184 research outputs found
Contribuição diagnóstica da ultrassonografia ocular e Doppler Triplex na avaliação de 10 cães Poodle com catarata
Descreveram-se os achados da ultrassonografia ocular convencional e, principalmente, do modo Doppler Triplex na avaliação de 10 cĂŁes da raça Poodle com catarata, contribuindo com parĂąmetros ainda nĂŁo relatados em medicina veterinĂĄria. Foram utilizados 10 cĂŁes de diferentes idades e da raça Poodle, apresentando graus variados de catarata. Os animais foram submetidos ao exame oftalmolĂłgico e ultrassonogrĂĄfico. Por meio da ultrassonografia avaliaram-se a anatomia ultrassonogrĂĄfica dos bulbos oculares e a espessura axial da lente (EAL). Por meio do modo Doppler verificaram-se o tipo de fluxo sanguĂneo da artĂ©ria oftĂĄlmica e seus Ăndices vasculares, a velocidade sistĂłlica (VS), o Ăndice de resistĂȘncia (RI) e a pulsatividade (PI). Os valores de EAL para olho direito (OD) foi de 5,89±1,05 e para o olho esquerdo (OE) de 6,07±1,32. Por meio do Doppler, observaram-se VS para OD de 26,54±7,05 e VS para OE de 29,21±11,18; PI para OD de 1,89±0,61 e PI para OE de 1,7±0,35; RI para OD de 0,76±0,1 e PI para OE de 0,72±0,09. Concluiu-se que o modo Doppler Triplex mostrou-se importante para determinação das medidas dos Ăndices vasculares da artĂ©ria oftĂĄlmica, podendo ser utilizada para o acompanhamento de alteraçÔes hemodinĂąmicas nos olhos dos animais acometidos e no acompanhamento da terapia de doenças oculares.The findings of b-mode and especially triplex Doppler ocular ultrasound in the evaluation of 10 Poodle dogs with cataracts, which bring a contribution not yet reported in veterinary medicine, were reported. Ten Poodle dogs of varied ages and presenting cataracts were used. All animals were evaluated for ophthalmic and ultrasound examination. The ultrasound examination allowed the evaluation of the sonographic anatomy of the eye and measurement of the axial thickness of the lens (ATL). Using the Doppler mode, the blood flow of the ophthalmic artery and its vascular indexes, systolic velocity (SV), resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) were measured. Values found for ATL were 5.89±1.05 for the right eye (OD) and 6.07±1.32 for the left eye (OS). Values found using Doppler evaluation were SV OD: 26.54±7.05 and SV OS: 29.21±11.18; PI OD: 1.89±0.61 and PI OS: 1.7±0.35; RI OD: 0.76±0.1 and RI OS: 0.72±0.09 (OS). It was concluded that triplex Doppler was important for the determination of vascular indexes of the ophthalmic artery, which can be used for monitoring animals with hemodynamic alterations of the eyes and monitoring the therapy of ocular diseases
The cause of urinary symptoms among Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type I (HLTV-I) infected patients: a cross sectional study
BACKGROUND: HTLV-I infected patients often complain of urinary symptomatology. Epidemiological studies have suggested that these individuals have a higher prevalence and incidence of urinary tract infection (UTI) than seronegative controls. However, the diagnosis of UTI in these studies relied only on patient information and did not require confirmation by urine culture. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of urinary tract infection (UTI) as the cause of urinary symptoms in HTLV-I infected patients. METHODS: In this cross sectional study we interviewed, and cultured urine from, 157 HTLV-I seropositive individuals followed regularly at a specialized clinic. All patients were evaluated by a neurologist and classified according to the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Urodynamic studies were performed at the discretion of the treating physician. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients complained of at least one active urinary symptom but UTI was confirmed by a positive urine culture in only 12 of these patients (19%); the majority of symptomatic patients (81%) had negative urine cultures. To investigate the mechanism behind the urinary complaints in symptomatic individuals with negative urine cultures, we reviewed the results of urodynamic studies performed in 21 of these patients. Most of them (90.5%) had abnormal findings. The predominant abnormalities were detrusor sphincter hyperreflexia and dyssynergia, findings consistent with HTLV-I-induced neurogenic bladder. On a multivariate logistic regression, an abnormal EDSS score was the strongest predictor of urinary symptomatology (OR 9.87, 95% CI 3.465 to 28.116, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Urinary symptomatology suggestive of UTI is highly prevalent among HTLV-I seropositive individuals but true UTI is responsible for the minority of cases. We posit that the main cause of urinary symptoms in this population is neurogenic bladder. Our data imply that HLTV-I infected patients with urinary symptomatology should not be empirically treated for UTI but rather undergo urine culture; if a UTI is excluded, further investigation with urodynamic studies should be considered
Wild dogs at stake: deforestation threatens the only Amazon endemic canid, the short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis)
The persistent high deforestation rate and fragmentation of the Amazon forests are the main threats to their biodiversity. To anticipate and mitigate these threats, it is important to understand and predict how species respond to the rapidly changing landscape. The short-eared dog Atelocynus microtis is the only Amazon-endemic canid and one of the most understudied wild dogs worldwide. We investigated short-eared dog habitat associations on two spatial scales. First, we used the largest record database ever compiled for short-eared dogs in combination with species distribution models to map species habitat suitability, estimate its distribution range and predict shifts in species distribution in response to predicted deforestation across the entire Amazon (regional scale). Second, we used systematic camera trap surveys and occupancy models to investigate how forest cover and forest fragmentation affect the space use of this species in the Southern Brazilian Amazon (local scale). Species distribution models suggested that the short-eared dog potentially occurs over an extensive and continuous area, through most of the Amazon region south of the Amazon River. However, approximately 30% of the short-eared dog's current distribution is expected to be lost or suffer sharp declines in habitat suitability by 2027 (within three generations) due to forest loss. This proportion might reach 40% of the species distribution in unprotected areas and exceed 60% in some interfluves (i.e. portions of land separated by large rivers) of the Amazon basin. Our local-scale analysis indicated that the presence of forest positively affected short-eared dog space use, while the density of forest edges had a negative effect. Beyond shedding light on the ecology of the short-eared dog and refining its distribution range, our results stress that forest loss poses a serious threat to the conservation of the species in a short time frame. Hence, we propose a re-assessment of the short-eared dog's current IUCN Red List status (Near Threatened) based on findings presented here. Our study exemplifies how data can be integrated across sources and modelling procedures to improve our knowledge of relatively understudied species
The Milky Way's circular velocity curve between 4 and 14 kpc from APOGEE data
We measure the Milky Way's rotation curve over the Galactocentric range 4 kpc
<~ R <~ 14 kpc from the first year of data from the Apache Point Observatory
Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). We model the line-of-sight velocities
of 3,365 stars in fourteen fields with b = 0 deg between 30 deg < l < 210 deg
out to distances of 10 kpc using an axisymmetric kinematical model that
includes a correction for the asymmetric drift of the warm tracer population
(\sigma_R ~ 35 km/s). We determine the local value of the circular velocity to
be V_c(R_0) = 218 +/- 6 km/s and find that the rotation curve is approximately
flat with a local derivative between -3.0 km/s/kpc and 0.4 km/s/kpc. We also
measure the Sun's position and velocity in the Galactocentric rest frame,
finding the distance to the Galactic center to be 8 kpc < R_0 < 9 kpc, radial
velocity V_{R,sun} = -10 +/- 1 km/s, and rotational velocity V_{\phi,sun} =
242^{+10}_{-3} km/s, in good agreement with local measurements of the Sun's
radial velocity and with the observed proper motion of Sgr A*. We investigate
various systematic uncertainties and find that these are limited to offsets at
the percent level, ~2 km/s in V_c. Marginalizing over all the systematics that
we consider, we find that V_c(R_0) 99% confidence. We find an
offset between the Sun's rotational velocity and the local circular velocity of
26 +/- 3 km/s, which is larger than the locally-measured solar motion of 12
km/s. This larger offset reconciles our value for V_c with recent claims that
V_c >~ 240 km/s. Combining our results with other data, we find that the Milky
Way's dark-halo mass within the virial radius is ~8x10^{11} M_sun.Comment: submitted to Ap
Identifying Contributions to the Stellar Halo from Accreted, Kicked-Out, and In Situ Populations
[Abridged] We present a medium-resolution spectroscopic survey of late-type
giant stars at mid-Galactic latitudes of (30),
designed to probe the properties of this population to distances of 9
kpc. Because M giants are generally metal-rich and we have limited
contamination from thin disk stars by the latitude selection, most of the stars
in the survey are expected to be members of the thick disk
(-0.6) with some contribution from the metal-rich component of
the nearby halo.
Here we report first results for 1799 stars. The distribution of radial
velocity (RV) as a function of l for these stars shows (1) the expected thick
disk population and (2) local metal-rich halo stars moving at high speeds
relative to the disk, that in some cases form distinct sequences in RV-
space. High-resolution echelle spectra taken for 34 of these "RV outliers"
reveal the following patterns across the [Ti/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane: seventeen of the
stars have abundances reminiscent of the populations present in dwarf
satellites of the Milky Way; eight have abundances coincident with those of the
Galactic disk and more metal-rich halo; and nine of the stars fall on the locus
defined by the majority of stars in the halo. The chemical abundance trends of
the RV outliers suggest that this sample consists predominantly of stars
accreted from infalling dwarf galaxies. A smaller fraction of stars in the RV
outlier sample may have been formed in the inner Galaxy and subsequently kicked
to higher eccentricity orbits, but the sample is not large enough to
distinguish conclusively between this interpretation and the alternative that
these stars represent the tail of the velocity distribution of the thick disk.
Our data do not rule out the possibility that a minority of the sample could
have formed from gas {\it in situ} on their current orbits.Comment: 43 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, published in the Astrophysical Journa
Theory and Applications of Non-Relativistic and Relativistic Turbulent Reconnection
Realistic astrophysical environments are turbulent due to the extremely high
Reynolds numbers. Therefore, the theories of reconnection intended for
describing astrophysical reconnection should not ignore the effects of
turbulence on magnetic reconnection. Turbulence is known to change the nature
of many physical processes dramatically and in this review we claim that
magnetic reconnection is not an exception. We stress that not only
astrophysical turbulence is ubiquitous, but also magnetic reconnection itself
induces turbulence. Thus turbulence must be accounted for in any realistic
astrophysical reconnection setup. We argue that due to the similarities of MHD
turbulence in relativistic and non-relativistic cases the theory of magnetic
reconnection developed for the non-relativistic case can be extended to the
relativistic case and we provide numerical simulations that support this
conjecture. We also provide quantitative comparisons of the theoretical
predictions and results of numerical experiments, including the situations when
turbulent reconnection is self-driven, i.e. the turbulence in the system is
generated by the reconnection process itself. We show how turbulent
reconnection entails the violation of magnetic flux freezing, the conclusion
that has really far reaching consequences for many realistically turbulent
astrophysical environments. In addition, we consider observational testing of
turbulent reconnection as well as numerous implications of the theory. The
former includes the Sun and solar wind reconnection, while the latter include
the process of reconnection diffusion induced by turbulent reconnection, the
acceleration of energetic particles, bursts of turbulent reconnection related
to black hole sources as well as gamma ray bursts. Finally, we explain why
turbulent reconnection cannot be explained by turbulent resistivity or derived
through the mean field approach.Comment: 66 pages, 24 figures, a chapter of the book "Magnetic Reconnection -
Concepts and Applications", editors W. Gonzalez, E. N. Parke
Correlation between specific IgM levels and percentage IgG-class antibody avidity to Toxoplasma gondii
Renal Involvement in Leptospirosis: The Effect of Glycolipoprotein on Renal Water Absorption
on vasopressin (Vp) action in the guinea pig inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD). Copenhageni, GLPc, nâ=â5); Group II, IMCD from normal guinea-pigs in the presence of GLPc (GLPc group, nâ=â54); Group III, IMCD from injected animals with GLPc ip (nâ=â8). (GLPp, non pathogenic, 250 ”g) did not alter Vp action. In Group III, GLPc (250 ”g) injected intraperitoneally produced a decrease of about 20% in IMCD Aquaporin 2 expression.The IMCD Pf decrease caused by GLP is evidence, at least in part, towards explaining the urinary concentrating incapacity observed in infected guinea-pigs
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