MALE EFFECT: SUSTAINABILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN INDUCING ESTRUS IN GOATS/EFECTO MACHO: SOSTENIBILIDAD Y EFICIENCIA EN LA INDUCCIÓN DEL CELO EN CABRAS

The male effect is a strategy used in reproductive management of herds for the induction and synchronization of estrus, consisting of the reintroduction of males into a group of previously separated females. This interaction induces an increase in LH pulses followed by ovulation. In all species, there are communication mechanisms, many involving the use of chemoreceptor organs that enable the perception of pheromones, mediators in intraspecies interaction related to recognition for mating. Synchronization of female estrus by the male effect has many advantages reported by several authors, such as the reduction of costs, the absence of undesirable immune response by the use of chorionic gonadotropin, the decrease of hormonal residues in treated females, thus complying with ecological and sustainable production principles in animal production. El efecto macho es una estrategia usada en el manejo reproductivo de los rebaños para la inducción y sincronización del celo, consistiendo en la reintroducción de machos en un grupo de hembras previamente separadas. Esta interacción induce un incremento en los pulsos de LH seguidos por la ovulación. En todas las especies, existen unos mecanismos de comunicación, algunos involucran el uso de órganos quimiorreceptores que permiten la percepción de feromonas, mediadores en las interacciones intraespecíes relacionados con el reconocimiento para el apareamiento. La sincronización del celo en las hembras por el efecto macho tiene varias ventajas reportadas por diversos autores, tales como la reducción de costos, la ausencia de una respuesta inmune indeseada por el uso de gonadotropina coriónica, la disminución de residuos hormonales en las hembras tratadas, cumpliendo con los principios de una producción ecológica y sostenible en la producción animal.

Heat Stress and Body Temperature in Brown Swiss Cows Raised in Semi-Arid Climate of Ceará State, Brazil

Background: In tropical countries like Brazil, air temperature and relative humidity have a significant effect on animal physiology; there is a great impact of solar radiation on physiological parameters, especially on body temperature. This study evaluated the occurrence of heat stress in Brown Swiss cows in a tropical semi-arid climate, and checked for the correlation between internal body temperatures [rectal temperature (RT) and vaginal temperature (VT)] with surface temperature (ST) to determine if these variables are associated.Materials, Methods & Results: Twenty-eight Brown Swiss cows at three stages of the lactation cycle were used in this study: 10 nonpregant lactating (NPL) cows, 8 dry pregnant (DP) cows, and 10 pregnant lactating (PL) cows. These animals were between the second and third calving, weighed between 346 and 720 kg, and had ages between 2 and 13 years. During the experimental period, air temperature and relative humidity (RH) at the experimental site were measured using a digital thermohygrometer. The temperature and humidity index (THI) was calculated according to methodology described by Thom (1958), and was used as an environmental comfort parameter. For the evaluation of RT and VT, two digital clinical thermometers, one inserted in the vagina and the other in the rectum, were used simultaneously to minimize stress. Surface temperature (ST) was assessed using a digital infrared laser thermometer at a distance of 50 cm from the animal. Surface temperature was measured in the forehead (FST), thorax (TST), flank (FLST), and legs (LST). During the study period, the ambient temperature (AT) was significantly higher outside (in the sun) than inside of the facilities (in the shade) (P < 0.05). RH was inversely proportional to AT, and was significantly higher inside than outside the facilities (P < 0.05). Like AT, THI was significantly higher outside (in the sun) than inside the facilities (in the shade), with significant differences between these locations (P < 0.05). The amplitudes of the differences between the locations were as follows: 3.8°C for AT, 6.2% for RH, and 2.6 for THI. Mean values of rectal and vaginal temperatures were not significantly different from each other independent of lactation cycle stage, and were almost always significantly higher than the measured surface temperatures (P < 0.05). The maximum values obtained for each lactation cycle stage in this study were higher when compared to the mean values, showing that they are more representative of the occurrence of heat stress. Correlations between internal temperatures (RT and VT) and surface temperatures (TSF, TST, TSFL, and TSP) were weak and non-significant. ST values exhibited mostly weak, non-significant correlations, with the exception of FST with FLST and LST, which had moderate, significant correlations, as shown by the following coefficient factors: FST x FLST, 0.34; LST x FST, 0.415; and LST x FLST, 0.37.Discussion: A temperature of 34°C with RH ranging from 46% to 80% (i.e., a THI between 83 and 89) has been reported to have a significant thermal impact on dairy Brown Swiss cows; the THI values found in the present experiment were close to those. Body temperatures exhibited significant variations depending on the lactation cycle stage of the cows. Lactation concomitant with pregnancy significantly increases internal temperatures (RT and VT) in DP and NPL cows. This finding may be explained by the fact that pregnancy concomitant with lactation accelerates the metabolism, which results in higher food intake and increased production of body heat with consequent increase in internal body temperature. The maximum values of internal body temperatures (RT and TV) at all stages of the lactation cycle were higher than their corresponding average values, which indicates that some cows exhibited, at given moments, hyperthermia

Casos confirmados de Esquistossomose no Pará no período de 2007 a 2017 / Confirmed cases of Schistosomiasis in Pará in the period 2007 to 2017

Introdução: A esquistossomose é uma doença crônica causada pelos parasitas multicelulares platelmintos do gênero Schistosoma. A esquistossomose possui o homem como hospedeiro definitivo, modificações ambientais e condições inadequadas de saneamento básico são as principais responsáveis pelo aumento do número de transmissores e de seus focos de transmissão. Sendo uma doença relacionada fortemente com as condições socioeconômicas da população.Objetivo: Analisar os casos confirmados de Esquistossomose de 2007 a 2017 no Pará.Método: Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, feito com base em dados recolhidos por meio de fichas de notificação compulsórias do SINAN presentes no DATASUS. Foram recolhidas informações condizentes com o ano da notificação, cidades e escolaridade durante o período de 2007 a 2017.Resultados: Foram encontrados 174 casos notificados, sendo que a maioria ocorreu no ano de 2009 (22,9%), enquanto que minoria ocorreu no ano de 2007 (2,2%). Além disso a cidade mais afetada foi a cidade de Altamira (23,5%), porém acredita-se que possam existir subnotificações em outras cidades do estado. No que diz respeito a escolaridade, os mais afetados foram pacientes com escolaridade da 1ª à 4ª série incompleta do ensino fundamental (20,6%), seguidos pelos analfabetos (17,8%).Conclusão: Foi visto um acréscimo aos casos de notificação compulsória de Esquistossomose no Pará em um comparativo dos anos de 2007 e 2017. No entanto, acredita-se que ainda há muitas subnotificações, principalmente nas cidades mais interioranas.

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Artistas sobre outras obras

Este número da Revista Estúdio assinala a crescente maturação de um espaço de comunicação algo alternativo, onde artistas falam de artistas, dão a conhecer obras menos conhecidas, e ocupam uma área de curadoria expontânea e paralela aos centros do arte world. Dá-se a palavra aos próprios criadores, e há seis anos que o seu olhar vem enriquecendo um património crescente, com especiais ligações aos países onde se fala as línguas ibéricas. A presença de obras de Portugal, Espanha, Brasil, Angola, Argentina, Perú, Venezuela, Bolívia e muitos outros países tornou-se habitual, fazendo da Estúdio uma instância da semiosfera (Lotman). Mais do que a presença, é a dimensão do conhecimento transmitido, a que se segue, naturalmente, o estabelecimento de novas teias de referência entre os artistas destes países: há novos grupos, novas cumplicidades, novas realizações dentro deste Estúdio, que completa seis anos de publicação persistente. A Revista Estúdio é também mais uma via disponível para o exercício da interpretação, através de descodificações mais informadas, mais negociadas, dos textos artísticos, pois são efectuadas por outros artistas. Reuniram-se nesta edição 24 artigos originais, mantendo a sua linha editorial inicial. O projecto mantém a sua componente de resistência, de plataforma de conhecimento para os pares, não abdicando também da validação externa, ou seja, do uso de protocolos de produção e transmissão de conhecimento. Falamos pois das normas de redação, de referenciação, de estruturação de textos e de articulação de argumentos, visuais ou verbais. Estabelece-se neste volume uma articulação entre cinema, vídeo, redes, escultura, instalação, fotografia, performance, banda desenhada, pintura, cerâmica, poesia concreta, livros de artista, sendo este conjunto não exaustivo testemunha do grau de hibridação que hoje o discurso artístico convoca. Apanhando-lhe o pulso, a Estúdio acompanha a arte desde os seus produtores, dos seus procedimentos, dos seus recursos, dos seus resultados. A Estúdio permite visitar muitos estúdios.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Erratum: “The eighth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: first data from SDSS-III” (2011, ApJS, 193, 29)

Section 3.5 of Aihara et al. (2011) described various sources of systematic error in the astrometry of the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In addition to these sources of error, there is an additional and more serious error, which introduces a large systematic shift in the astrometry over a large area around the north celestial pole. The region has irregular boundaries but in places extends as far south as declination δ ≈ 41◦. The sense of the shift is that the positions of all sources in the affected area are offset by roughly 250 mas in a northwest direction. We have updated the SDSS online documentation to reflect these errors, and to provide detailed quality information for each SDSS field