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Objective: To systematically synthesize and appraise research regarding test-retest reliability or criterion validity of subjective measures for assessing aerobic exercise intensity in adults with spinal cord injury (SCI)., Data Sources: Electronic databases (Pubmed, PsychINFO, SPORTDiscus, EMBASE, and CINAHL) were searched from inception to January 1, 2016., Study Selection: Studies involving at least 50% of participants with SCI who performed an aerobic exercise test that included measurement of subjective and objective intensity based on test-retest reliability or criterion validity protocols., Data Extraction: Characteristics were extracted on study design, measures, participants, protocols, and results. Each study was evaluated for risk of bias based on strength of the study design and a quality checklist score (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments [COSMIN])., Data Synthesis: The 7 eligible studies (1 for reliability, 6 for validity) evaluated overall, peripheral and/or central ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) on a scale of 6-20 (RPE 6-20). No eligible studies were identified for other subjective intensity measures. The evidence for reliability and validity were synthesized separately for each measure and were assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). Overall, very low GRADE confidence ratings were established for reliability and validity evidence generalizable to the entire population with SCI and various upper-body and lower-body modalities. There was low confidence for the evidence showing that overall RPE 6-20 has acceptable validity for adults with SCI and high fitness levels performing moderate to vigorous-intensity upper-body aerobic exercise., Conclusions: Health care professionals and scientists need to be aware of the very low to low confidence in the evidence, which currently prohibits a strong clinical recommendation for the use of subjective measures for assessing aerobic exercise intensity in adults with SCI. However, a tentative, conditional recommendation regarding overall RPE 6-20 seems applicable, depending on participants' fitness level as well as the exercise intensity and modality used., Level of Evidence: NA., (Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Three groups of six cats were kept in similar carpeted pens in which a self-replicating population of Ctenocephalides felis had been established. One group was left untreated, but the other groups were treated every 28th day with 0.5 ml of a 10 per cent fipronil spot-on formulation, and the cats in one of the treated groups also wore a methoprene collar. No fleas were found on any of the treated cats, either during the first 13 weeks of the study, when heavy flea burdens were developing in the control pen, or over the next 11 weeks when a declining number of fleas was present on the control group.

Pyriproxyfen is a new insect growth regulator with potent activity against developing stages of the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis. To determine its duration of action after application as a spot-on topical treatment, 20 cats were allocated to two groups. One group acted as untreated controls, and each cat in the other was given a single dose of 1 mg/kg pyriproxyfen. Each cat was infected with fleas at weekly intervals and caged. Eggs were collected and their viability determined as a measure of the effect of the agent on adult fleas. The effect of the transfer of pyriproxyfen from each cat to its immediate surroundings was monitored by observing the development of fertile flea eggs placed on samples of blanket taken from each cage. Results from untreated control cats showed that the experimental conditions were favourable for the lifecycle of the flea. Flea reproduction on treated cats was inhibited completely for seven weeks and substantially for at least a further two weeks. Blankets used by cats treated up to two weeks previously prevented flea development entirely and substantial control was still achieved up to four weeks after treatment.

Each of 10 set-stocked calves was given a fenbendazole sustained-release intraruminal bolus at turnout for the control of parasitic bronchitis while a group of 10 similar calves was left untreated. The respiratory rates of the control calves were not greatly increased during the grazing season, but persistent coughing was evident from early July when they all had patent lungworm infections. Only occasional coughing was reported from the bolus-treated calves except for a transient increase in its frequency in late September. In mid-August, one of the treated calves was passing lungworm larvae and when they were housed six of the 10 had patent infections. In August tracer calves picked up an average of 23.5 lungworms per day from the control paddock but only 2.1 from the paddock grazed by the treated calves. In September the corresponding figures were 7.6 and 19.2 lungworms per day, respectively, from the control and 'treated' paddocks. After housing, the post mortem worm counts after an experimental challenge with Dictyocaulus viviparus larvae were reduced by 99.2 and 98.7 per cent (P < 0.0001), respectively, for the control and bolus-treated calves in comparison with weight-matched parasite-naive calves. Thus, despite a relatively low level of challenge during the grazing season, the treated animals had developed a considerable degree of protective immunity.

Four groups of six cats were kept in carpeted pens similarly infected with Ctenocephalides felis. One group was left untreated, but the other groups were treated every 28th day with either an insecticide (fenthion at 30 mg); or an inhibitor of insect development (lufenuron at 133 or 266 mg) or with both. A sudden upsurge in the numbers of fleas occurred on the control cats after 50 days. At this time, the three control strategies had reduced the counts by 91.3, 72.5 and 98.6 per cent, respectively. Thereafter, welfare considerations demanded the limitation of the flea burden on the control cats, but conditions were shown to be favourable for flea development throughout the study. The mean numbers of fleas on the treated groups after six months were 1.2, 11.0 and 0.4 respectively. After this, in addition to the fleas acquired in the pen, the cats were each infected weekly with five fleas to mimic roaming animals introducing extraneous fleas into the home. This produced no obvious effect on the counts and the mean values three months later were 0.5, 11.0 and 0.2, respectively. None of the strategies eradicated the flea population but they all reduced the numbers considerably and worked equally well whether or not small numbers of new fleas were introduced into the system. Significantly lower flea counts were maintained in the early and later stages of the study by the strategies including the insecticide.

Doramectin was used in a strategic programme for the prevention of parasitic gastroenteritis in first season grazing calves. Three groups of nine calves were used: group 1 was left untreated, group 2 was treated with doramectin at 0.2 mg/kg at turnout and again eight weeks later, and group 3 was treated with 0.2 mg/kg ivermectin at three, eight and 13 weeks after turnout. Both treatment programmes prevented the gastroenteritis which occurred in the controls. The growth rates of the treated calves were superior, and their faecal egg output, and serum pepsinogen and gastrin concentrations were all substantially lower than those of the control calves. The numbers of Ostertagia species larvae on the pastures grazed by the treated calves were also lower than on the pastures grazed by the control calves.

Two groups of 16 set-stocked calves were used to evaluate a new strategy for the prevention of parasitic bronchitis and parasitic gastroenteritis. One group was left untreated while the calves in the other were treated with abamectin at 0.2 mg/kg at turnout and again six weeks later. The treatment prevented the output of nematode eggs and lungworm larvae in faeces for at least 70 days. The number of infective larvae subsequently appearing on the pasture was reduced by 90.2 per cent and the infectivity of the pasture (as monitored by tracer calves) by 96.0 to 99.8 per cent in the case of Dictyocaulus viviparus, 88.2 to 99.2 per cent for Ostertagia ostertagi and 69.3 to 98.1 per cent for Cooperia oncophora. Parasitic bronchitis occurred in the control calves and both bronchitis and gastroenteritis in the tracer calves grazing the paddock grazed by the control calves, but no disease occurred either in any of the calves treated with abamectin or in the tracer calves grazing the paddock grazed by these calves.

In a series of controlled trials involving 59 naturally infected greyhounds, fenbendazole at a dose rate of 50 mg/kg/day for three consecutive days reduced the overall numbers of third and fourth stage Toxocara canis by 94.0 per cent and third stage, fourth stage and immature adult stages of Toxascaris leonina by 92.4 per cent. In contrast, piperazine at 100 mg/kg had little or no useful effect against the larval stages of T canis and T leonina and variable efficacy against immature adult T leonina. Fenbendazole was also 100 per cent effective against immature Trichuris vulpis. In a separate controlled experiment, puppies in three litters exposed to reinfection with T canis were treated with fenbendazole at two weeks old and again only after their mean faecal egg counts exceeded 200 epg. Between one and three doses were required to suppress the output of eggs during the puppies' first 12 weeks of life.