Research Projects
Request for research participants
Drs. Rob MacKay, Huisheng Xie, Jorge Hernandez and Carolina Medina will be conducting a research project this summer. They are recruiting horses for this project and would appreciate your help if you have horses that fit the following criteria.
Project Title: Does Combined Treatment with Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine Cure Anhidrosis? A Controlled Study
This project will start on June 1, 2009 and end on October 31, 2009. We need horses and ponies at least 12 months old that are otherwise healthy but diagnosed with Anhidrosis (non-sweating). The diagnosis must be based on clinical signs and an intradermal terbutaline sweat test (to be performed during the project). Horses must be affected with non-sweating for at least one month but less than 2 years from the start of the project. The horses will receive 30 days of treatment with either the devised treatment protocol or sham protocol. Other treatments for non-sweating must cease 7 days prior to the beginning of the study. In addition to the treatment, horses will be subjected to an intradermal terbutaline sweat test prior to the study, after 30 days of treatment and 30 days after ceasing treatment. The treatments will be conducted at the farm/barn where the horses are kept. This project was selected based on the results of a retrospective study that looked at the non-sweating cases that were treated by the Acupuncture Service from 2004 to 2007. The results of this study showed that Acupuncture and Chinese herbal therapy significantly reduced the clinical signs associated with non-sweating.
If you have any questions or would like to enroll a horse in this study please feel free to contact Dr. Carolina Medina (medinac@vetmed.ufl.edu) or Linda Lee-Ambrose (ambrosel@vetmed.ufl.edu).