Understanding the social determinants of telomere length is critical to evaluate the risk of early biological aging. We investigated sex differences on the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and demographic markers and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in Brazilian adults. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a subsample (women=228; men=200) nested within the Pro-Saúde study, a prospective cohort study of university civil servants in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2012-2013). Adjusted multivariate models were used to test the relationship between SES markers (marital status, educational attainment, father's educational attainment, race/skin color, household income, and childhood experience of food deprivation) and LTL. After adjusting for age and potential health-related confounders, lower educational attainment was associated with shorter LTL among men (β=-0.05, 95% confidence interval (CI)=95%CI: -0.10, 0.00, P=0.03). In women, LTL was inversely associated with unmarried status (β=-0.05, 95%CI: -0.09, 0.00, P=0.03), lower father's educational attainment (β=-0.05, 95%CI: -0.13, 0.00, P=0.04), and childhood experience of food deprivation (β=-0.07, 95%CI: -0.13, 0.00, P=0.04). Our findings suggested that the association between SES markers and LTL differs according to sex. SES markers able to induce lifelong stress, reflected in LTL, appeared to be more related to individual factors in men, whereas in women they were family-related.

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to detect enterobacteria in captive Grey-breasted parakeet from a commercial breeding located in the state of Ceara. 25 individual cloacal swabs were collected and this material was subjected to microbiological processing to obtain the bacterial isolation, identification, and evaluation of the sensitivity profile to antimicrobials. The bacterial isolation in ten samples was determined, belonging to the genera Enterobacter, Hafnia, Serratia, Escherichia, Pantoea and Klebsiella, in which these last three corresponded to the bacteria most isolated, with respective percentages of 28.6%, 21.4%, and 21.4%. As for the sensitivity profile, antibiotics to which the bacteria showed more resistance were trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (57%), tetracycline (21%), and azithromycin (43%). Thus, it was shown that the parakeets were carriers of Enterobacteriaceae with resistance characteristics.

A manutenção de aves em cativeiro reúne condições que favorecem a disseminação de doenças infecciosas, sendo a Salmonella uma dessas doenças infecciosas que acomete os psitacídeos. Portanto o objetivo do presente estudo foi isolar e identificar Salmonella spp. em Psittaciformes mantidos em criatórios comerciais e conservacionistas da Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza. Para o estudo, foram coletados swabs cloacais de 182 psitacídeos clinicamente sadios. Os resultados mostraram que três psitacídeos avaliados (1,65%) foram positivos: Amazona aestiva (Salmonella Lexington), Ara chloroptera (Salmonella Saintpaul) e Melopsittacus undulatus (Salmonella Newport). De acordo com a literatura científica, não há registro desses sorotipos em psitacídeos. Esta pesquisa evidenciou uma baixa prevalência de Salmonella spp. em Psittaciformes mantidos em criatórios comerciais e conservacionistas da Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza.

This study showed a low prevalence of Salmonellaspp. in captive psittacines from zoos and a commercial establishment of Fortaleza. None of the isolated serotypes (S. Lexington, S. Saintpaul and S. Newport) have yet been reported in Amazona aestiva, Ara chloropteraor Melopsittacus undulatus. However, the fact that most birds presented negative for Salmonellaspp. may not imply the absence of this pathogen in these birds, since the intermittent excretion is a well-known characteristic of this microorganism.

This article presents a new correlative model for surface tension of mixtures. This model is an extension of a predictive model recently proposed by our group. Other correlative models were evaluated and compared to the proposed model. Hydrocarbons mixtures exhibiting chemical nature or shape and chain size asymmetries were chosen as the standard to test the performance of the chosen models at several temperatures. A total of 1433 experimental data was used. All of the correlative models studied showed very good results. However, an F-test study pointed out that there are still opportunities in modeling for describing the studied data within the experimental uncertainties.

Com o objetivo de avaliar a qualidade microbiológica e físico-química da linguiça toscana comercializada no Município de Mossoró, RN, foram analisadas 28 amostras de seis supermercados, verificando-se o Número Mais Provável (NMP) de coliformes termotolerantes, Salmonella spp. e bactérias psicrotróficas, umidade, pH e atividade de água. Todas as amostras estavam dentro do padrão vigente que estabelece um limite máximo de 5 x 10³ NMP/g-1 para coliformes termotole-rantes conforme a ANVISA. Na contagem de bactérias psicrotróficas houve uma variação de 2,9 x 10¹ a 1,31 x 10(4) UFC/g-1. Das 28 amostras pesquisadas quanto a presença de Salmonella spp., em cinco verificou-se a presença deste micro-organismo em 25 g. Para umidade, todas as amostras encontravam-se dentro da legislação estabelecida (< 70%) e para atividade de água os limites variaram de 0,772 a 0,809. Os valores de pH das amostras estavam entre 5,7 e 6,2. Apesar das amostras analisadas estarem dentro do estabelecido pela legislação brasileira, faz necessária a aplicação de boas práticas, visto que a contaminação por micro-organismos psicrotróficos e Salmonella foi significativa, podendo diminuir a vida de prateleira do produto e causar danos a saúde pública.

Aiming to evaluate the microbiological and physico-chemical quality of the toscana sausage commercialized in the city of Mossoró, state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, samples from 6 supermarkets were analyzed, verifying the most likely number (MLN) of thermotolerant coliforms, Salmonella spp. , and psychrotrophic bacteria, humidity, pH and water activity. All the samples were within the current standards which establish a maximum limit of 5 x 10³ MLN/g for thermotolerant coliforms according to ANVISA. On the psychrotrophic bacteria count there was a variation of 1.46 to 4.10 expressed in log10 values. Of the 28 samples analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp. , in 5 the presence of this microorganism was verified in 25 g. In regard to humidity, all the samples were found to be in accordance with the established legislation (lower than 70% humidity), and for water activity the limits varied between 0.772 and 0.809. The pH values were within normalcy, ranging from 5.7 to 6.2. In spite of the fact that the analyzed samples are in accordance with Brazilian laws, it is necessary to apply good practices, since the contamination by psychrotrophic microorganisms and Salmonella was significant and could harm the public health and reduce the product's shelf life.

RESUMO Os bubalinos apresentam doenças semelhantes às de bovinos, como a mastite, causando grandes prejuízos pecuaristas, no que se refere a terapêutica. O uso indevido de antibióticos aumenta a resistência, o que torna cada vez mais difícil o tratamento da mastite, devido a necessidade de descobrir novos compostos que sejam eficazes. Este trabalho visa avaliar alternativa de tratamento da mastite com plantas do Semi-árido paraibano Jurema preta [ Mimosa tenuiflora (Wild) Poiret] e Neem (Azadiracta indica). As folhas de Neem foram coletadas em árvores de fazendas do Município de Patos, PB, e casca de Jurema preta foi da fazenda da Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, UFCG, Campus de Patos, em seguida, preparado o extrato etanólico. As amostras de Staphylococcus sp. foram coletadas de leite de búfalas com mastite subclínica e semeadas em placas de Petri contendo ágar-base acrescido de 8% de sangue desfibrinado de ovino. As placas foram incubadas em estufa bacteriológica a 37º C e a leitura foi realizada com 24 e 48h. Os ensaios foram realizados em duplicata e o resultado final foi determinado pela média aritmética dos halos de inibição. O extrato etanólico de Jurema preta foi eficaz quando comparado ao de Neem, sobre Staphylococcus coagulase negativa isolados de casos de mastite subclínica em búfalas.

ABSTRACT Buffaloes ranching presents illnesses similar to those of cattle, such as mastitis, causing losses for the producers, in regard to therapeutics. The improper antibiotic use of antibiotics increases the bacteria’s resistance, making it increasingly more difficult to treat mastitis, owing to the need to discover new effective compounds. The present study was aimed to evaluate the alternative control of mastitis with plants of the semi-arid region of Paraiba State, Brazil: jurema preta [Mimosa tenuiflora (Wild) Poiret] and neem (Azadiracta indica). The leaves of neem were collected on farms in the county of Patos, and the bark of jurema preta was collected from the farm of the Federal University of Campina Grande UFCG, Campus of Patos, with subsequent preparation of the ethanolic extract. The samples of Staphylococcus sp. were collected from milk of buffaloes with subclinical mastitis and sown in Petri plates containing agar-base complemented by 8% of defibrinated sheep blood. The plates were incubatedin a bacteriological chamber at 37º C, and the reading was carried out at 24 and 48 hs. The assays were carried out in duplicate, and the final result was determined by the arithmetic mean of halo inhibition. The ethanolic extract of jurema preta was efficient when compared with that of neem, on coagulasenegative Staphylococcus isolated from cases of subclinical mastitis in buffaloes.

Parâmetros cinéticos da degradação ruminal de alguns alimentos utilizados para ruminantes de zoológicos foram estimados mediante incubação in vitro com líquido ruminal de audade (Ammotragus lervia), cervo sambar (Cervus unicolor), elande (Taurotragus oryx), bovino (Bos taurus), bubalino (Bubalus bubalis), caprino (Capra hircus) e ovino (Ovis aries). Os parâmetros cinéticos foram estimados pela técnica da produção de gás, cujos dados foram ajustados pelos modelos de um e de duplo compartimento. Não foram detectadas diferenças nos parâmetros cinéticos que permitissem agrupar os alimentos (fibrosos × não fibrosos) e os animais (domésticos × silvestres). O modelo de duplo compartimento foi o mais adequado para a estimação dos parâmetros cinéticos da degradação ruminal. Inóculo microbiano oriundo de ruminantes domésticos não é recomendado para estimar parâmetros cinéticos da degradação ruminal de alimentos utilizados para ruminantes silvestres de zoológicos.

The estimation of the ruminal kinetic parameters of pumpkin, potato-sweet, beet, broccoli, carrot, alfalfa hay, alfalfa pellet and bean, currently used for feeding wild and domestic ruminants raised in the Rio de Janeiro Zoo, was made through in vitro incubation of the feedstuffs together with ruminal fluid obtained from aoudad (Ammotragus lervia), sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), eland (Taurotragus oryx), cattle (Bos taurus), buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), goat (Capra hircus) and sheep (Ovis aries). The gas production technique was used to obtain gas profiles, and the data were fitted by the mono or double compartmental model. The kinetic parameters were discrepant among both, animals and feedstuffs, and the double compartmental model gave the best estimation. Ruminal inocula from domestic ruminants can not be used to estimate the kinetic parameters of ruminal degradation of feedstuffs for wild ruminants.