Vocalizations of wild West Indian manatee vary across subspecies and geographic location.

Geographic variation in the vocal behavior of manatees has been reported but is largely unexplored. Vocalizations of wild West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) were recorded with hydrophones in Florida from Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris), and in Belize and Panama from Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) to determine if calls varied between subspecies and geographic regions. Calls were visually classified into five categories: squeaks, high squeaks, squeals, squeak-squeals, and chirps. From these five categories, only three call types (squeaks, high squeaks and squeals) were observed in all three populations. Six parameters from the temporal and frequency domains were measured from the fundamental frequency of 2878 manatee vocalizations. A repeated measures PERMANOVA found significant differences for squeaks and high squeaks between each geographic location and for squeals between Belize and Florida. Almost all measured frequency and temporal parameters of manatee vocalizations differed between and within subspecies. Variables that may have influenced the variation observed may be related to sex, body size, habitat and/or other factors. Our findings provide critical information of manatee calls for wildlife monitoring and highlight the need for further study of the vocal behavior of manatees throughout their range.

Riesgo nutricional y ultrasonido muscular en el paciente críticamente enfermo / Assessment of nutritional risk and muscle in critically ill patients / Risco nutricional e ultrassom muscular no paciente em estado crítico

Resumen: Se ha propuesto el uso de la escala nutritional risk in the critically ill (NUTRIC) como una herramienta para la valoración nutricional en el paciente crítico. Una de las principales desventajas es que dicha escala no considera variables críticas en la determinación de desnutrición como el desgaste muscular. El objetivo del presente estudio es evaluar la importancia del músculo valorado por ultrasonido del recto femoral y vasto intermedio, en conjunto con el riesgo nutricional por la escala NUTRIC en los resultados clínicos de pacientes críticamente enfermos. Se realizó ultrasonido muscular dentro de las primeras 48 horas de ingreso a pacientes adultos. A su vez se calculó el riesgo nutricional con la escala NUTRIC, y se dio seguimiento detectando mortalidad hospitalaria. Se incluyeron 43 pacientes, 21 presentaron riesgo nutricional (48.8%) sin mostrar diferencia en el grosor muscular. En el modelo de regresión ajustado por la escala NUTRIC, ventilación mecánica mayor de 48 horas, índice de masa corporal y grosor muscular, este último se mostró como un factor protector de mortalidad (OR: 0.21, IC 95%: 0.03-0.83). El presente estudio resalta la necesidad de una valoración integral considerando la masa muscular como variable cardinal en la detección de desnutrición en pacientes críticamente enfermos.

Abstract: Nutritional Risk in the critically ill score, it has been used like tool to asses nutritional state in critically ill patient. A mayor limitation of this score is that not include important variables in the assessment of malnutrition, like muscular wasting. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the relevance of the muscle, by measuring the femoral quadriceps, along with NUTRIC score of critically ill patients results. An ultrasound in the first 48 hours of admission to ICU was made plus NUTRIC score and a follow up detecting in-hospital mortality. We included 43 patients, with 21 with nutritional risk (48.8%) showing no difference in muscular thickness. The NUTRIC score adjusted regression model, mechanical ventilation longer than 48 hours, body weight index and muscular thickness. The muscular thickness shows as mortality protector factor (OR: 0.21, 95% CI: 0.03-0.83). This study remarks the need for integral assessment considering muscular mass as a main variable in the malnutrition detection in critically ill patients.

Resumo: A utilização da escala de Nutritional Risk in the Critically Ill tem sido proposta como uma ferramenta para avaliação nutricional em pacientes em estado crítico. Uma das principais desvantagens é que esta escala não considera variáveis críticas na determinação da desnutrição, como a perda de massa muscular. O objetivo do presente estudo é avaliar a importância do músculo, avaliado por ultrassom do reto femoral e vasto intermediário, em conjunto com o risco nutricional por NUTRIC score nos resultados clínicos de pacientes em estado crítico. O ultrassom muscular foi realizado nas primeiras 48 horas de internação em pacientes adultos. Paralelamente, calculou-se o risco nutricional pelo NUTRIC, bem como o seguimento detectando a mortalidade hospitalar. Incluíram-se 43 pacientes, 21 apresentando risco nutricional (48.8%) sem diferença na espessura muscular. No modelo de regressão ajustado pelo NUTRIC, ventilação mecânica maior a 48 horas, índice de massa corporal e espessura muscular, esta última se mostrou fator protetor para mortalidade (OR: 0.21, IC 95%: 0.03-0.83). Este estudo destaca a necessidade de uma avaliação abrangente considerando a massa muscular como uma variável cardinal na detecção de desnutrição em pacientes em estado crítico.

Detection and identification of manatee individual vocalizations in Panamanian wetlands using spectrogram clustering.

This work presents a methodology to automatically detect and identify manatee vocalizations in continuous passive acoustic underwater recordings. Given that vocalizations of each manatee present a slightly different frequency content, it is possible to identify individuals using a non-invasive acoustic approach. The recordings are processed in four stages, including detection, denoising, classification, and manatee counting and identification by vocalization clustering. The main contribution of this work is considering the vocalization spectrogram as an image (i.e., two-dimensional pattern) and representing it in terms of principal component analysis coefficients that feed a clustering approach. A performance study is carried out for each stage of the scheme. The methodology is tested to analyze three years of recordings from two wetlands in Panama to support ongoing efforts to estimate the manatee population.