Hyperthyroidism in cats: a review of cases seen at a first opinion veterinary hospital practice in the UK

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina VeterináriaThis thesis is constituted by one retrospective study and one prospective study of the hyperthyroid cat population of the Wylie Veterinary Centre. The retrospective study was based on 266 hyperthyroid cats presented in the practice from 1/8/07 to 31/7/09, with the objective of characterizing the population and evaluating the efficacy and safety of the different therapeutic options. The therapeutic options were surgery and medical therapy with Neo-mercazole® (carbimazole), Felimazole® (methimazole), methimazole liquid and Vidalta® (sustained release carbimazole). Methimazole liquid was the most effective option, controlling 69,2% of the cases. Because it is no longer available, the most effective available option is the unilateral thyroidectomy, with 69% of controlled cases. Neo-mercazole® and methimazole liquid were the safest options, without causing adverse reactions. However, because they are no longer available, the safest option is probably the unilateral thyroidectomiy, with only 4,8% of complications. Comparing the available medical options, Vidalta® seems to be the most effective, with 54,9% of controlled cases, and Felimazole® the safest, causing adverse reactions in 5,13% of the cases. Comparing the costs of the different treatment options, medical therapy requires a lower initial investment, but thyroidectomy seems to be the most economical long-term option, corresponding to a oneyear course of medical treatment and to half the price of radioiodine therapy. The prospective study involves the 77 hyperthyroid cats seen in a period of 3 months. The population was characterized, the frequency of the clinical signs, hematologic and biochemical changes was determined, as well as the outcome of medical and surgical therapy and the involvement of the parathyroid in surgery. The extracted thyroid glands and submitted to histopathology. The population had a mean of 14 years of age. 18 new cases were diagnosed, corresponding to 6 new hyperthyroid cats per month. All cats presented weight loss. The frequency of diarrhoea, dyspnoea, heart murmur, PU/PD, skin lesions and vomiting was much lower than described the in literature, as well as the frequency of erythrocytosis, increased liver enzymes and hyperphosphatemia. Azotemia had a higher frequency than described in the literature and de novo azotemia happened after treatment in 15,6% of the cases. The incidence of side effects of treatment was 23,38%. The most frequent concomitant disease was dental disease and the most common diagnostic complementary exam was echocardiography. The only patient that died of a complication from surgery was submitted to a simultaneous bilateral surgery. In 2 of the 7 thyroidectomies the parathyroid’s blood supply was not preserved. Thyroid carcinoma was found in 3 of the 7 analysed glands.RESUMO - Este trabalho é constituído por um estudo retrospectivo e um estudo prospectivo da população de gatos hipertiroideus do hospital veterinário Wylie Veterinary Centre, no Reino Unido, Foi feito um estudo retrospectivo dos 266 casos apresentados no Wylie Veterinary Centre entre 1/8/07 e 31/7/09, com o objectivo de caracterizar a população e avaliar a eficácia e segurança das várias opções terapêuticas. As opções terapêuticas foram tiroidectomia e terapêutica médica com Neo-mercazole® (carbimazol), Felimazole® (metimazol), metimazol líquido e Vidalta® (carbimazol de libertação contínua). Metimazol líquido foi a opção mais eficaz, controlando 69.2% dos casos. Por não se encontrar disponível, a opção disponível mais eficaz é a tiroidectomia unilateral, com 69% de casos controlados. Neo-mercazole® e metimazol líquido constituem as opções mais seguras, não tendo registado quaisquer reacções adversas. Contudo, por já não estarem disponíveis, a opção disponível mais segura é a tiroidectomia unilateral, com apenas 4,8% de complicações. Comparando as opções terapêuticas médicas disponíveis, Vidalta® parece ser o mais eficaz, com 54,9% dos casos controlados e Felimazole® o mais seguro, com 5,13% de reacções adversas. Comparando os custos das opções terapêuticas, a terapêutica médica requer um menor investimento inicial. A tiroidectomia parece ser a mais económica a longo prazo, correspondendo ao custo de um ano de terapêutica médica e a metade do preço de tratamento com iodo radioactivo. Foi feito um estudo prospectivo dos 77 gatos hipertiroideus apresentados num período de 3 meses. A população foi caracterizada e foi determinada a frequência dos sinais clínicos, alterações hematológicas e bioquímicas, bem como os resultados obtidos com as terapêuticas médica e cirúrgica. As tiróides extirpadas foram submetidas a análise histopatológica. A média de idades da população foi de 14 anos. Foram diagnosticados 18 novos casos, o que corresponde a 6 novos casos por mês. Todos os casos apresentaram perda de peso. A frequência de ocorrência de diarreia, dispneia, sopros cardíacos, PU/PD, lesões cutâneas e vómitos foi acentuadamente mais baixa que a descrita na bibliografia, bem como a frequência de eritrocitose, elevação das enzimas hepáticas e hiperfosfatémia. A frequência de azotémicos foi superior à descrita na literatura e ocorreu azotémia de novo em 15,6% dos casos. Houve efeitos secundários à terapêutica em 23,38% dos casos. A doença concomitante mais frequente foi a patologia dentária e o meio de diagnóstico complementar mais utilizado foi a ecocardiografia. A única morte devida a uma complicação pós-cirúrgica ocorreu após uma tiroidectomia bilateral não faseada. Em 2 das 7 tiroidectomias não foi possível preservar o aporte sanguíneo da paratiroide. 3 das 7 glândulas analisadas apresentaram carcinomas

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Ciência, Crise e Mudança. 3.º Encontro Nacional de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia. ENHCT2012

III Encontro Nacional de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia. O Centro de Estudos de História e Filosofia da Ciência, organiza o 3.º Encontro Nacional de História da Ciência e da Técnica, sob o tema «Ciência, Crise e Mudança» que tem lugar na Universidade de Évora, nos dias 26, 27 e 28 de Setembro de 2012. O Primeiro Encontro Nacional de História da Ciência teve lugar em 21 e 22 Julho de 2009, no seguimento do programa de estímulo ao de¬senvolvimento da História da Ciência em Portugal e de valorização do património cultural e científico do País, lançado pelo Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (MCTES) em 31 de Janeiro desse ano. A sua organização coube a investigadores do Instituto de História Contemporânea (IHC), da FCSH da UNL, e do Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau (CCCM), em cujas instalações se realizou. De en¬tre as conclusões do Encontro, destacou-se a de realizar periodicamen¬te novos Encontros Nacionais, a serem organizados de forma rotativa por diferentes centros e núcleos de investigadores. Na sequência deste Primeiro Encontro, o Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia (CIUHCT) organizou, entre 26 e 28 de Julho de 2010, o II Encontro, dedicado ao tema “Comunicação das Ciências e da Tecnologia em Portugal: Agentes, Meios e Audiências”. Cabe agora ao CEHFCi cumprir o que foi decidido no final deste Encontro. Na situação económica e política que hoje vivemos torna-se particularmente urgente aprofundar o estudo e o debate sobre a interação entre a Sociedade, a Ciência e a sua História. Coordenação Científica e Executiva do encontro estiveram a cargo de dois investigadores CEHFCi: Maria de Fátima Nunes, José Pedro Sousa Dia

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora