Serological monitoring of antibodies for an early diagnosis ofaspergillosis in captive penguins

Abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of detection of anti-Aspergillus fumigatus antibodies in captive penguins by double radial agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) for the aspergillosis diagnosis. We included 134 Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) in rehabilitation at the Center for Recovery of Marine Animals (CRAM / FURG). All of them were monitored by AGID weekly until its final destination (death or release), totalizing 660 serum samples studied. All animals were clinically accompanied and post-mortem examinations was performed in penguins that died during the studied period. A total of 28% (37/134) of the penguins died, 89.2% (33/37) due to aspergillosis, 11% (4/37) by other causes and 97 were released. From the 33 animals with proven aspergillosis, 21 presented anti- A. fumigatus antibodies by AGID, being the average interval between death and positive AGID 16.4 days. Twelve animals with negative serology died of aspergillosis. The sensitivity and specificity rates were 63.6% and 95% respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values were 80.7% and 88.9% respectively. These data demonstrate that the serological monitoring for detection of antibodies by AGID can be an important tool for the diagnosis of aspergillosis in penguins

Influência de fatores anátomo-fisiológicos na medida indireta da pressão arterial: identificação do conhecimento dos enfermeiros Influencia de los rasgos anátomo-fisiológicos en la mensuración inversa de la presión arterial: identificación del conocimiento de los enfermeros Influence of the anatomical and physiological factors in the indirect measurement of blood pressure: identification of nursing knowledge

O estudo foi realizado com enfermeiros de hospitais de cardiologia e teve como objetivo caracterizar o conhecimento sobre os aspectos conceituais e fatores anátomo-fisiológicos que influenciam a medida indireta da pressão arterial.<br>El estudo fué realizado con enfermeros de hospitales de cardiología y el objetivo fue caracterizar el conocimiento respecto a los rasgos conceptuales y anatomo-fisiológicos que influyen en la mensuración de la presión arterial.<br>The study was developed by clinical nurses specialized in cardiology and had the purpose to characterize the kwowledge about the conceptual aspects and the anatomical and physiological factors that interfere in the marks of blood pressure