Publications by authors named "Valastro C"

Sea turtles face numerous threats, often stemming from human activities, resulting in high mortality rates. One of the primary risks they encounter is posed by fishing activities. In the South Adriatic Sea, the extensive trawling fleet often impacts sea turtles, and in recent years, a specific disorder, known as gas embolism (GE), and the associated disease known as decompression sickness (DCS), has emerged as a new threat.

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Efficient nutritional support plays a pivotal role in the rehabilitation of sea turtles, ensuring a positive, swift, and successful recovery from clinical conditions for their reintroduction into the wild. For sea turtles in severely emaciated and underweight condition, the primary objective is to facilitate weight gain in terms of both muscle mass and fat reserves. Traditionally, many sea turtle rehabilitators have employed the practice of force-feeding, which also involves the daily insertion of an orogastric tube from the mouth to the stomach.

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This study describes the surgical treatment of multiple humeral fractures in a sea turtle referred by the 'Centro Faunistico del Parco Regionale Bosco e Paludi di Rauccio', in the area surrounding the city of Lecce, in southern Italy. Radiographs showed an evident detachment of the distal humeral epiphysis, compatible with a type II Salter-Harris fracture, as well as a transverse fracture of the diaphysis. After the surgical fracture reduction, radiographic follow-up was performed at 2, 4, 12, 16, and 24 months, showing a progressive healing and the formation of poorly mineralized callus tissue.

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Sea turtles are considered endangered species, largely due to anthropogenic activities. Much of the trauma in these species involves the carapace and skull, resulting in several degrees of damage to the pulmonary and nervous systems. Among traumatic injuries, those involving the skull can be complicated by brain exposure, and turtles with severe skull injuries that have nervous system impairment, emaciation, and dehydration can often die.

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Development of bone tumors as a result of chronic osteomyelitis represents a relatively rare and late complication in humans and animals. We described a malignant transformation (chondroblastic osteosarcoma) in a 7-year-old German shepherd with a history of polyostotic osteomyelitis caused by when the dog was 15 months old. The tumor developed in the right humeral diaphysis, one of the sites of polyostotic osteomyelitis.

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Sea turtles that are entrapped in static and towed nets may develop gas embolism which can lead to severe organ injury and death. Trawling characteristics, physical and physiologic factors associated with gas-embolism and predictors of mortality were analysed from 482 bycaught loggerheads. We found 204 turtles affected by gas-embolism and significant positive correlations between the presence of gas-embolism and duration, depth, ascent rate of trawl, turtle size and temperature, and between mortality and ascent time, neurological deficits, significant acidosis and involvement of > 12 cardiovascular sites and the left atrium and sinus venosus-right atrium.

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A 3-year-old, pregnant, Alpine Brown cow showed a rapidly growing, pedunculated, skin mass located at the umbilical region, reaching 8 kg in weight over a 3-month period after its initial detection. Six days after parturition, the mass was completely surgically excised. During the follow-up period, the cow remained in good health, without signs of recurrence, and showed increased milk production.

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The aim of this study was to describe the clinical signs, radiographic, endoscopic and CT findings, cytological and microbiological findings and treatments of pulmonary diseases in sea turtles, in order to obtain an accurate diagnosis that avoids unnecessary therapy and antibiotic-resistance phenomena. In total, 14 loggerheads (), with clinical and/or radiographic findings of pulmonary pathology, were assessed through various combinations of clinical, radiological, CT, endoscopic examination and bronchoalveolar lavage, which recovered fluid for cytologic and microbiologic analysis. In all cases, radiographic examination led to a diagnosis of pulmonary disorders-4 unilateral and 10 bilateral.

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Entanglement occurs when a marine turtle becomes trapped within anthropogenic materials such as debris or fishery gear, inducing strangulation of anatomical parts such as flippers or the neck, causing deep lacerations, maiming, amputation, or choking. Often, severely entangled flippers in captured or stranded turtles are removed surgically. Turtles with flipper impairment have difficulty in swimming, diving, and feeding.

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The given names and family names of the authors of the originally published version of this article was inadvertently interchanged. Correct presentation of the author names are presented here.

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Untreated, traumatic, or wound myiases can cause severe consequences to animal health and welfare as well as economic losses to livestock productions. For healing myiasis-caused wounds, disinfectant such as creolin is wrongly but currently used in association with insecticides. Though effective, creolin is highly toxic to the patients, is inadequate with respect to the repellent effect, and may delay the healing of treated wounds.

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The dorsolateral subluxation index of the femoral head is a good proxy of hip dysplasia in dogs. An exploratory, prospective, descriptive study was carried out in order to assess whether the dorsolateral subluxation index may also be useful to improve diagnosis of hip dysplasia in cats. The dorsolateral subluxation index was determined by CT scans simulating the loading position, and compared with measurements of the Norberg-Olsson angle.

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Background: Renal cystadenocarcinoma and nodular dermatofibrosis (RCND) is a rare inherited cancer syndrome observed predominantly in the German shepherd dog breed, known to be associated with dominant autosomal transmission of mutation H255R of the encoding folliculin gene (FLCN). The syndrome usually features bilateral, multifocal kidney tumours and skin nodules, consisting of dense collagen fibres, with previous reports showing a poor prognosis. Although historically nodular dermatofibrosis (ND) has been considered a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with renal cystadenocarcinoma; this hypothesis has been questioned.

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Multidetector computed tomographic (CT) anatomy was used to evaluate the lungs of 10 loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) without pulmonary disease, in order to provide a baseline of turtle lung anatomy by CT imaging. In all patients, in this retrospective anatomic study, the CT datasets were carefully evaluated for assessment of the bronchial tree morphology and branching pattern, of the arborization pattern of pulmonary arteries and veins and of the bronchoarterial-bronchovenous diameter ratios. Imaging anatomy was compared with previous published data based on dissection and microscopic anatomy.

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Loggerhead sea turtles ( Caretta caretta) are among the most frequent victims of bycatch in drifting longlines, and the ingestion of fish hooks and fishing lines is one of the most frequent causes of death of sea turtles. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether coelomic ultrasound (US) can be decisive, not only for diagnosis but also to optimize surgical planning based on preoperative evaluation of the bowel conditions and, in addition, to see if there are characteristic sonographic findings in sea turtles associated with the ingestion of fishing lines. Physical examination, hematology, blood chemistry, radiographs, and US examination were performed in 37 loggerhead sea turtles with suspected or known ingestion of fish hooks or monofilament fishing lines.

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Background: Cannabis-based drugs have been shown to be effective in inflammatory diseases. A number of endocannabinoids including N- arachidonoylethanolamide (anandamide, AEA) and 2-arachidonyl glycerol (2-AG) with activity at the cannabinoid receptors (CBR) CBR1 and CBR2, have been identified. Other structurally related endogenous fatty acid compounds such as oleoylethanolamide (OEA) and palmitoyl ethanolamide (PEA) have been identified in biological tissues.

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Introduction: Somatic symptoms are frequently reported by children with significant impairment in functioning. Despite studies on adult populations that suggest somatic symptoms often co-occur with difficulties in identifying and describing feelings, little research has been done in childhood. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and frequency of somatic symptoms as well as to investigate the functional impairment in children with high number of self reported somatic symptoms versus those with fewer somatic symptoms.

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Objective: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether migraine or tension-type headaches are associated with abuse of the internet and/or mobile phones and to explore whether headache and the abuse of the two technologies are associated with sleep disturbances and other self-reported somatic symptoms.

Background: In the last several years, estimates indicate the increasing pervasiveness of the internet and other technologies in the lives of young people, highlighting the impact on well-being.

Design: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted between February 2013 and June 2014.

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The loggerhead Caretta caretta is the most common sea turtle in the Mediterranean. Currently, sea turtles are considered endangered, mainly due to the impact of human activities. Among traumatic lesions, those involving the skull, if complicated by brain exposure, are often life-threatening.

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Background: Headache is a common disorder affecting a growing number of children and adolescents. In recent years, there has been an increase in scientific interest in exploring the relationship between migraine and emotional regulation, and in particular, the impact of emotional dysregulation on mental and physical health. The present study aims to explore the relationship between migraine and alexithymia among adolescents and their mothers as well as the impact of this association on mental health.

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Article Synopsis
  • Onchocerca lupi is a parasitic worm infecting the eyes of carnivores, notably reported in dogs in Europe and the USA.
  • Researchers used imaging techniques like ultrasound, CT, and MRI to diagnose onchocercosis in two dogs that tested positive for the parasite.
  • The findings suggest that ultrasound is particularly effective for diagnosing O. lupi and determining the location of the adult worms within the eye.
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Objective: Red complex bacteria (Treponema denticola, Tannerella forsythia and Porphyromonas gingivalis) play a major role in the aetiology of periodontal disease in humans. This study was designed to evaluate the association of such bacteria with periodontal disease in dogs.

Methods: Seventy-three subgingival samples taken from dogs ranging from 2 months to 12 years (median age 4 years) were tested for red complex bacteria using a polymerase chain reaction assay.

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We report the surgical techniques used to remove accidentally ingested hooks and branchlines localized in different parts of the digestive tract of 129 loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta, together with the characteristics and localization of lesions, and final outcome related to their severity. Hooks were removed from the cervical esophagus via the ventral surface of the neck, while the supraplastron approach was performed for hooks wedged in the intracoelomic portion of the esophagus. An approach through the left axillary region was preferred for fishhooks in the stomach, while hooks and long branchlines in the intestine or pyloric area were removed by approaching the coelomic cavity through the right or left prefemoral fossa.

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In this study, the authors describe a simple, nontraumatic procedure for ultrasound-guided placement and maintenance ofjugular and cephalic vein catheterization. The ultrasound scans were performed with a GE Logiq 400 machine connected to a multifrequency (7-11 MHz) linear-array transducer. To find the cephalic vein, longitudinal and transverse color-Doppler ultrasonographic scans were made of the dorsal surface of the flipper.

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Intestinal obstruction by radiolucent foreign bodies is common in sea turtles. The absence of clinical signs and the extended fasting periods in these animals means that intestinal obstructions may not be diagnosed early. Digestive tract radiographic contrast procedures were performed to evaluate the gastrointestinal transit time and intestinal obstructions in loggerhead sea turtles.

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