1,106 research outputs found

    ULTRASOUND AS TOOL FOR DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OF THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT BULLS

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    AbstractThe purpose of this study was to evaluate by ultrasound and breeding soundness examination (BSE) the major diseases affecting the reproductive system of Nelore bulls, bred extensively in the state of Para, Brazil. Fifty-nine pure Nelore bulls were used, aged between 5 to 10 years, raised extensively in a commercial farm in the municipality of Paragominas, Pará state, Brazil.  Scrotal circumference, testicular length and width were measured. Semen collection for evaluation of ejaculate volume, turbulence, motility, vigor, concentration and sperm pathologies was performed. Ultrasound examination was performed by equipment type Ultrasonic Transducer - CHISON/D600vet, linear transducers, where the frequency used was 5 MHz, being held two images of each testis, the longitudinal-lateral, lateral and transverse planes. The images were processed using the program Image J. The data were analyzed using the statistical program SAS (2000) and means were compared using Tukey's test (p 0.05). Thus, it can be concluded that ultrasonography is an essential complementary tool in the diagnosis of reproductive disorders in animals subjected to BSE and its use should be recommended

    Afro-Derived Amazonian Populations: Inferring Continental Ancestry and Population Substructure

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    A panel of Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) was used to identify population substructure and estimate individual and overall interethnic admixture in 294 individuals from seven African-derived communities of the Brazilian Amazon. A panel of 48 biallelic markers, representing the insertion (IN) or the deletion (DEL) of small DNA fragments, was employed for this purpose. Overall interethnic admixture estimates showed high miscegenation with other ethnic groups in all populations (between 46% and 64%). The proportion of ancestral genes varied significantly among individuals of the sample: the contribution of African genes varied between 12% and 75%; of European genes between 10% and 73%; and of Amerindians genes between 8% and 66%. The obtained data reveal a high contribution of Amerindian genes in these communities, unlike in other African-derived communities of the Northeast and the South of Brazil. In addition, the majority of the Amerindian contribution may result from the preferential inclusion of indigenous women in the African descent groups. High heterogeneity of the proportion of interethnic admixture among analyzed individuals was found when the proportion of ancestral genes of each individual of the sample was estimated. This heterogeneity is reflected in the fact that four populations can be considered as substructured and that the global African descent sample is possibly formed by two subpopulations

    Survival of probiotic strains in a refrigerated nonfermentd blended juice using a static in vitro digestion model.

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    Ref. 378/139. ICDF, 2 a 4 de abril 2019. Na publicação: Gomes, F.; Ribeiro, A.; Ribeiro, L.; Matta, V.; Santos, K.; Walter, E

    Water reuse: dairy effluent treated by a hybrid anaerobic biofilm baffled reactor and its application in lettuce irrigation

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    There is a synergy between the large quantities of organics-rich effluents generated by the dairy industry and the continually increasing water needs for crop irrigation. In this sense, this study aimed at evaluating the effect of decreasing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the stability and efficiency of a hybrid anaerobic biofilm baffled reactor (HABBR) treating simulated fat- and salt-rich dairy wastewater, followed by its agricultural reuse. The reactor was monitored over 328 days, during which 72, 24, and 12 hours were the hydraulic detention times. After achieving steady-state, the reactor presented organic matter removal above 90% and produced biogas with 41 ± 23%, 53 ± 3%, and 64 ± 12% of methane for HRTs of 72, 24, and 12 hours, respectively. The best process performance was observed for an HRT of 24 h, and thus, a lettuce culture was irrigated with the treated effluent. The irrigation was performed in five different treatments, for which the amount of treated effluent added to tap water varied from 0 to 100%. Both the effluent and the harvested vegetables were evaluated for microbial contamination. Apart from the 75% effluent supply condition, there were no losses in leaf mass or area observed, and instead, there was an increase of these parameters for the 25 and 50% effluent supply treatment. The use of dairy effluent treated by the HABBR allowed for microbiologically safe food production. Therefore, the process offered both potential cost reduction for fertilizers, preservation of water resources, and a renewable energy source.The authors are grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES for the grants to L. K. A. Santos (Finace Code 001) and to M. M. S. Alves (PVE 123/2012, process no. 23038.009805/2012-39), as well for the financial support.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    DESARROLLO DE UNA METODOLOGÍA PARA LA OPTIMIZACIÓN DEL FLUJO DE TRABAJO EN LA ADQUISICIÓN Y TRATAMIENTO DE IMÁGENES DE ALTA RESOLUCIÓN CON VEHÍCULOS AÉREOS NO TRIPULADOS

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    [ES] La captura de imágenes aéreas de alta resolución para el monitoreo y control de los cultivos a través de vehículos aéreos no tripulados (VANTs) es una herramienta de utilización creciente y eficaz. Una de las limitaciones de esta técnica es que para obtener el producto final generado a partir de las imágenes (ortoimagen y/o modelo digital del terreno), hay que seguir una serie de pasos que demandan esfuerzo y tiempo, principalmente la selección de imágenes no borrosas y la localización de puntos de control en el terreno para georreferenciar y escalar los productos geomáticos obtenidos. Así, el objetivo de este trabajo es desarrollar una metodología que reduzca el tiempo de trabajo de la adquisición y tratamiento de imágenes obtenidas a partir de VANTs, mediante la automatización de la detección de imágenes borrosas. Los productos geomáticos obtenidos mediante la metodología propuesta muestran un elevado error en posicionamiento absoluto (aproximadamente 30 metros), pero con un posicionamiento relativo muy bueno, con errores en escala en torno a 2000 ppm. Los mayores errores en la rotación del modelo están en torno a los 8 grados.Ribeiro Gomes, K.; Hernandez Lopez, D.; Ballesteros Gonzalez, R.; Moreno Hidalgo, M. (2015). DESARROLLO DE UNA METODOLOGÍA PARA LA OPTIMIZACIÓN DEL FLUJO DE TRABAJO EN LA ADQUISICIÓN Y TRATAMIENTO DE IMÁGENES DE ALTA RESOLUCIÓN CON VEHÍCULOS AÉREOS NO TRIPULADOS. En XXXIII CONGRESO NACIONAL DE RIEGOS. Valencia 16-18 junio de 2015. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CNRiegos.2015.1467OC

    On the coupling of the self-dual field to dynamical U(1) Matter and its dual theory

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    We consider an arbitrary U(1) charged matter non-minimally coupled to the self-dual field in d=2+1d=2+1. The coupling includes a linear and a rather general quadratic term in the self-dual field. By using both a Lagragian gauge embedding and a master action approaches we derive the dual Maxwell Chern-Simons type model and show the classical equivalence between the two theories. At quantum level the master action approach in general requires the addition of an awkward extra term to the Maxwell Chern-Simons type theory. Only in the case of a linear coupling in the self-dual field the extra term can be dropped and we are able to establish the quantum equivalence of gauge invariant correlation functions in both theories.Comment: two citations and references corrected, 13 page

    Going the extra (synaptic) mile: excitotoxicity as the road toward neurodegenerative diseases

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    Copyright © 2020 Armada-Moreira, Gomes, Pina, Savchak, Gonçalves-Ribeiro, Rei, Pinto, Morais, Martins, Ribeiro, Sebastião, Crunelli and Vaz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Excitotoxicity is a phenomenon that describes the toxic actions of excitatory neurotransmitters, primarily glutamate, where the exacerbated or prolonged activation of glutamate receptors starts a cascade of neurotoxicity that ultimately leads to the loss of neuronal function and cell death. In this process, the shift between normal physiological function and excitotoxicity is largely controlled by astrocytes since they can control the levels of glutamate on the synaptic cleft. This control is achieved through glutamate clearance from the synaptic cleft and its underlying recycling through the glutamate-glutamine cycle. The molecular mechanism that triggers excitotoxicity involves alterations in glutamate and calcium metabolism, dysfunction of glutamate transporters, and malfunction of glutamate receptors, particularly N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptors (NMDAR). On the other hand, excitotoxicity can be regarded as a consequence of other cellular phenomena, such as mitochondrial dysfunction, physical neuronal damage, and oxidative stress. Regardless, it is known that the excessive activation of NMDAR results in the sustained influx of calcium into neurons and leads to several deleterious consequences, including mitochondrial dysfunction, reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction, impairment of calcium buffering, the release of pro-apoptotic factors, among others, that inevitably contribute to neuronal loss. A large body of evidence implicates NMDAR-mediated excitotoxicity as a central mechanism in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and epilepsy. In this review article, we explore different causes and consequences of excitotoxicity, discuss the involvement of NMDAR-mediated excitotoxicity and its downstream effects on several neurodegenerative disorders, and identify possible strategies to study new aspects of these diseases that may lead to the discovery of new therapeutic approaches. With the understanding that excitotoxicity is a common denominator in neurodegenerative diseases and other disorders, a new perspective on therapy can be considered, where the targets are not specific symptoms, but the underlying cellular phenomena of the disease.This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (PTDC/BTM-SAL/32147/2017, PD/BD/114278/2016, IMM/BI/2-2020), and by FCT/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (MCTES) through Fundos do Orçamento de Estado (UID/BIM/50005/2019). TM was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska/Curie grant agreement No. 722053.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Bauhinia variegata candida Fraction Induces Tumor Cell Death by Activation of Caspase-3, RIP, and TNF-R1 and Inhibits Cell Migration and Invasion In Vitro

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    Metastasis remains the most common cause of death in cancer patients. Inhibition of metalloproteinases (MMPs) is an interesting approach to cancer therapy because of their role in the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM), cell-cell, and cell-ECM interactions, modulating key events in cell migration and invasion. Herein, we show the cytotoxic and antimetastatic effects of the third fraction (FR3) from Bauhinia variegata candida (Bvc) stem on human cervical tumor cells (HeLa) and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). FR3 inhibited MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity, indicated by zymogram. This fraction was cytotoxic to HeLa cells and noncytotoxic to PBMCs and decreased HeLa cell migration and invasion. FR3 is believed to stimulate extrinsic apoptosis together with necroptosis, assessed by western blotting. FR3 inhibited MMP-2 activity in the HeLa supernatant, differently from the control. The atomic mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) characterization suggested the presence of glucopyranosides, D-pinitol, fatty acids, and phenolic acid. These findings provide insight suggesting that FR3 contains components with potential tumor-selective cytotoxic action in addition to the action on the migration of tumor cells, which may be due to inhibition of MMPs.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), Fundação CAPES, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ), and FINEP (MCTI/FINEP/MS/SCTIE/DECIT-01/2013-FPXII-BIOPLAT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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