Unbalanced sex in plot in experimentation with chickens

Estudou-se a influência do desbalanceamento de sexo na parcela, em frangos de corte, em quatro idades (I) de abate: 44, 48, 52 e 56 dias e cinco tamanhos de parcelas (TP): 10 (P10), 20 (P10), 30 (P30), 40 (P40) e 50 (P50) aves. O trabalho foi realizado no Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Suínos e Aves, em Concórdia, SC, em 1986, com os dados de pesagens (Pi) obtidos por simulação. Cada combinação I e TP constituiu um experimento, sendo o tratamento-controle (TC) atribuído à parcela com 50% machos (M) e 50% fêmeas (F). Os demais tratamentos foram organizados considerando-se todas as combinações de sexo na parcela, mantendo-se o número de aves de um determinado sexo igual ao TC. Os graus de concordância, de enviezamento e de achatamento dos valores de Pi, com a distribuição normal, foram medidos, respectivamente, pela estatística D de Lilliefors, do coeficiente de assimetria (a3) e de curtose (a4). O desbalanceamento de sexo (ds) na parcela altera o nível de significância na comparação de tratamento, sendo o desbalanceamento com relação a machos mais prejudicial que o de fêmeas. Uma diferença de aproximadamente 0,20% na média de qualquer tratamento em relação ao controle, devido ao ds, é suficiente para alterar o nível de significância na vizinhança de α = 0,05, em experimentos com dez ou mais aves por parcela. The influence of unbalanced sex in the plot of broilers was studied in four ages for slaughtering (A): 44, 48, 52 and 56 days, and five size plots (P): 10 (P10); 20 (P20); 30 (P30); 40 (P40) and 50 (P50) birds. The experiment was carried out in the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Suínos e Aves (Swine and Poultry National Research Center) at Concórdia, SC, Brazil, in 1986, with weight data (Wi) obtained by simulation. Each combination A and P resulted an experiment, and the plot containing 50% males (M) and 50% females (F) was considered the control treatment (CT). The other treatments were organized considering all of the sex combinations in the plot, maintaining the number of birds of a determined sex equal to the control treatment (CT). The agreement, the slope and the squash of the Wi data with the normal distribution were calculated, respectively, by Lilliefors test (D), coefficient of asymmetry (a3) and coefficient of curtosis (a4). The influence of unbalanced sex (US) alterates the level of significancy in the comparison of treatments. The unbalance in relation to males is more severe than in relation to females. A difference of about 0.20% in the average of any treatment compared to the control, due to US, is enough to alterate the significancy level around α = 0.05 in experiments with more than ten birds by plot.

Growth patterns in broilers

Regressões polinomiais e não-lineares (Gompertz, Richards, Logística e Bertalanffy) foram ajustadas a dados peso e idade de frangos e frangas, do nascimento aos 68 dias. O experimento foi realizado em Concórdia, SC, entre agosto e outubro de 1981. As rações ministradas ad libitum, eram isocalóricas e isoprotóicas; no período inicial (1 a 28 dias), continham 2.970 kcal/kg de energia metabolizável (EM) e 22,8% de proteína bruta (PB) e, na fase final (29 a 68 dias), 3.050 kcal/kg de EM e 19,8% de PB. Os modelos Gompertz, Logístico e Bertalanffy, apresentaram valores mais altos para os coeficientes de determinação corrigidos (R2), superiores a 0,98, e médias de erros de predição (EP) em valor absoluto, estatisticamente inferiores (P<0,05). A regressão cúbica apresentou, igualmente, valor alto para R2 ; porém para frangos, o valor absoluto de EP foi maior (P<0,05), que os três últimos modelos. A função linear, seguida da Richards e quadrática, apresentaram estimativas inadequadas do peso observado em todo o período estudado. As funções Gompertz e Logística apresentaram estimativas adequadas ao peso e idade à inflexão e da taxa de ganho diário. A Logística apresentou uma taxa de maturidade superior 30% à Gompertz, e a Bertalanffy superestimou o peso à maturidade.Polynomial regressions and nonlinear (Gompertz, Richards, Logistic and Bertalanffy) were fitted to age-weight data of male and female broilers from birth to 68 days. The experiment was carried out in Concórdia, SC, Brazil, from August to October 1981. The rations, supplied ad libitum, were isocaloric and isoproteic containing 2,970 kcal/kg of metabolizable energy (ME) and 22.8% of crude protein (CP) in the initial phase (first to 28th days) and 3,050 kcal/kg of EM and 19.8% CP in the final phase (29 to 68 days). The Gompertz, Logistic and Bertalanffy models showed the best corrected coefficient of determination (R2), over 0.98, and mean prediction errors (PE) were lower statistycally (P<0.05), in absolute value. The cubic regression provided also a high R-2, however, for male broilers the absolute value of PE was higher than the last three regressions (P<0.05). The linear followed by Richards and quadratic functions, provided poor estimates of observed weight in all studied periods. The Logistic and Gompertz functions provided adequate estimates of weigh and age at inflection point and daily gain rate. The Logistic function showed a 30% greater maturing rate than Gompertz, and the Bertalanffy over estimated the weight at maturity

Trigo-mourisco na alimentação de frangos de corte

An experiment was conducted at EMBRAPA/Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Suíno e Aves (CNPSA) at Concórdia, SC, Brazil, from October to November 1983. Two thousand four hundred and eighty-four Hubbard chicks were used in the experiment from day one to 49 days of age. Those chicks were randomly assigned to 54 pens in a 6 x 3 factorial experiment (6 ration x 3 sex cathegories with three replications of each treatment. The 18 treatments consisted of substituting com by buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) in the levels of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% and three cathegories involving sexes (100% males, 100% females and 50% males plus 50% of females). The pens of birds were weighed each week and corresponding feed consumption were determined to provide observations for statistical analysis. It could be seen from the results of total gain and feed conversion (2,036 and 2.07, 1,984 and 2.12. 1.958 and 2.15, 1,997 and 2.15, 1.952 and 2.29, 1.873 and 2.35, respectively in differents levels of substitution) that buckwheat can substitute com up to 60% in the ration. It was also found that the substitution of com for buckwheat would only be economically efficient when the ratio corn/buckwheat price was greater than 1.49.Foi realizado, no Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Suínos e Aves (CNPSA), da EMBRAPA, em Concórdia, SC, no período de outubro a novembro de 1983, um experimento utilizando o trigo-mourisco (Fagopyrum esculentum, Moench) em rações de frangos de corte. Foram utilizados 2.484 pintos da linhagem Hubbard, desde um até 49 dias de idade, distribuídos por 54 boxes em delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, com três repetições de cada tratamento; os 18 tratamentos foram organizados em esquema fatorial 6 x 3 (seis níveis de substituição do milho pelo trigo-mourisco: 0, 20, 40, 60, 80e 100% e três categorias de sexo: 100% macho (M), 100% fêmea (F) e 50% M + 50% F). Semanalmente, cada grupo foi pesado e determinou-se o consumo das rações para fornecer subsídios à análise estatística. Pelos resultados médios de ganho de peso (GP) e conversão alimentar (CA) (2.036 e 2,07; 1.984 e 2,13; 1.958 e 2,15; 1.997 e 2,15; 1.952 e 2.29; 1.873 e 2.35, respectivamente, nos diversos níveis de substituição) obtidos no período total (um a 49 dias), observou-se que o trigo-mourisco pode substituir até 60% do milho da ração. Entretanto, esta substituição será economicamente viável somente quando a relação preço do milho/preço do trigo-mourisco for maior do que 1,49

Effect of synbiotic supplementation in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis: a randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by excessive activation of immune processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of synbiotic supplementation on the inflammatory response in children/adolescents with CF. SUBJECTS/METHODS:A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, clinical-trial was conducted with control group (CG, n = 17), placebo-CF-group (PCFG, n = 19), synbiotic CF-group (SCFG, n = 22), PCFG negative (n = 8) and positive (n = 11) bacteriology, and SCFG negative (n = 12) and positive (n = 10) bacteriology. Markers of lung function (FEV1), nutritional status [body mass index-for age (BMI/A), height-for-age (H/A), weight-for-age (W/A), upper-arm fat area (UFA), upper-arm muscle area (UMA), body fat (%BF)], and inflammation [interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-10, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, myeloperoxidase (MPO), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx)] were evaluated before and after 90-day of supplementation with a synbiotic. RESULTS:No significance difference was found between the baseline and end evaluations of FEV1 and nutricional status markers. A significant interaction (time vs. group) was found for IL-12 (p = 0.010) and myeloperoxidase (p = 0.036) between PCFG and SCFG, however, the difference was not maintained after assessing the groups individually. NOx diminished significantly after supplementation in the SCFG (p = 0.030). In the SCFG with positive bacteriology, reductions were found in IL-6 (p = 0.033) and IL-8 (p = 0.009) after supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Synbiotic supplementation shown promise at diminishing the pro-inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-8 in the SCFG with positive bacteriology and NOx in the SCFG in children/adolescents with CF

Epidemiology of Invasive Fungal Infections in Latin America

The pathogenic role of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) has increased during the past two decades in Latin America and worldwide, and the number of patients at risk has risen dramatically. Working habits and leisure activities have also been a focus of attention by public health officials, as endemic mycoses have provoked a number of outbreaks. An extensive search of medical literature from Latin America suggests that the incidence of IFIs from both endemic and opportunistic fungi has increased. The increase in endemic mycoses is probably related to population changes (migration, tourism, and increased population growth), whereas the increase in opportunistic mycoses may be associated with the greater number of people at risk. In both cases, the early and appropriate use of diagnostic procedures has improved diagnosis and outcome

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio