Pharmacokinetics of intravenous clindamycin phosphate in captive Bennett's wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus).

This study was designed to investigate the pharmacokinetics of clindamycin, a lincosamide antibiotic, in Bennett's wallabies. The pharmacokinetic properties of a single intravenous (IV) dose of clindamycin were determined in six wallabies. A single 20-min IV infusion of 20 mg/kg of clindamycin was administered, followed by blood collection prior to, and up to 12 hr after clindamycin administration. Plasma clindamycin concentrations were determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet (UV) detection. Pharmacokinetic variables were calculated using a two-compartment model with first order elimination which best fit the data. The mean volume of distribution at steady-state, distribution half-life, and elimination half-life were 898.25 ml/kg, 0.16 hr, 1.79 hr, respectively. No adverse effects were noted after IV administration.

Prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time using a point-of-care analyser (Abaxis VSpro®) in Bennett's wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus).

There are few reports of coagulation times in marsupial species. Blood samples collected from 14 Bennett's wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus) under anaesthesia during routine health assessments were analysed for prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) using a point-of-care analyser (POC) (Abaxis VSPro®). The wallabies had an aPTT mean of 78.09 s and median of 78.1 s. The PT for all wallabies was greater than 35 s, exceeding the longest time measured on the POC. Although PT was significantly longer, aPTT was similar to the manufacturer's domestic canine reference range.

Time to contact and the control of manual prehension.

In the present study, a kinematic analysis was made of unconstrained, natural prehension movements directed toward an object approaching the observer on a conveyor belt at one of three constant velocities, from one of three different directions (head-on or along the fronto-parallel plane coming either from the subject's left or right). Subjects were required to grasp the object when it reached a target located 20 cm directly in front of the hand's start position. The kinematic analysis revealed that both the transport and grasp components of the movement changed in response to the experimental manipulations, but did so in a manner that guaranteed that, for objects approaching from a given direction, hand closure would begin at a constant time prior to object contact (regardless of the object's approach speed). The kinematic analysis also revealed, however, that the onset of hand closure began earlier with objects approaching from the right than from other directions -- an effect which would not be predicted if time to contact was the key variable controlling the onset of hand closure. These results, then, lend only partial support to the theory that temporal coordination between the transport and grasp components of prehension is ensured through their common dependence on time to contact information.