To Publish or Not Publish – An Introspective

That is truly the question that today arises. The academic world is nowadays profoundly and, I dare say, perversely affected by the pressure to publish. It does not matter if you are a competent, knowledgeable, enthusiastic or even empathetic professor. I believe that these characteristics count almost for nothing. I constantly feel as in the academic world where I navigate, the only requirements are the number of papers we publish every year and the impact factor of the journals where they are published

1º Seminário Anual em Anestesiologia Veterinária

Para alunos do 4º ano e superiores, maioritariamente de discussão prática, focado na monitorização anestésica, protocolos anestésicos e anestesia por concentração alvo (TCI)

Redução da morbilidade iatrogénica no local dador de enxerto ósseo. Estudo de alternativas cirúrgicas em modelo ovino

Autogenous cancellous bone graft from the iliac crest and/or the tibial tuberosity is commonly used in the clinics to promote healing of critical-size segmental long bone defects. Bone harvesting is traumatic, causes morbidity of the donor site, and often results in complications. Monocortical bone defects in the ilium resulting from harvesting of bone graft require long time to heal, while bicortical and tricortical defects do not heal for life time. All these promote efforts to develop cancellous bone graft substitutes which might potentially replace autogenous bone graft. Among biomaterials for cancellous bone graft substitutes are bioresorbable polyhydroxyacids and polyurethanes. Polyurethanes are of special interest as they can be synthesized over a broad range of physical and biochemical properties, controllable rates of in vivo degradation and processed into porous scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Elastomeric polyurethane bone graft substitutes when used to treat bone defects, allow for an intimate contact to be established at the native bone-scaffold interface, which may promote cell migration from bone ends into scaffold and facilitate bone healing. In this study biodegradable elastomeric polyurethane scaffolds were used as cancellous bone graft substitutes to treat critical-size defects in the iliac crest (40 mm X 20 mm) and tibial tuberosity of sheep (15 mm X 15 mm). The polyurethane scaffolds had controlled ratio of the hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic components, the pore size in the range of 80 to 380 μm, the pore-to-volume ratio in the range of 75 to 90%, and were loaded with nanosize hydroxyapatite crystals to promote osteoconductivity. There were four groups of six animals each: Group I (control group) – bone defects left empty; Group II – bone defects covered with a microporous polymeric membrane from poly (L/DL lactide) 80/20; Group III – bone defects filled with polyurethane scaffolds modified with a system of creatine/putrescine and covered with the microporous polymeric membrane from poly (L/DL lactide) 80/20; Group IV bone defects filled with polyurethane scaffolds modified with soy lecithine and covered with the microporous polymeric membrane from poly (L/DL lactide) 80/20. The duration of the experiments was 26 weeks. At this time the animals were euthanized, the bone specimens were harvested and evaluated using computerized tomography, macrorradiography and histomorphometry. Bone specimens for histological evaluation were stained with vital fluorescents stains (calcein green and xylenol orange) and Giemsa-eosin. In group I (control), in both the tibial tuberosity and the iliac crest, in none of the animals there was bone regeneration. This is not astonishing as the defects were of critical-sized. In group II, in both donor sites, the new bone bridged the bone ends in all animals. This clearly indicates that the poly(L/DL-lactide) 80/20 membrane acts as a guide which promotes bone regeneration in the defect covered with membrane (guided bone regeneration GBR). Interestingly, the new bone was also present in the pores of the membrane indicating its osteoconductive potential. Although these results were not statistically significant, they evidently show that the membrane is osteopromotive. In groups III and IV, in which bone defects were implanted with polyurethane scaffolds modified with biologically active compounds, bone regeneration was more efficient then in group II in both the tibial tuberosity and the iliac crest. In groups III and IV there were higher values of: number of osteons per optical field. There were also higher values of: number of osteons per optical field (38,1+8,3 42,7+7,4 and 25,4+12,7 respectively; P<0,05), bone apposition rate (2,7+0,3 2,4+0,1 2,2+0,7 N.S) and bone density of bone regenerate in tibial defect (250,5+143,1 244,6+95,5 10,8+48,0 P<0,05). In the remaining parameters for the tibial tuberosity and iliac crest, we only found values that suggested a favourable tendency to osteoregeneration. There were no statistically significant differences between group III and IV. The results obtained in this study suggest that biodegradable polyurethane cancellous bone graft substitutes modified with biologically active substances may offer an alternative to autogenous cancellous bone graft in the treatment of bone defects. The capacity of these substitutes to facilitate bone regeneration can be promoted by impregnation with specific enrichments. These polyurethane cancellous bone graft substitutes when used to fill donor site defects may significantly reduce their morbidity

Connection between Human and Animal Health

The strong connection between human and animal health. How far can we go with the One Health approach? The Zoobiquity revelation

Plano de marketing de uma ONGD : Associação Equipa d’África

Mestrado em MarketingA relevância da disciplina do marketing na área do terceiro setor surge, por um lado devido à crescente competitividade do mercado pelos escassos recursos financeiros e humanos, e por outro, devido à exigência que tem sido imposta às organizações sem fins lucrativos, principalmente na importância do planeamento estratégico, possibilitando a melhor rentabilização dos recursos já existentes. Por consequência, as organizações têm procurado investir na implementação de ferramentas de marketing, promovendo a sua sustentabilidade. A Associação Equipa d'África, através de projetos de voluntariado nacional e internacional, de cooperação para o desenvolvimento, tem como principal objetivo melhorar as condições de vida das populações locais. A par de outras organizações do setor, enfrenta desafios a nível da angariação de fundos e da atração e recrutamento de voluntários, que dificulta o seu crescimento enquanto associação. O presente trabalho pretende desenvolver um Plano de Marketing Social com o principal objetivo de potenciar a angariação de recursos financeiros e humanos da Associação Equipa d'África, no ano de atividade 2020/2021. Através de uma recolha de dados primários e secundários, segundo uma estratégia metodológica de action research, procedeu-se a uma análise situacional da organização, que permitiu identificar as suas forças, fraquezas, oportunidades e ameaças. Posteriormente, foram definidos os públicos-alvo, objetivos e estratégias de marketing, e táticas de marketing-mix a implementar. Para além da contribuição prática para a Associação Equipa d'África, as conclusões do presente estudo contribuem de uma forma mais generalizada para a área do marketing social.The relevance of the marketing in the third sector it is been arising, on one hand, due to the growing competition for scarce financial and human resources, and on the other, due to the requirement that has been imposed on non-profit organizations, mainly in the importance of strategic planning, which enables a better management of the existing resources. Consequently, organizations have sought to invest in the implementation of marketing tools, leading to their sustainability. Through national and international volunteer projects of cooperation for development Associação Equipa d'África, has as its main objective: improve the living conditions of the local populations. Along with other organizations in the sector, it faces challenges in terms of fundraising and attracting and recruiting volunteers, which hinders its growth as an association. Hence, this Final Master's Thesis intends to develop a Social Marketing Plan with the main objective of enhancing the raising of financial and human resources of Equipa d'África, in the year 2020/2021. Through a collection of primary and secondary data, according to a methodological strategy of action research, a situational analysis of the organization was carried out, which allowed to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Subsequently, target audiences, marketing objectives and strategies, and marketing-mix tactics to be implemented were defined. In addition to the practical contribution specifically to Associação Equipa d'África, the conclusions of this study contribute to the area of social marketing as a whole.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

European dog owner perceptions of obesity and factors associated with human and canine obesity

Obesity is a common nutrition-related disorder leading to reduced life expectancy in both humans and dogs. With the aim of identifying new prevention and control options, the study objectives were (1) to investigate dog-owner perceptions about obesity in terms of themselves and their dogs, and (2) to identify factors associated with obesity and possible social, environmental and economic drivers for its development in dog owners and their pets. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was performed across multiple countries. The questionnaire focused on human and canine obesity, associated factors and potential drivers, and was distributed online and in the form of hard copies among dog owners in 11 European countries. In total, 3,185 responses from ten countries were included in multivariable analyses. Between 19.1% and 48.8% of the dog owners reported to be overweight/obese. Owner-reported overweight/obesity in dogs ranged from 6.0% to 31.3% based on body condition score charts, and 31.8% to 69.4% based on body fat index charts. Common factors associated with obesity in owners and their dogs were age, gender and owners’ attitudes to diet and physical activity. Dog owners who did not consider obesity to be a disease were more likely to have obese dogs

Serum Ionized Calcium Variations in Simple and Comminuted Fractures in the Dog’s Appendicular Skeleton and Consequent Risks of a Hypercalcemic Condition

A sample of 40 Canis familiaris (n=40) of unknown gender and breed was divided into two groups: (1) the control group (CG), which featured trauma but no fractures, and (2) the study group, which featured appendicular skeletal fractures (FG); FG was further subdivided into two groups according to the type of fracture: a) simple fractures (SFG) and b) comminuted fracture (CFG). The present study sought (1) to compare the serum- ionized Ca2+ levels of SF patients with those of CF patients and (2) to establish the existence of a relationship between SF and CF statuses based on patients’ clinical symptoms. iCa2+ was measured using an i-STAT® Abbott® CG8+ analytic system. Patients were assessed for clinical symptoms associated with potential hypercalcemia. Results were statistically significant for P values < 0.05. Differences between CG and FG were registered for clinical symptoms. Patients with SF and CF always presented a higher average value of iCa2+ than CT patients, although no statistically significant differences between the SF and CF groups were observed. SF and CF patients should always be assumed to have a mild hypercalcemic condition until laboratory results prove otherwise. CF patients in the present study presented with significantly higher expressions of clinical symptoms compared with those in the SF group. Consequently, iCa2+ level measurements should always be a part of the basic laboratory panels and be required by clinicians whenever patients are presented with fractures. Medications that promote extracellular increases in Ca2+ should be avoided until a patient’s iCa2 + level is determined, thus ensuring the patient’s safet

Torção de mesentério – um caso clínico

Os autores descrevem um caso clínico numa cadela Boxer de dezoito meses, cujo diagnóstico definitivo de torção mesentérica, foi alcançado numa laparotomia exploratória de urgência. A cirurgia foi um sucesso e passados dezoito meses da mesma, a cadela apresenta-se em bom estado geral e exame clínico normal. Esta é uma situação pouco frequente nos nossos animais de companhia, de prognóstico grave e cuja taxa de mortalidade ronda os 100%. Está descrita com maior incidência na raça Pastor Alemão e Pointer, não tendo sido encontrados, até à data, quaisquer registos na raça Boxer. A maior parte dos diagnósticos é apenas alcançado em necrópsia, dado que a maioria dos animais sucumbe antes de um diagnóstico definitivo

Dermatite pustular bacteriana em Python molurus

Descrição de um caso clínico de dermatite pustular numa cobra pito

Characterization of weight-bearing compensation in dogs with bilateral hip osteoarthritis

Área de pesquisa: Veterinary SciencesTo describe the weight-bearing compensation in working dogs with bilateral hip osteoarthritis (OA), 50 police working dogs were evaluated with a weight distribution platform at the initial evaluation and after intra-articular treatment (a negative control 0.9% sodium chloride (NaCl), a platelet concentrate, Hylan G-F 20, triamcinolone hexacetonide or stanozolol). Six evaluation sessions were performed, over a 180-day period. Results were compared by breed, age, sex, weight and Orthopedic Foundation for Animals hip grade scores with the Independent Samples T-Test, repeated samples Analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficient, P < .05. Animals had a mean age of 6.5 § 2.4 years and a bodyweight of 26.7 § 5.2kg. No significant differences were observed when comparing weight-bearing for different breeds, sex, hip grades or weight during the initial evaluation. Significant differences were observed in deviation (P < .01) and symmetry index (P < .01) between the control and treatment groups during the follow-up period. A weight shift from pelvic to thoracic limbs was observed, with a weak, although a significant, correlation between a pelvic limb and the opposing contralateral thoracic limb. Labrador Retrievers showed higher symmetry index and deviation from normal values during the follow-up period than German Shepherd Dogs and Dutch Shepherd Dogs. Male dogs also showed higher symmetry index and deviation compared with females. At this period, the symmetry index showed a weak, although significant, correlation with body weight. Weight-bearing of all limbs correlated with the remaining limbs, reflecting a more balanced weight distribution than the initial evaluation. The weight distribution platform can be used to evaluate patients, at the initial presentation and during the assessment of response to treatment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio