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Neohelice granulata (previously known as Chasmagnathus granulata and C. granulatus) is a burrowing semiterrestrial crab found in the intertidal zone of estuaries, salt marshes and mangroves of the South-western Atlantic Ocean. Beginning in the late 1989s, an explosion of publications appeared in international journals dealing with its ecology, physiology, toxicology and behavior. A bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database allowed detecting 309 papers that deal with this species during the period 1986–2009. The number of papers per year increased continuously, reaching a mean annual value of 22.6 during the last 5 years; a great majority of them were authored by researchers from Argentina and Brazil. Neohelice granulata has become now one of the most studied crab species, after Carcinus maenas, Callinectes sapidus, Scylla serrata and Cancer pagurus and C. magister, and it can be considered as an emergent animal model for biochemical, physiological and ecological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil is a global agricultural commodity producer and the largest consumer of pesticides. Pesticide use in Brazil comprised 549 280 tons in 2018. In the country, soybean, corn, and sugar cane are extensively produced, which are the most pesticides demanding crops. In the last years, the records of new pesticides were the highest in the historical series. They can persist in soil or water, accumulate in organisms, and contaminate workers and the general population through the air, water, or food. This review aimed to gather toxicological data obtained by animal models exposed to 4 pesticides: glyphosate, chlorpyrifos, abamectin, and 2,4-D. An additional goal was to compose an overview of how this subject has been approached, surveying which research groups are working on this field, where they are located, and relations with pesticides used in those regions. We collected the papers from the platforms PubMed, Scopus, Scielo, and Web of Science, performed in Brazil from 2014 to 2019. After two-step blind selection using the software Rayyan QCRI by different authors, 67 studies were selected to extract data. We observed that research is more concentrated in the South region, followed by the Southeast and Midwest, with 43%, 32%, and 23% of the studies, respectively. The prevalent institutions are from the states of Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, and Goiás. The effects on a variety of biomarkers help predict the potential risks to humans and nontarget organisms. The prevalent animal model was fish (36%). Overall, the main toxic effects evaluated were mortality, abnormalities in the blood cells, developmental abnormalities, and behavior alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buffalo economic exploitation for milk production is a new fact in the southernmost Brazilian region. The production chain structuring of this activity was started in the year 2000, and nowadays dairy products, identified and labeled as such, are available in the consumer market. However, the present-day dairy products output corresponds to only 50% of market demand. The aim of this paper is to evaluate buffalo milk produced in Rio Grande do Sul state both qualitatively and quantitatively as a subsidy for the adoption of a breeding program and the development or adaptation of technologies so that this cattle-raising activity has a greater financial appeal. Two properties are currently under evaluation, each of them holding approximately 70 lactating females from Murrah and Mediterranean breeds. The feeding system used is pasture, with supplement in wintertime. Total milk production of each female is measured every 28 days, and individual milk samples are collected for chemical analysis and somatic cell count (SCC). Data collection started in February 2009, as far as October 2009, 900 samples had already been collected. The mean milk production per animal was 7,01±1,13 kg for the Murrah breed and 3,24±0,61 kg for the Mediterranean. Quality traits were 4,45±0,24 and 3,73±0,41% (fat); 3,83±0,26 and 3,82±0,49% (proteins); 5,04±0,08 and 5,20±0,16% (lactose); 14,47±0,46 and 13,85±0,81% (total solids) and SCC mean value was 112,765±75,269 and 50,222±24,952 cell/ml for the Murrah and Mediterranean breeds, respectively. These quantity and quality differences can be attributed to the feeding system, management and individual variations, in addition to animal breed. Preliminary data have shown that a genetic improvement program and the development or adaptation of technologies from different areas of knowledge is vital to obtain higher productivity so that this can be a viable activity in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters for the ability of a sheep to rank among the top three in its age category (ABI3) and for its total score (TS) on the judgement championships held in different agricultural fairs in Brazil. Data files included 3180 records referring to 1896 animals for ABI3 and 4383 records referring to 2170 animals for TS. The relationship matrix was composed by 4069 animals. Variance components were estimated fitting threshold and linear animal models for ABI3 and TS, respectively, by Bayesian analysis using the Gibbs sampler. The posterior means of the heritability and repeatability were, respectively, 0.10 ± 0.07 and 0.57 ± 0.11 for ABI3 and 0.12 ± 0.04 and 0.31 ± 0.02 for TS. The low values for the heritabilities related to these traits reveal a strong influence of the environmental factors, as the differential management offered to the animals before and during the fair. The repeatability values for ABI3 suggest high correlation among the animal classifications in different fairs. However, for TS, the observed performance has moderate confidence to be repeated over time. We conclude that although reduced, there is genetic variability for the animal’s performance in agricultural fairs. Nevertheless, due to the low heritability estimates, the expected response to direct selection for ABI3 and TS will be low. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the International Symposium on Leishmaniasis Vaccines held in Olinda, Brazil from March 9-11, 2009, which gathered international experts to conduct research on vaccines against leishmaniases. It states that leishmaniases is responsible for high deaths due to parasitic infection. It mentions that controlling leishmaniasis with vaccine is a cost-effective approach to attest the fact that individuals who were once infected and recovered are manifested for re-infections. Furthermore, a chart which shows the use of animal models, including mouse, rats and dogs, in leishmaniasis trials is presented.

Background: Placentas of guinea pig-related rodents are appropriate animal models for human placentation because of their striking similarities to those of humans. To optimize the pool of potential models in this context, it is essential to identify the occurrence of characters in close relatives. Methods: In this study we first analyzed chorioallantoic placentation in the prea, Galea spixii, as one of the guinea pig's closest relatives. Material was collected from a breeding group at the University of Mossoró, Brazil, including 18 individuals covering an ontogenetic sequence from initial pregnancy to term. Placentas were investigated by means of histology, electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry (vimentin, a-smooth muscle actin, cytokeration) and proliferation activity (PCNA). Results: Placentation in Galea is primarily characterized by an apparent regionalization into labyrinth, trophospongium and subplacenta. It also has associated growing processes with clusters of proliferating trophoblast cells at the placental margin, internally directed projections and a second centre of proliferation in the labyrinth. Finally, the subplacenta, which is temporarily supplied in parallel by the maternal and fetal blood systems, served as the center of origin for trophoblast invasion. Conclusion: Placentation in Galea reveals major parallels to the guinea pig and other caviomorphs with respect to the regionalization of the placenta, the associated growing processes, as well as trophoblast invasion. A principal difference compared to the guinea pig occurred in the blood supply of the subplacenta. Characteristics of the invasion and expanding processes indicate that Galea may serve as an additional animal model that is much smaller than the guinea pig and where the subplacenta partly has access to both maternal and fetal blood systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]