Background: As obligate scavengers, New World vultures (Cathartiformes: Cathartidae) play a key role in carcass removal and disease control. Associated with this ecosystem service, vultures are exposed to the consumption of harmful substances such as poisons, heavy metals, antibiotics, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Monitoring the health status of vulture populations is a priority and an important conservation strategy, and hematologic analysis is a practical and effective method that can be useful for this purpose.
Objectives: Report hematologic reference intervals in free-living King vultures (Sarcoramphus papa), one of the least studied New World vulture species.
Methods: Red blood cell concentration, packed cell volume, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, MCV, MCH, MCHC, WBC concentration, differential count and absolute WBC concentration, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio, and total protein concentration were determined. We used a non-parametric method to calculate the reference intervals. In addition, we compared our results with the hematologic measurands reported for the Black vulture (Coragyps atratus), the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) and the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus).
Results: With the exception of Hb, monocyte, basophil, and eosinophil concentrations, the mean hematologic measurands observed in the King vulture were similar to those recorded for the other New World vulture species, and the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio was lower in the King vulture compared to the Black vulture.
Conclusions: In this study, we have reported for the first time the hematologic reference intervals in a free-living population of King vultures in Costa Rica. Future research should consider comparison among free-living New World vulture species.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/vcp.13415 | DOI Listing |
N Engl J Med
March 2025
Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.
Background: Hospital studies suggest that scrub typhus is a leading cause of severe undifferentiated fever in regions across Asia where the disease is endemic, but the population-based incidence of infection and illness has been little studied.
Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study to assess epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of scrub typhus in 37 villages in Tamil Nadu, India, where the disease is highly endemic. Study participants were visited every 6 to 8 weeks over a period of 2 years; a venous blood sample was obtained from those who had had fever since the last visit.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
March 2025
Academic Primary Care Centre, Region Stockholm, Sweden.
Data on the comparative usefulness of medications commonly prescribed to individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are scarce. This study compared the association between antidepressants, relapse-preventive AUD medication, both, and neither on the risk of subsequent alcohol-related hospitalization in individuals with severe AUD. This retrospective analysis of Swedish nationwide register data used Cox (primary analysis) and logistic (sensitivity analysis) regression models to assess the associations between medication exposure (antidepressants, AUD medication, both, neither) and risk of subsequent alcohol-related hospitalization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients who underwent previous knee surgeries can be a challenging procedure both technically and for the complication rate. Conversion TKA is affected by a higher risk of infection compared to primary TKA. The aims of this meta-analysis are i) to compare the infectious risk among patients undergoing TKA after a prior hardware implantation, evaluating removal vs maintenance of the hardware, and ii) within the removal group, to compare staged vs concurrent procedure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenes Brain Behav
April 2025
Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
The fundamental skills for motor coordination and motor control emerge through development. Neurodevelopmental disorders such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD) lead to impaired acquisition of motor skills. This study investigated motor behaviors that reflect the core symptoms of human DCD through the use of BXD recombinant inbred strains of mice that are known to have divergent phenotypes in many behavioral traits, including motor activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The association between Down syndrome (DS) and hyperuricemia has been described for a long time. The cut-off points for hyperuricemia should be determined as the upper limits of the uric acid (UA) level according to age- and gender-specific reference UA values prepared for children with DS.
Methods: This study included 238 children (140 males and 98 females) with DS, below 21 years of age, who visited our medical center from May 1991 to June 31, 2018.
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