The importance of juveniles in modelling growth: butterflyfish at Lizard Island

I established and fitted von Bertalanffy growth functions to size-at-age data for four species of chaetodontids at Lizard Island. Special emphasis on juveniles provided detailed information of the early growth period. All four species demonstrated rapid initial growth achieving an average of 92% of maximum theoretical size in the first 2thinspyears. I used various constraints of the theoretical age at length zero (t0) in an analysis of both complete data sets and data sets using only adult fish. An unconstrained value of t0 resulted in the best-fit (maximum r2) curve when juveniles were included. When excluding juveniles, it was necessary to constrain t0 to an approximate settling size to most closely represent the growth of the species

Prevalência de Salmonella sp em suínos abatidos em frígoríficos do Rio Grande do Sul Prevalence of Salmonella sp. carrier pigs in slaughterhouses of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Este estudo foi realizado com o objetivo de determinar a prevalência de Salmonella sp em suínos abatidos em frigoríficos sob inspeção federal no Rio Grande do Sul. Amostras de fezes e linfonodos foram coletadas em três diferentes frigoríficos no Estado. A partir da análise microbiológica das amostras de 300 animais, encontrou-se uma prevalência de Salmonella sp de 55,66%, com 17,6% de isolamentos a partir dos linfonodos, 18,3% das fezes e 19,6% em ambos os materiais. Foram identificados 26 sorovares diferentes em 226 isolados de Salmonella sp. Os sorovares mais prevalentes foram: Typhimurium (24,3%), Agona (19,9%), Derby (13,2%) e Bredeney (12%). Estes resultados indicam a necessidade de implementar programas de controle com o objetivo de diminuir a prevalência de animais portadores ao abate.<br>This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Salmonella positive pigs at slaughterhouses under federal inspection in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Samples of feces and lymph nodes of 300 animals were collected in three different slaughterhouses, and submitted to bacteriological analysis. The prevalence of Salmonella carrier animals was 55.66%, being 17.6% of the animals Salmonella positive in lymph nodes, 18.3% in feces and 19.6% in both materials. Twenty-six different serovars were identified among 226 Salmonella isolates. The most prevalent serovars were: Typhimurium (24.3%), Agona (19.9%), Derby (13.2%) e Bredeney (12%). These results point out the need of control programs to reduce the prevalence of carrier pigs at slaughter

Efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy in cancer-related psychiatric disorders across the trajectory of cancer care: a review

At least 25 – 30% of patients with cancer and an even higher percentage of patients in an advanced phase of illness meet the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis, including depression, anxiety, stress-related syndromes, adjustment disorders, sleep disorders and delirium. A number of studies have accumulated over the last 35 years on the use of psychotropic drugs as a pillar in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Major advances in psycho-oncology research have also shown the effi cacy of psychotropic drugs as adjuvant treatment of cancer-related symptoms, such as pain, hot fl ushes, pruritus, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, and cognitive impairment. The knowledge about pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, clinical use, safety, side effects and effi cacy of psychotropic drugs in cancer care is essential for an integrated and multidimensional approach to patients treated in different settings, including community-based centres, oncology, and palliative care. A search of the major databases (MEDLINE, Embase, PsycLIT, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library) was conducted in order to summarize relevant data concerning the effi cacy and safet