Introducción al diagnóstico y tratamiento del marcaje territorial con orina en el gato

El marcaje territorial con orina es uno de los problemas de comportamiento más frecuentes en el gato. Si bien es más frecuente en machos no castrados, puede manifestarse también en machos castrados y en hembras. Los principales criterios de diagnóstico que permiten distinguirlo de otros problemas de eliminación son la presencia o ausencia de heces junto con la orina, ia localización de la orina, el volumen de orina y la postura del animal al orinar. La castración soluciona el problema en el 90 % de los animales aproximadamente. En aquellos animales que no responden a la castración o a los que no se desea castrar, los tranquilizantes son el tratamiento de elección, puesto que son igualo más eficaces que los progestágenos sintéticos y presentan menos efectos secundarios.Urine marking is one of the most common behavioural problems in cats. Although it is most frequent in intact males, urine marking can also occur in both castrated males and females. The amount and location of urine, the pasture of the cat while urinating and thepresence or absence of faeces are important criteria to rule out any other cause of inappropriate elimination. Urine marking is treated by castration, which is effective in 90 % of cases. When castration is unsuccesful or undesired, anxiolytic drugs are the treatment of choice, because they are at least as effictive as synthetic progestins and have less side effects

Diagnóstico de los diferentes tipos de agresividad del perro dirigida hacia las personas

El objetivo de este trabajo es describir los diferentes tipos de agresividad del perro dirigida hacia las personas. La agresividad puede clasificarse en dos grandes grupos: agresividad debida a problemas orgánicos y agresividad sin causa orgánica. La agresividad sin causa orgánica es la más frecuente e incluye agresividad por dominancia, agresividad maternal, agresividad por miedo, agresividad por competencia dirigida hacia niños y agresividad territorial. El diagnóstico de cada uno de estos tipos se basa en la postura adoptada por el perro durante el episodio de agresividad, las circunstancias que desencadenan la conducta agresiva y la conducta del perro entre episodios de agresividad.The aim of this paper is to describe the diffirent types of human-directed aggresion in dogs. Aggression can be broadly divided in medical and non-medical. Non-medical aggression is the most common type and includes dominance aggression, maternal aggression, fiar aggression, sibling rivalry and territorial aggression. The diagnosis is based on the posture of the dog whtle being aggressive, the circumstances in which aggression appears and the behaviour of the dog between aggressive incidents

Imide and isatin derivatives as β-lactam mimics of β-lactam antibiotics

Activated γ-lactams, which are derivatives of succinimide, phthalimide and isatin with suitable elements of molecular recognition, have been synthesised as mimics of the ß-lactam antibiotics and their chemical and biological reactivity determined

Case study: Is bisphenol S safer than bisphenol A in thermal papers?

The Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemical Agency released a scientific opinion alerting that the risk associated with dermal occupational exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) via thermal paper might not be adequately controlled because the estimated exposure was around twice the Derived No Effect Level (DNEL) and the European Commission will effectively restrict BPA in thermal paper as soon as 2020. Bisphenol S (BPS) is currently being used as a BPA surrogate and is already widespread in thermal paper receipts. Based on publically available information in the scientific literature, we assessed the risk associated with dermal BPS exposure via thermal paper for the general and occupational populations to compare with BPA situation. We developed two exposure scenarios; one based on the total excreted BPS and another on exposure estimations by transferring BPS from the thermal paper matrix to skin. Both scenarios yielded similar exposures for the general population (0.016–0.013 µg/kg bw/day), but the exposure estimated for the workers in the second scenario (0.96 µg/kg bw/day) was around 17-fold higher than that estimated for the workers in the first scenario. The systemic DNELs for the general and workers populations were 0.45 and 0.91 µg BPS/kg bw/day, respectively, which were 4.6- and 19-fold higher than the respective dermal DNELs. Risk Characterisation Ratio (RCR) (estimated exposure through urinary excretion compared with the systemic DNEL) in the first and most reliable scenario suggested that the risk was adequately controlled. In the second scenario, however, the RCR suggests that the risk might not be adequately controlled for both the general population and workers. This work raises the necessity of generate more toxicodynamic and toxicokinetic information, specially using dermal exposures, to properly assess the risk associated to dermal BPS exposure because the situation might presumably get worse after 2020

Case study: risk associated to wearing silver or graphene nanoparticle‑coated facemasks for protection against COVID‑19

The world is living a pandemic situation derived from the worldwide spreading of SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID- 19. Facemasks have proven to be one of the most effective prophylactic measures to avoid the infection that has made that wearing of facemasks has become mandatory in most of the developed countries. Silver and graphene nanoparticles have proven to have antimicrobial properties and are used as coating of these facemasks to increase the effectivity of the textile fibres. In the case of silver nanoparticles, we have estimated that in a real scenario the systemic (internal) exposure derived from wearing these silver nanoparticle facemasks would be between 7.0 × 10– 5 and 2.8 × 10– 4 mg/kg bw/day. In addition, we estimated conservative systemic no effect levels between 0.075 and 0.01 mg/kg bw/day. Therefore, we estimate that the chronic exposure to silver nanoparticles derived form facemasks wearing is safe. In the case of graphene, we detected important gaps in the database, especially regarding toxicokinetics, which prevents the derivation of a systemic no effect level. Nevertheless, the qualitative approach suggests that the risk of dermal repeated exposure to graphene is very low, or even negligible. We estimated that for both nanomaterials, the risk of skin sensitisation and genotoxicity is also negligibl

Current-Voltage Characteristic of Electrospray Processes in Microfluidics

4 páginas, 4 figuras.-- PACS numbers: 47.65.-d, 47.55.db, 47.60.KzWe use a glass-based microfluidic device to study the electric current behavior of an electrospray process in the presence of a coflowing liquid. The current shows strong voltage dependence and weak flow rate dependence, in stark contrast to classical electrospray. By considering that the current is dominated by convection near the apex of the conical meniscus and driven by tangential electric stresses, we quantitatively capture the voltage and flow rate dependence of the current. Our results elucidate the influence of external field strength and open the way to achieve robust electric control of the current and of the drop size in microfluidics.We thank DPI2008-06624-C03-03 and NSF (DMR- 0847304 and CBET-0967293).Peer reviewe

Polymeric nanogels as vaccine delivery systems

Polymeric nanogels find a relevant field of application in the formulation of a new generation of therapeutic and preventive vaccines, aiming at the fine-tuned modulation of the immune response. Intrinsic properties of polymeric nanogels, such as material chemistry, size and shape, surface charge, and hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity, may be determining factors in shaping the induced immune response. These materials can thus work as synthetic adjuvants, which can also be conjugated with immunostimulants. Polymeric nanogels protect vaccine antigens from degradation in vivo and, surface-conjugated with antibodies or specific ligands, could increase active targeting specificity. This review covers the recent published data concerning the modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses by engineered polymeric nanogels and their potential application as delivery systems in vaccination.S.A. Ferreira is the recipient of a fellowship from International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL)