Information about population sizes, trends, and habitat use is key for species conservation and management. The Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis (BBSA) is a long-distance migratory shorebird that breeds in the Arctic and migrates to south-eastern South America, wintering in the grasslands of southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. Most studies of Nearctic migratory species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, but monitoring these species at non-breeding areas is crucial for conservation during this phase of the annual cycle. Our first objective was to estimate trends of BBSA at four key areas in southern Brazil during the non-breeding season. We surveyed for BBSA and measured vegetation height in most years from 2008/09 to 2019/20. We used hierarchical distance sampling models in which BBSA abundance and density were modelled as a function of vegetation height and corrected for detectability. Next, we used on-the-ground surveys combined with satellite imagery and habitat classification models to estimate BBSA population size in 2019/20 at two major non-breeding areas. We found that abundance and density were negatively affected by increasing vegetation height. Abundance fluctuated five- to eight-fold over the study period, with peaks in the middle of the study (2014/15). We estimated the BBSA wintering population size as 1,201 (95% credible interval [CI]: 637–1,946) birds in Torotama Island and 2,232 (95% CI: 1,199–3,584) in Lagoa do Peixe National Park during the 2019/20 austral summer. Although no pronounced trend was detected, BBSA abundance fluctuated greatly from year to year. Our results demonstrate that only two of the four key areas hold high densities of BBSA and highlight the positive effect of short grass on BBSA numbers. Short-grass coastal habitats used by BBSA are strongly influenced by livestock grazing and climate, and are expected to shrink in size with future development and climatic changes.

Captive breeding of peccaries is on the increase in neotropical countries. Few studies, however, have reported behavioural responses of wild animals under farmed conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of space allowance on the occurrence of social behaviour patterns on farmed collared peccary (Pecari tajacu). We observed three herds of collared peccaries each containing eight acquainted individuals. Using a 3 * 3 Latin square design, herds were allocated, in a random order, to one of the three experimental enclosures, each with a different size: 375, 750 and 1,500 m2 of total available area, each with three wooden shelters. We recorded all the occurrences of selected positive and agonistic behavioural patterns that occurred 90 min before and during feeding. Enclosure size had a significant effect on agonistic patterns of peccaries during feeding, in that more agonistic behaviour was observed in smaller spaces. We also found that shelter usage increased as space decreased. Differing space allowances, however, did not have an effect on the occurrence of positive interactions that were more frequent before compared to during feeding. We concluded that enclosure size had an effect on the expression of agonistic behaviours and the use of shelters by collared peccaries. Thus, animal welfare can be improved by adopting at least 187.5 m2 per peccary. In addition, our study also confirmed the importance of shelter areas in collared peccary husbandry.

The boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), can remain inside dry and deformed reproductive structures of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum Linnaeus (Malvaceae), known as dry bolls, during the cotton fallow to infest the next cotton crop. In this study, the influence of cotton cultivars and sowing densities on the formation of dry bolls was evaluated. In addition, dry bolls were dissected and internal structures that were related to boll weevil development were estimated. Finally, the presence and survival of boll weevils inside dry bolls were evaluated. The results indicate that the number of dry bolls, empty pupal cells, and emergence holes was influenced by cultivar and not by sowing density. Almost one-quarter (22.53%) of adult boll weevils examined was found alive inside the dry bolls after 10 weeks, which is slightly longer than the duration of cotton fallow in Brazil’s main cotton-producing regions. Therefore, remaining inside the dry bolls is an important survival strategy for boll weevils during the cotton fallow period, and cotton cultivars with a greater propensity for the formation of dry bolls might favour survival of the pest during this period.

The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has improved with the search of novel antigens; however, their performance is limited when samples from VL/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-coinfected patients are tested. In this context, studies conducted to identify more suitable antigens to detect both VL and VL/HIC coinfection cases should be performed. In the current study, phage display was performed using serum samples from healthy subjects and VL, HIV-infected and VL/HIV-coinfected patients; aiming to identify novel phage-exposed epitopes to be evaluated with this diagnostic purpose. Nine non-repetitive and valid sequences were identified, synthetized and tested as peptides in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay experiments. Results showed that three (Pep2, Pep3 and Pep4) peptides showed excellent performance to diagnose VL and VL/HIV coinfection, with 100% sensitivity and specificity values. The other peptides showed sensitivity varying from 50.9 to 80.0%, as well as specificity ranging from 60.0 to 95.6%. Pep2, Pep3 and Pep4 also showed a potential prognostic effect, since specific serological reactivity was significantly decreased after patient treatment. Bioinformatics assays indicated that Leishmania trypanothione reductase protein was predicted to contain these three conformational epitopes. In conclusion, data suggest that Pep2, Pep3 and Pep4 could be tested for the diagnosis of VL and VL/HIV coinfection.

Evidence suggests that maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) is associated with offspring cardiometabolic risk factors. This study was aimed at assessing the association of maternal prepregnancy BMI with offspring cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescence and adulthood. We also evaluated whether offspring BMI was a mediator in this association. The study included mother–offspring pairs from three Pelotas birth cohorts. Offspring cardiometabolic risk factors were collected in the last follow-up of each cohort [mean age (in years) 30.2, 22.6, 10.9]. Blood pressure was measured using an automatic device, cholesterol by using an enzymatic colorimetric method, and glucose from fingertip blood, using a portable glucose meter. In a pooled analysis of the cohorts, multiple linear regression was used to control for confounding. Mediation analysis was conducted using G-computation formula. In the adjusted model, mean systolic blood pressure of offspring from overweight and obese mothers was on average 1.25 (95% CI: 0.45; 2.05) and 2.13 (95% CI: 0.66; 3.59) mmHg higher than that of offspring from normal-weight mothers; for diastolic blood pressure, the means were 0.80 (95% CI: 0.26; 1.34) and 2.60 (95% CI: 1.62; 3.59) mmHg higher, respectively. Non-HDL cholesterol was positively associated with maternal BMI, whereas blood glucose was not associated. Mediation analyses showed that offspring BMI explained completely the association of maternal prepregnancy BMI with offspring systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and non-HDL cholesterol. Our findings suggest that maternal prepregnancy BMI is positively associated with offspring blood pressure, and blood lipids, and this association is explained by offspring BMI.

Garlic mustard [Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara & Grande] is a biennial invasive plant commonly found in the northeastern and midwestern United States. Although it is not recommended to apply herbicides after flowering, land managers frequently desire to conduct management during this timing. We applied glyphosate and triclopyr (3% v/v and 1% v/v using 31.8% and 39.8% acid equivalent formulations, respectively) POST to established, second-year A. petiolata populations at three locations when petals were dehiscing and evaluated control, seed production, and seed viability. POST glyphosate applications at this timing provided 100% control of A. petiolata by 4 wk after treatment at all locations, whereas triclopyr efficacy was variable, providing 38% to 62% control. Seed production was only reduced at one location, with similar results regardless of treatment. Percent seed viability was also reduced, and when combined with reductions in seed production, resulted in a 71% to 99% reduction in number of viable seeds produced per plant regardless of treatment. While applications did not eliminate viable seed production, our findings indicate that glyphosate and triclopyr applied while petals are dehiscing is a viable alternative to cutting or hand pulling at this timing, as it substantially decreased viable A. petiolata seed production.

Background: Based on data obtained from hospitals in the city of Belo Horizonte (population ~3,000,000), we evaluated relevant factors such as death, age, duration of surgery, potential for contamination and surgical site infection, plastic surgery, and craniotomy. The possibility of predicting surgical site infection (SSI) was then analyzed using pattern recognition algorithms based on MLP (multilayer perceptron). Methods: Data were collected by the hospital infection control committees (CCIHs) in hospitals in Belo Horizonte between 2016 and 2018. The noisy records were filtered, and the occurrences were analyzed. Finally, the predictive power of SSI of 5 types MLP was evaluated experimentally: momentum, backpropagation standard, weight decay, resilient propagation, and quick propagation. The model used 3, 5, 7, and 10 neurons in the occult layer and with resamples varied the number of records for testing (65% and 75%) and for validation (35% and 25%). Comparisons were made by measuring the AUC (area under the curve (range, 0–1). Results: From 1,096 records of craniotomy, 289 were usable for analysis. Moreover, 16% died; averaged age was 56 years (range, 40–65); mean time of surgery was 186 minutes (range, 95–250 minutes); the number of hospitalizations ranged from 1 (90.6%) to 8 (0.3%). Contamination among these cases was rated as follows: 2.7% contaminated, 23.5% potentially contaminated, 72.3% clean. The SSI rate reached 4%. The prediction process in AUCs ranged from 0.7 to 0.994. In plastic surgery, from 3,693 records, 1,099 were intact, with only 1 case of SSI and no deaths. The average age for plastic surgery was 41 years (range, 16–91); the average time of surgery was 218.5 minutes (range, 19–580 minutes); the number of hospitalizations ranged from 1 (77.4%) to 6 times (0.001%). Contamination among these cases was rated as follows: 27.90% potential contamination, 1.67% contaminated, and 0.84% infected. The prediction process ranged in AUCs from 0.2 to 0.4. Conclusions: We identified a high noise index in both surgeries due to subjectivity at the time of data collection. The profiles of each surgery in the statistical analyses were different, which was reflected in the analyzed structures. The MLP for craniotomy surgery demonstrated relevant predictive power and can guide intelligent monitoring software (available in www.sacihweb.com). However, for plastic surgeries, MLPs need more SSI samples to optimize outcomes. To optimize data collection and to enable other hospitals to use the SSI prediction tool, a mobile application was developed.

Disclosures: None

Funding: None

Establishment of alfalfa by interseeding it with corn planted for silage can enhance crop productivity but weed management is a challenge to adoption of the practice. Although a simple and effective approach to weed management would be to apply a glyphosate-based herbicide, concerns about herbicide resistance and limitations in available alfalfa varieties exist. Field experiments were conducted to compare the efficacy and selectivity of PRE, POST, and PRE followed by POST herbicide programs to a glyphosate-only strategy when interseeding alfalfa with corn. Experiment 1 compared PRE applications of acetochlor, mesotrione, S-metalochlor, metribuzin, and flumetsulam. Results indicate that acetochlor and metribuzin, and S-metalochlor used at a rate of 1.1 kg ai ha−1 were the most effective and selective PRE herbicides 4 wk after treatment (WAT), but each resulted in greater overall weed cover than glyphosate by 8 WAT. Experiment 2 evaluated applications of bentazon, bromoxynil, 2,4-DB, and mesotrione at early and late POST times. Several herbicides used POST exhibited similar effectiveness and selectivity as glyphosate, including early applications of bromoxynil (0.14 kg ai ha−1) and 2,4-DB (0.84 or 1.68 kg ai ha−1), as well as late applications of bromoxynil (0.42 kg ai ha−1), 2,4-DB (0.84 kg ai ha−1), and mesotrione (0.05 or 0.11 kg ai ha−1). A third experiment compared applications of acetochlor PRE, bromoxynil POST, and a combination of acetochlor PRE with bromoxynil POST. All treatments were effective and safe for use in this interseeded system, although interseeded alfalfa provided 65% to 70% weed suppression in corn planted for silage without any herbicide. Herbicide treatments had no observable impacts on corn and alfalfa yields, so weed management was likely of limited economic importance. However, weed competitiveness can vary based on several different factors including weed species, density, and site-specific factors, and so further investigations under different environments and conditions are needed.

This research communication describes the influence of diet, mammary quarter position and milking process on the temperature of teats and udder of cows fed diets containing different lipid sources. Five primiparous cows were fed diets containing cottonseed, sunflower seed, soybeans or soybean oil as a source of lipids and a reference diet without the inclusion of lipid sources in a 5 × 5 Latin Square design. Milk yield was determined in the last five days of each period. Milk samples were collected for SCC analysis on the last two days of each experimental period. The images of the mammary gland were obtained using an infrared camera and were analyzed with appropriate computer software. Milk yield was 14.8% higher for cows fed soybeans as a source of lipids. Diets and somatic cell counts did not influence the temperature of teats and udder. The milking process reduced the temperature of teats and udder by 0.79°C. Rear teats and rear quarters had higher surface temperatures than front teats and fore quarters. Changes in temperature of teats and mammary quarters occurred as a function of the milking process and quarter position. However, the diet and the SCC did not influence the temperature of teats and mammary quarters in this experiment.