1,721,030 research outputs found
Occurrence and molecular typing of Giardia isolates in pet rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs and ferrets collected in Europe during 2006-2012.
No full textA total of 1180 faecal samples (528 from rabbits, 531 from chinchillas and 121 from guinea pigs) collected during 2006-2012 by veterinarians in Germany and in other European countries were submitted to a diagnostic laboratory for Giardia testing by means of coproantigen ELISA. Of these samples, 40 rabbits (7.6 per cent), 326 chinchillas (61.4 per cent) and five guinea pigs (4.1 per cent ) were found to be positive. To gain insights into the genetic identity of Giardia in small mammals, ELISA-positive samples from 23 chinchillas, five ferrets, a rabbit, and a Desmarest's hutia were investigated by PCR and sequencing of fragments of the small subunit ribosomal DNA (ssu), the triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) and the β-giardin (bg) genes. At the ssu locus, assemblage B was identified in 28 of 30 isolates, whereas assemblage A and D were each detected in one sample. The majority of isolates from chinchillas and those from ferrets had Giardia duodenalis sequences identical to sub-assemblages AI or BIV, based on either a single locus (tpi or bg) or multiple loci (tpi and bg). As sub-assemblages AI or BIV are associated with human infection, these results indicate that small mammals can act as reservoirs of cysts potentially infectious to human
Survey of Baylisascaris spp. in captive striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in some European areas
No full textSkunks are popular carnivore species kept both in zoological institutions and in households where they are hand raised as exotic pets. These small carnivores are considered the main definitive hosts of the roundworm Baylisascaris columnaris. The purpose of this survey was to investigate the occurrence of Baylisascaris spp. in striped skunks kept as pets or in private zoo collections in some European areas. Copromicroscopic data from two laboratories, one in Italy and one in Germany, were used. A total of 60 animals were selected. Samples came from Germany (n = 30), Italy (n = 23), United Kingdom (n = 5), Austria (n = 1), and the Netherlands (n = 1). Twenty-eight animals were certainly kept as pets in private households in Italy and the UK. Fifteen out of 60 animals (25%) were positive for Baylisascaris spp. Molecular identification of adult parasites was performed in ten of those animals, revealing B. columnaris in all cases. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first survey of Baylisascaris spp. in captive skunks in Europe
Atypical intraocular migration of Angiostronglus vasorum
No full textINTRODUCTION. Angiostrongylus vasorum is a nematode which usually inhabitsthe pulmonary arteries and right ventricle of wild and domestic canids (Morgan et al., 2005 Trends Parasitol. 21: 49-51). Clinical manifestations vary from insidious and non-specific signs (mostly respiratory and neurological manifestations) to fatal cardiopulmonary insufficiency (Ferdushy et al., 2010 Parasitol Res. 107: 765-71). In extremely rare cases, larvae can migrate through the host’s body and reach atypical tissues such as the anterior chamber of the eye, but the mechanism of migration is still unclear (Colella et al., 2016 Parasit Vectors. 9: 161). This report describes the case of two intraocular A. vasorum specimens in an 18-months old dog living in the countryside of Terni, Central Italy.
MATERIALS AND METHODS. The patient was referred for an ophthalmological examination due to the presence of two motile parasites in the anterior chamber of one eye. The medical historyshowed that hehad several episodes of recurrent cough in the past. Physical and imaging (thoracic X-ray and ultrasound) examinations were carried out, along with a complete hematobiochemical analysis and modified Knott test. The intraocular parasites were surgically removed and preserved in 70% ethanol for morphological and biomolecular identification. Serum and aqueous humor were tested forantigens of Dirofilaria immitis (SNAP 4DX Plus, IDEXX, Westbrook, US) and A. vasorum (AngioDetect, IDEXX, Westbrook, US). A stool sample has been examined using the Baermann’s method.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS. The intraocular parasites where morphologically consistent with metastrongylid and identified by PCR as A. vasorum. Both serum and aqueous humor yielded positive for AngioDetect test, and larvae of A. vasorum were retrieved at the Baermann’stest. All tests for D. immitis were negative. Thoracic X-ray and ultrasound showed findings compatible with angiostrongylosis, i.e. areas of subpleural lung consolidation. This clinical case demonstrates the importance of including A. vasorum in the differential diagnosis of canine ocular diseases. Furthermore, an update of the current epidemiological distribution of A. vasorum in Italy would be of great help for local vets towards appropriate diagnostic, prevention, and treatment approaches for angiostrongylosis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
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