Spermatozoa Obtained From Alpaca vas deferens. Effects of Seminal Plasma Added at Post-thawing

The viscous seminal plasma (SP) is currently a major impediment to the handling of ejaculate and the development of some biotechnologies in South American camelids. The vas deferens-collected spermatozoa of alpacas is a useful technique to avoid this problem. On the other hand, SP contains a large protein component that has been implicated in the function of spermatozoa within the female reproductive tract. In this sense, the low fertility achieved using transcervical insemination with frozen-thawed spermatozoa in alpacas could be improved by adding SP. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the whole SP on some in vitro parameters of alpaca spermatozoa after the freezing-thawing-process and the fertility after artificial insemination. It would contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between thawed sperm cells and SP. Spermatozoa were obtained by surgically diverted vas deferens. The samples were diluted with a Tris-based extender, packaged in straws, and frozen. At thawing, each straw was divided into two post-thawing conditions: with the addition of 10% of PBS (control) or with 10% SP (treatment). The sperm cells were evaluated using dynamic parameters, sperm cell morphology, and morphometry. Fertility was assessed by an artificial insemination trial. All in vitro parameters were analyzed by ANOVA. A heterogeneity test was scheduled for the fertility trial. After the freezing-thawing process, motility and plasma membrane functionality was improved when SP was added. No differences were found for post-thaw viability between the control and treatment samples. The percentage of normal cells was higher with SP at post-thawing, and a decrease of the presence of bent tailed spermatozoa with a droplet in the SP group was observed. The length of the head spermatozoa was 3.4% higher in the samples with PBS compared to those in which SP was added. Females pregnant at day 25 post-insemination were 0/12 (with SP inside the straw) and 1/10 (without SP inside the straw). In conclusion, the presence of 10% SP at post-thawing improves sperm cells' motility, functionality, and morphology, indicating that it would be beneficial to improve the frozen-thawed alpaca's physiology spermatozoa. More fertility trials must be developed to increase this knowledge

The coincidence and angular clustering of Chandra and SCUBA sources

NRC publication: N

Efecto de la adición de clorhidrato de zilpaterol genérico en el perfil bioquímico y hematológico de ovinos de pelo engordados en corral

This study aimed to evaluate zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH, generic) supplementation on fattening hair sheep, using hematological and biochemical variables as health status indicators. A total of 32 hair lambs (Dorper x Pelibuey) were grouped by initial weight and randomly assigned into four treatments: T1= basal diet (control group), T2= basal diet supplemented with ZH at 0.10 mg·kg-1 of LW d-1 (Grofactor®, Virbac México, Guadalajara, Mexico), T3= basal diet supplemented with ZH at 0.20 mg·kg-1 of LW d-1, and T4= basal diet supplemented with ZH at 0.30 mg·kg-1 of LW d-1. Blood samples were collected on days 1, 15, and 30 of the study. The hematological profile was determined in fresh blood samples; metabolites, electrolytes, and hormones were determined in serum samples. The study followed a randomized complete block experimental design, using an orthogonal polynomial analysis to determine the trend of the responses at the different concentrations of ZH. Cholesterol and urea levels were higher (P<0.05) in T3 than in T2. Furthermore, the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was higher (P<0.05) in T1 than in T3; the red blood cell distribution width was higher (P<0.05) in T2 and T3 than in T4. The Na levels and the number of platelets showed a linear trend (P <0.05) to decrease and increase, respectively, as ZH levels increased. A quadratic trend was observed (P<0.05) in mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and red blood cell distribution width with increasing dose of ZH (generic). The remaining variables did not show significant trends at ZH levels (generic). The values of the biochemical and hematological profiles were within the reference range, which suggests that the addition of ZH did not alter the health status of fattening lambs. El objetivo fue evaluar la adición de clorhidrato de zilpaterol (CZ, genérico) en la dieta de ovinos de pelo de engorda, sobre variables hematológicas y bioquímicas como indicadores del estado de salud. Treinta y dos (32) corderos de pelo cruzados (Dorper x Pelibuey) se bloquearon por peso inicial y cuatro tratamientos y se asignaron aleatoriamente dentro de cada bloque: T1= dieta basal (grupo testigo), T2= dieta basal más 0.10 mg·kg-1 de PV d-1 de CZ (Grofactor®, Virbac México, Guadalajara, México), T3= dieta basal más 0.20 mg·kg-1 de PV d-1 de CZ y T4= dieta basal más 0.30 mg·kg-1 de PV d-1 de CZ. Se tomaron muestras de sangre los días 1, 15 y 30 del estudio. El perfil hematológico se estimó en muestras de sangre fresca, mientras que metabolitos, electrolitos y hormonas en muestras de suero. El diseño experimental fue bloques completos al azar y se efectuó análisis de polinomios ortogonales para determinar la tendencia de las respuestas a los niveles de CZ. Los niveles de colesterol y urea fueron mayores (P<0.05) en T3 que en T2; asimismo, el nivel de concentración corpuscular medio de hemoglobina fue mayor (P<0.05) en T1 que en T3, mientras que el ancho de distribución de eritrocitos fue mayor (P<0.05) en T2 y T3 que en T4. Los niveles de Na y el número de plaquetas mostraron tendencia lineal (P<0.05) a disminuir y aumentar, respectivamente, conforme los niveles de CZ aumentaron. Se observó tendencia cuadrática (P<0.05) en la concentración corpuscular media de hemoglobina y ancho de distribución de eritrocitos al aumentar la dosis de CZ (genérico). Las variables restantes no mostraron tendencias significativas a los niveles de CZ (genérico). Los valores de los perfiles bioquímico y hematológico se encontraron dentro del rango de referencia, lo que sugiere que la adición de CZ no alteró el estado de salud de corderos en engorda

Two rapid assays for screening of patulin biodegradation

Artículo sobre distintos ensayos para comprobar la biodegradación de la patulinaThe mycotoxin patulin is produced by the blue mould pathogen Penicillium expansum in rotting apples during postharvest storage. Patulin is toxic to a wide range of organisms, including humans, animals, fungi and bacteria. Wash water from apple packing and processing houses often harbours patulin and fungal spores, which can contaminate the environment. Ubiquitous epiphytic yeasts, such as Rhodosporidium kratochvilovae strain LS11 which is a biocontrol agent of P. expansum in apples, have the capacity to resist the toxicity of patulin and to biodegrade it. Two non-toxic products are formed. One is desoxypatulinic acid. The aim of the work was to develop rapid, high-throughput bioassays for monitoring patulin degradation in multiple samples. Escherichia coli was highly sensitive to patulin, but insensitive to desoxypatulinic acid. This was utilized to develop a detection test for patulin, replacing time-consuming thin layer chromatography or high-performance liquid chromatography. Two assays for patulin degradation were developed, one in liquid medium and the other in semi-solid medium. Both assays allow the contemporary screening of a large number of samples. The liquid medium assay utilizes 96-well microtiter plates and was optimized for using a minimum of patulin. The semisolid medium assay has the added advantage of slowing down the biodegradation, which allows the study and isolation of transient degradation products. The two assays are complementary and have several areas of utilization, from screening a bank of microorganisms for biodegradation ability to the study of biodegradation pathways

Nonconventional Wastewater Treatment for the Degradation of Fuel Oxygenated (MTBE, ETBE, and TAME)

Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) is a nonconventional wastewater treatment, consisting of oxygen pressure releasing inside a reactor in order to degrade organic compounds dissolved in water, using a solid catalyst in the presence of an activated O2 species, usually at temperatures ranges of 125–250°C and pressures of 10–50 bar. CWAO can reduce operating costs of conventional treatment due to the use of ideal catalyst that is able to improve reaction conditions at temperatures and pressures as mild as possible, simultaneously setting high catalytic activity and long-term stability of heterogeneous catalysts. Oxygenated fuels are gasoline additives in reformulated gasoline and oxyfuels. In the beginning, they provided an alternative solution of environmental problems, such as greenhouse gas emissions and octane enhancement, caused by fossil fuel use. The oxygenated fuels frequently used are methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), and tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME). However, there is environmental impact from oxygenated fuel hydrocarbons related to widespread contamination of groundwater and other natural waters. Our research group developed a wide study in order to evaluate several catalysts (Ru, Au, Cu, and Ag supported on Al2O3, Al2O3-CeO2, and TiO2-CeO2) and to obtain the best for the efficiency of the oxidation process

Energy Dependence of the Nernst-Ettingshausen Effect Induced By Pulsed Laser Light in Bismuth Films

The behavior with the irradiation energy and with the magnetic field of the thermomagnetic response induced by laser pulses in 5.5-μm Bi films at room temperature is reported in this paper. The Nernst-Ettingshausen coefficient at an applied magnetic field of 1 T is estimated: QNE≃1.0×10-5 V/T K. A good agreement is found when these results are compared with those reported earlier in polycrystalline bulk samples obtained by a conventional method. This supports the reliability of the pulsed laser technique in the measurement of weak transport effects and indicates that the optically pumped carriers hardly influence the transport properties of bismuth

Application of Silver Nanoparticles for Water Treatment

In recent past development of silver nanoparticles and their application in the treatment of wastewaters is becoming a major area of research. It is mainly applicable to the removal of three major pollutants like pesticides, heavy metals, and microorganisms. Variety of synthesis techniques have been reported for preparation and characterization of silver nanoparticles. In our research, we synthesized Ag nanoparticles supported on ZrO2 and ZrO2-CeO2 by a “deposit-precipitation method” as the first step and later sequentially synthesized Ag-Au supported on ZrO2 and ZrO2-CeO2 by Redox method. Catalysts were evaluated in catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of methyl tert-butyl ether and phenol. The CWAO is a liquid phase process for the treatment of organic pollutants operating at temperatures in the range of 100–325°C at 5–200 bar pressures. The selectivity and efficient of catalysts were evaluated by total organic carbon (TOC) and high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC). Ideally, the total mineralization of pollutants into CO2 and H2O is preferred

Propiedades fisicoquímicas de cereal pigmentado con polvo de tuna roja

La tuna roja posee actividad antioxidante y potencial como colorante en la industria alimentaria, sin embargo su uso puede provocar cambios fisicoquímicos en los productos que deben ser evaluados. 2.5, 5.0 y 7.5% de polvo de tuna fueron mezclados con sémola de maíz y procesados en un extrusor de doble tornillo a 22% de humedad, 100 ºC y 325 rpm. Evaluando en los cereales propiedades físicas (humedad, densidad, color, textura e índices: expansión y solubilidad y absorción de agua,) y propiedades químicas (contenidos de polifenoles, betacianinas y betaxantinas, actividad antioxidante). Se encontró que la humedad y el índice de solubilidad en agua no presentaron dependencia al contenido de polvo adicionado. La densidad aumentó al incrementar el contenido de polvo, mientras que los índices de expansión y de absorción de agua disminuyeron con el incremento de polvo adicionado. El incremento en el polvo causó disminución de L*, b*, croma* y h* sin embargo aumentó a* y la textura de los cereales. Así como de los contenidos de polifenoles y betalainas y actividad antioxidante

Integration of design tools and knowledge capture into a CAD system: a case study

onceptual design phase is partially supported by product lifecycle management/computer-aided design (PLM/CAD) systems causing discontinuity of the design information flow: customer needs — functional requirements — key characteristics — design parameters (DPs) — geometric DPs. Aiming to address this issue, it is proposed a knowledge-based approach is proposed to integrate quality function deployment, failure mode and effects analysis, and axiomatic design into a commercial PLM/CAD system. A case study, main subject of this article, was carried out to validate the proposed process, to evaluate, by a pilot development, how the commercial PLM/CAD modules and application programming interface could support the information flow, and based on the pilot scheme results to propose a full development framework

Consecuencias del estrés calórico sobre la reproducción del ganado vacuno

Heat stress represents one of the major environmental factors that adversely affect the reproductive performance of cattle. In this paper the behavioral adjustments, physical mechanisms and physiological responses to heat loss are described; bos indicus adaptive advantages with respect to bos Taurus, pathophysiology of heat stress and heat stress effects in animal reproduction, both the male and the female.El estrés calórico representa unos de los principales factores del medio ambiente que repercuten negativamente en el desempeño reproductivo del ganado vacuno. En este trabajo se describen los ajustes conductuales, mecanismos físicos y respuestas fisiológicas para la pérdida calórica; ventajas adaptativas del bos indicus con respecto al bos Taurus, fisiopatología del estrés calórico y repercusiones del estrés calórico en la reproducción animal, tanto en el macho como en la hembra