Avicultura Industrial: Novos Conceitos de Materiais, Concepções e Técnicas Construtivas Disponíveis para Galpões Avícolas Brasileiros Industrial Aviculture: New Concepts of Materials, Conceptions and Constructive Techniques Available for Brazilian Poultry Houses

Ao grande crescimento das fronteiras mercadológicas e ao extraordinário progresso científico verificado na avicultura industrial, contrapõe-se a pouca atenção que se deu, até recentemente, às técnicas de alojamento e, efetivamente, ao ambiente de criação das aves. Somente há questão de sete anos, com a perspectiva do processo de globalização que hoje movimenta a economia mundial, essa indústria passou a buscar, nas instalações e no ambiente, as possibilidades de melhoria no desempenho avícola e a redução dos custos de produção como forma de manter a competitividade. A produção de aves em alta densidade passou a ser imperativa e, dessa forma, a exigência de conforto térmico ambiental, que já havia crescido muito com o aumento da precocidade das aves, tornou-se ainda maior, como conseqüência da elevação da densidade de alojamento. Assim, para se manter competitiva, a indústria avícola brasileira está tendo de evoluir, rapidamente, de uma situação de quase indiferença aos princípios do acondicionamento térmico ambiente, para uma situação em que cada empresa ou integração deve tomar decisões relativas à adoção de concepções arquitetônicas e manejos inovadores, associados a sistemas de acondicionamento térmico naturais e artificiais, compatíveis com a sua realidade. Essas decisões incluem a readequação dos galpões já existentes e a concepção de novas unidades. Seguramente, estamos vivendo o momento de mais intensas transformações dos alojamentos avícolas brasileiros até então presenciado. Do exposto, esse trabalho busca abordar o planejamento, a concepção arquitetônica e os diferentes materiais e técnicas construtivas disponíveis para a indústria avícola brasileira no que diz respeito aos galpões de alojamentos das aves, visando propiciar um melhor acondicionamento térmico ambiente, compatível com as diferentes regiões climáticas brasileiras.<br>To the great growth of the market and the extraordinary scientific progress verified in the Brazilian poultry industry, little attention was given, until recently, to the lodging techniques and, indeed, to the environment of growing birds. This is only a seven year-old subject, and with the perspective of the globalization process that today moves the world economy, this industry started to look for facilities and environment, seeking the improvement possibilities in the poultry activity and the reduction of the production costs as a form of maintaining the competitiveness. The high-density production of birds became imperative and, this way, the demand of environmental thermal comfort, which had already grown a lot with the increase of the precocity of the birds, became even larger, as a consequence of the increase of lodging density. Thus, to continue being competitive, the Brazilian poultry industry has to develop, as soon as possible, from the situation of almost indifference of the beginning of the thermal atmosphere conditioning, to a situation in which each company or integration should take its own decisions of adoption of architectural conceptions and innovations associated with systems of thermal, natural and artificial conditioning, compatible with its reality. Decisions that already include the modifications of the existing houses and the conception of new units. We are witnessing, for sure, the moment of more intense transformations of the Brazilian poultry lodgings. From what was exposed, this work intends to approach the planning, the architectural conception and the different materials and available constructive techniques for the Brazilian poultry industry that refers to the lodgings of the birds, seeking to propitiate a better conditioned thermal atmosphere, compatible with the different Brazilian climatic areas

Ezetimibe added to statin therapy after acute coronary syndromes

BACKGROUND: Statin therapy reduces low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels and the risk of cardiovascular events, but whether the addition of ezetimibe, a nonstatin drug that reduces intestinal cholesterol absorption, can reduce the rate of cardiovascular events further is not known. METHODS: We conducted a double-blind, randomized trial involving 18,144 patients who had been hospitalized for an acute coronary syndrome within the preceding 10 days and had LDL cholesterol levels of 50 to 100 mg per deciliter (1.3 to 2.6 mmol per liter) if they were receiving lipid-lowering therapy or 50 to 125 mg per deciliter (1.3 to 3.2 mmol per liter) if they were not receiving lipid-lowering therapy. The combination of simvastatin (40 mg) and ezetimibe (10 mg) (simvastatin-ezetimibe) was compared with simvastatin (40 mg) and placebo (simvastatin monotherapy). The primary end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, unstable angina requiring rehospitalization, coronary revascularization ( 6530 days after randomization), or nonfatal stroke. The median follow-up was 6 years. RESULTS: The median time-weighted average LDL cholesterol level during the study was 53.7 mg per deciliter (1.4 mmol per liter) in the simvastatin-ezetimibe group, as compared with 69.5 mg per deciliter (1.8 mmol per liter) in the simvastatin-monotherapy group (P<0.001). The Kaplan-Meier event rate for the primary end point at 7 years was 32.7% in the simvastatin-ezetimibe group, as compared with 34.7% in the simvastatin-monotherapy group (absolute risk difference, 2.0 percentage points; hazard ratio, 0.936; 95% confidence interval, 0.89 to 0.99; P = 0.016). Rates of pre-specified muscle, gallbladder, and hepatic adverse effects and cancer were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: When added to statin therapy, ezetimibe resulted in incremental lowering of LDL cholesterol levels and improved cardiovascular outcomes. Moreover, lowering LDL cholesterol to levels below previous targets provided additional benefit