MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM SUBSP. PARATUBERCULOSIS IN DAIRY CATTLE IN THE LIMA AREA DETECTED THROUGH THREE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo evidenciar la presencia de Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map), en el ganado bovino lechero del departamento de Lima, Perú. Se evaluaron 60 vacas procedentes de tres establos, mediante la prueba tuberculínica intradérmica y dos kits comerciales de ELISA específicos contra Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Resultaron positivos 22 animales (36.7%) a una de las tres técnicas diagnósticas (8 a una de las pruebas de ELISA y 18 a la prueba intradérmica). Se tomó muestras de heces a los 22 animales positivos y se cultivaron en el medio de Herrold con yema de huevo, resultando cinco muestras positivas al aislamiento de Map. Asimismo, se realizó el PCR a partir del cultivo, encontrándose dos muestras positivas. Se encontró una concordancia ligera (0.15, prueba Kappa) entre las técnicas que evalúan la respuesta inmune celular y humoral y se estableció que estas pruebas no son reemplazables (5.55>3.84, prueba de Mc Nemar). Los resultados permitieron evidenciar la presencia de Map en ganado bovino lechero de Lima, Perú.The objective of the study was to determine the presence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map) in dairy cattle in Lima, Peru. The Intradermal Tuberculin Test was applied to 60 cows from three herds and serum samples were tested using two commercial ELISA kits for antibodies against Map. Twenty-two cows (36.7%) were positive to at least to one of these diagnostic techniques (8 to one of the ELISA tests and 18 to the intradermal test). Feacal samples from the 22 positive animals were cultured on Herrold’s egg-yolk medium (HEYM) yielding five Map positive samples. PCR was used in the isolated strains and Map DNA was confirmed in two cows. A slight concordance (0.15, Kappa test) was found between techniques evaluating cellular and humoral immune response, establishing that these tests are not interchangeable (5.55> 3.84, Mc Nemar test). The results confirm the presence of Map in dairy cattle in Lima, Peru

RESPUESTA PRODUCTIVA Y ECONÓMICA AL USO DE CUATRO TIPOS DE BEBEDEROS Y A LA ADICIÓN DE VITAMINA C EN LA CRIANZA DE CUYES EN ÉPOCA SECA EN EL VALLE DEL MANTARO

The study evaluated the effect of four types of drinkers and the addition of Vitamin C in the supplement on the productive performance and economic benefit of guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) reared during the dry season in the Mantaro valley, Junin, Peru. Four hundred weaned males, 14 ± 3 days of age from the experimental farm of the IVITA Research Centre were used in a completely randomized design with 2 x 4 arrangement factorial (with and without addition of vitamin C and four types of drinkers) using five experimental units for treatment and every experimental unit formed by 10 animals. The drinkers were the type of a bowl (POC), continuous recharge (REC), suction (SUC) and nipple (NIP). The quantity of vitamin C supplied was 12 mg/animal/day. REC and NIP drinkers allowed a major consumption of water than POC and SUC (p<0.05), but REC had a greater waste of water. A similar trend was observed for feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion index, and in the benefit/cost ratio. The addition of vitamin C only improved the intake (p<0.05). The study concluded that the NIP and REC drinkers are the most suitable for rearing guinea pigs during the dry season in relation to productive performance and NIP for economic benefit.Se evaluó el efecto de cuatro tipos de bebederos y la adicion de vitamina C en la ración sobre el comportamiento productivo y económico en la crianza de cuyes (Cavia porcellus) durante la época seca en el valle del Mantaro, Junín. Se trabajó con 400 cuyes machos, destetados, de 14 ± 3 días de edad, de la granja experimental del Centro de Investigación IVITA. Se empleó un diseño completamente al azar con arreglo factorial 2 x 4 (con y sin adición de vitamina C y cuatro tipos de bebederos), con cinco unidades experimentales por tratamiento y cada unidad experimental con 10 cuyes en una poza de cría. Los bebederos eran de tipo pocillo (POC), pocillo con recarga continua (REC), botella con pajilla de succión (SUC) y de niple (NIP). La cantidad de vitamina C fue de 12 mg/cuy/día. Los bebederos REC y NIP permitieron un mayor consumo de agua respecto a POC y SUC (p<0.05); pero se obtuvo un menor desperdicio de agua con REC. La misma tendencia se observó en los resultados de consumo de alimento, ganancia de peso, índice de conversión alimenticia (ICA) y relación beneficio/costo. La adición de vitamina C solo permitió mejorar el consumo (p<0.05). Se concluye que los bebederos tipo NIP o REC son los más indicados para la crianza de cuyes durante la época seca en términos productivos y el tipo NIP para una mejor respuesta económica

Innovation in corrosion monitoring in sewers - use of novel photonic sensors for humidity measurements in gravity sewers

Humidity plays a key role in microbiologically induced corrosion of concrete gravity sewers. Minor reductions in humidity can reduce corrosion rates. No reliable long lived (>1 week) humidity sensors are available, thus limiting the development of useful models to better manage corrosion. This paper describes the successful evaluation of purpose built photonic sensors for five months in the sewer. Survival of the photonic sensors in this environment demonstrated their suitability for longer-term sewer monitoring. The use of photonic sensors provided on-line, long term, continuous humidity data in a way that was not possible in gravity sewers prior to this study

Minimally invasive robotic surgery: force and torque analysis

La cirugía mínimamente invasiva y la incorporación de la robótica en este tipo de procedimientos representa grandes ventajas para el paciente, el cirujano y los sistemas de salud. Sin embargo, los dispositivos comerciales disponibles en la actualidad no cuentan con realimentación de fuerza y tacto, que faciliten al cirujano la identificación de los tejidos y consecuentemente, la reducción de errores en los procedimientos quirúrgicos; por lo cual, el desarrollo de sistemas que cuenten con este tipo de realimentación se convierte en un tema de interés a nivel mundial. El presente artículo contiene una revisión del estado de la técnica con respecto a los sistemas comerciales y experimentales desarrollados en esta área. También, se presentan algunos sensores y modelos matemáticos utilizados para calcular las fuerzas y torques en cirugía mínimamente invasiva.Minimally Invasive Surgery and the adaptation of robotics to these procedures represent many advantages for the patient, the surgeon, and the health program. However, commercial devices used nowadays lack haptic feedback. This fact makes the tissue identification more difficult and increments the injuries risk during the surgical procedure. The development of systems with this kind of feedback has become a topic of interest throughout the world. The present article contains a revision of the state of the art about commercial and experimental systems developed in this area. Models for the force and torque propagation, used in Minimally Invasive Surgery, are also presented

The significance of cephalopod beaks as a research tool: An update

The use of cephalopod beaks in ecological and population dynamics studies has allowed major advances of our knowledge on the role of cephalopods in marine ecosystems in the last 60 years. Since the 1960's, with the pioneering research by Malcolm Clarke and colleagues, cephalopod beaks (also named jaws or mandibles) have been described to species level and their measurements have been shown to be related to cephalopod body size and mass, which permitted important information to be obtained on numerous biological and ecological aspects of cephalopods in marine ecosystems. In the last decade, a range of new techniques has been applied to cephalopod beaks, permitting new kinds of insight into cephalopod biology and ecology. The workshop on cephalopod beaks of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council Conference (Sesimbra, Portugal) in 2022 aimed to review the most recent scientific developments in this field and to identify future challenges, particularly in relation to taxonomy, age, growth, chemical composition (i.e., DNA, proteomics, stable isotopes, trace elements) and physical (i.e., structural) analyses. In terms of taxonomy, new techniques (e.g., 3D geometric morphometrics) for identifying cephalopods from their beaks are being developed with promising results, although the need for experts and reference collections of cephalopod beaks will continue. The use of beak microstructure for age and growth studies has been validated. Stable isotope analyses on beaks have proven to be an excellent technique to get valuable information on the ecology of cephalopods (namely habitat and trophic position). Trace element analyses is also possible using beaks, where concentrations are significantly lower than in other tissues (e.g., muscle, digestive gland, gills). Extracting DNA from beaks was only possible in one study so far. Protein analyses can also be made using cephalopod beaks. Future challenges in research using cephalopod beaks are also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Long-term ecological segregation among the NW Iberian peninsula odontocete as evidenced using ecological tracers

25th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society, Long-term datasets on marine mammals: learning from the past to manage the future, 21st – 23rd March 2011, Cádiz, SpainThe waters off the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula are characterised by high marine biodiversity and productivity, supported by the nutrients made available by seasonal upwellingN

Assessment of the toxicological status of small cetacean species from the North West Iberian Peninsula

27th Conference of the European Cetacean Society, Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Study of Marine Mammals, 8th-10th April 2013, Setúbal, PortugalIn order to determine the contamination status and vulnerability of five of the most frequent small cetaceans from the NW Iberian Peninsula (NWIP) (common dolphin Delphinus delphis, harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena, bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus, striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba and long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas), 32 congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were analysed in their blubber and 14 trace elements (Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, V, Zn) in liver and kidneyN

A comparison of body composition assessment methods in climbers: Which is better?

Objective To compare body composition estimations of field estimation methods: Durnin & Womersley anthropometry (DW-ANT), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and Deborah-Kerr anthropometry (DK-ANT) against dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in a male Chilean sport climbing sample. Methods 30 adult male climbers of different performance levels participated in the study. A DXA scan (Lunar Prodigy (R)) was used to determine fat mass, lean mass and total bone mineral content (BMC). Total muscle mass (MM, kg) was estimated through a validated prediction model. DW-ANT and BIA ("non-athletes" and "athletes" equations) were used to determinate fat mass percentage (FM %), while DK-ANT was utilized to estimate MM and BMC. Results A significant (p<0.01) inter-method difference was observed for all methods analyzed. When compared to DXA, DW-ANT and BIA underestimated FM% and DK-ANT overestimated MM and BMC (All p< 0.01). The inter-method differences was lower for DW-ANT. Discussion We found that body composition estimation in climbers is highly method dependent. If DXA is not available, DW-ANT for FM% has a lower bias of estimation than BIA in young male Chilean climbers. For MM and BMC, further studies are needed to compare and estimate the DK-ANT bias level. For both methods, correction equations for specific climbing population should be considered

Pulmonary Abnormalities in Mice with Paracoccidioidomycosis: A Sequential Study Comparing High Resolution Computed Tomography and Pathologic Findings

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a fungal infection caused by the dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. It occurs preferentially in rural workers in whom the disease is severe and may cause incapacitating pulmonary sequelae. Assessment of disease progression and treatment outcome normally includes chest x-rays or CT studies. Existing experimental PCM models have focused on several aspects, but none has done a radiologic or image follow-up evaluation of pulmonary lesions considered as the fungus primary target. In this study, the lungs of mice infected with fungal conidia were studied sequentially during the chronic stage of their experimental mycosis by noninvasive high resolution medical computed tomography, and at time of sacrifice, also by histopathology to characterize pulmonary abnormalities. Three basic lung lesion patterns were revealed by both techniques: nodular-diffuse, confluent and pseudo-tumoral which were located mainly around the hilus thus accurately reflecting the situation in human patients. The experimental design of this study decreases the need to sacrifice a large number of animals, and serves to monitor treatment efficacy by means of a more rational approach to the study of human pulmonary diseases. The findings we are reporting open new avenues for experimental research, increase our understanding of the mycosis pathogenesis and consequently have repercussions in patients' care

The significance of cephalopod beaks as a research tool: An update

The use of cephalopod beaks in ecological and population dynamics studies has allowed major advances of our knowledge on the role of cephalopods in marine ecosystems in the last 60 years. Since the 1960’s, with the pioneering research by Malcolm Clarke and colleagues, cephalopod beaks (also named jaws or mandibles) have been described to species level and their measurements have been shown to be related to cephalopod body size and mass, which permitted important information to be obtained on numerous biological and ecological aspects of cephalopods in marine ecosystems. In the last decade, a range of new techniques has been applied to cephalopod beaks, permitting new kinds of insight into cephalopod biology and ecology. The workshop on cephalopod beaks of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council Conference (Sesimbra, Portugal) in 2022 aimed to review the most recent scientific developments in this field and to identify future challenges, particularly in relation to taxonomy, age, growth, chemical composition (i.e., DNA, proteomics, stable isotopes, trace elements) and physical (i.e., structural) analyses. In terms of taxonomy, new techniques (e.g., 3D geometric morphometrics) for identifying cephalopods from their beaks are being developed with promising results, although the need for experts and reference collections of cephalopod beaks will continue. The use of beak microstructure for age and growth studies has been validated. Stable isotope analyses on beaks have proven to be an excellent technique to get valuable information on the ecology of cephalopods (namely habitat and trophic position). Trace element analyses is also possible using beaks, where concentrations are significantly lower than in other tissues (e.g., muscle, digestive gland, gills). Extracting DNA from beaks was only possible in one study so far. Protein analyses can also be made using cephalopod beaks. Future challenges in research using cephalopod beaks are also discussed