Exploratory analysis of differences in sperm morphology in Nelore and Gir (Bos indicus) bulls

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of breed and season on semen quality parameters of zebu bulls. Data (1,632 registers) of semen production from Gir (n = 4) and Nelore (n = 15) bulls were collected between October 2005 and November 2009. The ejaculates were collected twice a week during various seasons (summer, fall, winter, and spring) and evaluated for the following semen parameters: ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, forward progressive motility (FPM), and sperm morphology. Factor analysis was used to determine the relationship among variables. The effect of breed (Gir and Nelore) and season and their cross effect on each parameter and extracted factor were tested using ANOVA. A negative correlation (P < 0.05) was observed between FPM and proximal droplet, as well as with abnormal loose head, abnormal small head, pouch formation, abnormal mid-peace, and strongly folded tail. Gir bull sperm showed more major defects, detached acrosome, and minor FPM (P < 0.01), whereas Nelore bulls showed a higher number of sperm with normally loose head.

Prostaglandin treatment at the onset of norgestomet and estradiol-based synchronization protocols did not alter the ovarian follicular dynamics or pregnancy per timed artificial insemination in cyclic Bos indicus heifers

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Genetic parameters for production traits of dairy Gyr (Bos indicus) x Holstein cattle estimated with a random regression model

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

Evaluation of hearing protection used by police officers in the shooting range

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

Predicting breeding values for milk yield of Guzera (Bos indicus) cows using random regression models

Given the importance of Guzera breeding programs for milk production in the tropics, the objective of this study was to compare alternative random regression models for estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of breeding values. Test-day milk yields records (TDR) were collected monthly, in a maximum of 10 measurements. The database included 20,524 records of first lactation from 2816 Guzera cows. TDR data were analyzed by random regression models (RRM) considering additive genetic, permanent environmental and residual effects as random and the effects of contemporary group (CG), calving age as a covariate (linear and quadratic effects) and mean lactation curve as fixed. The genetic additive and permanent environmental effects were modeled by RRM using Wilmink, All and Schaeffer and cubic B-spline functions as well as Legendre polynomials. Residual variances were considered as heterogeneous classes, grouped differently according to the model used. Multi-trait analysis using finite-dimensional models (FDM) for testday milk records (TDR) and a single-trait model for 305-days milk yields (default) using the restricted maximum likelihood method were also carried out as further comparisons. Through the statistical criteria adopted, the best RRM was the one that used the cubic B-spline function with five random regression coefficients for the genetic additive and permanent environmental effects. However, the models using the Ali and Schaeffer function or Legendre polynomials with second and fifth order for, respectively, the additive genetic and permanent environmental effects can be adopted, as little variation was observed in the genetic parameter estimates compared to those estimated by models using the B-spline function. Therefore, due to the lower complexity in the (co)variance estimations, the model using Legendre polynomials represented the best option for the genetic evaluation of the Guzera lactation records. An increase of 3.6% in the accuracy of the estimated breeding values was verified when using RRM. The ranks of animals were very close whatever the RRM for the data set used to predict breeding values. Considering P305, results indicated only small to medium difference in the animals' ranking based on breeding values predicted by the conventional model or by RRM. Therefore, the sum of all the RRM-predicted breeding values along the lactation period (RRM305) can be used as a selection criterion for 305-day milk production. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Imputation of non-genotyped individuals using genotyped progeny in Nellore, a Bos indicus cattle breed

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Novas alternativas quimioterápicas para o tratamento do câncer através de compostos organometálicos de paládio

O câncer, manifestação originada pelo crescimento descontrolado de células, afeta milhões de indivíduos. Os macrófagos são as primeiras células a serem ativadas para participar de uma resposta imunológica propriamente dita, são células capazes de secretar mais de cem produtos biologicamente ativos, entre esses, espécies reativas de nitrogênio e citocinas que atuam no contexto da resposta imunológica e/ou inflamatória. Sabendo que compostos de paládio (II) podem apresentar potenciais atividades antitumorais, neste trabalho foram testado os compostos de fórmula geral PdI2 (tdmPz) e Pd (SCN)2 (tdmPz), quanto a atividade anti-inflamatória e antitumoral. Como droga padrão das reações realizadas foi utilizada a cisplatina. Foi determinada a ação destes compostos frente ao sistema imunológico através, de ensaios de determinação de índice de citotoxicidade mediano (IC50) pela técnica de MTT, óxido nítrico (NO) e determinação das citocinas pró-inflamatórias TNF- e IL-12. Além disso, foi determinada a atividade antitumoral dos compostos frente à célula tumoral de Ehrlich. Os resultados não mostraram produção de NO e das citocinas IL-12 e TNF- pelos macrófagos peritoneais de animais normais e animais portadores do tumor de Ehrlich na sua forma sólida. No que se referem à atividade tóxica dos compostos testados, estes mostraram efeito citotóxico sobre os macrófagos e sobre a linhagem tumoral testada. Sendo assim mesmo não havendo a produção de mediadores próinflamatórios, os compostos apresentaram uma considerável citotoxicidade frente às células tumorais de Ehrlich e macrófagos peritoneais

A magia em um texto técnico agronômico da antiguidade romana: o 'Opus agriculturae', de Paládio

This work analyses the chapter 35, book I, of the agricultural treatise Opus agriculturæ, written by Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius (V C.E.). In that chapter the author presents some recipes, called remedia, to protect the farm and the garden against weeds and weather phenomena, as blight and fogs. The magical practices are identified according to both the fundamental principles of magic (similarity, contiguity, contrariety), which rule magical thought, and some elements of magical symbology. As the author seems not to distinguish magic and science, for he brings together both kinds of recipes, the analysis of some remedia emphasizes a specific study on the materials and substances employed in those recipes and their value in Science today. This leads to the discussions of how magical thought works, what are the limits (if they actually exist) between Magic and Science and between Magic and Religion. This work covers the subjects above and it has the following pourposes: demonstrate the characteristics that authorize the remedia described by Palladius to be classified as folk magic; identify the relations between this kind of practice with more complex forms of magic, as with religion, with science; demonstrate the contribution of the folk magic in ancient Rome farming for the formulation of more apropriated criteria of evaluating magic in comparison to religious and scientific thought.

Avaliação da autozigosidade em vacas Nelore (Bos indicus) através de genótipos SNP de alta densidade

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FCAV

Evidence of Bos javanicus x Bos indicus hybridization and major QTLs for birth weight in Indonesian Peranakan Ongole cattle

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

Genome-wide association with residual body weight gain in Bos indicus cattle

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

Supplementation with sunflower seed increases circulating cholesterol concentrations and potentially impacts on the pregnancy rates in Bos indicus beef cattle

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

Plasma concentrations of progesterone, 17 beta-estradiol and androstenedione and superovulatory response of nelore cows (Bos indicus) treated with FSH

Progesterone (P-4), 17 beta- estradiol (E2) and androstenedione (A4) plasma concentrations were correlated with palpated corpora lutea (CL), recovered embryos and viable embryos in 13 Nelore cows induced to superovulate with FSH, starting on Day 10 of the estrous cycle. Administration of FSH increased the number of ovulations and recovered embryos. Plasma P4, E2 and A4 levels on Day O and of P4 on Days 10 and 11 of the cycle were not correlated with the superovulatory response. Determination of CL by palpation per rectum was used to estimate the number of recovered embryos. Plasma P4 levels higher than 1 ng/ml on the induced estrus day (Day 14) had an adverse effect on the embryo viability rate. Plasma E2 concentrations on Day 14 were positively correlated with the number of viable embryos collected, a correlation that has not been previously reported. The present data indicate that plasma P4 and E2 concentrations in FSH-PGF2 alpha-treated Nelore cows are useful for the identification of 2 different populations of Nelore donors and are correlated with superovulatory response and, particularly, with the number of viable embryos.

Assessment of autozygosity in Nellore cows (Bos indicus) through high-density SNP genotypes

The use of relatively low numbers of sires in cattle breeding programs, particularly on those for carcass and weight traits in Nellore beef cattle (Bos indicus) in Brazil, has always raised concerns about inbreeding, which affects conservation of genetic resources and sustainability of this breed. Here, we investigated the distribution of autozygosity levels based on runs of homozygosity (ROH) in a sample of 1,278 Nellore cows, genotyped for over 777,000 SNPs. We found ROH segments larger than 10 Mb in over 70% of the samples, representing signatures most likely related to the recent massive use of few sires. However, the average genome coverage by ROH (>1 Mb) was lower than previously reported for other cattle breeds (4.58%). In spite of 99.98% of the SNPs being included within a ROH in at least one individual, only 19.37% of the markers were encompassed by common ROH, suggesting that the ongoing selection for weight, carcass and reproductive traits in this population is too recent to have produced selection signatures in the form of ROH. Three short-range highly prevalent ROH autosomal hotspots (occurring in over 50% of the samples) were observed, indicating candidate regions most likely under selection since before the foundation of Brazilian Nellore cattle. The putative signatures of selection on chromosomes 4, 7, and 12 may be involved in resistance to infectious diseases and fertility, and should be subject of future investigation.

Caracterização molecular de bovinos de origem Bos indicus e seus cruzados para maciez de carne

O objetivo desse trabalho foi conhecer a variabilidade genética da calpaína e seu potencial como marcador molecular para programas de melhoramento genético, visando auxiliar na seleção de genótipos superiores para maciez de carne zebuína. Para tanto foram analisados 55 animais da raça Nelore, proveniente de outros projetos de pesquisa conduzidos pela equipe técnica do Laboratório de Genética do Instituto de Zootecnia de Nova Odessa. Os animais foram abatidos ao atingirem o acabamento de 4 mm de espessura de gordura e a amostra de carne foi coletada entre a 12ª e 13ª costelas no músculo Longissimus dorsi. A maciez de carne foi avaliada empregando-se a técnica de Warner Bratzler Shear Force em 0 e 14 dias de maturação. O DNA foi extraído a partir das amostras de carne, em seguida foi quantificado e diluído para ser amplificado por PCR. Três polimorfismos foram investigados pelas técnicas de PCR-RFLP e PCR- SSCP, localizados no exon 9, exon 14 e intron 17 do gene calpaína, sendo denominados CPN316, CAPN530, CAPN4751, respectivamente. Os resultados da análise de associação entre os dados de força de cisalhamento (FC) e marcadores moleculares revelaram efeito significativo apenas para o marcador CAPN4751. O alelo C, considerado favorável para maciez de carne, apresentou relação significativa (P>0,05) com valores menores de FC, sugerindo o seu emprego na seleção de genótipos superiores para maciez de carne de bovinos da raça Nelore