There is a trend to reduce the space allowance per animal in cattle feedlot, despite its potential negative impact on animal welfare. Aiming to evaluate the effects of space allowance per animal in outdoor feedlots on beef cattle welfare, a total of 1350 Nellore bulls (450 pure and 900 crossbred) were confined for 12 weeks using three space allowances: 6 (SA6), 12 (SA12) and 24 (SA24) m2/animal (n = 450 per treatment). Bulls were housed in three pens per treatment (n = 150 per pen). The first 6 weeks in the feedlot were defined as ‘dry’ and the last as ‘rainy’ period, according to the accumulated precipitation. Animal-based (body cleanliness, health indicators and maintenance behaviour) and environmental-based indicators (mud depth and air dust concentration) were assessed weekly during the feedlot period. Most of the health indicators (nasal and ocular discharge, hoof and locomotion alterations, diarrhoea, bloated rumen and breathing difficulty) were assessed in a subset of 15 animals randomly selected from each pen. Coughs and sneezes were counted in each pen. Maintenance behaviours (number of animals lying and attending the feed bunk) were recorded with scan sampling and instantaneous recording at 20-min intervals. Postmortem assessments were carried out in all animals by recording the frequencies of macroscopic signs of bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, nephritis and urinary cyst and by measuring the weight and cortical and medullar areas of adrenal glands (n = 30 per pen). Compared with SA12 and SA24, SA6 showed a greater number of sneezes per minute during the dry period and a greater percentage of animals with locomotion alterations during the rainy period. Coughing, diarrhoea and nasal discharge affected a larger number of animals in the SA6 relative to the other two groups. During the rainy period, there was a lower percentage of animals with nasal and ocular discharge, and a greater percentage of animals with abnormal hoof and lying. A lower percentage of animals in SA6 and SA12 (but not SA24) attended the feed bunk during the rainy relative to the dry period. A mud depth score of 0 (no mud) was most frequent in SA24 pens, followed by SA12 and then SA6. Adrenal gland weight and cortical area were lower in SA24 animals compared with those in SA6 and SA12. The results show that decreasing the space allowance for beef cattle in outdoor feedlots degrades the feedlot environment and impoverishes animal welfare.

Different countries, especially Brazil, that have faced recurrent dengue epidemics for decades and chikungunya epidemics since 2014, have had to restructure their health services to combat a triple epidemic of arboviruses – Zika, dengue and Chikungunya – transmitted by the same vector, mainly Aedes aegypti, in 2015–2016. Several efforts have been made to better understand these three arboviruses. Spatial analysis plays an important role in the knowledge of disease dynamics. The knowledge of the patterns of spatial diffusion of these three arboviruses during an epidemic can contribute to the planning of surveillance actions and control of these diseases. This study aimed to identify the spatial diffusion processes of these viruses in the context of the triple epidemic in 2015–2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two study designs were used: cross-sectional and ecological. Sequential Kernel maps, nearest-neighbour ratios calculated cumulatively over time, Moran global autocorrelation correlograms, and local autocorrelation changes over time were used to identify spatial diffusion patterns. The results suggested an expansion diffusion pattern for the three arboviruses during 2015–2016 in Rio de Janeiro. These findings can be considered for more effective control measures and for new studies on the dynamics of these three arboviruses.

GravityCam is a new concept of ground-based imaging instrument capable of delivering significantly sharper images from the ground than is normally possible without adaptive optics. Advances in optical and near-infrared imaging technologies allow images to be acquired at high speed without significant noise penalty. Aligning these images before they are combined can yield a 2.5–3-fold improvement in image resolution. By using arrays of such detectors, survey fields may be as wide as the telescope optics allows. Consequently, GravityCam enables both wide-field high-resolution imaging and high-speed photometry. We describe the instrument and detail its application to provide demographics of planets and satellites down to Lunar mass (or even below) across the Milky Way. GravityCam is also suited to improve the quality of weak shear studies of dark matter distribution in distant clusters of galaxies and multiwavelength follow-ups of background sources that are strongly lensed by galaxy clusters. The photometric data arising from an extensive microlensing survey will also be useful for asteroseismology studies, while GravityCam can be used to monitor fast multiwavelength flaring in accreting compact objects and promises to generate a unique data set on the population of the Kuiper belt and possibly the Oort cloud.

Primary seed dispersal of many rain-forest seeds occurs through defecation by mammals. Dung beetles are attracted to the defecations and through their dung-processing behaviour these insects change the initial pattern of seed deposition. Final seed deposition patterns, i.e. where and how seeds are deposited after dung beetle activity has taken place, may strongly depend on seed size. In this study we addressed the following question: Do different sizes of seeds have different deposition patterns following dung beetle processing? We conducted a field experiment in lowland Amazonian rain forest in Brazil using 200-g dung-piles containing seed mimics of three sizes: 3.5, 8.6 and 15.5 mm long. Seed deposition condition after dung beetle activity was dependent on seed size. Small seeds were more often buried in beetle tunnels, while medium and large seeds more often remained on the soil surface, either clean or still covered by dung. A low proportion of seeds of all sizes remained on the soil surface covered by loose soil excavated by dung beetles. We speculate that the latter deposition pattern, though not very frequent, might be highly favourable for both seed survival and seedling establishment.

This study assessed the incidence and risk factors for dengue virus (DENV) infection among children in a prospective birth cohort conducted in the city of Recife, a hyperendemic dengue area in Northeast Brazil. Healthy pregnant women (n = 415) residing in Recife who agreed to have their children followed were enrolled. Children were followed during their first 24 months of age (May/2011–June/2014), before the 2015 Zika virus outbreak. DENV infection was detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and/or serology (anti-DENV IgM/IgG). The incidence rates per 1000 person-years (py) and its association with risk factors by age bands (0–12, >12–30 months) were estimated through Poisson regression models. Forty-nine dengue infections were detected; none progressed to severe forms. The incidence rates were 107·6/1000py (95% CI 76·8–150·6) and 93·3/1000py (95% CI 56·1–154·4) in the first and second years of age, respectively. Male children (risk ratios (RR) = 2·33; 95% CI 1·09–4·98) and those born to DENV-naïve mothers (RR = 2·42; 95% CI 1·01–5·80) were at greater risk of infection in the first year of age. In the second year, children born to Caucasian/Asian descent skin colour mothers had a threefold higher risk of infection (RR = 3·34; 95% CI: 1·08–10·33). These data show the high exposure of children to DENV infection in our setting and highlight the role of biological factors in this population's susceptibility to infection.

The Global Muon Detector Network (GMDN) is composed by four ground cosmic ray detectors distributed around the Earth: Nagoya (Japan), Hobart (Australia), Sao Martinho da Serra (Brazil) and Kuwait city (Kuwait). The network has operated since March 2006. It has been upgraded a few times, increasing its detection area. Each detector is sensitive to muons produced by the interactions of ~50 GeV Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) with the Earth′s atmosphere. At these energies, GCR are known to be affected by interplanetary disturbances in the vicinity of the earth. Of special interest are the interplanetary counterparts of coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and their driven shocks because they are known to be the main origins of geomagnetic storms. It has been observed that these ICMEs produce changes in the cosmic ray gradient, which can be measured by GMDN observations. In terms of applications for space weather, some attempts have been made to use GMDN for forecasting ICME arrival at the earth with lead times of the order of few hours. Scientific space weather studies benefit the most from the GMDN network. As an example, studies have been able to determine ICME orientation at the earth using cosmic ray gradient. Such determinations are of crucial importance for southward interplanetary magnetic field estimates, as well as ICME rotation.

The stellar occultation technique is a powerful tool to study distant small solar system bodies. Currently, around 2 500 trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) and Centaurs are known. With the astrometry from Gaia and large surveys like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), accurate predictions of occultation events will be available to tens of thousands of TNOs and Centaurs and boost the knowledge of the outer solar system.

It is well known that the cosmic ray intensity observed at the Earth's surface presents an 11 and 22-yr variations associated with the solar activity cycle. However, the observation and analysis of this modulation through ground muon detectors datahave been difficult due to the temperature effect. Furthermore, instrumental changes or temporary problems may difficult the analysis of these variations. In this work, we analyze the cosmic ray intensity observed since October 1970 until December 2012 by the Nagoya muon detector. We show the results obtained after analyzing all discontinuities and gaps present in this data and removing changes not related to natural phenomena. We also show the results found using the mass weighted method for eliminate the influence of atmospheric temperature changes on muon intensity observed at ground. As a preliminary result of our analyses, we show the solar cycle modulation in the muon intensity observed for more than 40 years.

A mycelial formulation in sodium alginate pellets of the nematophagous fungus Monacrosporium thaumasium (isolate NF34A) was assessed in the biological control of beef cattle trichostrongyles in tropical Brazil. Two groups of ten male Nellore calves aged 6 months, a fungus-treated group and a control group, were fed on a pasture of Brachiaria decumbens naturally infected with larvae of cattle trichostrongyles. The fungus-treated group received doses of sodium alginate mycelial pellets orally (1 g pellets (0.2 g fungus)/10 kg live weight) twice a week for 12 months. At the end of the study there was a significant reduction (P< 0.01) in the number of eggs per gram of faeces and coprocultures of the fungus-treated group – 47.8% and 50.2%, respectively – in relation to the control group. There was a 47.3% reduction in herbage samples, collected up to 0–20 cm from faecal pats, between the fungus-treated and control groups, and a 58% reduction when the sampling distance was 20–40 cm from faecal pats (P< 0.01). The treatment with sodium alginate pellets containing the nematode-trapping fungus M. thaumasium reduced trichostrongyles in tropical south-eastern Brazil and could be an effective tool for the biological control of this parasitic nematode in beef cattle. However, in such a tropical climate with low rainfall the fungal viability can be reduced.