Join Etienne Cote, DVM, DACVIM (Cardiology & SAIM) this Sunday to discuss these questions and more.

Disc Disease and Spinal Cord Trauma - the Old, the New and the Future
There's no time to waste when you're trying to preserve neurological function. Join Natasha Olby, DVM, DACVIM this Sunday and learn how to make each moment count.

Use the Rounds link in the Main Navigation bar to join the discussions. To find out what other interesting rounds topics are coming soon, see This Week's Rounds Schedule.

NEWS THAT'S FIT TO CLICK and discuss
News reported for YOU...

• AVMA announces new strategy for annual meeting
  - VNS Report | Discussion
• Consulting firm releases user guide that avows pet insurance merits
  - VNS Report | Discussion
• Heartland security breach could affect VIN, veterinary practices
  - VNS Report | Discussion
• Board complaints rise in Texas
  - VNS Report | Discussion

Share News with nonVINners -- The VIN News Service (without access to the community discussions) is now publicly available at news.vin.com. Check it out and share it.

Heartland Security Breach, Veterinarians, and VIN Members
On Tuesday, New Jersey-based Heartland Payment Systems, which serves the payment processing needs of VIN and numerous veterinary practices, announced that they suffered a massive security breach, caused by “malicious software” that had been installed on their servers.
(Read the full VNS Report)

So far it appears that the breach involved retail sales transactions, not online processes like those we use to manage your VIN membership payments. Based on that information, we don't think the breach will affect VIN members, but it's too early to know for certain.

Keep an eye out for any unusual transaction on your credit cards and participate in the VIN message boards discussion.

Salmonella Tainted Peanut Butter Products Recalled
According to a press release from the Food and Drug Administration, King Nut Companies have been working closely with the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control to help them trace the cause of the Salmonella contamination of an open container of peanut butter manufactured for them by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia facility.

As a precautionary measure, PetSmart, although unaware of any reported cases of related illness, is voluntarily recalling seven of its Grreat Choice® Dog Biscuit products that contain peanut paste made by PCA.

Read the notices on recalls for numerous peanut-butter food products and share your knowledge and experiences in the VIN message board discussion.

New Pet Health-Insurance Guide Released at NAVC
(Read the full VNS story)
“A Veterinarian’s Guide to Pet Health Insurance,” put out by Brakke Veterinary Practice Management Group and commissioned by the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues (NCVEI), is an eight-page promise that pet health insurance can bridge the gap between ever-increasing veterinary care costs and clients’ ability to pay for expensive treatments.

“I don’t think a lot of veterinarians have been convinced that they have a stake in it because they can’t sell it, it has to be sold by an insurance company,” says Brakke senior consultant John Volk.

Whether pet health insurance is good for the profession and whether alleged ethical issues stemming from the recent GHLIT-Pets Best deal tarnish the reputation of AVMA, and by extension, veterinary medicine, is still a hotly debated issue.

Read the Q&A session conducted by the VIN News Service with the American Veterinary Medical Association and its indemnity arm, the Group Health and Life Insurance Trust (AVMA-GHLIT) and add your two-cents to the VIN message board discussion.

New in VeterinaryPartner:

• Turning the Page
• Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) revised
• Terbinafine (Lamisil) revised

Texas Farm Radio

• Abnormal Behavior in Horses

A reliable diagnosis of human rabies based on analysis of skin biopsy specimens
The number of human deaths due to rabies is currently underestimated to be 55,000 deaths per year. Biological diagnostic methods for confirmation of rabies remain limited, because testing on postmortem cerebral samples is the reference method, and in many countries, sampling brain tissue is rarely practiced.

The role of hypoxia in canine cancer
A massive increase in tumour blood flow or arterial pO2 is needed to abolish tumour hypoxia, but only a minor decrease in the oxygen consumption rate is needed to achieve the same outcome. This decrease can be accomplished by the use of such compounds as glucose, glucocorticoids, non-steroid anti-inflammatories and insulin.

Private practice internships
Lately we've been discussing the idea of offering an internship program. We have all agreed however, that we would only do this if we could do it justice - if we could offer valuable education and experience.

Cabinet advice
In the non - "wet" areas - what really is the difference between particle board and mdf? We are not talking poor quality particle board here - and if it could save me some $ I would rather go with particle board.

FDA warns public of extortion scam by FDA impersonators
Several instances have been reported to the FDA of calls enticing consumers to purchase discounted prescription drugs by wiring funds to one of several locations in the Dominican Republic. No medications are ever delivered. A subsequent call is received from a fraudulent 'FDA special agent' informing the consumer that a fine of several thousand dollars is required to be sent to an address in the Dominican Republic to prevent incarceration or other legal action.

VIN Rounds
Sunday January 25, 10 p.m. ET
(Monday, January 26, 3 a.m. GMT)
Join Natasha Olby, DVM, DACVIM, for Disc Disease and Spinal Cord Trauma - the Old, the New and the Future.

Virtual Coffeehouse
Tuesday, January 27, 9:30 p.m. ET
(Wednesday, January 28, 2:30 a.m. GMT)
Stop by and chat with your fellow VIN addicts!

This Week's Rounds Schedule
Use the Rounds link to join these discussions.

Want to See What You've Been Missing?
Click the Rounds button on VIN's main navigation bar and read the transcripts of the last few Rounds, click the complete list of Rounds to get to the list of the last 300 Rounds transcripts or click on Rounds and Discussions in the VIN Library.

Rounds are also searchable via the Search button. Just remember to choose Rounds (under the Clinical Resources tab) as the "Source" in your search parameters.

For All You Multi-Taskers:
Download VINCasts to your MP3 player and listen to previous Rounds sessions while you run errands, exercise or steal a few minutes of me-time.

Recent Rounds
@ = VINCast available for this session

• Feline Acromegaly
• The Obama Tax Plan @
• Resistant Bacteria and Novel Therapies @
• Elephant Medicine @
• Using the Media Effectively @

Member Benefit:
Need a summary of your 2008 VIN Community membership and related fees for tax preparation or reimbursement? Try the easy Membership Statement tool - in your MyVIN -- click on MyVIN in the main navigation bar near the top of the page. From there, choose Membership>Payment info.

Your VIN membership and online access charges are likely tax deductible (check with your tax professional).

Please let us know if anything doesn't seem right to you. Email feedback@vin.com or join the discussion.

Get More From VIN!
"How to Use VIN" resources:
The three-part "How To Use VIN" course can be taken live (on the first three Wednesday nights of each month), or you can do it as self study.

If you'd like to take the live sessions, e-mail Nate at Nate@VIN.com, and tell him you'd like to sign up for the How To Course.

To keep up with VIN's growth, take the time to explore the Front Page at least once a week, read the VIN This Week (VINTW) newsletter twice a week, explore the VINDEX (VIN's Front Page, right hand column or Ctrl+E on your keyboard) and click all the buttons on VIN's navigation bars.

Funny Bones:
Gotta love this weatherman...
"And did you notice the weatherguy was scritching that kitty during the whole weather update?"

What's Your Diagnosis?
Archives of the Challenging and Fun Cases
* Public Health Case 1

Book Review of the Week
Restraint and Handling of Wild and Domestic Animals, third edition
Purchase it in the VIN Bookstore!

Website of the Week
National Center for Biotechnology Information and more...

eVetsites Tip of the Week
Adding Google Driving Directions Gadget to your eVetsite

Associate - Updated and New:
Esophageal neoplasia in Dogs
Explore the rest of Associate!

Upcoming Conferences
Looking to attend or contribute a paper to a veterinary conference? Check out the On The Road With VIN folder, or the Press Releases folder, to see what conferences are coming up and to visit their Web sites! Links to information about upcoming conferences include: WVC and EAAV.

These courses are now open for enrollment. Click on the links below to see the details, register and find more upcoming CE.

This intermediate fish medicine course is designed to further your experience with fish medicine. The basic concepts will be expanded and applied to case examples. The instructors are experienced fish practitioners who will provide important tips on running a fish practice as well as the important issues facing aquatic medicine.

Veterinary Dental Techniques Module 1
March 9 - April 20, 2009

This course in Veterinary Dental Techniques is designed to allow discussions of current techniques used in veterinary dentistry. Veterinarians practicing all levels of veterinary dentistry are invited to participate, from the veterinarian just interested in getting more information in veterinary dentistry to the Board Certified Veterinary Dentist.

Pharmaceutical Regulatory Review Course
March 30 - April 13, 2009

Participants will be able to evaluate their current practices and, if needed, implement improvements that reduce the risk of theft, diversion or prosecution for failure to maintain an adequate system of security and accountability for controlled substances.

For information on other CE courses, check out the Course Catalog on the CE Main Page.

Please visit How-To's Of Online CE for details about how to register and participate in online CE courses.

If you're looking for more information on CE opportunities for veterinary technicians, receptionists or practice managers, please visit the VSPN CE page. VSPN offers courses specifically tailored to veterinary support personnel, and certain VIN courses also are open to VPSN members.