Avaliação da movimentação de cães por meio de captura-recaptura fotográfica e georeferenciamento

Pós-graduação em Ciência Animal - FMVA

Etiopatogenia e tratamento do deslocamento de abomaso em bovinos leiteiros de alta produção

The dairy business is in constant development, in order to achieve better results and higher profits to the producer, and this search for improvement has led to the selection of a herd more productive. But this has caused some problems heightened, among them the displacement of the abomasum, a disease that affects much of the high producing dairy herd. The main reasons are apparently related to the feeding management, with the abrupt changes that the animal suffers in the post partum period, with diseases that would cause abomasal atony favoring its displacement, among others. When affected, the animals lose their appetite and in milk production, and may even, in severe cases, death to come. Treatments described in literature are varied and there are conservative and chirurgical methods. The choice of a particular technique depends on the financial condition of the producer, the economic value of the cow and from personal experience and technique of the veterinarian. Understanding the clinical implications of displaced abomasum is necessary not only for its animal identification in the field and its appropriate treatment but also for finding the errors and inadequacies in the management system of production that trigger this disease

A New Approach for Managing Bovine Tuberculosis: Veterinary Services’ Proposed Action Plan

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a serious disease with animal health, public health, and international trade consequences. The cooperative Federal-State-industry effort to eradicate bovine TB from cattle in the United States has made significant progress since the program’s inception in 1917. However, the goal of eradication remains elusive. This proposed action plan presents Veterinary Services’ (VS’) current thinking about changes we are considering for the TB program to address our current challenges. This action plan will: 1. Reduce the introduction of TB into the U.S. national herd from imported animals and wildlife by: o Applying additional requirements to cattle imports from Mexico o Enhancing efforts to mitigate risks from wildlife 2. Enhance TB surveillance by: o Crafting a comprehensive national surveillance plan o Accelerating diagnostic test development to support surveillance 3. Increase options for managing TB-affected herds by: o Conducting epidemiological investigations and assessing individual herd risk o Applying whole-herd depopulation judiciously and developing alternative control strategies o Applying animal identification (ID) standards to meet animal ID needs 4. Modernize the regulatory framework to allow VS to focus resources where the disease exists 5. Transition the TB program from a State classification system to a science-based zoning approach to address disease risk To succeed, this new approach will require VS’ continued partnership with State animal health and wildlife officials, other Federal agencies, industry, international partners, academia, and other stakeholders. Successful partnerships will allow us to use available resources efficiently to achieve program objectives and protect our nation’s herd. Implementation of the VS proposed action plan will benefit Federal and State animal health officials, the regulated industries, and producers by allowing a more rapid response that employs up-to-date science and can adapt rapidly to changing situations.

Time inside

This poem explores the bodily intimacy of pregnancy as an infolding of self-with-other, an abeyance, away from cursive temporality that governs our social and working lives, exploring something like ‘monumental time’, invoked by Kristeva in ‘Women’s Time’.

A molecular genetic approach for forensic animal species identification

This study investigated potential markers within chromosomal, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) with the aim of developing a DNA based method to allow differentiation between animal species. Such discrimination tests may have important applications in the forensic science, agriculture, quarantine and customs fields. DNA samples from five different animal individuals within the same species for 10 species of animal (including human) were analysed. DNA extraction and quantitation followed by PCR amplification and GeneScan visualisation formed the basis of the experimental analysis. Five gene markers from three different types of genes were investigated. These included genomic markers for the β-actin and TP53 tumor suppressor gene. Mitochondrial DNA markers, designed by Bataille et al. [Forensic Sci. Int. 99 (1999) 165], examined the Cytochrome b gene and Hypervariable Displacement Loop (D-Loop) region. Finally, a ribosomal RNA marker for the 28S rRNA gene optimised by Naito et al. [J. Forensic Sci. 37 (1992) 396] was used as a possible marker for speciation. Results showed a difference of only several base pairs between all species for the β-actin and 28S markers, with the exception of Sus scrofa (pig) β-actin fragment length, which produced a significantly smaller fragment. Multiplexing of Cytochrome b and D-Loop markers gave limited species information, although positive discrimination of human DNA was evident. The most specific and discriminatory results were shown using the TP53 gene since this marker produced greatest fragment size differences between animal species studied. Sample differentiation for all species was possible following TP53 amplification, suggesting that this gene could be used as a potential animal species identifier.

Identification of vhhP2, a novel genetic marker of Vibrio harveyi, and its application in the quick detection of V. harveyi from animal specimens and environmental samples

Aims: To investigate the species-specific prevalence of vhhP2 among Vibrio harveyi isolates and the applicability of vhhP2 in the specific detection of V. harveyi from crude samples of animal and environmental origins. Methods and Results: A gene (vhhP2) encoding an outer membrane protein of unknown function was identified from a pathogenic V. harveyi isolate. vhhP2 is present in 24 V. harveyi strains isolated from different geographical locations but is absent in 24 strains representing 17 different non-V. harveyi species, including V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus. A simple polymerase chain reaction method for the identification of V. harveyi was developed based on the conserved sequence of vhhP2. This method was demonstrated to be applicable to the quick detection of V. harveyi from crude animal specimens and environmental samples. The specificity of this method was tested by applying it to the examination of two strains of V. campbellii, which is most closely related to V. harveyi. One of the V. campbellii strains was falsely identified as V. harveyi. Conclusions: vhhP2 is ubiquitously present in the V. harveyi species and is absent in most of the non-V. harveyi species; this feature enables vhhP2 to serve as a genetic marker for the rapid identification of V. harveyi. However, this method can not distinguish some V. campbellii strains from V. harveyi. Significance and Impact of the Study: the significance of our study is the identification of a novel gene of V. harveyi and the development of a simple method for the relatively accurate detection of V. harveyi from animal specimens and environmental samples.

The identification of potential alternative biomarkers of nitrofurazone abuse in animal derived food products

Semicarbazide (SEM) was considered to be a characteristic protein-bound side-chain metabolite of the banned veterinary drug nitrofurazone and used as a marker of nitrofurazone abuse. It was recently discovered that SEM can arise in food from sources other than nitrofurazone. This uncertainty over the source of SEM may be overcome if alternative markers specific to tissue-bound nitrofurazone residues can be determined. The structure of nitrofurazone metabolites in vivo and particular proteins to which they are bound are not known. These proteins with altered structure due to the presence of the drug metabolites can be considered as potential alternative biomarkers of nitrofurazone abuse. The proteins implicated in the in vivo binding of nitrofurazone were separated and identified. A crude mixture of proteins extracted from the liver of a rat treated with the drug was separated using a series of different techniques such as preparative isoelectric focusing and size exclusion HPLC. Multiple fractions were assayed by LC-MS/MS to detect the presence of SEM. The proteins containing SEM residues were identified by peptide mass mapping using trypsin digestion and MALDI-TOF. The first protein identified as containing high concentration of SEM was albumin. It was also shown that low molecular weight species within a protein mixture whose main constituent was glutathione S-transferase contained a high concentration of SEM. The chemical composition of these components is under investigation. Preliminary data suggest the SEM forms part of a nitrofurazone metabolite conjugated to glutathione. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feature extraction for animal fiber identification

Fiber identification has been a very important task in many industries such as wool growing, textile processing, archaeology, histochernical engineering, and zoology. Over the years, animal fibers have been identified using physical and chemical approaches. Recently, objective identification of animal fibers has been developed based on the cuticular information of fibers. Effective and accurate extraction of representative features is essential to animal fiber identification and classification. In the current work, two different strategies are developed for this purpose. In the first method, explicit features are extracted using image processing. However, only implicit features are used in the second method with an unsupervised artificial neural network. It is found that the use of explicit features increases the accuracy of fiber identification but requires more effort on processing images and solid knowledge of what features are representative ones.

Identification and classification of animal fibres using artificial neural networks

It has been an important and challenging task to classify and evaluate the contents in wool blends. Quantitative characterisation of animal fibre scale patterns has attracted considerable attention, since it is the major evidence for identification and subsequent classification purpose. Although techniques such as imaging processing and linear demarcation functions have been used to identify unknown fibre type with some success, a more comprehensive approach is required to perform this task. In this paper, a new approach is presented, which employs non-linear demarcation functions by using an artificial neural network (ANN). Based on scale pattern features extracted by using image processing techniques the artificial neural network (ANN) model is to classify mohair and merino fibres. It is observed that the techniques developed in this work are very effective and have the potential to be applied to other animal fibres.

Intelligent animal fibre identification and classification

To develop an objective and repeatable method of identification and classification of animal fibres, two different integrated systems were developed to mimic the human brain's ability to undertake feature extraction and discrimination of animal fibres. Both integrated systems are basically composed of an image processing system and an artificial neural network system.

Identification of animal fibers with wavelet texture analysis

This paper presents the use of the wavelet transform to extract fiber surface texture features for classifying cashmere and superfine merino wool fibers. Extracting features from brightness variations caused by the cuticular scale height, shape and interval provides an effective way for characterizing different animal fibers and subsequently classifying them. This may enable the development of a completely automated and objective system for animal fiber identification.

Identification of prey captures in Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) using head-mounted accelerometers: field validation with animal-borne video cameras

This study investigated prey captures in free-ranging adult female Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) using head-mounted 3-axis accelerometers and animal-borne video cameras. Acceleration data was used to identify individual attempted prey captures (APC), and video data were used to independently verify APC and prey types. Results demonstrated that head-mounted accelerometers could detect individual APC but were unable to distinguish among prey types (fish, cephalopod, stingray) or between successful captures and unsuccessful capture attempts. Mean detection rate (true positive rate) on individual animals in the testing subset ranged from 67-100%, and mean detection on the testing subset averaged across 4 animals ranged from 82-97%. Mean False positive (FP) rate ranged from 15-67% individually in the testing subset, and 26-59% averaged across 4 animals. Surge and sway had significantly greater detection rates, but also conversely greater FP rates compared to heave. Video data also indicated that some head movements recorded by the accelerometers were unrelated to APC and that a peak in acceleration variance did not always equate to an individual prey item. The results of the present study indicate that head-mounted accelerometers provide a complementary tool for investigating foraging behaviour in pinnipeds, but that detection and FP correction factors need to be applied for reliable field application.