Social behaviour of buffalo heifers during the establishment of a dominance hierarchy

This study investigated the social behaviour of buffalo heifers during the establishment of a dominance hierarchy under conditions that differed in space availability (pen, small pasture and large pasture), food competition and in the presence or absence of an intact bull. The herd consisted of 21 Mediterranean–Murrah crossbreed buffalo heifers and one bull. During the establishment of dominance hierarchy, one observer recorded all of agonistic interactions occurring in the pen, in the small pasture and in the large pasture. For the food competition test, the females were first separated into groups (G) of seven animals and the behavioural interactions within these groups were observed. The group levels were determined by the sociometric parameters (h′: Landau linearity index and DCI: directional consistency index). The percentage of unknown, one-way and two-way dyadic relationships; a social index, hierarchical position and correlations among feeding duration, latency, social index and hierarchical position were calculated. In the large pasture, the DCI value was 55.24% of the dyadic relationships were one-way and 36.19% were unknown; whereas in the small pasture and pen most of the dyads were unknown (54–63%) or one-way (33-41%). The social indexes observed were low (0.004 and 0.122). In the food competition test, h′ values were not significant for groups G1, G2, G3 and G6, and significant for Groups G4 and G5. The percentages of two-way dyadic relationships were high in G4 (80.95%) and G6 (100%) groups. Correlations among feeding duration and latency, social position and social index were all negative and significant. There were no significant correlations between body weight and social index or hierarchy position. This study showed that buffalo heifers established social dominance relationships among several of the herd members, but because there were several unknown dyads, the hierarchy is classified as semi-linear hierarchy. Two factors seemed to affect the establishment of social dominance and a hierarchy: adjusting to a new environment and the presence of an adult intact male, and the dominant females had advantage over the subordinate females during feeding in a trough. To reduce agonistic encounters between buffalo heifers suggest provide more space in the trough during feeding.     

Contamination of dog hair with eggs of Toxocara canis

Toxocara canis, the common intestinal nematode of dogs and foxes, is the parasite responsible for human toxocarosis. It has recently been shown that dogs may harbour eggs of the parasite in their fur. To further investigate this claim a population of 100 stray dogs was examined to establish the prevalence and intensity of adult toxocaral worm infection in the intestines and eggs harboured in the hair. A novel method of washing the eggs from the hair was used. Sixty-seven percent of dogs were found to have T. canis eggs on their hair with a mean egg retrieval of nearly 584 eggs per gram from positive dogs. The age of the dog was found to be the only significant factor to influence the prevalence and intensity of eggs, with 95% of all the eggs recovered found on puppies. Thirty-nine percent of dogs were found to have adult T. canis worms in their intestine, although a significantly higher percentage of puppies (80%) were infected with worms than adults (22.5%). Puppies also had more worms per infection than adults and have a strong positive correlation between egg and worms numbers whereas adults did not. These studies show that stray dogs, particularly puppies, potentially harbour considerable numbers of eggs on their hair, at densities far higher than those reported in the soil or the general environment.     

Uterine hemodynamics during a short-term progesterone synchronization protocol in ewes

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Twenty-eight pluriparous and non-lactating Santa Inês sheep were synchronized with vaginal sponge and an intramuscular (IM) injection of...     

Deposition Patterns of SO4 2−, NO3 − and H+ in the Brazilian Territory

SO₄ ^2?, NO₃ ^? and H⁺ depositions are estimated in the Brazilian territory based on the existing rainfall chemical data and on annual rainfall distribution over the whole territory. Local and regional depositions are estimated. Rainfall chemical data over the Braziliian territory shows that the average pH values are usually low (between 4.0 and 5.5). These values are observed in the tropical Amazon forest as well as in urban areas. However, the rainwater acidity in the tropical forests are due to organic acids naturally produced by the vegetation while in urban areas the acidity is mainly due to acidic anion deposition (NO₃ ^? and SO₄ ^2?). In some Amazonian areas, the average input values through rainfall for NO₃ ^? is about 0.06 keq.ha.yr^?1 and for SO₄ ^2? is between 0.23 and 0.54 keq.ha^?1.yr^?1. On the other hand, in some urban centers, such as São Paulo, values of .072 keq.ha^?1.yr^?1 for NO₃ ^? and 1.16 keq.ha^?1.yr^?1 of SO₄ ^2? are found and in sites where sulfate sources (coal mining) are present, as for the area of Florianópolis, values as high as 5.59 keq.ha^?1.yr^?1 for SO₄ ^2? are found.     

Immunomodulatory activity of a new family of antioxidants obtained from grape polyphenols

We examined the potential antioxidant activity and the immunopharmacological activity of new epicatechin conjugates obtained by depolymerization of grape polymeric flavanols in the presence of cysteamine or cysteine and with or without gallate. The compounds studied were (-)-epicatechin (1), cysteinyl-epicatechin (2), cysteamine-epicatechin (3), (-)-epicatechin gallate (4), cysteinyl-epicatechin gallate (5), and cysteamine-epicatechin gallate (6) When incubated with an erythrocyte suspension, flavanols protected the erythrocyte membrane from hemolysis induced by 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride, an azo free-radical initiator. All the epicatechin derivatives tested were more efficient as antioxidant than epicatechin. The most potent antioxidant was compound 6. The compounds were tested for their capacity to modulate IL-1beta and IL-6, which are the main cytokine factors influencing the acute phase of the inflammatory response. (-)-Epicatechin and its related compounds inhibited the production of IL-1beta and IL-6 in whole blood incubated in the presence of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide. The most efficient inhibitor of cytokine formation was compound 3.     

Molecular characterization of H5N2 avian influenza viruses isolated from South African ostriches in 2006

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2 reemerged in ostriches in South Africa during 2006, and a low-pathogenic AI H5N2 virus was also isolated. Molecular and phylogenetic characterization was performed to determine whether the outbreak strains were genetically derived from the supposedly eradicated Eastern Cape ostrich outbreak HPAI H5N2 strain of 2004. It was demonstrated that although the 2004 and 2006 South African H5N2 strains shared a common ancestor, the two outbreaks were not related. Not only were extensive reassortments with wild bird viruses involved in the evolution of the 2006 strains, but the precursor HA molecule HA0 cleavage site sequence of the 2006 HPAI H5N2 virus also contained fewer basic amino-acid insertions. Multiple transmission events occurred from wild birds to ostriches in 2006, and it appears that a reservoir of H5N2 with pathogenic potential for poultry is established in the South African wild duck population.