Prevalence and risk factors associated to Eimeria spp. infection in unweaned alpacas (Vicugna pacos) from Southern Peru.

A total of 350 faecal samples from unweaned alpacas over 3 months of age were collected from 23 herds in order to determine the prevalence of Eimeria spp. in Southern Peru and to identify the risk factors associated to Eimeria infection in young alpacas. Samples were examined by a flotation technique and the identification of risk factors was assessed by a logistic regression analysis.

A survey of the sedation practice of Portuguese palliative care teams.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to study the practice of sedation by Portuguese palliative care teams.

Methods: The teams included on the website of the Portuguese Association for Palliative Care were invited to participate. Data from all the patients sedated between April and June 2010 were recorded.

Intestinal involvement secondary to the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS): clinical and immunologic characteristics of 97 patients: comparison of classic and catastrophic APS.

Objective: To analyze the clinical and laboratory characteristics of 97 patients with intestinal involvement secondary to the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (37 patients with classic APS and 60 with catastrophic APS).

Methods: A computer-assisted (PubMed) search of the literature was performed to identify all cases of intestinal involvement associated with the APS from 1983 to December 2005. In addition, we analyzed the web-site-based international registry of patients with catastrophic APS ("CAPS Registry").

Detection of specific antibodies to Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in naturally infected alpacas (Lama pacos), llamas (Lama glama) and vicunas (Lama vicugna) from Peru and Germany.

Sera of an experimentally Neospora caninum infected llama and a non-infected control llama were used to establish an immunoblot, an ELISA and an IFAT to detect antibodies against N. caninum tachyzoites. Subsequently, serum samples collected from a total of 871 South American Camelids (SAC: Lama glama, Lama pacos, Lama vicugna) of two farms in Peru and from 32 SAC of a farm in central Germany were examined for antibodies against N.