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Evaluation of a new anaesthetic protocol in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta)
No full textLemur catta are endangered prosimians often kept in zoological exhibits. Chemical immobilization is most of the time compulsory to perform veterinary procedures in these animals [1]. The aim of this observational study is to evaluate the quality of sedation, induction and maintenance of anaesthesia and cardiorespiratory effects of a new anaesthetic protocol in ring-tailed lemurs undergoing bilateral orchiectomy. The study was carried out at Valcorba Zoological Park (Pozzonovo, PD, Italy) following internal ethical clearance approval. Six healthy adult ring-tailed lemurs were sedated with a combination of dexmedetomidine (0.015 mg/kg), midazolam (0.2 mg/kg) and butorphanol (0.2 mg/kg) administered intramuscularly. To perform oral intubation, alfaxalone (0.5 mg/kg) was administered intravenously over 60-seconds and further boluses of 0.2 mg/kg were given every 20 seconds if needed. The inital infusion rate of alfaxalone (0.1 mg/kg/minute) was adjusted to maintain cardiovascular and respiratory stability while performing the surgical procedure. Heart rate, ECG, SpO2, rectal temperature, respiratory rate, EtCO2 and non-invasive blood pressure were recorded every 5 minutes throughout surgery and recovery. Quality of sedation, induction, manteinance and recovery were assessed, and reaction to manipulation scored. These assessments were performed by the same observer using a descriptive scoring system specifically designed for this study. Quantitative data were analysed with two-way Anova and the Bonferroni correction using SAS statistical software (version 9.3, SAS Institute). P values < 0.05 were deemed significant. Sedation at 20 minutes was scored as “profound” in alll animals and no reactions to manipulation were seen. Induction and intubation were scored as “smooth and uneventful” in all animals but one, which was scored as “satisfactory”. Three out of six animals had self-limiting muscle twitching at induction. Maintenance of anaesthesia was scored as “good” in five animals. Only one speciment showed respiratory depression, thus oxygen was administered and ventilatation manually assisted. Heart rate and respiratory rate decreased 15 min after the beginning of alfaxalone infusion (p<0.05). Alfaxalone infusion was discontinued at the end of the surgery and, although extubation was possible after 15.33 ± 8.02 min, atipamezole had to be administered to achieve full recovery after 38 ± 5 minutes from injection. In conclusion, the combination of drugs proposed in this study offered a reliable sedation and anaesthesia in lemurs, nevertheless careful monitoring is always recommended
Evaluation of a chemical immobilization protocol in Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeustralis) undergoing surgical gonadectomy
No full textChemical immobilization of porcupine is often required for wildlife studies or specific clinical needs, but details and clinical effect of general anaesthesia for surgical procedures in this specie is not reported in literature. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the use of a novel balanced anaesthesia protocol in Cape porcupines (Hystrix africaeustralis). The primary objectives were to evaluate the quality of sedation, intubation, maintenance and recovery from anaesthesia and the impact of the combination of drugs used on the physiological parameters. The secondary objective was to assess the ease of orotracheal intubation using a traditional laryngoscope versus video-assisted intubation by means of a smartphone otoscope.
The study was conducted at the Valcorba Zoological Park, following approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee of the University of Padova. Six porcupines received a combination of dexmedetomidine (0.008 mg/kg), butorphanol (0.3 mg/kg), ketamine (5 mg/kg) and midazolam (0.2 mg/kg) intramuscularly. All the animals achieved recumbency within 5 minutes of injection and lost palpebral reflex within 10 minutes.
Intubation was firstly attempted using a video-otoscope and then achieved within 12 minutes from injection in all porcupines after 1 to 4 attempts using a laryngoscope with a Miller blade and a urinary catheter as guidewire inserted into the endotracheal uncuffed tube.
All animals underwent volatile anaesthesia with isoflurane in oxygen by spontaneous ventilation. Echocardiography and abdominal ultrasound were performed on all porcupines, surgical orchiectomy on 5 subjects. Physiological parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse-oximetry, arterial blood pressure, end-tidal CO2 and temperature were stable in all animals during the procedures. Intratesticular administration of lidocaine 2 mg/kg contributed to preventing any pain-response to surgical stimuli. Extubation was feasible in less than a minute after the isoflurane was turned off and all porcupines were able to walk within 12 minutes of intramuscular administration of atipamezole (0.08 mg/kg).
Sedation, intubation, maintenance, and recovery quality were assessed as good in all animals, ensuring safe and effective immobilization during procedures. Moreover, recovery was predictable, and smooth in all animals. No complications occurred during the procedure nor in the follow-up. The studied drug combination might be a valid alternative in porcupine chemical immobilization and offers the possibility to perform a safe and stable anaesthesia allowing surgical orchiectomy. Moreover, the drug combination used allowed intubation, nevertheless some technical difficulties were encountered. Larynx visualization was challenging due to the anatomical features of porcupines and laryngoscope provided acceptable larynx visualization, but many attempts were often required to perform intubation. In contrast, otoscope laryngoscopy was unsuccessful in this study, although it has been reported as a simple and effective in small laboratory rodents. Other investigations are needed to optimize intubation technique, as correct airway management is fundamental to safe anaesthetic practice
Alfaxalone anaesthesia in Lemur catta following dexmedetomidine-butorphanol-midazolam sedation
No full textObjective: To evaluate the clinical effects and the quality of sedation, induction, maintenance and recovery in Lemur catta, after dexmedetomidine-butorphanol-midazolam sedation and alfaxalone anaesthesia.
Study design: Prospective, observational study
Animals: Six male Lemur catta weighing 3.0 ± 0.6 kg undergoing surgical castration.
Methods: Lemurs were sedated with intramuscular dexmedetomidine (0.015 mg kg-1), butorphanol (0.2 mg kg-1) and midazolam (0.2 mg kg-1). Anaesthesia was induced with intravenous alfaxalone 0.5 mg kg-1 over 60 seconds; further boluses were administered until tracheal intubation was feasible and the final dose was recorded. Alfaxalone continuous infusion was used to maintain anaesthesia. Atipamezole (0.15 mg kg-1) was administered during recovery. The quality of sedation, induction, intubation, maintenance and recovery was assessed using a scoring system. Physiological parameters were recorded during sedation, maintenance and recovery.
Results: Sedation was achieved in 13.6 ± 5.6 minutes and no reactions were observed during handling or venepuncture. The mean dose of alfaxalone required for induction and maintenance was 2.09 ± 0.65 mg kg-1 and 0.08 ± 0.02 mg kg-1 minute-1, respectively. Quality of induction, intubation, and maintenance was good in almost all animals. Mild self-limiting muscle twitching was observed after alfaxalone administration in three animals. Cardiorespiratory function was stable in all animals but one. One lemur showed respiratory depression and required oxygen administration and manual ventilation. The mean maintenance time was 29.2 ± 7.4 minutes. The mean times from the end of alfaxalone administration to extubation, atipamezole administration and full recovery were: 15.3 ± 8, 22.2 ± 54.6 and 60.0 ± 8.0 minutes, respectively. Recovery was considered good in all animals.
Conclusions and clinical relevance: The dexmedetomidine-butorphanol-midazolam combination used provided reliable sedation and adequate muscle relaxation in Lemur catta. Alfaxalone proved to be a useful drug for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia and might be considered an option for injectable anaesthesia in lemurs
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
Gastrointestinal Parasites in Non-Human Primates in Zoological Gardens in Northern Italy
Full text linkNon-human primates (NHPs) host a variety of helminth and protist parasites that are able to cause infection in humans. Gastrointestinal parasites in NHPs living in two zoological gardens of Northern Italy were studied. An total of 96 faecal pools were collected from 26 groups of NHPs. The mini-Flotac method was applied to fecal samples to detect gastrointestinal helminthiases, while the detection of the protists Cryptosporidium spp., Blastocystis sp. and Giardia duodenalis was performed by targeting SSU rRNA through nested PCR and real-time PCR; they were further studied by sequencing the same gene for Blastocystis and βgiardine and triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) genes for Giardia. Twenty-two out of the 96 examined fecal pools (22.9%) were positive for one or more helminth species, including Hymenolepis diminuta, Trichurid, Capillariid and Strongylid eggs. All samples were negative for Cryptosporidium spp., while 16/26 (61.5%) animals were positive for G. duodenalis in the real-time P..
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