Incidência de lesões locomotoras no cavalo, diagnosticadas por raio-x

Na medicina equina, os problemas locomotores estão na origem da maioria das consultas veterinárias, provocando uma enorme preocupação para os proprietários e equitadores e exigindo um grande conhecimento por parte do veterinário. Assim, não são demais os estudos realizados nesta área, que permitem auxiliar os médicos veterinários sempre que se deparam com este tipo de problemas. Uma das ferramentas fundamentais para o diagnóstico das lesões ósseas e articulares nos membros é o raio-X. Desde que este foi tornado portátil, passou a ser um enorme aliado do veterinário, permitindo diagnósticos mais facilitados e imediatos no terreno. O objectivo da presente dissertação, para além de rever a bibliografia descrita acerca da incidência de lesões locomotoras, é também contribuir para a caracterização das lesões mais frequentes na medicina equina na população estudada que envolvam as estruturas óssea e articular dos membros do cavalo. As lesões locomotoras descritas no estudo, foram determinadas após uma observação rigorosa aos diferentes raios-X de 95 cavalos e os dados recolhidos foram tratados através de uma análise estatística utilizando o programa «SPSS®». Existe uma maior incidência de lesões nos membros anteriores quando comparado com os membros posteriores. Tanto o membro anterior direito, como o membro posterior direito são igualmente mais afectados do que os membros esquerdos, havendo também uma elevada distribuição das lesões em ambos os membros anteriores em simultâneo. No membro anterior, a lesão mais frequentemente diagnosticada é a osteoartrite, sendo a luxação uma das lesões menos encontradas. Para o membro posterior, é o esparvão que mais se diagnostica, contrastando com o síndrome podotroclear, que tem uma prevalência baixa. No membro anterior, a 3ª falange é uma das regiões mais afectadas, sendo a ulna uma das regiões menos afectadas. No membro posterior, é a região do curvilhão que representa um dos locais mais propícios a lesão, enquanto a 2ª falange é uma das regiões onde menos frequentemente se diagnosticam lesões no cavalo. Os resultados encontrados estão de acordo com a bibliografia descrita e sugerem a importância da continuidade deste tipo de estudos, nomeadamente abrangendo outras variáveis como a raça, a idade e o tipo de utilização do cavalo e, ainda, a utilização de outros métodos imagiológicos.

Aplicação dos programas nacionais de Educação Física em ginástica : condicionantes

Durante 15 anos, observando requerentes nas provas de acesso à licenciatura em Educação Física e Desporto, chegamos á conclusão de que maioria deles tem preparação gímnica básica muito fraca. Eles apresentam grandes lacunas tanto no conhecimento da técnica como na execução prática dos elementos gímnicos, constantes do Programa Escolar. Naturalmente, o nosso desejo foi descobrir as razões para esta deficiente preparação gímnica e contribuir para melhorar o processo ensino-aprendizagem nas escolas. Mais especificamente, neste estudo procurou-se, junto aos professores que leccionam nas escolas, averiguar alguns aspectos relacionados com a aplicação dos programas nacionais de Educação Física de Ginástica no 3º ciclo do Ensino Básico e Ensino Secundário. Para isso elaboramos um questionário ao qual responderam 88 professores em 14 escolas de Lisboa e Almada. Conclusões. A maioria dos professores, participantes no nosso estudo, não aborda mais que metade dos elementos constantes dos Programas de ginástica, especialmente os elementos nos aparelhos (barra fixa, paralelas simétricas, argolas, cavalo com arções), saltos no plinto longitudinal, mortais no mini-trampolim, elementos do nível avançado no solo e trave. A maior dificuldade na aplicação do Programa de Educação Física é o facto de a grande maioria dos alunos não possuir os pré-requisitos na ginástica, que deveriam ser adquiridos no 1º e 2º ciclos de Escola Básica, tanto no desenvolvimento das habilidades e hábitos motores de base, como ao nível de preparação física. Uma percentagem considerável dos professores tem dificuldades relacionadas com os conhecimentos técnico-didácticos, especialmente na intervenção manual (48%). Por isso, é muito importante existência mais acções de formação especificas da ginástica. Através da análise dos dados recolhidos referenciamos os elementos gímnicos que apresentam maiores dificuldades na leccionação e elaboramos as fichas com descrição completa da técnica da execução destes elementos, progressões metodológicas, indicamos os erros típicos e recomendamos a forma de intervenção manual do professores. Com este trabalho pretendemos poder ajudar os estudantes e professores, que iniciam a sua carreira profissional, a encontrar uma forma mais eficaz no ensino dos elementos gímnicos, constantes do Programa Escolar.

Population Change in a Marine Bird Colony is Driven By Changes in Recruitment

The population dynamics of long-lived birds are thought to be very sensitive to changes in adult survival. However, where natal philopatry is low, recruitment from the larger metapopulation may have the strongest effect on population growth rate even in long-lived species. Here, we illustrate such a situation where changes in a seabird colony size appeared to be the consequence of changes in recruitment. We studied the population dynamics of a declining colony of Ancient Murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus) at East Limestone Island, British Columbia. During 1990-2010, Ancient Murrelet chicks were trapped at East Limestone Island while departing to sea, using a standard trapping method carried on throughout the departure period. Adult murrelets were trapped while departing from the colony during 1990-2003. Numbers of chicks trapped declined during 1990-1995, probably because of raccoon predation, increased slightly from 1995-2000 and subsequently declined again. Reproductive success was 30% lower during 2000-2003 than in earlier years, mainly because of an increase in desertions. The proportion of nonbreeders among adult birds trapped at night also declined over the study period. Mortality of adult birds, thought to be mainly prebreeders, from predators more than doubled over the same period. Apparent adult survival of breeders remained constant during 1991-2002 once the first year after banding was excluded, but the apparent survival rates in the first year after banding fell and the survival of birds banded as chicks to age three halved over the same period. A matrix model of population dynamics suggested that even during the early part of the study immigration from other breeding areas must have been substantial, supporting earlier observations that natal philopatry in this species is low. The general colony decline after 2000 probably was related to diminished recruitment, as evidenced by the lower proportion of nonbreeders in the trapped sample. Hence the trend is determined by the recruitment decisions of externally reared birds, rather than demographic factors operating on the local breeding population, an unusual situation for a colonial marine bird. Because of the contraction in the colony it may now be subject to a level of predation pressure from which recovery will be impossible without some form of intervention.

Danish razors and Swedish rocks: Cosmology and the Bronze Age landscape

A recent study has suggested that the decorated Bronze Age metalwork of South Scandinavia depicted the path of the sun through the sky during the day and through the sea at night. At different stages in its journey it was accompanied by a horse or a ship. Similar images are found in prehistoric rock art, and this paper argues that, whilst there are important differences between the images in these two media, they also signal some of the same ideas.

Potential cost and environmental impact of feeding high-oil corn to poultry in Brazil

The objective of the study was to evaluate the cost and environmental impact of replacing traditional corn, which is the main ingredient in poultry diets, with a high-oil corn (HOC) variety. Using linear programming, diets were formulated with either traditional corn or HOC. The results indicate that HOC-based diets cost up to $11.38/tonne less than traditional corn-based diets. Using HOC rather than traditional corn in diets has the potential to reduce the annual nitrogen excreted to the environment from broilers and broiler breeders in Brazil by 6.44 Mtonnes. In addition, there is the potential to reduce P excretion by 4.52 Mtonnes/yr, because the need to supplement diets with inorganic P sources, such as dicalcium phosphate, is much lower with HOC-based diets. We estimate that 28.5 Mtonnes of dicalcium phosphate can be saved annually using HOC in Brazilian poultry diets. The literature suggests that replacing traditional corn with HOC does not affect bird metabolism, while positive impacts on growth rate have been recorded. Therefore, substituting traditional corn with HOC has cost and environmental benefits for the Brazilian poultry industry without compromising productivity.

Reproductive conflict delays the recovery of an endangered social species

Evolutionary theory predicts that individuals, in order to increase their relative fitness, can evolve behaviours that are detrimental for the group or population. This mismatch is particularly visible in social organisms. Despite its potential to affect the population dynamics of social animals, this principle has not yet been applied to real-life conservation. Social group structure has been argued to stabilize population dynamics due to the buffering effects of nonreproducing subordinates. However, competition for breeding positions in such species can also interfere with the reproduction of breeding pairs. Seychelles magpie robins, Copsychus sechellarum, live in social groups where subordinate individuals do not breed. Analysis of long-term individual-based data and short-term behavioural observations show that subordinates increase the territorial takeover frequency of established breeders. Such takeovers delay offspring production and decrease territory productivity. Individual-based simulations of the Seychelles magpie robin population parameterized with the long-term data show that this process has significantly postponed the recovery of the species from the Critically Endangered status. Social conflict thus can extend the period of high extinction risk, which we show to have population consequences that should be taken into account in management programmes. This is the first quantitative assessment of the effects of social conflict on conservation.

Exploring the feasibility of farmers' rights

In many developing countries, there is concern that a conventional system of plant breeders' rights provides no rewards to farmers for their role in the conservation and enhancement of agro-biodiversity. To redress this imbalance, developing countries are incorporating farmers' rights provisions in their plant variety protection legislation. This article examines the feasibility of farmers' rights provisions based on intellectual property rights. It argues that the farmers' rights provisions crafted by some developing countries will involve enormous operational difficulties, while IPR-based farmers' rights are unlikely to provide significant economic returns to farmers or farming communities. At the same time, farmers' rights provisions, as currently conceived, are likely significantly to dilute the incentives for innovation provided to institutional plant breeders.

Plant variety protection in developing countries: A view from the private seed industry in India

Many developing countries are currently engaged in designing and implementing plant variety protection systems. Encouraging private investment in plant breeding is the key rationale for extending intellectual property rights to plant varieties. However, the design of plant variety protection systems in developing countries has been dominated by concerns regarding the inequities of a plant variety protection system, especially the imbalance in the reward structure between plant breeders and farmers. The private seed industry, a key stakeholder in plant variety protection, appears to be playing only a peripheral role in the design of the intellectual property rights regime. This paper explores the potential response of the private seed industry in India to plant variety protection legislation based on a survey of major plant breeding companies. The survey finds that the private seed industry in India is generally unenthusiastic about the legislation and plant variety protection is likely to have only a very limited impact on their research profile and expenditures on plant breeding. Measures designed to curb the 'excessive' profits of breeders, farmers' rights provisions and poor prospects for enforcement of rights are seen to be seriously diluting breeders' rights, leaving few incentives for innovation. If the fundamental objective of plant variety protection is to stimulate private investment in plant breeding, then developing countries need to seriously address the question of improving appropriability of returns from investment.

Winter wheat in England and Wales, 1923 - 1995: What do indices of genetic diversity reveal?

Genealogical data have been used very widely to construct indices with which to examine the contribution of plant breeding programmes to the maintenance and enhancement of genetic resources. In this paper we use such indices to examine changes in the genetic diversity of the winter wheat crop in England and Wales between 1923 and 1995. We find that, except for one period characterized by the dominance of imported varieties, the genetic diversity of the winter wheat crop has been remarkably stable. This agrees with many studies of plant breeding programmes elsewhere. However, underlying the stability of the winter wheat crop is accelerating varietal turnover without any significant diversification of the genetic resources used. Moreover, the changes we observe are more directly attributable to changes in the varietal shares of the area under winter wheat than to the genealogical relationship between the varieties sown. We argue, therefore, that while genealogical indices reflect how well plant breeders have retained and exploited the resources with which they started, these indices suffer from a critical limitation. They do not reflect the proportion of the available range of genetic resources which has been effectively utilized in the breeding programme: complex crosses of a given set of varieties can yield high indices, and yet disguise the loss (or non-utilization) of a large proportion of the available genetic diversity.

PGR forum: serving the crop wild relative user community

The Euro-Mediterranean region is an important centre for the diversity of crop wild relatives. Crops, such as oats (Avena sativa), sugar beet (Beta vulgaris), apple (Malus domestica), annual meadow grass (Festuca pratensis), white clover (Trifolium repens), arnica (Arnica montana), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), and sage (Salvia officinalis) etc., all have wild relatives in the region. The European Community funded project, PGR Forum (www.pgrforum.org) is building an online information system to provide access to crop wild relative data to a broad user community; including plant breeders, protected area managers, policy-makers, conservationists, taxonomists and the wider public. The system will include data on uses, geographical distribution, biology, population and habitat information, threats (including IUCN Red List assessments) and conservation actions. This information is vital for the continued sustainable utilisation and conservation of crop wild relatives. Two major databases have been utilised as the backbone to a Euro-Mediterranean crop wild relative catalogue, which forms the core of the information system: Euro+Med PlantBase (www.euromed.org.uk) and Mansfeld’s World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de). By matching the genera found within the two databases, a preliminary list of crop wild relatives has been produced. Around 20,000 of the 30,000+ species listed in Euro+Med PlantBase can be considered crop wild relatives, i.e. those species found within the same genus as a crop. The list is currently being refined by implementing a priority ranking system based on the degree of relatedness of taxa to the associated crop.

Comparative genome analysis provides insights into the evolution and adaptation of Pseudomonas syringae pv. aesculi on Aesculus hippocastanum.

A recently emerging bleeding canker disease, caused by Pseudomonas syringae pathovar aesculi (Pae), is threatening European horse chestnut in northwest Europe. Very little is known about the origin and biology of this new disease. We used the nucleotide sequences of seven commonly used marker genes to investigate the phylogeny of three strains isolated recently from bleeding stem cankers on European horse chestnut in Britain (E-Pae). On the basis of these sequences alone, the E-Pae strains were identical to the Pae type-strain (I-Pae), isolated from leaf spots on Indian horse chestnut in India in 1969. The phylogenetic analyses also showed that Pae belongs to a distinct clade of P. syringae pathovars adapted to woody hosts. We generated genome-wide Illumina sequence data from the three E-Pae strains and one strain of I-Pae. Comparative genomic analyses revealed pathovar-specific genomic regions in Pae potentially implicated in virulence on a tree host, including genes for the catabolism of plant-derived aromatic compounds and enterobactin synthesis. Several gene clusters displayed intra-pathovar variation, including those encoding type IV secretion, a novel fatty acid biosynthesis pathway and a sucrose uptake pathway. Rates of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the four Pae genomes indicate that the three E-Pae strains diverged from each other much more recently than they diverged from I-Pae. The very low genetic diversity among the three geographically distinct E-Pae strains suggests that they originate from a single, recent introduction into Britain, thus highlighting the serious environmental risks posed by the spread of an exotic plant pathogenic bacterium to a new geographic location. The genomic regions in Pae that are absent from other P. syringae pathovars that infect herbaceous hosts may represent candidate genetic adaptations to infection of the woody parts of the tree.

Genetic analysis of heat tolerance at anthesis in rice

Genetic analysis of heat tolerance will help breeders produce rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties adapted to future climates. An F6 population of 181 recombinant inbred lines of Bala (tolerant) × Azucena (susceptible) was screened for heat tolerance at anthesis by measuring spikelet fertility at 30°C (control) and 38°C (high temperature) in experiments conducted in the Philippines and the United Kingdom. The parents varied significantly for absolute spikelet fertility under control (79–87%) and at high temperature (2.9–47.1%), and for relative spikelet fertility (high temperature/control) at high temperature (3.7–54.9%). There was no correlation between spikelet fertility in control and high-temperature conditions and no common quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified. Two QTLs for spikelet fertility under control conditions were identified on chromosomes 2 and 4. Eight QTLs for spikelet fertility under high-temperature conditions were identified on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, and 11. The most significant heat-responsive QTL, contributed by Bala and explaining up to 18% of the phenotypic variation, was identified on chromosome 1 (38.35 mega base pairs on the rice physical genome map). This QTL was also found to influence plant height, explaining 36.6% of the phenotypic variation. A comparison with other studies of abiotic (drought, cold, salinity) stresses showed QTLs at similar positions on chromosomes 1, 3, 8, and 10, suggesting common underlying stress-responsive regions of the genome.

Horses in the countryside: conflict or cooperation?

Recognising the growing significance of sport and recreation in the countryside, this paper seeks to examine the changing demand for, and supply of, opportunities for horse riding in the countryside. It considers the physical problems associated with horse riding, together with the changing social context. The paper considers possible solutions to the issues raised, both within existing rights of way legislation and via new opportunities created by the revisions to agricultural support that have occurred in the last decade. The paper concludes that while the new opportunities have ameliorated some of the problems associated with the supply of land for horse riding, no new rights of access have been conferred. The ability of horse riders to guarantee continued provision will be governed partially by the market but also by future agricultural support policy.

Variation in the sensitivity of Callosobruchus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) acetylcholinesterase to the organophosphate insecticide malaoxon: effect of species, geographical strain and food type

BACKGROUND: Bruchid beetles, Callosobruchus species, are serious pests of economically important grain legumes; their activity in stores is often controlled by use of synthetic insecticides. Esterases are known to be involved in insecticide resistance in insects. However, there is dearth of information on esterase activity in the genus Callosobruchus. In this study we investigated the effect of species, geographical strain and food type on the variation of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and its inhibition by malaoxon (malathion metabolite) using an in vitro spectrophotometric method. RESULT: AChE activity varied significantly among species and strains and also among legume type used for rearing them. Generally irrespective of species, strain or food type, the higher the AChE activity of a population, the higher its inhibition by malaoxon. C. chinensis had the highest AChE activity of the species studied and in the presence of malaoxon it had the lowest remaining AChE activity, while C. rhodesianus retained the highest activity. CONCLUSION: A firsthand knowledge of AChE activity in regional Callosobruchus in line with the prevailing food types should be of utmost importance to grain legume breeders, researchers on plant materials for bruchid control and pesticide manufacturer/applicators for a robust integrated management of these bruchids.