Background: The use of medicinal plants is an option for livestock farmers who are not allowed to use allopathic drugs under certified organic programs or cannot afford to use allopathic drugs for minor health problems of livestock.

No abstract

This paper investigates the commonalities in ethnoveterinary medicine used for horses between Trinidad (West Indies) and British Columbia (Canada). These research areas are part of a common market in pharmaceuticals and are both involved in the North American racing circuit. There has been very little research conducted on medicinal plants used for horses although their use is widespread. The data on ethnoveterinary medicines used for horses was obtained through key informant interviews with horse owners, trainers, breeders, jockeys, grooms and animal care specialists in two research areas: Trinidad and British Columbia (BC). A participatory validation workshop was held in BC. An extensive literature review and botanical identification of the plants was also done. In all, 20 plants were found to be used in treating racehorses in Trinidad and 97 in BC. Of these the most-evidently effective plants 19 of the plants used in Trinidad and 66 of those used in BC are described and evaluated in this paper. Aloe vera, Curcuma longa and Ricinus communis are used in both research areas. More research is needed in Trinidad to identify plants that respondents claimed were used in the past. Far more studies have been conducted on the temperate and Chinese medicinal plants used in BC and therefore these ethnoveterinary remedies reflect stronger evidence of efficacy.

The possibility that these changes are artifactual could not be ruled out, but because there is no obvious risk in assuming that they are not, it would be prudent to investigate their causes further.

SUMMARY Results are reported from the first prospective study of gout in New Zealand Maoris based on a sample of 388 males and 378 females. At baseline, high mean levels of serum uric acid (SUA) were found, 0-422 ± 0-092 mmol/l (7.05 ± 1 54 mg/100 ml) in males and 0 350 ± 0-091 mmol/l (5.85 1 *52 mg/100 ml) in females. On the basis of traditional criteria (SUA above 0 42 mmol/l (7.0 mg/100 ml) in males and above 0*36 mmol/l (6-0 mg/100 ml) in females) the prevalence of hyperuricaemia was 49 % in males and 42 % in females. The baseline prevalence of gout (8 * 8 % for males and 0 * 8 % for females) and the subsequent 11-year incidence rates (10 * 3 % for males and 4 3 % for females) are discussed in relation to specified SUA classes. When traditional, sex-specific criteria for hyperuricaemia were used, no relationship was found between the prevalence of hyperuricaemia and the incidence of gout. There was, however, a sharp increase in the incidence rate of gout in both sexes when SUA levels were above 0 48 mmol/l (8 0 mg/100 ml). In subjects with a baseline SUA above this level, the age-standardised 11 -year incidence rate of gout was 29 1 % for males and 37.2% for females. A previously unreported relationship linking muscle size to the incidence of gout in males is presented as a major finding of the study. Other risk factors associated with gout were body mass and blood pressure.New Zealand Maoris have high levels of serum uric acid (SUA) and are at high risk for gout (Lennane et al., 1960;Prior, 1962;Rose et al., 1966). This paper presents the results of the first prospective epidemiological study of gout and its risk factors in this population, made possible by the recent completion of a longitudinal data base encompassing 3 consecutive epidemiological surveys of a group of New Zealand Maoris: rounds I (1962/63), II (1968/69), and IIT (1974). Findings consist of (a) a summary of baseline (round I) data, including the distribution of SUA, age and sex effects on SUA, an-d ine baseline prevalence of gout; and (b) the incidence study (between baseline at round I and the follow-up at round o), in which evidence is presented of a relationship in males between muscle size and the incidence of gout. MethodsWHO Special Committee recommendations on methodology were followed in most instances. A full description has been previously published (Prior, 1962;. Serum cholesterol was estimated by the method of Abell et al. (1952) and SUA by a non-enzymatic colorimetric technique