Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are a species of conservation concern throughout their natural range. Headstarting is a common chelonian conservation technique in which neonates are reared in managed-care settings before release, but health assessments are rarely incorporated. From 2020 to 2021 we assessed headstarted turtle health pre-release and 1 mo, 1 yr, and 2 yr after release using physical examination, hematology, plasma biochemistry, protein electrophoresis, and pathogen detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe order Onygenales contains multiple fungal pathogens that affect free-ranging and zoo-housed reptilian species. Emydomyces testavorans, an onygenalean fungus associated with skin and shell disease, has been sporadically detected in aquatic chelonians. Because of the recent discovery of this organism, little is known about its prevalence in free-ranging chelonians.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCharacterizing host factors affecting individual health can be important in the conservation of many chelonians, including the Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii). However, many routine clinical pathology tests do not reliably detect differences in health status in reptiles. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) has been shown to characterize inflammation in many species, including tortoises, and may be useful in assessing Blanding's turtles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteoarthritis (OA) is a common, debilitating, chronic disease with no disease-modifying drug approved to date. We discovered LNA043-a derivative of angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3)-as a potent chondrogenesis inducer using a phenotypic screen with human mesenchymal stem cells. We show that LNA043 promotes chondrogenesis and cartilage matrix synthesis in vitro and regenerates hyaline articular cartilage in preclinical OA and cartilage injury models in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA cohort of 650 patients treated for localized prostate cancer (PCa) with CyberKnife ultra-hypofractionated radiotherapy between 2011 and 2018 was retrospectively analyzed in terms of survival, patterns of failure, and outcomes of second-line definitive salvage therapies. The analysis was performed using survival analysis including the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. At a median follow-up of 49.
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