Research
Every study is recorded with its species, design, result and limitations. The link goes to the primary source, not to a summary of ours.
Pools several studies statistically. It can estimate an effect more precisely, but it inherits the weaknesses of the studies it includes.
HUHuman
Across 27 studies and 37 interventions with 264 healthy adults, tendon stiffness and elastic modulus rose clearly and cross-sectional area less so; loading intensity was decisive, contraction type was not.
HUHuman
Across 21 randomised trials with 994 people, eccentric training was superior to physical modalities for pain reduction but equivalent to other forms of training; the functional data were highly heterogeneous.
HUHuman
Across 33 studies with 35,896 people, surgery lowered the re-rupture rate and raised return to sport, but came with more infections and nerve injuries; platelet-rich plasma showed no added benefit.
HUHuman
Across 14 randomised trials with 1,628 participants, open and minimally invasive surgery clearly lowered the re-rupture rate, with a higher complication rate for the open technique and no difference in functional scores.
Searches the literature by a method fixed in advance. It shows reliably what exists, and just as reliably what is missing.
MUMultiple species
Across 123 papers in horse and human, favourable results for platelet-rich plasma occurred mostly in studies at high risk of bias, whereas absent effects were more common in methodologically better studies.
HOHorse
Across 85 studies with 2,101 horses the digital flexor tendon sheath was most often affected, and the probability of returning to the previous level of performance was around 50 per cent for most structures.
MUMultiple species
Structured mapping review with a systematic literature search: acute phase proteins are elevated in diseased animals, yet the available research does not support their use to steer antibiotic treatment; in horses, serum amyloid A points to the underlying cause at best faintly.
HUHuman
Systematic review of 15 randomised trials: there was no relation between the extent of CRP lowering and the extent of risk reduction; a benefit of CRP as a treatment target is plausible at most in people with a high residual inflammatory risk despite normal blood lipids.
Allocates by chance. It is the only design that can separate a cause from a mere co-occurrence.
HUHuman
In 58 people with chronic Achilles tendinopathy, eccentric training and heavy slow resistance training improved function and pain equally and durably out to 52 weeks, with no difference between the approaches.
HOHorse
In a randomised trial in 12 horses with career-ending flexor tendon injury, the treated tendons showed a better-ordered structure and a more normal composition than the control tendons after six months.
HUHuman
Randomised double-blind trial in 5,522 people with chronic coronary heart disease: the composite endpoint occurred in 6.8 per cent on low-dose colchicine and in 9.6 per cent on placebo, with a mean follow-up of 28.6 months.
HOHorse
Compared with dry hay, haylage lowered both the respirable dust (0.02 against 0.06 mg/m³) and beta-glucan and the neutrophils of the lung lavage, although in only seven horses.
Compares against a control group without randomisation. The comparison stays open to systematic differences between groups.
HOHorse
In a crossover comparison in nine evaluable horses, clinical signs and inflammation improved on both forages with no statistical difference between them, while the fall in airway resistance was more pronounced and more sustained on alfalfa pellets than on steamed hay.
HOHorse
Over four weeks, steamed hay prevented neither the rise in airway resistance nor that in the neutrophils, and in this it did not differ from dry hay.
HOHorse
Steaming eliminated typical moulds completely, soaking did not; stored soaked hay showed rising microbial counts again within hours, and both treated hays were taken up more slowly.
HOHorse
Over twelve months, airway smooth muscle fell by around 30% on allergen avoidance as well as on inhaled corticosteroid; inflammation was better controlled on allergen avoidance, function restored faster on the corticosteroid.
Follows a group over time. It shows associations, never a cause: the decisive difference often sits outside what was measured.
HOHorse
In 263 National Hunt horses a tendon change was found in 24 per cent of cases over two seasons, with a spread between training yards of 10 to 40 per cent that was classed as not established; routine ultrasound at three-month intervals could not predict the acute rupture.
HOHorse
In 113 racehorses followed up, the re-injury rate after cell implantation was 27.4 per cent, and 25.7 per cent in National Hunt horses, which was lower than in published historical comparison groups.
HOHorse
In 122 air-transported Warmblood sport horses, a serum amyloid A cut-off of 23 micrograms per millilitre 24 hours after arrival separated healthy from sick animals with about 93 per cent sensitivity and 91 per cent specificity, while rectal temperature identified only about 3 per cent of the sick animals; two co-authors were employed by the manufacturer of the rapid test used.
HOHorse
Retrospective cohort of 397 newborn foals: septic animals had a median value of 114 micrograms per millilitre against 1.5 in sick non-septic and 0 in healthy foals; at the threshold of 100 the specificity was 97.5 per cent, but the sensitivity only 52.9 per cent.
Compares affected and unaffected individuals retrospectively. Useful for rare events, sensitive to recall error.
HUHuman
In 25 tendinopathic versus 10 healthy Achilles tendons, a substantial share of the collagen had been renewed in adulthood; the modelling points to years of raised turnover before symptom onset.
HOHorse
Crib-biting, increasing hours stabled, a recent change to the exercise programme, no ivermectin or moxidectin treatment in the previous year and transport in the last 24 hours were associated with simple colonic obstruction, most strongly permanent stabling, crib-biting and transport.
HOHorse
Among 109 cases and 310 comparison horses, crib-biting was by far the strongest factor for entrapment in the epiploic foramen, followed by a colic in the previous year and greater height, although the estimates carry wide ranges of uncertainty.
HOHorse
The British parallel study with 77 cases and 216 comparison horses confirmed crib-biting as the strongest factor and additionally found a colic in the previous year, more time stabled in the preceding 28 days and greater height to raise the risk.
Captures a state at one point in time. It tells you how common something is, not what came first.
HOHorse
In 10,262 Thoroughbreds the prevalence of forelimb flexor tendonitis was 11.1 per cent and hindlimb 0.06 per cent, with a markedly higher risk from the third year of life onwards.
HOHorse
In 77 sick or injured working equids (47 horses, 17 donkeys, 13 mules) the serum amyloid A values of the mules lay clearly below those of the horses; the authors consider a weaker inflammatory response in mules possible, but cannot demonstrate it for want of healthy comparison animals.
HOHorse
In a herd kept at pasture all year round and with no respiratory history, the mild form stood at 60% in summer and 87% in winter, and 61.1% of the horses changed their cell profile between the seasons.
HOHorse
Among the 731 horses examined, the detection of fungal elements in the tracheal secretions was associated with roughly twice the frequency of airway inflammation, as were straw bedding and the feeding of dry hay.
Describes a run of cases with no comparison group. It generates hypotheses and tests none.
HOHorse
In six healthy horses, twice-daily intramuscular injections of procaine penicillin G over five days lifted creatine kinase, aspartate aminotransferase and fibrinogen above baseline; serum amyloid A was above it on one single measurement day only, and haptoglobin did not change. The authors warn against misinterpretation, but themselves point to the very small animal numbers and the missing control group.
HOHorse
Of 2,602 out-of-hours cases at two British practices, 35 per cent were colic, 20 per cent wounds and 11 per cent lameness, and 13 per cent of all cases ended in euthanasia.
A recommendation from a professional body or authority. It blends evidence and expert judgement, and the two can be told apart.
HOHorse
Consensus statement that revises the definition of the mild to moderate form after ten years of new literature and describes the understanding of the disease as markedly changed.
SPSpecies-independent
Revised reporting guideline with 21 items, split into an indispensable core of ten items and a supplementary set; the authors note that the hoped-for improvement in reporting quality has failed to materialise since 2010.
SPSpecies-independent
Instrument derived from the Cochrane tool, with ten items covering selection, performance, detection, attrition and reporting bias, adapted to the particularities of animal experiments.
A controlled experiment outside clinical reality. It explains a mechanism; it does not establish an effect in a living body.
HUHuman
Carbon-14 measurements in 28 Achilles tendons and 4 muscle samples showed that the tendon core is essentially formed in roughly the first 17 years of life and barely renewed thereafter, while muscle turns over continuously.
HOHorse
Despite a higher cell density, the energy-storing flexor tendon showed lower collagen messenger RNA, lower degradation markers and higher tissue fluorescence than the positional tendon, which points to slower matrix remodelling.
HOHorse
The interfascicular matrix of the energy-storing tendon behaved more elastically than that of the positional tendon, and became stiffer and less resistant to repeated loading with advancing age.
HOHorse
Elastin is concentrated in the interfascicular matrix of energy-storing equine tendons; quantity and order decline with age, which is consistent with the raised injury risk of old energy-storing tendons.
Work that fits none of the designs above, including methodological contributions and overviews.
MUMultiple species
The review rates the superficial digital flexor tendon of the horse as a functionally and clinically equivalent model of the human Achilles tendon, but stresses that it represents only the acute rupture and not chronic tendon pain.
MUMultiple species
The review describes persistent inflammation, excessive vascular ingrowth and immature repair tissue as the central reasons why healed tendon tissue does not reach the mechanical competence of the original.
HOHorse
Review: serum amyloid A outperforms the other equine acute phase proteins because of its kinetics; white blood cells and serum iron change within hours, serum amyloid A within a day, fibrinogen only after two to three days, yet most published studies cover very small animal numbers.
HOHorse
Review: serum amyloid A is the most important acute phase protein of the horse, very low in healthy animals and, thanks to its short half-life, well suited to following the course of a condition, including subclinical disturbances in sport horses.
Once a month: new syntheses, checked studies, and what has changed in the state of the evidence.