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A total of 381 specimens of the tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus collected monthly from May 2017 to May 2018 in the Laguna de Los Patos, Cumaná, Venezuela, to evaluate reproductive parameters of this non-native species. Significant differences were found in relation to average height and weight between males and females, with the highest values in males. The sex ratio was 1:1.5 (males:females), which deviates significantly from the expected 1:1 ratio. The mean length of sexual maturity (Lm50) was 18.0 cm in females and 20.1 cm in males, reflecting that females mature at smaller sizes than males. The monthly variations of the gonadosomatic index (GSI) and the stages of sexual maturity show two reproductive peaks during the study, in October 2017 and April 2018, coinciding with the rainy and dry seasons in the region respectively. The condition factor (CF) showed significant differences between months, but not between sexes, with an average of 1.87 in females and 1.84 in males. The average absolute fecundity was 921 ± 604.6 eggs per fish, with a relative fecundity of 8.36 ± 3.09 eggs per gram of fish. Differences in oocyte size in mature females confirm that the species can spawn repeatedly over a period, which is considered an important factor for the establishment of tilapia in non-native environments.

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Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) occurs with variable prevalence in horses, donkeys, and mules. Due to the particularities of the mucous membranes, the syndrome is made up of Squamous Gastric Disease (ESGD) and Glandular Gastric Disease (EGGD). Given the multifactorial nature and multiple classification systems of the syndrome, significant differences have been reported between prevalence studies performed ante mortem, which are even more remarkable when compared with postmortem evaluations. This study aimed to determine the presence and grade of squamous gastric disease in horses, donkeys and mules immediately after slaughter. The postmortem examination considered the inspection of the squamous region (cardia, dorsal fundus, and margo plicatus) and the classification of the observed lesions. The general prevalence of ESGD in the entire population of study was 83.3 % (78 %, 89 %, and 83 % for horses, donkeys, and mules, respectively), compromising the margo plicatus in all cases. 75 % had more than 5 lesions and 50 % had deep lesions, lesions of varying severity and/or evidence of recent/active bleeding. The prevalence of ESGD was similar in horses, donkeys, and mules subjected to similar handling conditions prior to slaughter, including long-distance traveling, fasting, and stress factors.

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Ataxias are characterized by aberrant movement patterns closely related to cerebellar dysfunction. Purkinje cell axons are the sole outputs from the cerebellar cortex, and dysfunctional activity of Purkinje cells has been associated with ataxic movements. However, the synaptic characteristics of Purkinje cells in cases of ataxia are not yet well understood. The nicotinamide antagonist 3-acethylpyridine (3-AP) selectively destroys inferior olivary nucleus neurons so it is widely used to induce cerebellar ataxia. Five days after 3-AP treatment (65mg/kg) in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, motor incoordination was revealed through BBB and Rotarod testing. In addition, in Purkinje cells from lobules V-VII of the cerebellar vermis studied by the Golgi method, the density of dendritic spines decreased, especially the thin and mushroom types. Western blot analysis showed a decrease in AMPA and PSD-95 content with an increase of the α-catenin protein, while GAD-67 and synaptophysin were unchanged. Findings suggest a limited capacity of Purkinje cells to acquire and consolidate afferent excitatory inputs and an aberrant, rigid profile in the movement-related output patterns of Purkinje neurons that likely contributes to the motor-related impairments characteristic of cerebellar ataxias.

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Two outbreaks of pine needle abortions in cattle are here reported for the first time in Argentina. The cases occurred in Chubut and Neuquén provinces in the Patagonia region, causing 29.6% and 9% of abortions in each herd respectively. In both outbreaks, the dams were in the last third of gestation, and, due to a period of cold, snow and lack of available forage, they gained access to Pinus ponderosa and Pinus contorta forests. No pathological lesions, serological, molecular, or microbiological evidence of infectious causes were observed in any of the six fetuses analyzed. Microhistological analysis of feces confirmed higher presence of fragments of Pinus spp. needles in the diet of affected dams than in that of non-affected ones (12.2 vs 3.0%). Moreover, toxicological analysis showed higher tetrahydroagathic acid in the sera of affected dams than in that of non-affected ones (10.05 vs 2.81 ppm). In addition, this acid was detected in different fetal fluids (3.6-8.1 ppm) of the six fetuses analyzed. Interestingly, isocupressic acid was detected only in needles of P. ponderosa, and its content was lower than that found in other areas of the world (0.31 and 0.5% in Chubut and Neuquén respectively). These results confirm that the consumption of P. ponderosa by dams could have been the cause of these abortion outbreaks, a fact that should be considered as differential diagnosis in abortions of cattle, especially in silvopastoral systems of Argentina.

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate factors involved in spontaneous pregnancy rate after surgery for endometriosis in patients with endometriosis and infertility. METHODS: This retrospective study spanned from 2014 to 2020 and included a follow-up period of two years of patients with endometriosis-related infertility who underwent laparoscopic surgery. Women aged 25 to 43 years with patent tubes, no/mild male factor and no other infertility factors were selected and grouped according to fertility management as follows: patients immediately prescribed ART (16.5%, ART-p); patients who chose not to undergo ART (83.5%) and achieved spontaneous pregnancy (71.8% SP-p); and patients who first chose not to undergo ART but had it subsequently (28.2%, NSP-p). RESULTS: A total of 200 patients were analyzed. Of the 167 patients who waited for spontaneous pregnancy, 71.8% achieved it. We observed a tendency of higher endometriosis ASRM scores in the ART-p group compared with patients who waited for spontaneous pregnancy, and lower scores in individuals that achieved spontaneous pregnancy. When we looked at how long it took to achieve pregnancy, we found that individuals in the SP-p group achieved pregnancy in 5.7 months, while subjects in the NSP-p group took 1.8 times longer than their peers in the SP-p group (p<0.001). However, once prescribed ART, the individuals in the NSP-p group achieved pregnancy within a similar time when compared with subjects in the SP-p group. In order to identify individuals that might benefit from ART early on, we performed a multivariable analysis and developed a decision tree (81.3% accuracy and 53.3% sensitivity). CONCLUSIONS: The present results indicated that, after surgery, the majority of patients achieved spontaneous pregnancy. The decision tree proposed in this study allows the early identification of patients who might require ART, thus decreasing the time between surgery and pregnancy and improving overall outcomes.

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Nearly 80% of the world's population trusts traditional medicine and plant-based drug compounds to improve health, and more than 50% of women who participated in a study have used herbal remedies during pregnancy. Bocconia frutescens L. is a plant native to tropical America, where infusion of its leaves has been widely used for the treatment of several gastrointestinal disorders. We have already shown that orogastric consumption of B. frutescens L. during the organogenesis period at concentrations equivalent to human consumption produces teratogenic effects in rats, but effects on progeny development have not yet been studied. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possible association between the consumption of B. frutescens L. at a dose equivalent to that consumed by humans and the neurological development of rat progeny. Pregnant Wistar rats were administered lyophilized B. frutescens L. extract at 300 mg/kg/day or vehicle via the orogastric route during the organogenesis period (gestation days 7-13). The physical development and sensory and motor maturation of their offspring during lactation were analyzed with a battery of reflex and physical tests. B. frutescens L. produced a significant delay in physical development and sensorimotor maturation, compared to the control group. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis showed signals for both flavonoids and alkaloids in the B. frutescens L. extract. We conclude that the delay in physical and neurological development could be interpreted as alterations in the maturation of some neuronal circuitries induced by B. frutescens L.

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INTRODUCTION: The growth hormone (GH) has been reported as a crucial neuronal survival factor in the hippocampus against insults of diverse nature. Status epilepticus (SE) is a prolonged seizure that produces extensive neuronal cell death. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of intracerebroventricular administration of GH on seizure severity and SE-induced hippocampal neurodegeneration. METHODOLOGY: Adult male rats were implanted with a guide cannula in the left ventricle and different amounts of GH (70, 120 or 220ng/3µl) were microinjected for 5 days; artificial cerebrospinal fluid was used as the vehicle. Seizures were induced by the lithium-pilocarpine model (3mEq/kg LiCl and 30mg/kg pilocarpine hydrochloride) one day after the last GH administration. Neuronal injury was assessed by Fluoro-Jade B (F-JB) staining. RESULTS: Rats injected with 120ng of GH did not had SE after 30mg/kg pilocarpine, they required a higher number of pilocarpine injections to develop SE than the rats pretreated with the vehicle, 70ng or 220ng GH. Prefrontal and parietal cortex EEG recordings confirmed that latency to generalized seizures and SE was also significantly higher in the 120ng group when compared with all the experimental groups. FJ-B positive cells were detected in the hippocampus after SE in all rats, and no significant differences in the number of F-JB cells in the CA1 area and the hilus was observed between experimental groups. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that, although GH has an anticonvulsive effect in the lithium-pilocarpine model of SE, it does not exert hippocampal neuroprotection after SE.

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In this work, it is presented a first approach of a mathematical and kinetic analysis for improving the decoloration and further degradation process of an azo dye named acid red 27 (AR27), by means of a novel microbial consortium formed by the fungus Trametes versicolor and the bacterium Pseudomonas putida. A multivariate analysis was carried out by simulating scenarios with different operating conditions and developing a specific mathematical model based on kinetic equations describing all stages of the biological process, from microbial growth and substrate consuming to decoloration and degradation of intermediate compounds. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was performed by using a factorial design and the Response Surface Method (RSM), for determining individual and interactive effects of variables like, initial glucose concentration, initial dye concentration and the moment in time for bacterial inoculation, on response variables assessed in terms of the minimum time for: full decoloration of AR27 (R1 = 2.375 days); maximum production of aromatic metabolites (R2 = 1.575 days); and full depletion of aromatic metabolites (R3 = 12.9 days). Using RSM the following conditions improved the biological process, being: an initial glucose concentration of 20 g l-1, an initial AR27 concentration of 0.2 g l-1 and an inoculation moment in time of P. putida at day 1. The mathematical model is a feasible tool for describing AR27 decoloration and its further degradation by the microbial consortium of T. versicolor and P. putida, this model will also work as a mathematical basis for designing novel bio-reaction systems than can operate with the same principle of the described consortium.

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BACKGROUND: Voluntary post-mortem donation to science (PDS) is the most appropriate source for body dissection in medical education and training, and highly useful for biomedical research. In Mexico, unclaimed bodies are no longer a legal source, but PDS is legally possible, although scarcely facilitated, and mostly ignored by the general population. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the attitude and willingness for PDS and to identify a sociodemographic profile of people with willingness toward PDS. METHODS: A validated on-line survey was distributed by the convenience method via the social networks of a Catholicism-inspired, private university in northern Mexico. Frequency analyses of all variables and coded free comments were complemented with association studies. RESULTS: Although the responder cohort (n = 143) was too small and biased to be representative of the university community (n = 13,500), willingness to post-mortem organ donation was 90.7% and to PDS 70.7%. In this cohort, PDS willingness had the strongest association with mature age (> 40 years old; P, 0.0008). Among young adults, willingness to PDS was the lowest among volunteers from technical and business schools and the highest among those from the social sciences (P, 0.009). Respondents from the social sciences were also the most consistent between attitude and behavior with respect to organ donation. A free comment option revealed respondents were interested in the unusual taboo topic. CONCLUSIONS: A small, but sufficiently large proportion expressed willingness toward PDS. In our university cohort, which was biased in higher education and altruism, mature age and social interest were associated with PDS willingness.

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INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Posttransplantation diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is a serious long-term complication that has a negative impact on graft and patient survival. The purpose of the present study was to describe the incidence of PTDM in a Mexican cohort and evaluate its association with a previous family history of diabetes (FHD). METHODS: A retrospective single-center cohort study was conducted on patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT). The primary outcome was time from LT to PTDM. The diagnosis of PTDM was established using the ADA criteria. A mediation analysis that used adjusted Cox regression models and considered pretransplant prediabetes a mediator was performed, to determine the total effect and direct effect of FHD on PTDM. RESULTS: A total of 152 patients were included, with a median follow-up time of 41 months; 19.2% (n = 29) had pretransplant diabetes. During the follow-up time, 15% of patients developed PTDM (n = 23), with an incidence rate of 4.71 cases/100 person-years. PTDM was significantly higher in patients with FHD, compared with those with no FHD (8.72 cases/100 person-years vs 2.04 cases/100 person-years, respectively; p = 0.001). The adjusted hazard ratio of PTDM for FHD was 4.14 (95% CI 1.60-10.7), p = 0.005) and 3.48 (95% CI 1.35-9.01, p = 0.010), when further controlled for pretransplant prediabetes. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of PTDM was similar to that reported in most international studies. As with type 2 diabetes, family history plays an important role in the development of PTDM, even after accounting for pretransplant prediabetes. Patients with FHD should undergo a stricter metabolic program.