La caça sostenible del pecarí labiat a l'Amazònia peruana

El pecarí labiat, artiodàctil semblant al senglar europeu, és un recurs de gran importància per als pobladors rurals de l'Amazònia peruana, que els cacen principalment per menjar o vendre la seva carn i per comerciar amb la seva pell. Aquest treball ha estudiat la biologia reproductiva dels pecarís labiats de la regió, per determinar el grau de sostenibilitat de la caça autòctona a l'Amazònia peruana. Els resultats mostren la capacitat de l'espècie per recuperar-se de qualsevol agressió i estableix la necessitat de posar en pràctica estratègies per preservar-la i assegurar l'ús racional dels recursos naturals. D'altra banda, aquest treball mostra la importància de fer partíceps d'aquests estudis a les comunitats locals amazòniques.El pecarí labiado, artiodáctilo similar al jabalí europeo, es un recurso de gran importancia para los pobladores rurales de la Amazonía peruana, que los cazan principalmente para comer o vender su carne y para comerciar con su piel. Este trabajo ha estudiado la biología reproductiva de los pecaríes labiados de la región, para determinar el grado de sostenibilidad de la caza autóctona en la Amazonía peruana. Los resultados muestran la capacidad de la especie para recuperarse de cualquier agresión y establece la necesidad de poner en práctica estrategias de manejo para mantener su preservación y asegurar el uso racional de los recursos naturales. Por otro lado, este trabajo muestra la importancia de hacer partícipes de estos estudios a las comunidades locales amazónicas

Vesícules extracel·lulars en plasma seminal de pollastre : caracterització i funcionalitat

L'estudi de vesícules extracel·lulars del fluid seminal del pollastre té gran potencial, ja que aquestes estan presents en altres teixits i òrgans, i el fluid està relacionat no només en la fecundació i la reproducció, sinó també en canvis i mecanismes i funcions de proteïnes i gens; cosa que permetria estudiar malalties. De tota manera, es trasllada l'interès a altres elements del fluid perquè, encara que aquestes funcions i processos anomenats vinculen el gen tetraspanina CD9 i el receptor de hialurònic CD44 presents a les vesícules, no s'han pogut correlacionar.El estudio de vesículas extracelulares del fluido seminal del pollo tiene un gran potencial, ya que estas están presentes en otros tejidos y órganos, y el fluido está relacionado no solamente con la fecundación y la reproducción, sino también con cambios y mecanismos y funciones de proteínas y genes, entre otros; lo que permitiría estudiar enfermedades. De todos modos, se traslada el interés a otros elementos del fluido porque, aunque estas funciones y procesos mencionados vinculan al gen tetraspanina CD9 y al receptor de hialurónico CD44 presentes en las vesículas, no se han podido correlacionar

Nou mètode per a la monitorització reproductiva de femelles de pècari de collar (Pecari tajacu)

La biologia reproductiva del pècari de collar, una espècie silvestre àmpliament dispersada des de la Amèrica tropical fins la subtropical, és poc coneguda i la seva comprensió és fonamental per optimitzar el maneig de l'espècie. En el present estudi es mostra un mètode, anomenat fPM, no invasiu, simple i molt útil per recollir informació ja que es basa en l'estudi dels metabòlits de progesterona en la femta. D'aquesta manera, s'aconsegueix realitzar un monitoratge hormonal sense necessitat de realitzar captures i contencions físiques que puguin provocar efectes negatius en el benestar dels animals.La biología reproductiva del pecarí de collar, una especie silvestre ampliamente dispersada desde la América tropical hasta la subtropical, es poco conocida y su compresión es fundamental para optimizar el manejo de la especie. En el presente estudio se muestra un método, llamado fPM, no invasivo, simple y muy útil para recoger información ya que se basa en el estudio de los metabolitos de progesterona en las heces. De esta manera, se consigue realizar un monitoreo hormonal sin necesidad de realizar capturas y contenciones físicas que puedan provocar efectos negativos en el bienestar de los animales.The reproductive biology of collared peccary, a wild species widely dispersed from tropical America to subtropical, is little known and its understanding is essential to optimize the species. The present study shows a simple and non-invasive method, called fPM, which is very useful to gather biological information since it is based on the study progesterone metabolites excreted in the feces. This way, it is possible to perform a hormonal monitoring without the need for captures and restraints that may cause negative effects on the welfare of the animals

Impact of breed and sex on porcine endocrine transcriptome: a bayesian biometrical analysis

Background: Transcriptome variability is due to genetic and environmental causes, much like any other complex phenotype. Ascertaining the transcriptome differences between individuals is an important step to understand how selection and genetic drift may affect gene expression. To that end, extant divergent livestock breeds offer an ideal genetic material. Results: We have analyzed with microarrays five tissues from the endocrine axis (hypothalamus, adenohypophysis, thyroid gland, gonads and fat tissue) of 16 pigs from both sexes pertaining to four extreme breeds (Duroc, Large White, Iberian and a cross with SinoEuropean hybrid line). Using a Bayesian linear model approach, we observed that the largest breed variability corresponded to the male gonads, and was larger than at the remaining tissues, including ovaries. Measurement of sex hormones in peripheral blood at slaughter did not detect any breed-related differences. Not unexpectedly, the gonads were the tissue with the largest number of sex biased genes. There was a strong correlation between sex and breed bias expression, although the most breed biased genes were not the most sex biased genes. A combined analysis of connectivity and differential expression suggested three biological processes as being primarily different between breeds: spermatogenesis, muscle differentiation and several metabolic processes. Conclusion: These results suggest that differences across breeds in gene expression of the male gonads are larger than in other endocrine tissues in the pig. Nevertheless, the strong presence of breed biased genes in the male gonads cannot be explained solely by changes in spermatogenesis nor by differences in the reproductive tract development

Metodologías docentes basadas en las TIC y orientadas al autoaprendizaje en asignaturas con un elevado contenido iconográfico en la licenciatura de veterinària de la UAB

La adaptación de los estudios universitarios al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) pretende conseguir un nuevo modelo educativo basado en el aprendizaje activo del estudiante. En este sentido, las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TICs) pueden desempeñar un papel importante en la renovación de la metodología docente, y muy especialmente en asignaturas donde la carga iconográfica es fundamental, tal como ocurre en las Ciencias morfológicas y en algunas materias clínicas. En la Licenciatura en Veterinària de la UAB la carga presencial del alumno es muy elevada, lo que deja poco tiempo para el autoaprendizaje activo y el estudio autónomo. Para intentar paliar este problema, en nuestra Titulación se están elaborando en los últimos años diversos atlas y otros documentos virtuales cuyos contenidos didácticos están relacionados con materias como la Anatomía, Parasitología, Radiología y Anatomía Patológica. Estos materiales, algunos de los cuales ya están publicados on line en la plataforma Veterinària Virtual (http://quiro.uab.es), y que están a disposición de los estudiantes, posibilitan reducir en parte la carga presencial, sirven de ayuda en el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje, facilitan el aprendizaje no presencial, autónomo y activo y permiten la evaluación continuada, consiguiendo en definitiva un aumento del protagonismo del alumno en el proceso educativo, lo que constituye una de las metas de la adaptación al EEES. Los alumnos valoran muy positivamente la publicación on line de material educativo, ya que representa un recurso didáctico fácilmente disponible, de acceso permanente y de bajo coste económico.The adaptation of undergraduate studies to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) tries to develop a new educational model based on the active-learning role of the student. The aplication on higher education of Information and Communication Technologies may be an important tool for improving the present teaching methods, especially in subjects based on a high iconographical content, such as morphological sciences and some clinician subjects. In the undergraduate Veterinarian studies of the UAB, the face-to-face workload of the students (lectures, practical sessions...) is very high, and this fact does not allow enough time to the students for a correct active and self-learning model. With the objective of reducing the impact of that problem, the teaching staff of subjects such as Animal Anatomy, Parasitology and Pathology is reducing the face-to-face teaching activities and publishing online digital contents, mainly in form of atlases. Some of those contents are published on our educational web site, named "Veterinaria Virtual" (http://quiro.uab.es). The students have free access to the contents and, in addition to the reduced face-to-face workload, it is sugested that it helps to improve the teaching-learning process, making easier the active and self-learning and allowing the continous evaluation of the student. These facts can help to locate the student in the centre of the teaching-learning process, acquiring the needed protagonism in the educational process wich is one of the main purposes of the adaptation to the EHEA. The student's opinion about the free availability online of the educational contents is very positive because it can be easily and continuosly consulted with a low economical cost

Blubber and serum cortisol concentrations as indicators of the stress response and overall health status in striped dolphins

Altres ajuts: acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICThe impacts of environmental changes and anthropogenic threats in marine mammals are a growing concern for their conservation. In recent years, efforts have been directed to understand how marine mammals cope with stressors and to assess and validate stress biomarkers, mainly levels of glucocorticoid hormones (e.g. cortisol) in certain body tissues. The aims of this study were to assess the impact of different causes of stranding (chronically affected and bycaught striped dolphins) on cortisol concentrations in serum and in blubber; and to evaluate the association between cortisol levels in these tissues. Blubber and blood samples were collected from striped dolphins (n = 42) stranded on the Mediterranean coast between 2012 and 2018. Cortisol concentrations were measured by using enzyme immunoassay. A high correlation was found between circulating and blubber cortisol concentrations (R = 0.85, p < 0.01). Necropsies and pathological studies concluded that a third of the dolphins were bycaught in fishing nets and released by fishermen (Bycaught animals group), while the other two thirds were euthanized, or died, due to a disease or chronic condition (e.g. calves separated from the mother or animals infected with dolphin morbillivirus or Brucella ceti) that impeded survival (Chronically affected animals group). Cortisol concentrations (mean ± SD) were six times higher in chronically affected animals (35.3 ± 23 ng cortisol/g blubber and 6.63 ± 3.22 μg cortisol/dl serum) compared to those bycaught in fishing nets (6.2 ± 4.3 ng cortisol/g blubber and 1.15 ± 1.51 μg cortisol/dl serum). Results suggests that serum and blubber cortisol concentrations can contribute in inferring the overall health and welfare of free-ranging cetaceans. However, further research is required to understand better the kinetics of blubber cortisol incorporation and removal, the factors involved in these processes, and the local conversion of cortisol in the blubber

Utilización de metodologías de aprendizaje activo en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la anatomía veterinaria

Tradicionalmente, la enseñanza de la Anatomía Veterinaria ha estado basada fundamentalmente en las clases magistrales y en las prácticas en la Sala de disección. En el último curso 2005-06, y aprovechando la entrada de la Titulación de Veterinària en el Plan piloto de adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, se han introducido en la asignatura Anatomía II, que se imparte en el primer curso de la Licenciatura, metodologías de aprendizaje centradas en el estudiante. Concretamente, y por medio de la plataforma Campus Virtual de la UAB, se le encargó al alumno la resolución de casos que pretendían proporcionar una visión integrada de la materia, a través del aprendizaje autónomo de aspectos de la asignatura que no se estudiaron en las clases tradicionales teóricas y prácticas. Los alumnos han aceptado positivamente la introducción de casos como metodología de aprendizaje. La mayor parte de ellos consideran que han aprendido y que les ha ayudado a comprender la asignatura, e incluso prefieren resolver uno o más casos y que los exámenes clásicos tengan una menor importancia en la nota final de la asignatura. Sin embargo, y a pesar de que el tiempo de trabajo invertido en la resolución del caso ha estado en consonancia con la carga en ects calculada por el profesor, buena parte de los estudiantes piensan que la carga de trabajo ha sido elevada y que el valor del caso en la nota final tendría que ser superior al valor asignado. En conclusión, la inclusión de casos en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la Anatomía Veterinaria es un buen instrumento que estimula el aprendizaje activo y autónomo del estudiante

Costs of breeding are rapidly buffered and do not affect migratory behaviour in a long-lived bird species

Life history theory states that individual fitness in one stage of life is conditioned by what occurred in previous stages. In migratory species, reproductive effort during breeding has often been found to influence body condition, molt schedule, self‐provisioning and migration of individuals in subsequent seasons (i.e., carryover effects of breeding). However, there is a current uncertainty in understanding how long‐distance migrants trade off among such energy‐demanding activities (i.e., breeding, molting and migrating). To provide evidence to the field, we experimentally reduced the parental effort of a long‐lived Procellariform, the Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis), by inducing failure at the incubation stage. Treatment and control birds were tracked during their subsequent migration by means of light‐level and immersion loggers and sampled for six specific feathers (molted at different periods along the migratory cycle) upon the recovery of the loggers 1 yr later. Feathers were used to perform stable isotope analysis (SIA) and determine corticosterone levels (CORT). By these means, we evaluated the effect of breeding effort on migratory strategy, at‐sea activity patterns, molt patterns, and levels of stress experienced by birds along the non‐breeding period. We did not detect any difference between birds in the induced failure group and successful breeders in terms of spatio‐temporal distribution: all birds shared common foraging areas throughout the study period and the timing of major phenological events did not differ. Failed birds significantly advanced their molt, as revealed by SIA and flying activity patterns. The stress levels of failed birds, inferred through CORT concentrations in feathers, were found to be consistently lower than in successful breeders, through the end of the breeding to the non‐breeding period. Thus, we provide robust evidence that the costs of reproduction can be physiologically mediated from the breeding to the non‐breeding period through molting schedules and CORT levels. However, we failed to detect clear effects on migratory behavior or subsequent breeding success, suggesting that costs of breeding in long‐lived species may be rapidly buffered during the post‐breeding period, as would be expected from life history theory

NR3C1 and glucocorticoid-regulatory genes mRNA and protein expression in the endometrium and ampulla during the bovine estrous cycle

Altres ajuts: acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICThe bovine reproductive tract exhibits changes during the estrous cycle modulated by the interplay of steroid hormones. Glucocorticoids can be detrimental when stress-induced but are relevant at baseline levels for appropriate reproductive function. Here, an analysis of quantitative real-time PCR was performed to study the bovine glucocorticoid-related baseline gene transcription in endometrial and ampullar tissue samples derived from three time points of the estrous cycle, stage I (Days 1-4), stage III (Days 11-17) and stage IV (Days 18-20). Our results revealed expression differences during stages, as expression observed in the ampulla was higher during the post-ovulatory phase (stage I), including the glucocorticoid receptor NR3C1, and some of its regulators, involved in glucocorticoid availability (HSD11B1 and HSD11B2) and transcriptional actions (FKBP4 and FKBP5). In contrast, in the endometrium, higher expression of the steroid receptors was observed during the late luteal phase (stage III), including ESR1, ESR2, PGRMC1 and PGRMC2, and HSD11B1 expression decreased, while HSD11B2 increased. Moreover, at protein level, FKBP4 was higher expressed during the late luteal phase, and NR3C1 during the pre-ovulatory phase (stage IV). These results suggest that tight regulation of the glucocorticoid activity is promoted in the ampulla, when reproductive events are taking place, including oocyte maturation. Moreover, most expression changes in the endometrium were observed during the late luteal phase, and may be related to the embryonic maternal recognition. In conclusion, the glucocorticoid regulation changes across the estrous cycle and may be playing a role on the reproductive events occurring in the bovine ampulla and endometrium

Ultrastructural damage of Loligo vulgaris and Illex coindetii statocysts after low frequency sound exposure

There is a considerable lack of information concerning marine invertebrate sensitivity to sound exposure. However, recent findings on cuttlefish and octopi showed that exposure to artificial noise had a direct consequence on the functionality and physiology of the statocysts, sensory organs, which are responsible for their equilibrium and movements in the water column. Owing to a lack of available data on deep diving cephalopod species, we conducted a noise exposure comparative experiment on one Mediterranean squid, Illex coindetii, and on the European squid Loligo vulgaris. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed similar injuries in the inner structure of the statocysts, as those found in cuttlefish and octopi. In addition to the ultrastructural description of the lesions, we publish here the first images of the crista-cupula system and inner statocyst cavity of I. coindetii