Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-03-29T15:40:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 raqueldoamaralrangel.pdf: 158084 bytes, checksum: a4206ccf31e141318c8421c1501b66ae (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-03-30T11:22:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 raqueldoamaralrangel.pdf: 158084 bytes, checksum: a4206ccf31e141318c8421c1501b66ae (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-30T11:22:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 raqueldoamaralrangel.pdf: 158084 bytes, checksum: a4206ccf31e141318c8421c1501b66ae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-27 / A enurese noturna é uma desordem crônica que gera inúmeros problemas para a criança e seus pais e afeta cerca de 10% das crianças de sete anos de idade. O molhar a cama tem impactos negativos significantes, na auto estima e performance das crianças. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a qualidade de vida de crianças enuréticas, bem como sua associação com sexo e idade. Crianças enuréticas e crianças não-enuréticas responderam ao questionário AUQEI. Participaram do estudo 88 crianças, sendo 39 enuréticas (23 meninos) e 49 nãoenuréticas (27 meninos), com idade entre 6 e 11 anos de idade. As crianças enuréticas apresentaram prejuízo da qualidade de vida quando comparadas às crianças não enuréticas (35,9% x 16,3%, p=0,035). Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas, nas associações entre sexo e qualidade de vida e idade e qualidade de vida. Esses resultados sugerem que, as crianças com enurese noturna, têm 187% a mais de chances de ter prejuízo na qualidade de vida, quando comparadas com crianças não enuréticas. / Nocturnal enuresis is a chronic disorder that generates countless problems to the child and their parents affecting about 10% of seven-year-old children. “Bedwetting” has significantly negative impacts on the self-esteem and the performance of children. The aim of the current study is to assess the quality of like in enuretic children, as well as its association to sex and age. Enuretic and non-enuretic children answered the “AUQEI” questionnaire. The total number of participants was 88, 39 of which were enuretic (23 boys), and 49 non-enuretic (27 boys), from ages between 6 and 11. Enuretic children displayed loss in quality of life when compared to nonenuretic (35,9% x 16,3%, p=0,035). No significant differences were found, in the association of sex, gender and quality of like. These results suggest that, children with nocturnal enuresis have 187% more chances of having loss in quality of life, when compared to non-enuretic ones.

Approximately 65 vessel reefs have been deployed intentionally in Broward County, Florida since 1982. The purpose of these deployments was to enhance fish stocks for recreational fisheries and sport divers. The other main goal was to reduce pressure on heavily exploited natural reefs. Several studies have been conducted at both artificial and natural reef sites in the area; however, none of these have focused on nocturnal fish assemblages (Ferro et al., 2005; Arena et al., 2007). The goal of our study was to characterize nocturnal fish assemblages on vessel and natural reefs in Broward County. This data, in addition to the existing diurnal data, will provide a more comprehensive understanding of fish assemblage structure on artificial and natural reefs. Comparisons among vessel and natural nocturnal fish assemblages and previous diurnal studies were made. Abundance was greater on diurnal natural and vessel reefs when compared to nocturnal. Abundance was also greater on nocturnal vessel reefs than nocturnal natural reefs. The twilight period on vessel reefs was characterized by high abundance of piscivores and a significantly greater abundance of grunts than during the nocturnal period. The abundance of grunts supports their movement during this time to surrounding sand flats to feed. The vertical relief of the vessel reefs seemed to appeal to an abundance of pelagic fishes as well as planktivores. Distinctly different fish assemblages were seen between nocturnal natural and vessel reefs, as well as between diurnal and nocturnal natural reefs and vessel reefs. Fisheries-important fishes were more abundant during the day, but also more abundant on vessel reefs than natural reefs. Although vessel reefs do not mimic the natural reefs studied or support the same fish assemblages, they are providing habitat for diverse nocturnal fish assemblages.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / Donald W. Kaufman / Glennis A. Kaufman / Little is known about nightly activity patterns of nocturnal small mammals under natural conditions, and how these activity patterns might be affected by photoperiod, season, and sex, age, and reproductive status of individuals. The main objectives of this research were: 1) to find an appropriate method for marking individual deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) so that their activity could be monitored remotely; 2) to design a portable activity-monitoring system to investigate temporal patterns of shelter use by deer mice under natural conditions; 3) to determine the influence of environmental conditions such as photoperiod and season on nightly activity of deer mice; and 4) to compare effects of demographic or physiological factors such as sex, age, and reproductive status on nightly activity of deer mice at artificial burrows in tallgrass prairie. In general, commencement of activity was correlated positively with timing of sunset, and time of retirement to the burrow was correlated positively with sunrise. Among adults, males first emerged from the burrow earlier and made more trips of shorter duration in a night than did females, although total duration of trips was similar. Return visits and subsequent stays typically were shorter for males than females, but total time spent in the burrow and retirement time relative to sunrise were similar for both sexes. Young deer mice emerged significantly later, made more trips of shorter duration, spent less total time outside, and retired to their burrow earlier than adults. Reproductive females emerged later, made fewer trips of generally longer duration, and spent shorter total amounts of time away from the burrow each night than non-reproductive females. Return visits of reproductive females were of longer duration than non-reproductives, but total time spent inside and time of retirement for the night did not differ relative to reproductive status. From parturition through lactation, activity of females showed a number of directional trends. Results suggest that under natural conditions, activity patterns of deer mice are highly variable but responsive to both the changing physical environment and internal conditions related to sex-specific maximization of fitness.

Ground pangolins Smutsia temminckii are inconspicuous, mainly nocturnal mammals that occur at low population densities. As a result, there is scant information available on the ecology and physiology of this species. To date the handful of studies focussing on this species were centred in the mesic eastern regions of its range, with no attention being given to ecological and biological traits in arid environments. To address these data shortfalls, a study was undertaken in the Kalahari Desert in northwestern South Africa. Very High Frequency (VHF) transmitters or Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers were fitted to 16 ground pangolins and their ecology and physiology studied over a period of three years. Throughout its range the ground pangolin is increasingly endangered, predominantly due to anthropogenic threats. Previous studies have identified threats facing this species, but very few of these studies included quantitative data as to the extent of these threats. The present study suggests that the main threats to ground pangolins in southern Africa are electrocution on electrified fences, the traditional medicine trade, habitat loss, road mortalities and capture in gin traps. Although accidental poisoning has previously been viewed as a threat, a review of the available literature suggests that this is not the case and that these views stemmed from two isolated incidents of captive animals. Electrocutions probably pose the greatest threat to ground pangolins, with mortality rates of one pangolin per 11 km of electrified fence per year recorded during this study. Home range sizes of this arid-zone population are comparable to the home range sizes recorded in mesic populations. Study animals in the Kalahari had Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) home range values of 10.0 ± 8.9 km² SD for adults and 7.1 ± 1.1 km² SD for juveniles, in comparison to the 0.17 – 23.38 km² MCP in Zimbabwe and 1.3 – 7.9 km2 MCP in mesic north-eastern South Africa. These results are surprising as arid-zone animals usually have larger home ranges than do their mesic counterparts. It is hypothesised that this discrepancy is due to the fact that ground pangolins in the Kalahari are on average 25 – 30 % smaller than their mesic counterparts. This smaller body size means that individuals require a smaller home range to meet their dietary requirements, which could be counteracting the trend of arid-zone individuals requiring larger home ranges. This research also found ground pangolins to be more active during the day in winter and nearly entirely nocturnal during summer. These changes in photoperiodicity are likely driven by adaptations to the extreme climatic conditions present at the study site rather than predation pressure or changes in food resources, although the latter may be playing a role as well. By being diurnal in winter, individuals avoid the extremely cold night-time temperatures, thus saving energy that would otherwise be spent on maintaining their body temperature. By contrast, becoming nocturnal in summer allows them to avoid the extreme daytime temperatures, thus conserving water. The results of this study reiterate previous findings that ground pangolins are entirely myrmecophagous and highly selective of the species that they eat. Study animals were recorded feeding on only four ant and two termite species, representing 7.5 % and 50 % of the total species richness of each of these families. This is similar to previous research in mesic savannahs where five ant one termite species constituted 97 % of the ground pangolin’s diet. No seasonal differences in prey selection were observed, although the species consumed did depend on the habitats that were available to individual ground pangolins. This study is the first to investigate the core body temperature (Tb) of a free-ranging pangolin. These data indicated that Tb fluctuated cyclically between 32 – 35 °C and reflected the activity periods of the animal, peaking when the animal was active. When the individual was inactive, Tb steadily decreased, suggesting that it used daily heterothermy to cope with the low food availability in this unpredictable environment. In summary, ecological parameters between arid and mesic ground pangolin populations are similar in some respects, but divergent in others. Arid-zone populations are smaller overall and show a higher degree of diurnal activity. Despite this smaller body size, home range values appear to be similar between arid and mesic populations. Although the prey species eaten by ground pangolins in the Kalahari differ from prey species in eastern South Africa and Zimbabwe, they belonged to the same genera and were of similar morphology and ecology. The core body temperature results confirm findings from previous captive studies that pangolin body temperatures are lower than those of other eutherian mammals of a similar size. Furthermore, these data indicate that core body temperature is a lot more variable than previously believed, and thus warrants further study. Overall ground pangolin densities in the Kalahari appear to be double those in eastern South Africa and Zimbabwe, although it is unclear whether this is genuine or whether it is an artefact of individuals being easier to locate in the Kalahari. This study also confirmed that electrocutions are probably the greatest threat to this species, and new threats such as accidental capture in gin traps and road mortalities have also come to light. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

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No / Pulmonary hypertension is becoming a recognized complication of the hereditary and acquired haemolytic anaemias, associated with a poor prognosis. Recently we reported that patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) have high levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), a biomarker associated with both right and left ventricular dysfunction and cardiac dysfunction. In the current study we evaluated a cohort of patients (N = 29) with haemolytic PNH for elevated pulmonary artery systolic pressure and cardiac function by Doppler-echocardiography. Of the 29 patients, eight were further studied using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as two additional patients (number of patients studied using cardiac MRI = 10). Plasma from the first cohort (N = 29) demonstrated intravascular haemolysis associated with a 12-fold increase in median nitric oxide (NO) consumption when compared with healthy volunteers (P < 0·001). Doppler echocardiography demonstrated normal left ventricular function and elevated pulmonary artery systolic pressure in 41% of patients. Cardiac MRI from the second cohort (N = 10) demonstrated depressed right ventricular function in 80% of PNH patients tested, and 60% had findings suggestive of subclinical small pulmonary emboli. Together, these data suggest a high prevalence of haemolysis-associated NO scavenging, Doppler-estimated systolic pulmonary hypertension, and depressed right ventricular function in patients with PNH.

Birds are a key environmental asset and this is recognised through comprehensive legislation and policy ensuring their protection and conservation. Many species are active at night and surveys are required to understand the implications of proposed developments such as towers and reduce possible conflicts with these structures. Night vision devices are commonly used in nocturnal surveys, either to scope an area for bird numbers and activity, or in remotely sensing an area to determine potential risk. This thesis explores some practical and theoretical approaches that can improve the accuracy, confidence and efficiency of nocturnal bird surveillance. As image intensifiers and thermal imagers have operational differences, each device has associated strengths and limitations. Empirical work established that image intensifiers are best used for species identification of birds against the ground or vegetation. Thermal imagers perform best in detection tasks and monitoring bird airspace usage. The typically used approach of viewing bird survey video from remote sensing in its entirety is a slow, inaccurate and inefficient approach. Accuracy can be significantly improved by viewing the survey video at half the playback speed. Motion detection efficiency and accuracy can be greatly improved through the use of adaptive background subtraction and cumulative image differencing. An experienced ornithologist uses bird flight style and wing oscillations to identify bird species. Changes in wing oscillations can be represented in a single inter-frame similarity matrix through area-based differencing. Bird species classification can then be automated using singular value decomposition to reduce the matrices to one-dimensional vectors for training a feed-forward neural network.

Introdução: A enurese noturna (EN) é considerada como a eliminação de urina no período noturno, de forma involuntária, em indivíduos com cinco ou mais anos de idade em pelo menos duas noites no mês até todas as noites. EN pode ser do tipo monossintomática, quando ocorre na ausência de outros sintomas, ou não monossintomática, na presença de sintomas de vesicais diurnos. Apesar de historicamente conhecida com uma desordem psiquiátrica, a EN monossintomática está incluída na Classificação Internacional dos Transtornos de 2012 como uma parassonia podendo ocorrer em qualquer fase do sono, porém predominantemente no sono não REM. Está comumente associada a hiperatividade vesical, produção excessiva de urina e falha em acordar após o enchimento vesical. Apesar de ocorrer no sono, a avaliação do sono pelos padrões usuais falhou em encontrar justificativa para este processo patológico. A análise da microestrutura do sono é uma ferramenta mais refinada e precisa que pode auxiliar na busca do mecanismo neurofisiológico que justifica este processo. Objetivo: Analisar os padrões de microarquitetura de sono atrvés do Padrão alternante Cíclico (CAP) nas crianças com EN monossintomática para melhor compreensão das bases neurofisiológicas da EN. Metodologia: Trinta e seis crianças sendo, 22 enuréticos e 14 controles com idade variando entre sete e 17 anos de idade, que satisfizeram os critérios de inclusão, foram submetidas a triagem clínica e laboratorial, avaliados quanto aos aspectos do sono, com uso de diários de sono, das escalas de Berlin, Sleep Scale for Children (SDSC) e Escala de Sonolência de Epworth e posteriormente submetidos ao de estudo polissonográfico completo de noite inteira, com a avaliação do CAP. Resultados: As escalas de sonolência e de Berlin não evidenciaram anormalidades, o SDSC evidenciou apneia em 11/22 (50%), hiperidrose em 2/22 (9%) e transtorno da transição vigília-sono, do despertar e do início e manutenção de sono em 1/22 (4,5%) cada. A análise da estrutura do sono mostrou maiores números de despertares (p < 0,001) e de sono N2 (p=0,0025) além de maior quantidade de sono N3 (p < 0,0001) do que nos controles. A microestrutura do sono evidenciou aumento da fase A1 (p=0,05), porém de forma mais contundente, redução das fases A2 e A3 (p < 0,0001), mesmo com a taxa de CAP igual à dos controles normais.Conclusão: Crianças com EN possuem sono com comorbidades (avaliado pelo SDSC) e menos fases CAP A2 e A3, significando uma redução no seu mecanismo de despertar e que ainda não havia sido demonstrado num estudo de PSG com análise das variáveis comuns. Este é o primeiro estudo que demonstra tal fenômeno / Introduction: Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is defined as the lack of nocturnal urine control, in individuals with five or more years old for at least two nights in a month, but up to every night. EN can be monosymptomatic (ENM), when it occurs in the absence of other symptoms or non monosymptomatic in the presence of diurnal renal symptoms. Although historically known as a psychiatric disorder, ENM is included in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders 2012 as a parasomnia. It can occur at any sleep stage but predominantly in non-REM sleep. EN is commonly associated to bladder hyperactivity, excessive urine production and/or failure to wake up after bladder filling. Despite the occurrence in sleep, standard sleep evaluation has failed to find abnormalities. The analysis of sleep microstructure is a refined and more accurate tool that can help find the neurophysiological mechanism underlying this process. Purpose: To evaluate sleep microarchitecture through Clyclic Altenating Pattern (CAP) analysis in children with monosymptomatic NE and provide a better understanding of the neurophysiological basis of EN. Methods: After IRB approval, 36 children, 22 with NE and 14 controls aged between seven and 17 years old who met the inclusion criteria were submitted to clinical and laboratory screening, evaluated for aspects of sleep, using sleep logs, Berlin Questionnaire (BQ), Sleep Scale for Children (SDSC) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and submitted to a full polysomnographic study, with evaluation of CAP. Results: ESS and BQ evidenced no abnormalities, the SDSC showed mild sleep apnea in 11/22 (50%), hyperhidrosis in 2/22 (9%) and disorder of the sleep-wake transition, awakening and initiation and maintenance sleep in 1/22 (4.5%) each. Analysis of sleep macrostructure showed higher numbers of awakenings (p < 0.001) and N2 sleep (p = 0.0025) as well as greater amount of sleep N3 (p < 0.0001) when compared to controls. Sleep microstructure showed an increase in A1 phase (p = 0.05), and reduction of A2 and A3 (p < 0.0001). CAP rate was the same for both enuretic and controls. Conclusion: Children with EN may present sleep comorbidities (measured by SDSC) and less A2 and A3 CAP phases, meaning a reduction in its wake regulation. This is the first study to acknowledge this phenomenon