Calling behavior and parasite intensity in Treefrogs, Hypsiboas prasinus

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Genetic associations between weight at maturity and maturation rate with ages and weights at first and second calving in Canchim beef cattle

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estudo genético da precocidade sexual de novilhas em um rebanho Nelore

Objetivou-se, com este trabalho, estimar a herdabilidade (h²) para prenhez de novilhas e sua correlação genética (rg) com idade ao primeiro parto (IPP), em animais da raça Nelore. A prenhez de novilhas foi definida de três formas: prenhez aos 16 meses (Pr16) - para as novilhas que pariram com menos de 31 meses, atribuiu-se 1 (sucesso) e, para aquelas que pariram após 30,99 meses ou que não pariram, atribuiu-se 0 (fracasso); prenhez aos 24 meses (Pr24) - para as novilhas que pariram até 46 meses (incluindo as Pr16), foi atribuído 1 e, para aquelas que não pariram 0; e prenhez da novilha (PrN) - atribuiu-se classificação 2 para as que pariram com menos de 31 meses, 1 para as que pariram entre 31 e 46 meses e 0 para as que não pariram. Os arquivos, analisados pelo Método R e Inferência Bayesiana, continham registros de 30.802 novilhas desmamadas. As análises forneceram médias de estimativas de h² de 0,52, 0,12 e 0,16 para Pr16, Pr24 e PrN, respectivamente, pelo Método R. O valor médio obtido por Inferência Bayesiana foi de 0,45 para Pr16. A rg estimada entre Pr16 e IPP foi -0,32. Os resultados indicam que, para selecionar para precocidade sexual, é necessário expor todas as fêmeas em idades jovens e que a mensuração da taxa de prenhez por meio da Pr16 é pertinente, uma vez que esta característica apresenta variabilidade genética alta e deve responder eficientemente à seleção com possibilidades de rápido ganho genético. A análise indicou também que Pr16 e IPP são determinadas em grande parte por genes diferentes.

Sexual harassment in Dentistry: prevalence in dental school

Objective: Sexual harassment is unlawful in all work and educational environments in most nations of the world. The goals of this study were to describe the sexual harassment prevalence and to evaluate the experiences and attitudes of undergraduate students in one dental school in Brazil. Material and Methods: An 18-item questionnaire was administered to 254 dental students with a completion rate of 82% (208). Students were requested to respond to questions about their background and academic level in dental school, their personal experiences with sexual harassment and their observation of someone else being sexually harassed. Bivariate statistical analyses were performed. Results: Fifteen percent of the students reported being sexually harassed by a patient, by a relative of a patient or by a professor. Male students had 3 times higher probability of being sexually harassed than female student [OR = 2.910 (1.113-7.611)]. Additionally, 25.4% of the students reported witnessing sexual harassment at the school environment. The majority of students did not feel professionally prepared to respond to unwanted sexual behaviors. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that sexual harassment can occur in a dental school setting. There is a need for ongoing sexual harassment education programs for students and university staff. Increased knowledge of sexual harassment during graduation can better prepare dental professionals to respond to sexual harassment during their practice.

Growth rate of the crab Dissodactylus crinitichelis Moreira, 1901 (Crustacea : Decapoda : Pinnotheroidea) under laboratory conditions

The goal of the present study was to investigate the growth rate of the crab Dissodactylus crinitiehelis, its molt increments, and the duration of the intermolt intervals under laboratory conditions, focusing on differences between sexes and between juvenile and adult phases. Crabs were collected at Flamengo Beach, Ubatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil, by scuba divers. In the laboratory, individuals were maintained in isolation and fed nauplii of Artemia sp. daily. The sex and carapace width of exuviae and dead crabs were recorded. During the juvenile phase, mean growth was 11.8 +/- 2.7% in males and 11.2 +/- 3.6% in females, with their respective intermolt intervals 25.4 +/- 9.2 and 26.4 +/- 8.3 d (mean +/- SD). After reaching morphological sexual maturity, the intermolt intervals increased to 33.4 10.1 d in males and 32.7 +/- 10.4 d in females, and the growth rates of both sexes slowed to 6.4 +/- 1.9% in males and 5.7 +/- 1.6% in females. There was a significant decrease in molt increment and an increase in intermolt intervals associated with the maturation from juveniles to adults, evidencing differential energy allocation during the last phase of ontogeny.

Sexual behavior and fertility of male rats submitted to prolonged immobilization-induced stress

In order to investigate whether prolonged stress interferes with the onset of sexual behavior at puberty and with fertility at adulthood, prepubertal male Wistar rats (40 days of age) were immobilized 6 h a day for 15 days (up to early puberty) or for 60 days (until sexual maturity). Pubertal stressed rats showed a two-fold increase in the latency for the first mount (probably due to repeated aversive experience in which a change of environment was always followed by immobilization) and a 2.5-fold increase in the frequency of thrusting (indicative of enhanced sexual performance). The apparently stimulatory effect of prolonged stress on the onset of sexual behavior is discussed in terms of increased testosterone level and interference with the complex interchanges between the neurotransmitters/neuropeptides involved in the central control of male sexual activity. Adult stressed animals were mated with normal females, which became pregnant but exhibited a more than two-fold increase in both pre-implantation and post-implantation loss, probably due to a smaller rate of fertilization and/or fertilization with damaged spermatozoa.

Abrigos diurnos, composição de colônias, dimorfismo sexual e reprodução do morcego hematófago Desmodus rotundus (E. Geoffroy) (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil

Embora informações acerca da composição das colônias do morcego hematófago Desmodus rotundus (E. Geoffroy, 1810) sejam importantes para o controle de suas populações, poucos estudos a esse respeito foram desenvolvidos no Brasil. São apresentadas aqui informações obtidas de colônias de D. rotundus encontradas em 12 abrigos diurnos no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil, em 1999 e 2000. em geral, os abrigos naturais e artificiais não possuíam grandes dimensões e estruturalmente variaram entre si. O formato dos abrigos interferiu na distribuição dos indivíduos das colônias no interior dos abrigos. Essas colônias continham, em média, 130 indivíduos distribuídos em três locais no interior dos abrigos. Havia também diversos indivíduos vivendo isolados ou em pequenos grupos dispersos. A proporção entre os sexos dos morcegos capturados foi de 1 macho: 1,37 fêmeas e, em sua maioria, os morcegos capturados eram adultos (89%). Dimorfismo sexual foi verificado estatisticamente no comprimento dos antebraços e na massa corporal, sendo as fêmeas maiores que os machos. A maior parte dos machos adultos (87%) estava sexualmente ativo, mas 65,5% das fêmeas adultas não estavam grávidas.

Avaliação do comportamento sexual em touros Nelore: comparação entre os testes da libido em curral e do comportamento sexual a campo

Objetivou-se determinar a eficiência do teste da libido realizado em curral em comparação ao teste realizado a campo e relacioná-los à taxa de gestação em estação de monta de 120 dias. Treze touros aptos à reprodução foram submetidos ao teste da libido em curral por 3 horas. Desses touros, nove foram submetidos à avaliação a campo na proporção touro:vaca de 1:33. A cada 21 dias, foi diagnosticada a gestação por meio de avaliações ultra-sonográficas. No teste em curral, observou-se que, quanto maior o tempo, maiores foram os escores de classificação e que nenhum touro efetuou serviço completo nos 10 minutos iniciais do teste. Com um touro classificado como muito bom obteve-se 84,80% de prenhez, porém touros questionáveis proporcionaram taxas de prenhez de 86,67 e 96,55% ao final da estação. As correlações entre características físicas e morfológicas do sêmen mantiveram-se próximas de zero ou foram nulas. Os principais sinais fisiológicos do comportamento sexual foram o ato de cheirar ou lamber o corpo da fêmea, cheirar ou lamber a vulva, seguidos ou não por reflexo de Flehmen. em animais da raça Nelore, o tempo de 30 minutos de observação mostrou-se mais eficiente para a realização do teste da libido em curral. O teste da libido realizado a campo no período diurno não foi eficaz em predizer a libido de todos os animais estudados, em decorrência, provavelmente, do comportamento sexual noturno de alguns reprodutores.

Energia digestível para larvas de tilápia-do-nilo (oreochromis niloticus) na fase de reversão sexual

This experiment was conducted to evaluate different levels of digestible energy on the performance of Nile tilapia larvae (Oreochromis niloticus) during the sexual reversion phase. Three hundred and seventy-five larvae with initial average length and weight of 21.0±4.0 mg and 1.19±0.72 cm, respectively, were allotted to 25 30L-aquarium. A completely randomized design with five treatments and five replicates was used. The aquarium with 15 larvae was the experimental unit. The diets were formulated to contain levels of 3,300, 3,525, 3,750, 3,975, and 4,200 kcal/kg of digestible energy and to be isoprotein (38.6% digestible protein). The animals were fed ad libitum five times a day. At the end of the experiment, the averages of weight (PF), survival rate (SO), condition factor (FC) and length (CF) were analyzed. Linear reduction of fishes PF and CF, as the dietary digestible energy levels increased, was observed. No differences on fish SO and FC of different treatments were observed. Deleterious effects on performance due to the increasing dietary digestible energy levels were noticed for Nile tilapia larvae during the sexual reversion.

Comparison of body size, relative growth and size at onset sexual maturity of Uca uruguayensis (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae) from different latitudes in the south-western Atlantic

Some crustaceans show variations of their reproductive biology within their geographical distribution, and knowledge about such variations is important for the comprehension of their reproductive adaptations. This study compared two populations of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis from two locations on the south-western Atlantic coast: Ubatuba Bay, São Paulo, Brazil and Samborombón Bay, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The population features analysed were the body size variation (carapace width = CW) and the size at the onset of sexual maturity (SOM) in order to test the hypothesis that the size at SOM, should be the same in relative terms (RSOM), independently of the latitudinal position. In the Brazilian population the CW ranged from 4.18 to 11.60 mm for males and 3.90 to 9.80 mm for females, and in the Argentinean population from 3.60 to 14.10 mm for males and 2.85 to 12.00 mm for females. In the Brazilian population the SOM was 7.1 (RSOM = 0.58) and 5.9 mm CW (RSOM = 0.57) for males and females, respectively, and in the Argentinean population it was 7.0 (RSOM = 0.42) and 6.75 mm CW (RSOM = 0.53) for males and females, respectively. This fact is probably related to a great plasticity in the life history features of Uca uruguayensis under different environmental conditions. © 2012 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

Relative growth, sexual maturity, and breeding season of three species of the genus Persephona (Decapoda: Brachyura: Leucosiidae): A comparative study

The relative growths of Persephona lichtensteinii, P. mediterranea, and P. punctata were investigated on the south-eastern Brazilian coast, focusing on differences in the growth rates between immature and mature phases, the onset of morphological sexual maturity, and the breeding seasons of these species. Crabs were collected every two months from January 1991 through to November 1992, from a shrimp fishing boat equipped with two otter-trawl nets. Significant differences in the patterns of body growth were observed between immature and mature phases of all three species. Changes in the growth rates of the chelipeds (males) and abdomen (females) observed for P. lichtensteinii, P. mediterranea, and P. punctata, seem to be related to the puberty moult for both sexes. Males of P. mediterranea and P. punctata reached larger mean sizes of carapace width than females, whereas no difference was recorded for P. lichtensteinii. The body size at which 50% of males attained sexual maturity was also larger in P. mediterranea and P. punctata, and smaller in P. lichtensteinii. The absence of a pronounced sexual dimorphism and the size at the onset of sexual maturity observed only for P. lichtensteinii might be explained by distinct reproductive strategies of males. The presence of ovigerous females during the entire sampling period suggests that all three species have a continuous reproduction pattern at the Ubatuba region. Future studies on the population structure, functional maturity, and mating system should improve the understanding of factors driving the biology and ecology of these species at a subtropical region. © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013.

Determinação de resíduo hormonal na carcaça de tilápia do nilo (Oreochromis niloticus) após reversão sexual

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Desenvolvimento gonadal inicial e reversão sexual em Astyanax altiparanae (Teleostei, characidae)

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biologia Celular e Molecular) - IBRC

Associação entre polimorfismos de base única e precocidade sexual em fêmeas da raça Nelore

Pós-graduação em Genética e Melhoramento Animal - FCAV

Frequência alimentar para Tilápia do Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus) nas fases de reversão e pós-reversão sexual

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)