A skull of the extinct tayassuid Brasiliochoerus stenocephalus (Lund in Reinhardt, 1880) (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla) from the Late Pleistocene of southern Brazil: morphology and taxonomy

Among the several fossils of South American tayassuids, it is remarkable the presence of a well-preserved skull from southern Brazil (Chuí Creek, Santa Vitória do Palmar, Santa Vitória Formation). Here, we provide an update in the taxonomic arrangement and anatomical description of this specimen assigned to Brasiliochoerus stenocephalus based on the combination of the following traits: 1) long rostrum with a markedly convex profile; 2) anterior margin of the orbits located behind the vertical plane of the distal part of M3; 3) facial crests of the zygomatic arch forming an angle of about 80° relative to the molar series; 4) postorbital process more developed and ventrally projected in comparison to other tayassuids; 5) absence of a sagittal crest and presence of short parasagittal crests; 6) presence of curved temporal crests; 7) accentuated basicranial flexion; 8) bunodont and brachydont cheek teeth; 9) conspicuous pneumatization; 10) short postcanine diastema; and 11) cranium with no postorbital depression. This specimen was collected from sedimentary levels that contain a diverse assemblage of Pleistocene terrestrial mammals. Based on living analogous species, the presence of this taxon indicates dry and relatively open environments at some part of the Late Pleistocene in the study area.Fil: Copetti, Paula Lopes. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; BrasilFil: Gasparini, Germán Mariano. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Paleontología de Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Pereira, Jamil Corrêa. Museu Coronel Tancredo Fernandes de Mello; BrasilFil: Fontoura, Emmanuelle. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; BrasilFil: Lopes, Renato Pereira. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Kerber, Leonardo. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; Brasi

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine