Efficacy and safety of surgical closure of patent ductus arteriosus in preterm infants: experience from a level III NICU

A persistência do canal arterial (PCA) é prevalente em recém-nascidos (RN) pré-termo. Quando hemodinamicamente significativa, o encerramento está recomendado, seja farmacológica ou cirurgicamente. Ainda não há consenso relativamente à conduta mais adequada nesta patologia. Com o objetivo de avaliar a eficácia e a segurança do tratamento cirúrgico da PCA hemodinamicamente significativa (PCA-HS), foi realizado um estudo retrospetivo incluindo todos os RN pré-termo com idade gestacional inferior a 28 semanas e/ou peso ao nascer inferior a 1000 gramas admitidos numa Unidade de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatais (UCIN) de nível III desde janeiro de 2010 a junho de 2020 que foram submetidos a rastreio ecocardiográfico sistemático e RN transferidos para avaliação e/ou tratamento da PCA; foram excluídas situações de cardiopatia congénita ductus-dependente e PCA com shunt direito-esquerdo (ou bidirecional). Um total de 131 RN foram incluídos: 93 (71%) com PCA-HS. Dos 82 RN que completaram tratamento, 58 (70.7%) foram medicamente tratados e 24 (29.3%) foram submetidos a cirurgia; 21 (87.5%) dos tratados cirurgicamente foram submetidos a tratamento médico prévio. RN com PCA-HS (vs. sem PCA-HS) e tratados cirurgicamente (vs. tratados medicamente) apresentavam menor idade gestacional, menor peso ao nascer e maior incidência de hemorragia intraventricular. Pré-operatoriamente, o diâmetro médio do canal arterial era de 2.2 mm e a mediana do rácio LA/Ao era de 1.7. Não foram descritas complicações intraoperatórias. Após a cirurgia, sete (29.2%) RN desenvolveram instabilidade hemodinâmica e três (12.5%) faleceram nas 24 horas subsequentes. Concluímos que a laqueação cirúrgica é uma opção eficaz que deverá ser considerada nos casos de contraindicação ou falência do tratamento farmacológico.Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is prevalent in preterm infants. When hemodynamically significant, PDA closure is recommended, either pharmacologically or surgically. There is still no consensus for the standard PDA management strategy. We aimed to evaluate efficacy and safety of surgical ligation of hemodynamically significant PDA (hs-PDA). A retrospective study was performed of all premature neonates < 28 weeks of gestational age and/or birth weight < 1000 grams admitted to a level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from January 2010 to June 2020 who were submitted to a systematic echocardiographic screening and neonates transferred for evaluation and/or treatment of PDA; patients with ductal-dependent congenital heart disease and PDA with a right-to-left (or bidirectional) shunt were excluded. A total of 131 infants were included: 93 (71%) with hs-PDA. Of the 82 infants that completed treatment, 58 (70.7%) were medically treated and 24 (29.3%) submitted to surgery; 21 (87.5%) of surgically treated patients were previously submitted to medical treatment. Infants with hs-PDA (vs. without hs-PDA) and infants with surgically treated PDA (vs. medically treated PDA) had lower gestational age, lower birth weight and higher incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage. Preoperatively, the average diameter of the PDA was 2.2 mm and the median LA/Ao ratio was 1.7. No intraoperative complications were described. After surgery, seven (29.2%) neonates developed hemodynamic instability and three (12.5%) died within the first 24 hours. We concluded that surgical ligation is an effective option to be considered when pharmacological treatment has failed or is contraindicated

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