Antral follicle population in prepubertal and pubertal heifers.

The antral follicle count (AFC) is an important tool in the selection of bovine females destined for biotechnology. However, little is known about AFC in prepubertal and pubertal heifers. Some challenges inherent to the physiology of young females must be considered to achieve efficient rates with different procedures, such as ovum pick-up and IVF. This paper covers some important topics about ovarian physiology related to the population of antral follicles and reproductive efficiency in young female cattle.

Fermentation and aerobic stability of rehydrated corn grain silage treated with different doses of Lactobacillus buchneri or a combination of Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici.

We investigated the effects of different types and doses of inoculants for ensiling rehydrated corn grain. Shelled corn was finely ground and rehydrated to 35% moisture. Treatments were as follows: (1) control (no additives); (2) Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici (LPPA) at a theoretical application rate of 1 × 105 cfu/g; (3) LPPA at 5 × 105 cfu/g; (4) LPPA at 1 × 106 cfu/g; (5) Lactobacillus buchneri (LB) at 1 × 105 cfu/g; (6) LB at 5 × 105 cfu/g; and (7) LB at 1 × 106 cfu/g. We detected no effect of inoculant dose. Gas losses were greater in silages treated with LB compared with control and LPPA silages. Treating silages with LB reduced the concentrations of lactic acid and ethanol and increased silage pH and concentrations of acetic acid, propionic acid, and 1,2-propanediol. At silo opening, silages treated with LB had higher counts of lactic acid bacteria but lower yeast counts than the control silage. Aerobic stability was greater for silages treated with LB and lower for silages treated with LPPA compared with the control. The LB reduced dry matter (DM) losses during aerobic exposure, whereas LPPA increased them. Prolamin content was lower in silages treated with LB compared with the control, resulting in greater ruminal in situ DM degradability. Inoculating LB to a dose of 1 × 105 cfu/g increased aerobic stability and ruminal in situ DM degradability of rehydrated corn grain silage. The addition of LPPA did not alter the fermentation process and worsened the aerobic stability of rehydrated corn grain silage. Further studies are warranted to confirm these conclusions in other corn hybrids, inoculants, and their combinations.

Access to emergency care services: a transversal ecological study about Brazilian emergency health care network.

OBJECTIVES: Studies of health geography are important in the planning and allocation of emergency health services. The geographical distribution of health facilities is an important factor in timely and quality access to emergency services; therefore, the present study analyzed the emergency health care network in Brazil, focusing the analysis at the roles of small hospitals (SHs). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional ecological study. METHODS: Data were collected from 9429 hospitals of which 3524 were SHs and 5905 were high-complexity centers (HCCs). For analytical purposes, we considered four specialties when examining the proxies of emergency care capability: adult, pediatrics, neonatal, and obstetric. We analyzed the spatial distribution of hospitals, identifying municipalities that rely exclusively on SHs and the distance of these cities from HCCs. RESULTS: More than 14 and 30 million people were at least 120 km away from HCCs with an adult intensive care unit (ICU) and pediatric ICU, respectively. For neonatal care distribution, 12% of the population was more than 120 km away from a health facility with a neonatal ICU. The maternities situation is different from other specialties, where 81% of the total Brazilian population was within 1 h or less from such health facilities. CONCLUSION: Our results highlighted a polarization in distribution of Brazilian health care facilities. There is a concentration of hospitals in urban areas more developed and access gaps in rural areas and the Amazon region. Our results demonstrate that the distribution of emergency services in Brazil is not facilitating access to the population due to geographical barriers associated with great distances.

[Prevalence of neurocysticercosis among epileptic in-patients in the west of Santa Catarina--southern Brazil]. / Neurocisticercose em pacientes internados por epilepsia no hospital regional de Chapecó região oeste do estado de Santa Catarina.

Neurocysticercosis (NC) is an endemic condition in several areas of Brazil. It is most likely the major responsible for the high prevalence of epilepsy in our country, estimated in 1-2% of general population. We performed a study to evaluate NC as aetiology of epilepsy in the west of Santa Catarina. This state belong to southern Brazil and it has a very developed economy. However, due the widespread swine farming in the west district, many of them without any sanitary control, the national health authorities have considered all this area at risk to NC. The study was carried out in Chapecó, the main town in that region, where CT Scan service was started in 1995. All patients put on hospital care due epileptic seizures in 1995-96 were considered. Febrile convulsions were excluded of the sample. We found a very expressive prevalence rate of NC among patients suffering from epilepsy. Roughly 24% of these patients, showed unequivocal tomography evidences for the diagnosis of NC. Our data suggest cysticercosis as a real endemic trouble in the area and, overdosis of information in proper language, diffuse to the whole population, seems to be the only remedy to fight against it. Moreover, we should pay special attention to everyone related to swine farming, does not matter how this activity has been classified.

The planned Brazilian indoor radon survey--concepts and particular challenges.

Similar to the tendency in Europe and North America, awareness towards environmental hazards to health has been rising strongly in Brazil for some years. Among these, indoor radon (Rn) is increasingly being acknowledged as an indoor pollutant that contributes to lung cancer and which one therefore attempts to limit by regulations. Scattered regional surveys performed in Brazil have shown that Rn problem may exist in certain regions, but not much is known about its possible overall extent. Therefore, the idea of a national survey has been brought forward. It is still in the conceptual phase; in this contribution, the authors present the state of knowledge and addressing of particular challenges that can be expected to be encountered.