An Overview of Parasite Diversity
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin in Parasitology, 2023
Members of the kingdom Animalia (animals, or metazoans) are unique among the world’s organisms for the development in most of integrated nervous and muscular systems that give them unprecedented mobility and responsiveness to environmental circumstances. Animals are multicellular heterotrophs that usually acquire their energy from ingestion of organic compounds (phagotrophy), although several parasitic groups acquire nutrients by absorption across their body walls. Many of the world’s most familiar and medically significant parasites are found among animals. Parasitism has arisen independently on several occasions with estimates ranging from 60 to over 223 occasions, in both major and minor lineages, but especially in the Arthropoda, the largest phylum by far in the animal kingdom. Some lineages of animals are exclusively parasitic, some have a mixture of free-living and parasitic species, and some as best we know are without parasitic representatives (Figure 2.18).
The FDA New Animal Drug Approval Process
Rebecca A. Krimins in Learning from Disease in Pets, 2020
Under the Act, seven animal species are defined as “major species”: dogs, cats, horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys. All other species are considered “minor species.” Under this dichotomy, ferrets are considered a minor species, as are goats, scarlet macaws, leopard geckos, red-eyed tree frogs, bettas, and, yes, even honeybees! Similarly, the Act defines a “minor use” as the use of a new animal drug in a major species for a condition which occurs either infrequently or in a limited geographical area and in a small number of animals per year. Examples of a minor use in a major species could be a rare cardiac disorder which occurs in fewer than the published “small number of animals” for dogs (currently 70,000) or an uncommon metabolic disorder in horses (the current small number is 50,000). These definitions are important to the new animal drug approval process, as the Minor Use and Minor Species Animal Health Act of 2004 (which amended the Act itself) established incentives for sponsors to pursue drug approvals for uncommon conditions in major species (similar to the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 which created financial incentives for development of a drug or biologic to treat rare or neglected tropical diseases in humans) and species with small populations. These incentives are available through the Office of Minor Use and Minor Species Animal Drug Development (OMUMS) within the FDA-CVM.
Preclinical Molecular Imaging Systems
Michael Ljungberg in Handbook of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging for Physicists, 2022
In the early 1990s several research groups discussed the value of designing systems dedicated to preclinical PET and SPECT imaging [1–6]. At that time, it was clear that the spatial resolution of the existing imaging instrumentation used clinically was inadequate for small-animal imaging. The size of the detector elements used in PET systems did not provide the spatial resolution necessary to image small organs and structures in rodents. Conventional scintillation camera technology together with parallel hole collimators used in SPECT imaging had the same limitation. One of the first dedicated preclinical PET systems was designed in 1991 [7]. This system was designed using the same detector technology used in high-resolution human systems available at that time. The system had a smaller ring diameter, which reduced resolution losses due to photon non-collinearity [8, 9]. However, the system had a ring diameter that allowed imaging of larger animals such as dogs and primates. These early systems demonstrated the value and potential of preclinical imaging.
Franz Joseph Gall on hemispheric symmetries
Published in Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 2020
Bichat first presented his treatise on symmetrical and asymmetrical organs in 1800. His venue was a book, his Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort, which had a second edition in 1805, and which was translated as Physiological Researches on Life and Death (Bichat 1799, 1805/1809). In these editions, he made a sharp distinction between two types of life. Organic life, he opined, is the life of the heart, intestines, and other singular organs regulated via the ganglionic nervous system. In contrast, animal life involves the symmetrical organs of sensation, the passions (emotion), and cognition (understanding, intellect, etc.). Two perfectly similar globes [eyes] receive the impression of the light. Sound and odours have each also their double analogous organ. A single membrane is the seat of savours, but in it the median line is manifest; and each division marked by it resembles that of the opposite side. … The nerves which transmit the impression made by sounds, such as the optic, the acoustic, the lingual and olfactory are evidently assembled in symmetrical pairs. (Bichat 1805/1809, 8)
A review of the evidence for endocrine disrupting effects of current-use chemicals on wildlife populations
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2018
Peter Matthiessen, James R. Wheeler, Lennart Weltje
This paper therefore aims to review the reports cited in Kortenkamp et al. (2012) and Bergman et al. (2012) in which population-level effects in wildlife under field conditions have been attributed to current-use chemicals, with only a brief survey of the effects of legacy chemicals. However, some additional studies, mainly those published since 2012, will also be discussed where informative. This review, while not claiming to be exhaustive, covers many animal groups, from invertebrates (crustaceans and mollusks), through lower vertebrates (fish, amphibians, and reptiles), to higher vertebrates (birds and mammals). Types of ED discussed include sexual disruption, stress-response perturbation, and thyroid system disruption. The papers referenced by Kortenkamp et al. (2012) and Bergman et al. (2012) had already been screened for scientific quality and reliability, but additional publications here have been evaluated informally using the principles of Klimisch et al. (1997). Any known quality shortcomings in papers referenced in this review are discussed in the text.
Novel pharmacotherapy for burn wounds: what are the advancements
Published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2019
The development of animal models of burn wounds is necessary to study the course and treatment of various infections, and to study the healing processes of established wounds [24]. Over the last few decades, several animal burn wound models have been developed. The animals used in these models have included different species: rodents, rabbits, and pigs. The severity of burns is commonly classified according to the depth of the injury which varies depending on the duration of exposure [25] and several other factors. These include: animal species (which affects skin structure and thickness); location on the body (in larger animals, such as pigs, skin thickness varies in different body sites); method of burn (e.g., scald, contact, flame, radiant heat); temperature of instrument or water; and pressure used for contact. The size of the wound is also an important factor for classifying burns and burn models. Additionally, if an infection is established in the wound, the number of inoculated bacteria, the method of inoculation and the virulence of those strains also affect the severity. In the models covered in this review, the sizes of the burn wounds range from 5% to 50% of total body surface area (TBSA) and the wounds have different depths.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Eukaryote
- Heterotroph
- Multicellular Organism
- Sexual Reproduction
- Muscle Cell
- Kingdom
- Motility
- Blastulation
- Animal Embryonic Development
- Species