Testosterone Promotes an Anabolic Increase in the Rat Female Prostate (Skene's Paraurethral Gland) Which Acquires a Male Ventral Prostate Phenotype

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

Palm harvesting affects seed predation of Euterpe edulis, a threatened palm of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

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

Food partitioning between breeding White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus; Aves; Accipitridae) and Barn Owls (Tyto alba; Aves; Tytonidae) in southern Brazil

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

Prevalence and risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii infection in certified and non-certified pig breeding farms in the Toledo microregion, PR, Brazil

A infecção pelo Toxoplasma gondii tem sido diagnosticada em suínos em todo o mundo. Perdas econômicas geralmente estão relacionadas a distúrbios reprodutivos. A infecção pelo Toxoplasma tem também importância em saúde pública, já que cistos teciduais do parasito podem persistir na carne e subprodutos oriundos de suínos, que servirão de fontes de infecção para o ser humano. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a frequência e os fatores de risco associados à infecção pelo Toxoplasma em granjas de reprodutores suídeos certificados ou não da microrregião de Toledo, no Paraná, que inclui os municípios de Toledo, Nova Santa Rosa, São José das Palmeiras e São Pedro do Iguaçú. A frequência relativa de infecção foi 13,4%, sem diferença com o tipo de granja. A análise de regressão logística demonstrou os seguintes fatores associados à infecção: não utilização de funcionários separados por área da granja, o acesso de animais ao cocho de ração e ao reservatório de água, a não utilização de tampa neste reservatório, a não prevenção de roedores, o número e peso médio de leitões ao desmame por porca.

Medium-term protocols for in vivo evaluation of chemical modifiers of carcinogenesis

Cancer development is a long-term multistep process which allows interventional measure before the clincial disease emerges. the detection of natural substances which can block the process of carcinogenesis is a important as the identification of anti-tumoral drugs since they might be used in chemoprevention of cancer in high-risk groups. In vivo rodent models of chemical caecinogenesis have been used to study plant-derived inhibitors of carcinofenesis such as indols, coumarins, isothiocyanates, flavones, phenols and allyl-sulfides. Since the standard in vivo rodent bioassay is prolonged and expensive, shorter reliable protocols are needed. Two in vivo medium-term protocols for evaluation of modifiers of carcinogenesis are presented, one related to liver and the other to bladder cancer. Both protocols use rats, last 8 and 36 weeks and are based on the two-step concept of carcinogenesis: initiation and promotion. The protocols use respectively the development of altered foci of hepatocytes expressing immunochistochemically the placental form of gluthation S-transferase and the appearence of pre-neoplastic urothelium and papillomas as the end-points. the use of these protocols for detection of plantpderived inhibitors of carcinogenesis appear warranted.

Description of Leishmania (Leishmania) forattinii sp. n., a new parasite infecting opossums and rodents in Brazil

A new parasite species of Leishmania is described, L. (Leishmania) forattinii sp. n., which was isolated from a pooled triturate of liver and spleen of a opossum (Didelphis marsupialis aurita) and from skin samples from a rodent (Proechmys iheringi denigratus), captured in primary forest on the Atlantic Cost of Brazil. Our results on the basis of biological and molecular criteria indicate that this taxonomically distinct parasite ias a new species of the L. mexicana complex, but closely related to L. (L.) aristidesi Laison & shaw, 1979, as revelated by phenetic and phylogenetic numerical analyses of the enzyme data. L. forattinii was clearly distinguishable from other Leishmania species of the genus usisng enzyme electrophoresis, monoclonal antibodies, molecular karyotypes, analysis of restriction enzyme digestion patterns of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), as well as the use of kDNA hybridization procedures.

Giardia survey in live-trapped small domestic and wild mammals in four regions in the southwest region of the State of São Paulo, Brazil

For the first time, a survey on Giardia in the live-trapped small domestic and wild mammals was perfomed in four regions of state of the São Paulo, Brazil, with special attention to the parasitism of Rattus rattus rattus by Giardia. This species was found infected in all studied sites: Botucatu (15.4%), Conchas (28.5%), Itaporanga (38.7%) and São Roque (100 %). Two new hosts and their frequency of infection were described for Giardia in Nectomys squamipes, an aquatic rodent and in Bolomys lasiurus, a forest rodent (100 % and 14.3 %, respectively). Both G. muris and G. duodenalis groups were found in scrapings of intestinal mucosa of those rodents. Mixed infection was observed in some animals. It is important to emphasize the infection by G. duodenalis in the black rat as this species lives as a comensal with man and in N. squamipes as it may contaminate small streams used for domestic consumption. Therefore, further investigation will be necessary to elucidate the potential of these rodents to act as reservoirs of Giardia for man.

Fruits as unusual food items of the carnivorous bat Chrotopterus auritus (Mammalia, Phyllostomidae) from southeastern Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Topografia da artéria hepática no fígado de capivara (Hydrochaerus hydrochaeris)

A distribuição dos ramos da artéria hepática, no fígado, foi estudada em 30 fígados de capivara (Hydrochaerus hydrochaeris) mediante injeção arterial com látex natural corado, fixação em formol a 10%, dissecção pela face visceral e esquematização. A lobação do fígado, nestes animais, é semelhante à do suíno, permitindo identificar os lobos lateral direito, medial direito, quadrado, medial esquerdo, lateral esquerdo e caudado (processos caudado e papilar). A artéria hepática divide-se mais freqüentemente (73,3%) nos ramos direito e esquerdo e, em menor número de preparações (26,6%), trifurca-se nos ramos direito, intermédio e esquerdo. Esses vasos alcançam, sob diferentes arranjos, os lobos do fígado.

Modulation of parasitemia and antibody responce to Trypanosoma cruzy by cyclophosphamide in Calomys callosus (Rodentia, Cricetidae)

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

Configuração do sistema venoso portal na cutia (Dasyprocta aguti, RODENTIA)

O estudo da veia porta quanto aos vasos confluentes para sua formação e suas tributárias foi efetuado em 10 cutias (Dasyprocta aguti), adultas (3 fêmeas e 7 machos), nas quais o sistema desta veia foi injetado com látex corado, sendo a seguir fixadas em formol a 10% e dissecadas. Verificou-se que o tronco da veia porta origina-se sempre pela confluência de duas raízes, sendo representadas em 90% dos casos, pela veia lienal e pelo tronco mesentérico comum, constituído pelas veias mesentéricas cranial e caudal e, em 10%, pela veia lienal e pela veia mesentérica cranial. O tronco da veia porta recebe como tributárias a veia pancreaticoduodenal cranial (100%), a veia gástrica direita (90%) e, ainda, a veia gastroepiplóica direita (40%).

Handling of female pacas (Agouti paca, Linnaeus, 1766) for ultrasound pregnancy detection

A paca é um roedor sul-americano cujo manejo, tranqüilização ou anestesia oferece um grande campo de pesquisa devido aos poucos artigos existentes. Doze pacas fêmeas adultas foram utilizadas, mantidas separadas em seis baias, sendo capturadas com um puçá de polipropileno e levadas a uma sala na qual se realizava a tricotomia abdominal. Após, os animais eram colocados em uma gaiola de ferro de compressão lateral. A sessão de ultra-sonografia era realizada em modo B com um transdutor setorial eletrônico de 5,0 e 7,5 MHz. Para a diminuição do estresse causado pelos procedimentos, a tranqüilização das fêmeas era realizada com diazepam e maleato de midazolam por via oral. Ambos demonstraram-se efetivos na tranqüilização das pacas previamente e durante as sessões, sendo que o maleato de midazolam proporcionou um melhor manejo dos animais.

Orthogonal projections and bootstrap resampling procedures in the study of infraspecific variation

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

New record of Rhagomys rufescens (Thomas 1886) (Rodentia : Muridae : Sigmodontinae) in the Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil

Rhagomys rufescens is a threatened Sigmodontinae rodent from the Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil, known by a few specimens deposited in scientific collections. This work presents a new record of this species, collected in Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar-Nucleo Picinguaba (Ubatuba, SP) in April 2002, and some biological data. This finding reinforces the urgency of improving collecting efforts in Atlantic forest, in order to know and preserve its biodiversity.

Effects of microhabitat on palm seed predation in two forest fragments in southeast Brazil

The establishment of plants depends crucially on where seeds are deposited in the environment. Some authors suggest that in forest understory seed predation is lower than in gaps, and higher than at the forest edge. However, most studies have been carried out in large forest patches and very little is known about the effects of microhabitat conditions on seed predation in forest fragments. We evaluated the effects of three microhabitats (gaps, forest edge, and understory) on seed predation of two palm species (Euterpe edulis and Syagrus romanzoffiana) in two semi-deciduous forest fragments (230 and 2100 hat in southeast Brazil. Our objective was to test two hypotheses: (1) Low rodent abundance in small fragments as a result of meso-predator action levels leads to lower seed predation in small fragments. (2) Most mammal species in small fragments are generalists with respect to diet and habitat, so that seed predation is similar in different microhabitats (gaps, forest edge and understory) in the small fragment, but not in the larger one. The study community of small fragments is usually composed of generalist species (in diet and habitat aspects), so we expected the same rate of seed predation among microhabitats (gaps, forest edge and understory) in the tested smaller fragment. The experiment was carried out in the dry season (for E. edulis) and in the wet season (for S. romanzoffiana) in 1999. We conclude that post-dispersal seed predation in forest fragments can be directly connected with mammal communities, reflecting their historical and ecological aspects. (C) 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.