Chronic lead intoxication in a jaguar (Panthera onca) shot with round lead pellets - case report

ABSTRACT Lead is a heavy metal and an important cause of acute or chronic toxicosis in humans, domestic, and wild animals. This report aims to describe a case of chronic lead poisoning in a jaguar (Panthera onca) kept under human care that was rescued from the wild environment. The animal was rescued in poor condition in 2004 and kept under human care at the Belo Horizonte Zoological Garden (Minas Gerais, Brazil) until 2020, when it presented with anorexia, vomiting and ataxia. Over the past years the animal had episodes of anemia and increased serum urea and creatinine. Radiography demonstrated 21 radiopaque projectiles on the right side of the face. At necropsy there were multiple projectiles surrounded by fibrous tissue in the subcutaneous of the right side of the face, fibrinous peritonitis, multiple gastric ulcers, and melena. The lead dosage was performed using the atomic absorption spectrometry technique using renal tissue collected at necropsy, with a result of 908 ppb (µg/kg). The findings of projectiles associated with the dosage of lead above the reference limits allow the diagnosis of chronic intoxication in this case

Experimental analyses of droop, wingtips and fences on a BWB model

This work performs wind-tunnel tests to analyze the aerodynamics of wingtip devices and fences in a blended wing body aircraft (BWB). The Green aircraft concept has the BWB as a promising solution which optimally combines low-noise, fuel efficiency and consequently low-emission. This innovative approach has been consistently investigated by the Aircraft Laboratory of the São Carlos Engineering School - University of São Paulo. In previous developments, this laboratory showed the presence of cross flow on the external part of the body and an stronger vortex in the middle of the model. To avoid this undesirable effect, the first prototype has been improved by the addition of a droop and three fences. Additionally winglets and C-wings were considered in this research. Results show that wingtip devices improved the aerodynamic efficiency by the generation of an aerodynamic resultant force which has a component in the direction of the flight reducing the total drag. On the other hand, the fences showed improved efficiency at higher angles of attack

Effects of the confining solvent on the size distribution of silver NPs by laser ablation

Laser ablation of a silver target confined in acetone, ethanol, methanol, propanol, and distilled water allowed us to obtain silver nanoparticles with different size distributions. We employed a pulsed Nd:YAG laser (? = 532 nm, 0.5 J/pulse) with a high fluence of 64 J/cm 2 with a scanning density of 2,500 pulses/cm 2, having overlapping of consecutive pulses. The analysis of transmission electron micrographs showed that the smaller particle sizes were obtained confining the target in propanol, while the larger ones were obtained employing ethanol. Nanoparticle size distributions were fitted with two Gaussian peaks in all five cases, being the smaller sizes the most frequent. Predominant peaks were centered at 4.8 and 13.9 nm in propanol and ethanol, respectively, having a broader distribution for the nanoparticles obtained in ethanol. Furthermore, comparison of electron micrographs taken the day of synthesis and 4 and 9 months later in the case of water and propanol, respectively, shows that nanoparticle suspension is more stable in propanol. Zapotitlán Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Mutagenic and antimutagenic properties of some lichen species grown in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey

All the methanol extracts did not show mutagenic activity in Ames/Salmonella and Z. mays MI test systems. Furthermore, some extracts showed significant antimutagenic activity against 9-AA in Ames test system. Inhibition rates for 9-AA mutagenicity ranged from 25.51 % (P. furfuracea – 0.05 μg/plate) to 66.14 % (C. islandica – 0.05 μg/plate). In addition, all of the extracts showed significant antimutagenic activity against sodium azide (NaN₃) mutagenicity on MI values of Z. mays.Целью работы было изучить мутагенный и антимутагенный потенциал метанольных экстрактов Cetraria islandica (L.) Ach. (Parmeliaceae), Pseudevernia furfuracea (L.) Zopf (Parmeliaceae) и Xanthoparmelia somloënsis (Gyeln.) Hale (Parmeliaceae) – лишайников из восточной части Турции. Ни один из экстрактов не показал мутагенной активности в тестах Эймса и Z. mays MI. Более того, некоторые экстракты проявляли заметную антимутагенную активность против 9-амино-акридина в тесте Эймса. Уровень ингибирования варьировал от 25,51 % (P. furfuracea) до 66,14 % (C. islandica). Кроме того, все экстракты проявляли значительную антимутагенную активность против азида натрия в Z. mays MI тесте. Все экстракты могут считаться генотоксично безопасными в исследованных концентрациях