BackgroundHereditary bisalbuminemia is a relatively rare anomaly characterized by the occurrence of two albumin fractions on serum protein separation by electrophoresis. In human medicine, it is usually revealed by chance, is not been clearly associated with a specific disease and the causative genetic alteration is a point mutation of human serum albumin gene inherited in an autosomal codominant pattern. This type of alteration is well recognizable by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), whilst agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) not always produces a clear separation of albumin fractions. The aims of this study is to report the presence of this abnormality in two separate groups of related bottlenose dolphins and to compare the results obtained with capillary zone and agarose gel electrophoresis.ResultsSerum samples from 40 bottlenose dolphins kept under human care were analyzed. In 9 samples a double albumin peak was evident in CZE electrophoresis while no double peak was noted in AGE profile. Since only an apparently wider albumin peaks were noted in some AGE electrophoretic profiles, the ratio between base and height (b/h) of the albumin peak was calculated and each point-value recorded in the whole set of data was used to calculate a receiver operating characteristic curve: when the b/h ratio of albumin peak was equal or higher than 0.25, the sensitivity and specificity of AGE to detect bisalbuminemic samples were 87 and 63 %, respectively. The bisalbuminemic dolphins belong to two distinct families: in the first family, all the siblings derived from the same normal sire were bisalbuminemic, whereas in the second family bisalbuminemia was present in a sire and in two out of three siblings.ConclusionsWe report for the first time the presence of hereditary bisalbuminemia in two groups of related bottlenose dolphins identified by means of CZE and we confirm that AGE could fail in the identification of this alteration.
Research data on milk composition in cetaceans are scattered and fragmentary. This paper analyses the gross and mineral composition, the fatty acids profile and the fat globule size of bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) colostrum and milk at early lactation. The milk samplings were carried out on three lactating female of bottlenose dolphins at the 1st, 4-5 and 20-42 day post partum. High percentages of dry matter (51.88%), fat (26.08%) and protein (13.83%) were found in the colostrum on the first day, while there was a tendency for these components to decrease in the milk. The average diameter the milk fat globule (7.07 um) of this species was assessed for the first time. The milk was rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which were more than twice compared to the saturated fatty acids (unsaturated / saturated ratio = 2.6). The main fatty acids of dolphin milk were C16: 0, C18: 1 n-9, C20: 1 n-11, C20: 5, C22: 6 n6. Furthermore C12: 0 showed double contents in milk compared to colostrum, while C20: 1 n9 and C20: 1 n7 were respectively five and three times higher in milk than colostrum. Finally, C18: 3 n3 was approximately 4 times lower in milk than in colostrum while C24: 0 and C24: 1 tended to halve. The changes found in the fatty acid profile could be linked to the animals' energy metabolism and lipomobilization during lactation. This study contributes to improve scientific knowledge on dolphin milk composition and nutrient supply in dolphin calves.
Orca (Orcinus orca) is known for complex vocalisation. Their social structure consists of pods and clans sharing unique dialects due to geographic isolation. Sound type repertoires are fundamental for monitoring orca populations and are typically created visually and aurally. An orca pod occurring in the Ligurian Sea (Pelagos Sanctuary) in December 2019 provided a unique occasion for long-term recordings. The numerous data collected with the bottom recorder were analysed with a traditional human-driven inspection to create a repertoire of this pod and to compare it to catalogues from different orca populations (Icelandic and Antarctic) investigating its origins. Automatic signal detection and cross-correlation methods (R package warbleR) were used for the first time in orca studies. We found the Pearson cross-correlation method to be efficient for most pairwise calculations (> 85%) but with false positives. One sound type from our repertoire presented a high positive match (range 0.62–0.67) with one from the Icelandic catalogue, which was confirmed visually and aurally. Our first attempt to automatically classify orca sound types presented limitations due to background noise and sound complexity of orca communication. We show cross-correlation methods can be a powerful tool for sound type classification in combination with conventional methods.
Orcas (Orcinus orca) are known for complex vocalization. Their social structure consists of pods with unique call repertoires and clans sharing vocal traditions. Call repertoires are typically established visually and aurally and are used for pod identification. Automatic tools are, however, more suited for large data sets. An Icelandic orca pod occurring in 2019 in the Ligurian Sea provided a unique occasion for collecting recordings of an isolated pod in natural conditions.Recordings were analyzed visually and aurally to create a pod catalog. The R package "warbleR" was used for the first time on a small subsample of orca data to automatically detect sound samples and classify sound types. We found cross-correlation methods with the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) to successfully classify sound types, though false positives occur. We compared our catalog to Icelandic and Antarctic ones checking for similarities and dissimilarities. We found five matches in the Icelandic catalog, two of which had high PCCs ranges (0.62-0.67; 0.60-0.65). Our automatic approach was limited by background noise and variability of orca vocalizations, and it was computationally demanding. We show cross-correlation
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