Prediction of body weight of Curraleiro Pé-Duro cattle based on morphometric measurements.

Cattle weight development is highly correlated with some body measurements. Based on the relationship between morphometric measurements and body mass, our aim was to develop regression equations to estimate the body weight of Curraleiro Pé-Duro (CPD) cattle to be used in farms that lack access to weighting scales. Data from 1023 animals from four farms on withers height (WH), body length (BL), body score (BS), heart girth (HG), permanent teeth (PT), scrotal perimeter (SP), and live weight were used. The animals were classified into five categories depending on age and/or sex: newborns (NB), calves, weaned animals, cows, and bulls. The best models are GLM with Gamma, Gamma, inverse Gaussian, Gaussian, and Gamma distributions for NB, calves, weaned animals, cows, and bulls, respectively. Predictive modeling for bulls was the best performing overall, with a correlation of 0.97 between the estimated by the model and the obtained with a weighting scale. For NB, calves, weaned animals, and cows, the correlation (r) was 0.85, 0.90, 0.95, and 0.87, respectively. The evaluated models are adequate to be used as a technical solution to estimate weight in a cattle production system.

Serum uric acid is independently associated with metabolic syndrome and systemic hypertension in women from northeast Brazil.

Hyperuricemia (HU) has been associated with cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome (MS) worldwide. However, inconsistencies about this relation are still reported, and it is not clear whether hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for MS. The aim of this study was to determine hyperuricemia associations with systemic hypertension and MS in women from northeast Brazil. The study included 301 women. Hyperuricemia was considered for serum uric acid (SUA) ≥6 mg/dL. Insulin resistance (IR) was measured by TyG index (TyG ≥ 4.55). Fisher test and Multivariate logistic regression analyses estimated the association between hyperuricemia (or SUA level) and systemic hypertension and MS. Hyperuricemia association with systemic hypertension was independent of age, body-mass index (BMI), smoking and alcoholism (OR: OR: 4.6050; p = .000256), and MS components (OR: 4.1296; IC95% 1.8330_9.3033; p = .000621). Hyperuricemia increased risk of systemic hypertension by 4,6 -fold. SUA level was associated with MS, independently of other classic component factors of the syndrome (OR:1.34, p = .0129). Hyperuricemia and high SUA levels were associated with MS and systemic hypertension. Effect of hyperuricemia in systemic hypertension is independent of age, BMI, lifestyle, and MS factors. SUA levels are independently associated with MS.

Non-hierarchical cluster analysis for determination of resistance to worm infection in meat sheep.

The aim of this study was to determine the resistance to worm infection in Santa Inês sheep by combining different sets of gastrointestinal parasite resistance indicator traits, using the k-means algorithm. Records from 221 animals reared in the Mid-North sub-region of Brazil were used. The following phenotypes were used: hematocrit (HCT); white blood cell count; red blood cell count (RBC); hemoglobin (HGB); platelets; mean corpuscular hemoglobin; mean corpuscular volume; mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; fecal egg count (FEC); coloration of the ocular mucosa (FAMACHA score); body condition score (BCS); withers height; and rump height. Two files with phenotypic information of animals were edited: complete, including all traits, and reduced, in which only FAMACHA score, HCT, FEC, and BCS were used. For determination of worm resistance, three groups were formed using the k-means non-hierarchical clustering by combining the traits of the complete and reduced analyses. The animals of the group in which individuals had the lowest values for FEC and FAMACHA score, as well as the highest values for HCT, RBC, HGB, and BCS were classified as resistant. In the group with opposite values for the aforementioned traits, the animals were classified as sensitive. The animals of the group with values between the other two groups were classified as moderately resistant. The results obtained in complete and reduced analyses were equivalent. Thus, it is possible to identify animals of the Santa Inês sheep breed according to their status of resistance to worm infection based on a reduced trait set.