, studies of veterinary ... -
Molecular mechanisms of oncolytic properties of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in human cancer cells
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-08-04)Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a single-stranded, non-segmented, negative-sense enveloped RNA virus, which belongs to the Orthoavulavirus genus of Paramyxoviridae family. It is a well-known, economically important ... -
Investigating the mechanisms mediating the outcomes of prenatal stress
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Excessive stress during pregnancy can strongly impact the developing offspring, leading to long-term changes in the brain that persist into adulthood, in a process known as “prenatal programming”. In a rat model, where ... -
Investigation of farmer-led breeding goals and strategies in smallholder dairy farming systems to cope with variation in feed sources and quality
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Breeding goals and long term breeding strategies for smallholder dairy farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have not been defined clearly. There is a need for a clear breeding goal that reflects priorities, need and ... -
Evaluation of the efficacy of bleomycin encapsulated within liposomes as novel, topical treatment for skin cancer in veterinary species and its potential for human medicine: an in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo study
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Bleomycin is a potent anticancer agent that is able to induce single and double stranded breaks in DNA. It is effective against several types of cancer, including cutaneous skin tumours, in both human and veterinary ... -
Tenascin-C: a marker and driver of inflammation
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Tenascin-C, the founding member of the matricellular tenascin family, is a large multifunctional hexameric extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein. It is abundantly expressed in the developing embryo but its expression ... -
Study of gastrointestinal nematodes co-infecting feral Soay sheep on St Kilda
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)The unmanaged, feral Soay sheep population on St Kilda has survived for hundreds of years, despite enduring potentially deleterious gastrointestinal nematode co-infections. Co-infections with multiple nematode species ... -
Identification of viable liver fluke metacercarial challenge to livestock
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)The parasitic liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, presents a significant economic burden to the UK livestock industry. Liver fluke disease (fasciolosis) control is underpinned by forecasting, which is currently performed on a ... -
Molecular mechanisms underlying hair shape variation in the human population
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals and functions in thermoregulation, protection, camouflage and social signalling. In humans, scalp hair is a distinctly variable trait, differing in colour, shape and ... -
Veterinary and medical undergraduate attitudes to pain in animals and non-verbal humans
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Attitudes have the potential to influence future behaviour and may affect how people respond to pain in animals and non-verbal humans. The attitudes of veterinary and medical students towards pain are unknown. In order ... -
Investigating the impact of osteoblast-specific NPP1 ablation on bone and energy metabolism
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)The skeleton is a mineralised tissue, which facilitates classical functions of locomotion, organ protection and mineral homeostasis. However, the bone has more recently been identified as an endocrine organ with the ability ... -
Application of social network analysis to understand acute and chronic post-mixing aggression in commercially reared pigs
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)In commercial systems, pigs are routinely regrouped with unfamiliar conspecifics which leads to physical aggression in order to establish new dominance relationships. Post-mixing aggression lasts approximately 24 hours ... -
Investigation into germ cell fate determination of rat embryonic stem cells
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)The laboratory rat is an important experimental model in biomedical research. Rat embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are valuable for studying mammalian development and for facilitating germ line-modification of rat strains. ... -
Demand-driven solutions to reduce aggression between pigs
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Aggression between pigs is common in commercial farming as pigs fight to establish dominance relationships at regrouping. The behaviour has been studied extensively since the 1970s and several strategies to reduce ... -
Companion animal tuberculosis: clinical presentations, outbreak investigations, improved diagnostics and the early macrophage response
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Tuberculosis caused by the Mycobacterium (M.) tuberculosis-complex (MTBC) of organisms remains one of the most prevalent and deadly infectious diseases of man and other animals. The mycobacteria responsible are a highly ... -
Phage-mediated adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to the avian innate immune response
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-07-04)Staphylococcus aureus is an important human and livestock pathogen. An S. aureus prophage (Avβ) inserted into the chromosome at the β-toxin gene (β-converting phage) is present in approximately 90% of human strains and is ...