Evaluation of the cardiovascular effects of vasicine, an alkaloid isolated from the leaves of Sida cordifolia L. (Malvaceae)

The cardiovascular effects of vasicine, an alkaloid isolated from the leaves of Sida cordifolia L., were evaluated in this work. In non-anaesthetized rats (n=6), vasicine (1, 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg; i.v., randomly) induced hypotension associated with an intense bradycardia. Both responses were completely abolished after atropine (2mg/Kg; i.v.) and attenuated after hexamethonium (20 mg/Kg; i.v.). In isolated rat mesenteric artery rings, vasicine (0.03, 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30, 100 and 300 μg/mL, cumulatively) induced concentration-dependent relaxation of phenylephrine-induced tone (IC50= 3.8±0.9 μg/mL; n = 6). In conclusion, the results show that vasicine produce hypotension and bradycardia which appears to be due to the stimulation of cardiac muscarinic receptors (directly and/or indirectly), and by a decrease of the peripheral resistances

Energy Expenditure In Vocalizations Of Pigs Under Stresses

Modern swine production faces many challenges nowadays, among which are productivity growth, meat quality improvement, decrease of environmental damage and reduction of cost production. Pigs spend energy to vocalizing, especially when they undergo stress. The waste of energy can increase the cost of production and lead to greater environmental damage. The goal of this study was to estimate the energy spent by pigs under the stress of castration and its effect on the animals' weight gain. Two groups of ten animals each were castrated, being one group with local anesthetic and the other without anesthetic. The piglets' vocalizations were recorded during different stages of the neutering process and then estimated of the amount of energy emitted during each vocalization. Afterwards, this energy was associated with the animals' weight gain. There was no difference in the total energy spent in both groups, since the energy used during the application of anesthetic was similar to the energy spent during the castration of the animals without anesthetic. There was also no correlation between energy spent and the animals' weight gain. It was possible to estimate the amount of energy emitted through vocalization. This energy spent by piglets in pain was greater than in other handling situations (contention, weighting and realease).335896901Cordeiro, A.F.S., Pereira, E.M., Nääs, I.A., Silva, W.T., Moura, D.J., Medida de Vocalização de Suínos (Sus scrofa) como um Indicador de Gasto Energético (2009), p. 2. , Brazilian Journal of Biosystems Engineering, CampinasCosta, A.N., Produção e bem-estar animal aspectos técnicos e éticos da produção intensiva de suínos (2008) Ciência Veterinária nos Trópicos, Recife 11, 1, pp. 43-48Costa, O.A.D., Ludke, J.V., Costa, M.J.R.P., Faucitano, L., Peloso, J.V., Roza, D.D., Modelo de carroceria e seu impacto sobre o bem-estar e a qualidade da carne dos suínos (2007) Ciência Rural, Santa Maria, 37 (5), pp. 1418-1422Dallanora, D., Machado, G.S., Biondo, N., Impacto da qualidade dos leitões desmamados sobre o desempenho posterior nas creches terminações (2010) Acta Scientiae Veterinariae, Porto Alegre, 37, pp. 171-180Hötzel, M.J., Machado Filho, L.C.P., (2013), pp. 34-38. , http://www.freewebs.com/hotzel/PorWorld2004.pdf, Comportamento e bem-estar dos leitões em relação ao desmame. Porkworld, Paulina, São Paulo 01 jul. 2004. Disponível em: Acesso em: 28 fevKummer, R., Gonçalves, M.A.D., Lippke, R.T., Marques, B.M.F., Mores, T.J., Fatores que influenciam o desempenho dos leitões na fase de creche (2009) Acta Scientiae Veterinariae, Porto Alegre, 37 (1), pp. 195-209Marx, G., Horn, T., Thielebein, J., Knubel, B., Borell, E., Analysis of pain-related vocalization in young pigs, Journal of Sound and Vibration (2003) Amsterdam 266, 3, pp. 687-698Moraes, E., Kiefer, C., Iandara Schettert Silva, I., S.Ractopamina em dietas para suínos machos imunocastrados, castrados e fêmeas (2010) Ciência Rural, Santa Maria40, pp. 2409-2414Moura, D.J., Silva, W.T., Nääs, I.A., Tolon, Y.B., Lima, K.A.O., Vale, M.M., Real timecomputer stress monitoring of piglets using vocalization analysis (2008) Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Amsterdam, 64, pp. 111-118Nääs, I.A., Campos, L.S.L., Baracho, M.S., Tolon, Y.B., Uso de redes neurais artificiais na identificação de vocalização de suínos (2008) EngenhariaAgrícola, Jaboticabal, 28, pp. 2204-2216Pauly, C., Spring, P., O'doherty, J.V., Kragten, S.A., Bee, G., Growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat qualityof group-penned surgically castrated, immunocastrated(Improvac®) and entire male pigs and individually pennedentire male pigs (2009) The International Journal of Animal Biosciences, Cambridge, 3 (7), pp. 1057-1066Rault, J.-L., Lay, J.R., Marchant-Forde, J.N., Castration induced pain in pigs and other livestock (2011) Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Amsterdam, 135 (3), pp. 214-225Risi, N., Uso da vocalização como indicador patológico em leitões na fase de maternidade. 2010. 93 f. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz", Universidade de São Paulo (2010) PiracicabaSilva, R.B.T.R., Nääs, I.A., Moura, D.J., Silveira, N.A., Welfare norms for swine production under intensive rearing system.Brazilian Journal of Biosystems Engineering (2007) Campinas, 1 (2), pp. 137-145Smith, A.L., Stalder, K.J., Serenius, T.V., Baas, T.J., Mabry, J., W.Effects of piglet birth weights at weaning and 42 days post weaning (2007) Journal of Swine Health and Production, 15 (4), pp. 213-218Taylor, A.A., Weary, D.M., Vocal responses of piglets to castration: identifying procedural sources of pain (2000) Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Amsterdam, 70 (1), pp. 17-26Tolon, Y.B., Baracho, M.S., Nääs, I.A., Rojas, M., Moura, D.J., Ambiências térmica, aérea e acústica para reprodutores suínos EngenhariaAgrícola (2010) Jaboticabal, 30 (1), pp. 1-1

THE WEDGE EFFECTS ON VERTICAL FORCE-TIME CURVE INSTANTS AND ON BACKSTROKE START PERFORMANCE

This study compared vertical force and time at time reference points between backstroke start performed with and without wedge, and identified the relationships with 5 m start time. Ten swimmers (age 21.1 ± 5.36 years, stature 1.78 ± 0.04 m, body mass 72.82 ± 10.05 kg and mean 100 m backstroke performance of 59.67 ± 2.89 s) completed eight backstroke starts (four with and four without wedge) using the highest horizontal handgrip. An instrumented starting block recorded vertical force and time at the following points: (i) start signal; (ii) peak before hands-off; (iii) minimum at hands-off; and (iv) peak before take-off. Forces at instants after the start signal were greater when using the wedge and no relationships were observed between force, time at reference points and 5 m time. The wedge use can benefit vertical forces generation but not directly 5 m time

Cardiovascular effects induced by the aqueous fraction of the ethanol extract of the stem of Solanum stipulaceum in rats

The cardiovascular effects induced by the aqueous fraction of the ethanol extract of the stem (AFS) of Solanum stipulaceum Roem. & Schult were studied in rats. In non-anesthetized rats, AFS injections produced significant and dosedependent hypotension associated with increase in heart rate. In isolated rat superior mesenteric rings, AFS was able to antagonize the contractions induced by phenylephrine and KCl. The vasorelaxant activity of AFS was not inhibited by either removal of vascular endothelium, L-NAME, atropine or indomethacine. In isolated rat atrial preparations, AFS produced concentration-related negative inotropic and chronotropic responses. These results suggest that the hypotensive effect of AFS is due to a peripheral vasodilation, which can not be attributed to the participation of vascular endothelium. Finally, AFS acts directly on the heart decreasing contractility and heart rate

BRST approach to Lagrangian formulation for mixed-symmetry fermionic higher-spin fields

We construct a Lagrangian description of irreducible half-integer higher-spin representations of the Poincare group with the corresponding Young tableaux having two rows, on a basis of the BRST approach. Starting with a description of fermionic higher-spin fields in a flat space of any dimension in terms of an auxiliary Fock space, we realize a conversion of the initial operator constraint system (constructed with respect to the relations extracting irreducible Poincare-group representations) into a first-class constraint system. For this purpose, we find auxiliary representations of the constraint subsuperalgebra containing the subsystem of second-class constraints in terms of Verma modules. We propose a universal procedure of constructing gauge-invariant Lagrangians with reducible gauge symmetries describing the dynamics of both massless and massive fermionic fields of any spin. No off-shell constraints for the fields and gauge parameters are used from the very beginning. It is shown that the space of BRST cohomologies with a vanishing ghost number is determined only by the constraints corresponding to an irreducible Poincare-group representation. To illustrate the general construction, we obtain a Lagrangian description of fermionic fields with generalized spin (3/2,1/2) and (3/2,3/2) on a flat background containing the complete set of auxiliary fields and gauge symmetries.Comment: 41 pages, no figures, corrected typos, updated introduction, sections 5, 7.1, 7.2 with examples, conclusion with all basic results unchanged, corrected formulae (3.27), (7.138), (7.140), added dimensional reduction part with formulae (5.34)-(5.48), (7.8)-(7.10), (7.131)-(7.136), (7.143)-(7.164), added Refs. 52, 53, 54, examples for massive fields developed by 2 way

Janus Field Theories from Non-Linear BF Theories for Multiple M2-Branes

We integrate the nonpropagating B_{\mu} gauge field for the non-linear BF Lagrangian describing N M2-branes which includes terms with even number of the totally antisymmetric tensor M^{IJK} in arXiv:0808.2473 and for the two-types of non-linear BF Lagrangians which include terms with odd number of M^{IJK} as well in arXiv:0809:0985. For the former Lagrangian we derive directly the DBI-type Lagrangian expressed by the SU(N) dynamical A_{\mu} gauge field with a spacetime dependent coupling constant, while for the low-energy expansions of the latter Lagrangians the B_{\mu} integration is iteratively performed. The derived Janus field theory Lagrangians are compared.Comment: 16 pages, LaTex, no figure

Poor Sleep quality and health-related quality of life impact in adolescents with and without chronic immunosuppressive conditions during COVID-19 quarantine

OBJECTIVE: To assess the possible factors that influence sleep quality in adolescents with and without chronic immunosuppressive conditions quarantined during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 305 adolescents with chronic immunocompromised conditions and 82 healthy adolescents. Online surveys were completed, which included questions on socio-demographic data and self-rated healthcare routine during COVID-19 quarantine and the following validated questionnaires: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL4.0), and Pediatric Outcome Data Collection Instrument (PODCI). RESULTS: The median current age [14 (10-18) vs. 15 (10-18) years, p=0.847] and frequency of female sex (62% vs. 58%, p=0.571) were similar in adolescents with chronic conditions compared with healthy adolescents. The frequency of poor sleep quality was similar in both groups (38% vs. 48%, p=0.118). Logistic regression analysis, including both healthy adolescents and adolescents with chronic conditions (n=387), demonstrated that self-reported increase in screen time (odds ratio [OR] 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-6.8; p=0.008) and intrafamilial violence report (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2-3.5; p=0.008) were independently associated with poor sleep quality in these adolescents. However, the PODCI global function score was associated with a lower OR for poor sleep quality (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.94-0.99; p=0.001). Further logistic regression, including only adolescents with chronic conditions (n=305), demonstrated that self-reported increase in screen time (OR 3.1; 95% CI 1.4-6.8; p=0.006) and intrafamilial violence report (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.2-3.4; p=0.011) remained independently associated with poor quality of sleep, whereas a lower PODCI global function score was associated with a lower OR for sleep quality (OR 0.96; 95% CI 0.94-0.98; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Self-reported increases in screen time and intrafamilial violence report impacted sleep quality in both healthy adolescents and those with chronic conditions. Decreased health-related quality of life was observed in adolescents with poor sleep quality

Abelian Vortex in Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson Theory

Among newly discovered M2, M5 objects in the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson theory, our interest is about half BPS vortices which are covariantly holomorphic curves in transverse coordinates. We restrict ourselves to the case where the global symmetry is broken to so(2) x so(2)x so(4) for the mass deformed Bagger-Lambert theory. A localized object with finite energy exists in this theory where the mass parameter supports regularity. It is time independent but carries angular momentum coming solely from the gauge potential by which the energy is bounded below.Comment: 13 page