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Objective: To evaluate the pharmacodynamic effects and pharmacokinetics of a single intramuscular (IM) injection of alfaxalone in central bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) when injected at a cranial versus a caudal site., Study Design: Prospective, masked, randomized crossover study., Animals: A total of 13 healthy bearded dragons weighing 0.48 ± 0.1 kg., Methods: Alfaxalone (10 mg kg -1 ) was administered IM to 13 bearded dragons in the triceps muscle (cranial treatment) or the quadriceps muscle (caudal treatment) separated by 4 weeks. Pharmacodynamic variables included movement score, muscle tone score and righting reflex. Blood was obtained from the caudal tail vein using a sparse sampling methodology. Plasma alfaxalone concentrations were determined using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and pharmacokinetic analysis was performed using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling. Differences in variables between injection sites were analyzed using a nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired data with significance set at p ≤ 0.05., Results: Time to loss of righting reflex score was not different, median (interquartile range), between cranial and caudal treatments [8 (5-11) and 8 (4-12) minutes, respectively, p = 0.72]. Time to recovery of righting reflex was also not different between cranial and caudal treatments [80 (44-112) and 64 (56-104) minutes, respectively, p = 0.75]. Plasma alfaxalone concentrations were not significantly different between treatments. The population estimate (95% confidence intervals) for volume of distribution per fraction absorbed was 1.0 (0.79-1.20) L kg -1 , clearance per fraction absorbed was 9.6 (7.6-11.6) mL minute -1 kg -1 , absorption rate constant was 2.3 (1.9-2.8) minute -1 and elimination half-life was 71.9 (52.7-91.1) minutes., Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Regardless of the injection site, IM alfaxalone (10 mg kg -1 ) produced reliable chemical restraint in central bearded dragons, appropriate for nonpainful diagnostic procedures or anesthetic premedication., (Copyright © 2023 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Our understanding of the climatic teleconnections that drove ice-age cycles has been limited by a paucity of well-dated tropical records of glaciation that span several glacial-interglacial intervals. Glacial deposits offer discrete snapshots of glacier extent but cannot provide the continuous records required for detailed interhemispheric comparisons. By contrast, lakes located within glaciated catchments can provide continuous archives of upstream glacial activity, but few such records extend beyond the last glacial cycle. Here a piston core from Lake Junín in the uppermost Amazon basin provides the first, to our knowledge, continuous, independently dated archive of tropical glaciation spanning 700,000 years. We find that tropical glaciers tracked changes in global ice volume and followed a clear approximately 100,000-year periodicity. An enhancement in the extent of tropical Andean glaciers relative to global ice volume occurred between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago, during sustained intervals of regionally elevated hydrologic balance that modified the regular approximately 23,000-year pacing of monsoon-driven precipitation. Millennial-scale variations in the extent of tropical Andean glaciers during the last glacial cycle were driven by variations in regional monsoon strength that were linked to temperature perturbations in Greenland ice cores 1 ; these interhemispheric connections may have existed during previous glacial cycles., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objective: To report ophthalmic examination, biometry, phenol red thread test (PRTT), intraocular pressure (IOP), and histologic findings from a private collection of inland bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps)., Animals Studied: Fourteen inland bearded dragons., Procedures: Complete ophthalmic examinations were performed on all animals, including slit-lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, fluorescein stain, phenol red thread test, and rebound tonometry. B-mode ultrasonography was used to measure anterior chamber depth, axial lens thickness, vitreal chamber depth, and axial globe length. Horizontal corneal diameter was estimated using ImageJ software. Histologic assessment was obtained for one of the bearded dragons that died following the study period., Results: The median PRTT value was 7.27 mm/15 seconds. Mean IOP was 6.29 ± 1.60 mm Hg and 2.14 ± 1.37 mm Hg using the dog and undefined calibration settings, respectively. Median axial globe length was 11.75 mm. Mean anterior chamber depth and mean lens thickness were 2.06 ± 0.35 mm and 3.38 ± 0.45 mm, respectively. Median vitreal chamber depth was 6.79 mm. Mean horizontal corneal diameter was 5.138 ± 0.346 mm. Two distinct ocular phenotypes were observed, with two of the bearded dragons having corneal globosa, deep anterior chambers, and tufts of iridal vessels and fibrillar material extending into the anterior chamber., Conclusions: The ultrasound biometry, PRTT, and rebound tonometry results may serve as a guideline for ophthalmic parameters in healthy bearded dragons. Examination and testing of greater numbers of animals are necessary to establish true reference ranges and determine if the observed ocular phenotypes represent normal variants or pathologic changes., (© 2020 American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.)

Case Series Summary: Described are 13 cats diagnosed with deep ulcerative keratitis and successfully managed medically without grafting procedures. Typical treatment involved frequent topical application of serum and antibiotics (usually a fluoroquinolone and a cephalosporin). Seven cats also received systemic antibiotics. Analgesia was achieved using various combinations of topical atropine and systemic buprenorphine, robenacoxib or corticosteroids. Six cats were hospitalized for a median (range) period of 2.5 (1-8) days, typically because of frequent medication administration. Median (range) follow-up time was 41.5 (9-103) days. Median (range) number of recheck examinations was 4 (2-6). Median (range) time to corneal re-epithelialization was 21 (9-103) days. Median (range) topical antibiotic course was 29.5 (16-103) days. Median (range) duration of Elizabethan collar use was 28 (13-73) days. At the time of writing, no further recheck examinations were recommended for 10 cats; median (range) time between initial to final examinations in these cats was 35 (20-103) days. All cats retained the affected globes and were apparently comfortable and visual at the latest recheck examination., Relevance and Novel Information: These cases reveal that aggressive medical management is highly successful in select cats with deep ulcerative keratitis, and can result in a cosmetically acceptable, apparently comfortable and visual globe. However, therapy is intensive with frequent administration of multiple topical and sometimes systemic medications, and requires multiple veterinary visits over many weeks. Referral to a veterinary ophthalmologist for consideration of surgical stabilization is recommended, as not all cases may be amenable to the medical therapy described here.

Triatoma infestans is an insect of subfamily Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) and an important vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of human Chagas disease. In this work we reported a transcriptome assembly and annotation of T. infestans heads obtained by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies.

A qualitative approach to analyze the electronic origin of substituent effects on the paramagnetic part of chemical shifts is described and applied to few model systems, where its potentiality can be appreciated. The formulation of this approach is based on the following grounds. The influence of different inter- or intramolecular interactions on a second-order property can be qualitatively predicted if it can be known how they affect the main virtual excitations entering into that second-order property. A set of consistent approximations are introduced in order to analyze the behavior of occupied and virtual orbitals that define some experimental trends of magnetic shielding constants. This approach is applied first to study the electronic origin of methyl-beta substituent effects on both (15)N and (17)O chemical shifts, and afterward it is applied to a couple of examples of long-range substituent effects originated in charge transfer interactions such as the conjugative effect in aromatic compounds and sigma-hyperconjugative interactions in saturated multicyclic compounds.