A comparative study of production performance and animal health practices in organic and conventional dairy systems

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Animal models in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-an overview

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by progressive airway obstruction resultant from an augmented inflammatory response of the respiratory tract to noxious particles and gases. Previous reports present a number of different hypotheses about the etiology and pathophysiology of COPD. The generating mechanisms of the disease are subject of much speculation, and a series of questions and controversies among experts still remain. In this context, several experimental models have been proposed in order to broaden the knowledge on the pathophysiological characteristics of the disease, as well as the search for new therapeutic approaches for acute or chronically injured lung tissue. This review aims to present the main experimental models of COPD, more specifically emphysema, as well as to describe the main characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, possibilities of application, and potential contribution of each of these models for the knowledge on the pathophysiological aspects and to test new treatment options for obstructive lung diseases.

Pathogens in animal meal and the use of Salmex (R) in the elimination of Clostridium perfringens

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

O bem-estar animal: como avaliá-lo e promovê-lo

The traffic of wild animals can be identified as the main cause of finding captive animals in zoos and sorting centers in Brazil. The maintenance of these animals in captivity is usually justified by the prevention of total loss of individuals of that specie, if it becomes extinct in the wild, and also, the importance of these subjects in studies of basic biology of the species. Keeping animals in captivity environment brings the need to ensure the welfare of them. The high population density and limited space are some of the possible stressors that these individuals face in capivity. Even the low pressure feeding and food easily available could be stressors, since they change the budget activities typical of the specie, causing sedentary behavior and sometimes depression. The captive environment and activities related to it (handling, transport, social change and social isolation) could compromise the animal welfare. Reduction in life expectancy, impaired growth and reproduction, personal injury, illness, immunosuppression, exacerbated adrenal activity and abnormal behavior, are events often lonked to compromised welfare. Hence, assessment and promoter methods are used to provide the welfare to captive animals. The assessment can be made by hormonal and/or behavioral measures. Both are extremely important, and usually are used in combination, to provide more tangible results about the condition of the animal. The promotion of animal welfare can be accomplished through environmental enrichment, a technique which aims to provide a more complex and diverse environment, increasing the possibility of the animal express more natural behavior, or characteristic of the species. Thus, the objective of this dissertation is discuss the importance of animal welfare and the ways this can be evaluated and promoted... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Uma perspectiva fenomenológica para: o que é o animal no circo?

The relationship between humans and the world around is getting less symbiotic and harmonic, so as with the other animals we share the planet with, mostly about domination of plagues, domination for food, company, work or fun. This last both are responsible for the beginning of the Circus as we know, with the exhibition of wild animals and horses, and have been increased with clowns, acrobats, and jugglers, street artists, getting to be one unified show all around the world, which most of them don´t have animals. Following this tendency, the PL 7291/06 is on process on the plenary assembly to forbidden the animals inside Circus. In that matter, this work is a Phenomenological perspective of the phenomenon Circus’s animals sited beyond the animal rights activists perspective. The Ideographic and Nomotetic analysis of the activist’s speech realize that is no discordance between then. All the speeches agrees that the animal must be out of the circus, and most of them agrees about the cruelty involving the animal´s domination, about that ONGs should be the better destination for this animals, and they shows lack of knowledge about the Brazilian Circus, with or without animals, their traditions and characteristics, so as the lack of knowledge about de ecology and biology of the animals involved.

A Ética na Experimentação Animal

A experimentação em animais é a metodologia mais utilizada para se testar a ação de todo tipo de droga em um organismo e suas reações. Atualmente existe na ciência a preocupação com a ética para amenizar o sofrimento dos animais envolvidos. Com o advento de novas tecnologias, são propostas técnicas alternativas que se abstém da utilização destes. Mas que não são ainda largamente estudadas no Brasil. Portanto realizou-se uma breve revisão das relações ser - humano/natureza presentes historicamente na atividade científica. Foram respondidos questionários e entregues para a análise, no qual se teve o objetivo de averiguar a opinião em relação a esse assunto perante os experimentadores de um conceituado Centro de Pesquisas e verificar assim, a possibilidade da inserção de uma nova ética, a qual possa futuramente livrar todos os animais de qualquer sofrimento. Os pesquisadores apresentam de uma forma geral, uma pequena preocupação com a reflexão sobre a utilização de materiais alternativos, em contrapartida se mostram bastante preocupados com a utilização dos animais de forma ética, a fim de minimizarem o sofrimento causado

Influência de contaminante ambiental em tumor de mama em cadela

Mammary cancer is a multifactorial disease that is believed to be caused by genetic and environmental factors. Among the environmental factors, pyrethroids appear to be able to participate in carcinogenesis through several mechanisms, and have been shown to be associated to mammary tumors in canines. In order to investigate the possible rule of pyrethroid on DNA lesion in mammary tissue we compare the comet assay results between mammary tumor bearing dogs with and without pyrethroid associated to the peri mammary adipose tissue or the tumor itself. The pyrethroids presence was assessed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and the DNA damage was assessed by the comet assay as previously described. Despite of correlation between DNA damage and tumor histologic aggressiveness, association between the severity of DNA damage and different types of mammary carcinoma was not found. Although pyrethroids were present in 22% of tumors and peritumoral adipose tissue, no difference in the degree DNA damage between the exposed and non exposed cells to pyrethroids were found. As future perspectives for this work, our group will evaluate the relationship of pyrethroids presence in tumors with its angiogenic potential. Angiogenesis evaluation will be based on presence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the tumor cells, and microvessel counts

Aspectos reprodutivos e sociais e resistência óssea em ratos machos submetidos ao exercício físico e/ou a um anabolizante esteróide

Nowadays the regular practice of sports is known as a way to obtain a better quality of life. On the other hand, the media has been distorting this idea, determining the ideal body as the hypertrophy phenotype. It is well known that the genetic factor does not allow all individuals to have this body shape. Besides the fact that, the anxiety of these people in obtain quick results, as one of the globalization’s consequence, make use of anabolic steroid to achieve this goal. However the bodybuilding or the strength muscle gain, make anabolic steroids users abuse and in major cases the users do not know the side effects. In front of these considerations, the present study evaluated the effects of the treatment with anabolic steroids and/or high intensity physical training on the corporal developing, the reproductive organs, bone parameters (strength and bone deformation) and seminal parameters as well the social behavior (aggressiveness). In other to obtain the experimental group, male Wistar rats were used, with 75 days old. The groups were divided into: Vehicle Non-Training (NV), Anabolic Steroid-Non-Training (NA), Vehicle-Training (TV) and Anabolic Steroid-Training (TA). These rats received i.m. injections, twice a week, of anabolic steroid (5mg/kg per animal of nandrolona decanoate) or vehicle (the same volume of peanut oil per animal) and the group TV and TA were submitted to physical training three times per week, during eight weeks. The body mass, wet weight of reproductive organs, femur and semen of the different groups were measured. The aggressive test was also realized in two steps: the first, within 4 weeks of the treatment and the other step in the end of the treatment, in this period the animal was isolated. It was not observed alterations in body mass of the groups. Though it was observed a benefic effect on the maximum strength of the... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Vocalizações de Dendropsophus nanus (Anura: Hylidae) e a modulação de comportamento ante estímulos acústicos

The aim of this study is to analyze the vocalizations of Dendropsophus nanus and its responses to the dominant frequencies of conspecific calls. There were made playback experiments by broadcasting calls of different dominant frequencies towards particular individuals, while their behavioral responses were registered. The results suggest that the playbacks cause behavioral complexity and aggressiveness to increase.

Escolha de pareamento com coespecíficos na tilápia-do-Nilo: efeito do tamanho do animal e do horário do dia

Considerando os conceitos de senciência e bem-estar animal, os testes de escolha e preferência são das alternativas interessantes para se discutir o bem-estar em peixes. Assim, avaliamos a escolha da tilápia-do-Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus) em manter-se em isolamento ou próxima a coespecíficos não-familiares de diferentes tamanhos (menores, similares ou maiores que o peixe-foco). O tamanho foi estudado por ser um fator determinante da dominância. Admitindo que o grau de atenção dos indivíduos possa ter flutuação circadiana, testamos também se o período do dia (manhã e tarde) afeta essa escolha. A escolha foi determinada pela maior freqüência do animal junto ao respectivo estímulo. Nesse estudo vimos que a tilápia-do-Nilo apresenta dois perfis de escolha: “decididos”, onde os animais escolhem uma posição em número significativamente maior de vezes; e os “indecisos”, que escolhem igualmente no mínimo duas opções de estímulos. No período da manhã há maior proporção de animais “decididos” do que à tarde. Portanto, embora não tenhamos detectado uma nítida escolha por tamanho de coespecífico o período do dia influenciou o número de indivíduos em cada um dos perfis. Assim, concluímos que a tomada de decisão na tilápia-do-Nilo varia em função do período do dia

Nutrição e nutrição parenteral no animal hospitalizado

The beneficial effects derived from the nutritional support in human patients and experimental animal models include the improvement of immune function, repair of wounds, answer to the treatment, time of recovery and survival. In front of these benefits, we end up alienating the nutritional needs of hospitalized patients, especially those with clinical or surgical affections threatening. The objective of the nutritional support is to indicate the importancea and the proportions of energy and nutrients that the patient can use with the maximum effectiveness. The majority of hospitalized patients do not have voluntary food intake adequate to meet even the minimal nutritional needs. It is often perceived that lack of adequate food intake, will have serious impact on the patient’s clinical outcome. The nutritional assessment will help determine which route of feeding will be the safest, most effective and best tolerated by the patient. Diet choice is based on which of the patient’s problems can and should be addressed with nutrition and the feeding access available

Agressividade infantil: análises de artigos científicos

This project has its topic on child aggression. Child aggression has always been present in the school environment. Therefore, aggressive behaviors have been interpreted as violence in which the educators have come to complaining earlier now. This study has its objective to survey published articles in electronic magazines, which talk about thematic aggression, child aggression and to systemize and analyze these procedures. Therefore, there will be a survey on the articles about this set of themes based on the data from Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online). In this data base, there are indexed published articles in electronic magazines from different areas of knowledge considered relevant. The articles will be identified by the keywords of aggressiveness, children, aggression, childhood, infantile, schools and their combinations

Os segredos que a natureza encerra: uso de conceitos e modelos da física para investigar questões do mundo animal

Physics governs all working patterns of the universe and could not be otherwise in a biological environment. Living things depend directly on laws and physical models to compose their body structure, allow its survival in certain environments, communication between individuals and groups and also to establish a complex sensorial system that allows interaction with the environment that surrounds them. With the advancement of science and technology, new ideas are required, and thus, many researchers began to turn their attention to those systems found in nature, as these systems often present practical solutions and with maximum efficiency. This imitation of biological systems, applied in creating innovative technological resources, is called Biomimetics. To study the biological systems based on physical concepts is essential the creation of models. These allow the distinction of the effects of the issue really essential and may be ignored side effects that do not have an effective participation in the phenomenon being analyzed. In this Work Completion of course will be studied the phenomenon of countercurrent heat exchangers, present in various situations of nature, focusing on their participation in the legs of birds, also the balance of certain birds that are supported on one leg and possible inspiration of these phenomena in the fields of engineering. Also included are videos that allow better understanding of the studied subjects

Revista Bauru animal

The theme of this project is the animal world, focusing on Bauru. The magazine Bauru Animal was born from the lack of publications addressing the issue of animals under the focus of their rights in this county. The treatment we give to animals is an important ethical and moral issue that should be discussed by the press. In Bauru there is an animal protection movement, whether organized or independent people. And there are many problems about the animals. The intent of the magazine is to report the status of animals in the city, checking legislation and getting into the philosophical field: we have the right to treat animals as mere environmental and economic resource? For the preparation of the materials were performed several interviews, documented in audio files and performed with the authors' theoretical Cremilda Medina and José Carlos Sebe Bom Meihy. The animal issue is cross-cutting issue that involves all traditional media editorials and allows public bodies to discuss assignments, ethical, moral and legal, the role of the citizen in society and many other issues relevant to the media

Jejum no pré-abate de suínos: bem estar animal e qualidade da carne

In the pre-slaughter management of pigs there are stressors, which depending on the duration or severity, are able to alter the quality of meat. One of the factors considered critical to the welfare is the fasting period in the farm. This practice is fundamental and proven relevance in the production chain. Besides the effects on meat quality and welfare of pigs, fasting is among the main factors responsible for the incidence of skin lesions, can significantly influence the incidence of esophagogastric ulcers and is also important to avoid any contamination of carcasses by gastrointestinal contents. When fasting is done right, it has a positive impact on welfare, meat quality and conditions of welfare during the pre-slaughter management of pigs