Epidemiology of lobomycosis-like disease in bottlenose dolphins <i>Tursiops</i> spp. from South America and southern Africa

We report on the epidemiology of lobomycosis-like disease (LLD), a cutaneous disorder evoking lobomycosis, in 658 common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus from South America and 94 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins T. aduncus from southern Africa. Photographs and stranding records of 387 inshore residents, 60 inshore non-residents and 305 specimens of undetermined origin (inshore and offshore) were examined for the presence of LLD lesions from 2004 to 2015. Seventeen residents, 3 non-residents and 1 inshore dolphin of unknown residence status were positive. LLD lesions appeared as single or multiple, light grey to whitish nodules and plaques that may ulcerate and increase in size over time. Among resident dolphins, prevalence varied significantly among 4 communities, being low in Posorja (2.35%, n = 85), Ecuador, and high in Salinas, Ecuador (16.7%, n = 18), and Laguna, Brazil (14.3%, n = 42). LLD prevalence increased in 36 T. truncatus from Laguna from 5.6% in 2007-2009 to 13.9% in 2013-2014, albeit not significantly. The disease has persisted for years in dolphins from Mayotte, Laguna, Salinas, the Sanquianga National Park and Bahía Málaga (Colombia) but vanished from the Tramandaí Estuary and the Mampituba River (Brazil). The geographical range of LLD has expanded in Brazil, South Africa and Ecuador, in areas that have been regularly surveyed for 10 to 35 yr. Two of the 21 LLD-affected dolphins were found dead with extensive lesions in southern Brazil, and 2 others disappeared, and presumably died, in Ecuador. These observations stress the need for targeted epidemiological, histological and molecular studies of LLD in dolphins, especially in the Southern Hemisphere

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Observações sobre o comportamento de Liolaemus occipitalis em cativeiro (Sauria, Tropiduridae) Observations on the behavior of Liolaemus occipitaus in captivity (Sauria, Tropiduridae)

<abstract language="eng">Liolaemus occipitalis (Boulenger, 1885) is an abundant lizard lbundalong lhe coastal dunes of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Fourteen individuais were manually captured in the dunes of Quintão beach (Palmares do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul) and studied in captivity from 23/VII/92 to 30/VII/93. They were kept in a terrarium with sand substrate and vegetation collected in their habitat. Snout-vent length (SVL) and wcighted were measured weekly. They received Tenebrio molitor (Linnaeus, 1758) worms as food; water was abundant. Combats between males for food and territory, and other behavioral displays were observed, like copulation and nesting behaviors. Growth curves for each lizard were analyzed

Zooarqueologia dos mamíferos aquáticos e semi-aquáticos da Ilha de Santa Catarina, sul do Brasil

<abstract language="eng">This study analyzes the use of aquatic mammals by prehistoric societies of Santa Catarina Island, Southern Brazil. Samples from two archaeological sites were examined: Rio do Meio (RM) and Porto do Rio Vermelho (SCPRV). Nine aquatic mammal species were found: a) pinnipeds: Arctocephalus australis (Zimmerman, 1783) and A. tropicalis (Gray, 1872), and b) cetaceans: Eubalaena australis (Desmoulins, 1822), Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, 1758, Stenella frontalis (Cuvier, 1829), Steno bredanensis (Lesson, 1828), Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821), Pontoporia blainvillei (Gervais & d'Orbigny, 1844) and a non-identified rorqual from the genus Balaenoptera Lacépède, 1804. Three especies of semi-aquatic mammals were also recorded: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1758), Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758) and Lontra longicaudis (Olfers,1818). Both sites presented similar species diversity, although abundance was greater at the most recent site (RM). There were more samples from axial skeletons, but in genera the anatomical regions were homogeneously distributed among the identified taxa