1,720,957 research outputs found
SEARCH FOR PARASITES IN THE FISHES IN THE MASSACIUCCOLI BASIN (TUSCANY, CENTRAL ITALY)
Full text linkINTRODUCTION
The water district Massaciuccoli is an eutrophic coastal basin located in the provinces of Lucca and Pisa (Tuscany) and includes the lake, the marsh and the reclaimed areas with their network of drainage channels. The fish fauna has shown a progressive increase of introduced species to the disadvantage of the species evolutionarily originated in the basin1.
AIM
The purpose of this study, which was granted as a PRIN (2008), was to detect the presence of parasites of the fishes in the water district of Massaciuccoli, an area never investigated so far, and the eventual presence of Opisthorchis felineus2.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In the years 2010-2012, 381 fishes were captured in the basin and analysed at the Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa. 147 fishes were carps (Cyprinus carpio), 103 goldfishes (Carassius auratus), 32 rudds (Scardinius erythrophthalmus), 31 black catfishes (Ictalurus melas), 20 triottos (Rutilus erythrophthalmus), 15 pumpkinseeds (Lepomis gibbosus), 13 stone morokos (Pseudorasbora parva), 9 black basses (Micropterus salmoides), 7 grey mullets (Liza ramada) and 4 Italian bleaks (Alburnus alburnus albidus). Skin, eyes, gills, digestive system, liver, bladder and kidneys of each fish were examined with optical and stereo microscope for the presence of ecto and endoparasites, which were classified according to keys3. The research of Opistorchis felineus was carried out by a compression and a digestive technique of two lateral muscles of the fishes.
RESULTS
192 fishes (prevalence 50.4%, 95% Confidence Interval 45.4-55.4) were infected. 92 (24,2% CI 19.8-28.4) among them presented multiple infections. 132 fishes (34.6% CI 29.9-39.4) presented only ectoparasites on skin and gills, 20 (5,2% CI 3.0-7.5) only endoparasites in the intestine, liver or kidneys and 40 fishes (10.5% CI 7.4-13.6) presented mixed infections. The most frequent parasites were Trichodina spp (prevalence 18.6%), Trichodinella spp (15.0%) and Dactylogirus vastator (18.9%). Details are in the table below.
CONCLUSIONS
The fishes of the basin, especially carps, goldfishes and catfishes, are often used for aquaculture and for sportive fishing and therefore their parasites may be introduced into other water districts. Some times these fishes are eaten in spite of prohibitions, so that more attention to the parasitological fauna of the fishes in Massaciuccoli could be important O. felineus was not found in any fish examined.
REFERENCES
1 Chelucci L., 2005 Thesis, University of Pisa, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences, Pisa, 150pp.
2 Rivolta S.,1884 On a new species of flukes in cats and dogs. Giornale di Anatomia, Fisiologia e Patologia Animale 16 (1), 20-28.
3 Moravec F., 1994 Parasitic Nematodes of Freshwater Fishes of Europe. Academia, Prague, and Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 473 pp
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Presence of D. immitis in dogs of rural communities in south eastern Bolivia
No full textINTRODUCTION
Dirofilariosis is a worldwide-distributed disease caused by nematodes of the genus Dirofilaria superfamily Filaroidea. These nematodes may infest wild and domestic mammals. The principal agent of canine dirofilariosis in the Americas is Dirofilaria immitis, which may also occasionally infest humans. Human cases of dirofilariosis by D. immitis are relatively frequent in the Americas while only few cases have been recorded in Europe. In Bolivia dirofilariasis has been found in dogs and in wild canids (1).
We refer on the results of a preliminary screening carried out in 2013 on the presence of D. immitis in dogs of two rural communities (Ivamirapinta and Bartolo) located in south eastern Bolivia
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Blood samples were collected from 50 dogs in the community of Bartolo (municipality of Monteagudo) and 50 in the community of Ivamirapinta (municipality of Gutierrez). Serum samples was subjected to an ELISA test for the detection of antigens of D. immitis (DiroCHEK®, Synbiotics).
RESULTS
All dogs in the community of Bartolo tested negative while 3 dogs in the community of Ivamirapinta resulted positive. This preliminary screening confirms the circulation of Dirofilaria immitis in the community of Ivamirapinta.
CONCLUSIONS
Further studies will be carried out by direct diagnostic methods to further characterize the filarioid parasites infesting dogs and to evaluate the risk of human infections.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bronson et al., 2008 Bolivia. J. Zool. Wildl. Med. 39:28-36 Fiorello et al., 2004 Bolivia. Anim. Conserv. 7:45-5
- …
