Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a calibration slide for calibration of an automated microscope. The slide includes at least one calibration zone defined on at least one major surface of the sample slide. The at least one calibration zone is divided by a cross hair to define a plurality of quadrants. Each of the plurality of quadrants is defined with an array of apertures of varying density of arrays. The automated microscope including the calibration slide of the present disclosure enables corrective maintenance. The method of the present disclosure may be employed across various automated microscopes within a lab or at labs at various locations through offline/online mode to achieve similar results when tested on same sample.

Abstract: A hoof shoe or hoof shoe insert for a hoofed animal. An object is to relieve the pressure on the foot of a hoofed animal, in particular of a horse, on a hard ground surface. This may be achieved by a foamed plastics cushion which is arranged between the hoof of the animal and the ground surface and which is composed of a closed-cell plastics foam having a thermoplastic or elastomeric matrix with a density of between 100 and 400 all and which, at 50% compression, has a compressive stress of 150-280 kPa.