Preparation of robust polyamide microcapsules by interfacial polycondensation of p-phenylenediamine and sebacoyl chloride and plasticization with oleic acid

Microcapsules produced by interfacial polycondensation of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and sebacoyl chloride (SC) were studied. The products were characterized in terms of morphology, mean diameter and effectiveness of dodecane encapsulation. The use of Tween 20 as dispersion stabilizer, in comparison with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), reduced considerably the mean diameter of the microcapsules and originated smoother wall surfaces. When compared to ethylenediamine (EDA), microcapsules produced with PPD monomer were more rigid and brittle, prone to fracture during processing and ineffective retention of the core liquid. The use of diethylenetriamine (DETA) cross-linker in combination with PPD did not decrease capsule fragility. On the other hand, addition of a small fraction of oleic acid to the organic phase remarkably improved wall toughness and lead to successful encapsulation of the core-oil. Oleic acid is believed to act as a plasticizer. Its incorporation in the polymeric wall was demonstrated by FTIR and (1)H-NMR.This work was funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors (COMPETE), ON.2 – O Novo Norte – North Portugal Regional Operational Programme and National Funds through Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the projects: PEst-C/EQB/UI0511, NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000026 – RL1_ Energy and PTDC/CTM-NAN/119979/2010. The Bruker Avance III 400 spectrometer is part of the National NMR network and was purchased under the framework of the National Programme for Scientific Reequipment, REDE/1517/RMN/2005, with funds from POCI 2010 (FEDER) and (FCT). Joana R. Góis acknowledges FCT-MCTES for her PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/69635/2010)

NAToRA, a relatedness-pruning method to minimize the loss of dataset size in genetic and omics analyses

[EN] Genetic and omics analyses frequently require independent observations, which is not guaranteed in real datasets. When relatedness cannot be accounted for, solutions involve removing related individuals (or observations) and, consequently, a reduction of available data. We developed a network-based relatedness-pruning method that minimizes dataset reduction while removing unwanted relationships in a dataset. It uses node degree centrality metric to identify highly connected nodes (or individuals) and implements heuristics that approximate the minimal reduction of a dataset to allow its application to complex datasets. When compared with two other popular population genetics methodologies (PLINK and KING), NAToRA shows the best combination of removing all relatives while keeping the largest possible number of individuals in all datasets tested and also, with similar effects on the allele frequency spectrum and Principal Component Analysis than PLINK and KING. NAToRA is freely available, both as a standalone tool that can be easily incorporated as part of a pipeline, and as a graphical web tool that allows visualization of the relatedness networks. NAToRA also accepts a variety of relationship metrics as input, which facilitates its use. We also release a genealogies simulator software used for different tests performed in this studySICAPES Foundation from the Brazilian Ministry of Education, Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq), Minas Gerais State Agency for Research (FAPEMIG, RED-00314-16, APQ-02188-18), Brazilian Ministry of Health (DECIT-MS, EPIGEN-Brasil project and National Program of Genomics and Precision Health from the Brazilian Ministry of Health (CNPq 403502/2020-9) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS112499

Management practices to control gastrointestinal parasites in sheep farms in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil Práticas de manejo para controle de parasitas gastrointestinais em fazendas com ovinos em Minas Gerais, Sudeste do Brasil

Parasite related problems are considered one of the major health problems for sheep breeding, causing considerable economic losses to commercial husbandry. The aim of this study was to determine the technological level and the level of knowledge of farmers regarding management practices to control gastrointestinal parasites in sheep in Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil. The analysis was based on 213 questionnaires applied by official veterinarians of the State Government Agency for Animal Health (Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária, IMA), covering 16.6% of all counties. From two hundred and thirteen sheep farms sampled, 117 farms had their technological level determined. From the samples, 0.9% were characterized as high level, 45.3% as medium, and 53.0% as low technological level. The flock size ranged from 2 to 1843 with an average of 80.5 sheep per farm. The majority of the sheep production systems was extensive/semi-extensive (74.5%). The management practices adopted by the farmers to reduce parasitism were: split young and adult animals (5.6%), change pasture after deworm the animals (5.2%), use quarantine for incoming animals (2.3%), deworm newly arrived sheep (1.5%), and have regular technical assistance (31.9%). Although 76.5% of the farmers medicate the animals, treatments were performed without any major technical criteria, with an average interval of 4.6 months. The most commonly used drug families were macrocyclic lactones (38.5%) and benzimidazoles (24.9%). The management practices adopted in Minas Gerais are based on old recommendations and may not return in a good set of strategies to prevent parasite infections. Field observations reinforce the finding where farmers have obtained unsatisfactory results in maintaining the health and productivity level of their enterprises.Problemas relacionados com parasitas são considerados um dos principais problemas sanitários na criação de ovinos, causando consideráveis perdas econômicas para criação comercial. O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar o nível tecnológico e o nível de conhecimento dos criadores sobre práticas de manejo para o controle de parasitas gastrintestinais em ovinos no estado de Minas Gerais, sudeste do Brasil. A análise foi baseada em 213 questionários aplicados pelos veterinários oficiais da Agência de Governo Estudal de Saúde Animal (Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária, IMA), cobrindo 16,6% de todos os municípios. Duzentos e treze propriedades com ovinos foram amostradas e 117 tiveram o seu nível tecnológico determinado. A partir da amostra, 0,9% foi caracterizado como nível elevado, de 45,3%, como de médio e 53,0% como baixo nível tecnológico. O tamanho do rebanho variou de 2 a 1843 com uma média de 80,5 ovinos por propriedade. A maioria dos sistemas de produção de ovinos eram extensivos/semi-extensivos (74,5%). As práticas de manejo adotadas pelos criadores para reduzir o parasitismo foram: separar animais jovens e adultos (5,6%), mudança de pastagem após vermifugar os animais (5,2%), uso de quarentena para animais recem adiquiridos (2,3%), vermifugação de ovelhas recém-chegadas (1,5%) e assistência técnica regular (31,9%). Apesar de 76,5% dos criadores vermifugarem os animais, os tratamentos foram realizados sem qualquer critério técnico importante, com um intervalo médio de 4,6 meses. As famílias de drogas mais comumente usadas foram lactonas macrocíclicas (38,5%) e benzimidazóis (24,9%). As práticas de manejo adotadas em Minas Gerais são baseadas em recomendações antigas e não em estratégias para prevenir infecções parasitárias. As observações de campo reforçam os achados em que os proprietários obtiveram resultados insatisfatórios na manutenção dos níveis de saúde e produtividade de seus empreendimentos

Data from: Reducing cryptic relatedness in genomic datasets via a central node exclusion algorithm

Cryptic relatedness is a confounding factor in genetic diversity and genetic association studies. Development of strategies to reduce cryptic relatedness in a sample is a crucial step for downstream genetic analyzes. The present study uses a node selection algorithm, based on network degrees of centrality, to evaluate its applicability and impact on evaluation of genetic diversity and population stratification. 1,036 Guzerá (Bos indicus) females were genotyped using Illumina Bovine SNP50 v2 BeadChip. Four strategies were compared. The first and second strategies consists on a iterative exclusion of most related individuals based on PLINK kinship coefficient (φij) and VanRaden’s φij, respectively. The third and fourth strategies were based on a node selection algorithm. The fourth strategy, Network G matrix, preserved the larger number of individuals with a better diversity and representation from the initial sample. Determining the most probable number of populations was directly affected by the kinship metric. Network G matrix was the better strategy for reducing relatedness due to producing a larger sample, with more distant individuals, a more similar distribution when compared with the full dataset in the MDS plots and keeping a better representation of the population structure. Resampling strategies using VanRaden’s φij as a relationship metric was better to infer the relationships among individuals. Moreover, the resampling strategies directly impact the genomic inflation values in Genome-wide association studies. The use of the node selection algorithm also implies better selection of the most central individuals to be removed, providing a more representative sample