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Biodiversity is vital to the welfare and survival of humans, but public support for conservation of most animal species is appallingly limited. Vertebrates make up less than 5% of the world’s docum...

The toxic effects of Bisphenol A (BPA) have been studied in individual experimental animals under different conditions. However, without a systematic approach, it is difficult to compare and analyse the results because of differences in doses (concentration), dosing periods (exposure), research methods, and the effects of BPA. We systematically compared and analysed recent research (between 2015 and 2021) that examined the effects of BPA on individual experimental vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, birds, and mammals). We divided the experiments into two categories: experiments on fish and amphibians by indirect administration, and experiments on birds and mammals by direct administration. The deleterious effects of exposure to BPA were classified into two types: morphological and anatomical effects, and physiological and neurocognitive effects. Experimental animals that had less weight, were younger, and were farther away from humans in evolutionary relationships, showed toxic effects even if they were exposed to low concentrations of BPA in the short term. Long-term administration of a small amount of BPA and short-term administration of a large amount of BPA also showed severe toxic effects. When the parents absorbed BPA during puberty, just before fertilisation, or during pregnancy, toxic effects were transmitted from dosed parents to offspring. With increasing amounts of BPA production and waste, there is a growing possibility that animals in various ecosystems will be exposed to BPA. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the harmful effects of BPA on various animals and the conditions under which it affects them. We hope that the results reported here will contribute to the development of standardized study designs for BPA research, to ensure that results can be more readily compared.

Introduction. The profession of firefighters belongs to extreme activities. Fire hazards include flames, sparks, heat flow, elevated ambient temperatures, increased concentrations of toxic combustion and thermal decomposition products, decreased oxygen concentrations, and reduced visibility in smoke. High air temperature during fire extinguishing is one of the main adverse physical factors affecting firefighters’ bodies. Material and methods. The study was carried out on 124 outbred white male 3-month rats weighing 250-300 g, divided randomly into two groups: the first group (62 rats) underwent single hyperthermia. The second group (62 rats) experienced daily hyperthermia for 14 days. The study of the behavioural activity of animals was carried out after single and prolonged hyperthermia using the following methods: “Open field”, “Elevated cruciform maze”, Porsolt’s test, running on a treadmill. The tests were performed two times: the first time - before exposure, the second - after, with intervals between tests of at least two weeks. Results. The data obtained indicate that the high ambient temperature causes changes in the behavioural responses in animals, which is expressed by an increase in the level of anxiety, a decrease in motor and research activity, the development of depressive states, and a decrease in physical endurance. Conclusion. An experimental model of extreme heat exposure on animals showed the emergence and persistence of changes in animals’ behavioural activity and physical performance indicators. This experiment can be used to study the long-term effects of high temperatures on firefighters’ bodies. Contribution: Kriyt V.E. — the concept and design of the study, collection and processing of material, statistical processing, writing a text; Sladkova Yu.N. — collection and processing of material, writing a text; Sannikov M.V. — editing; Pyatibrat A.O. — collection and processing of material, statistical processing. All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version. Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship. The conclusion of the biomedical ethics committee: the study was approved by the local ethics committee of the North-West Public Health Research Center, Federal Service on Customers’ Rights Protection and Human Well-being Surveillance (Rospotrebnadzor), carried out under the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental or Other Scientific Purposes (ETS N 123), the directive of the European Parliament and Council of the European Union 2010/63/EU of 22.09.2010 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

Organismal miniaturization is defined by a reduction in body size relative to a large ancestor. In vertebrate animals, miniaturization is achieved by suppressing the energetics of growth. However, this might interfere with reproductive strategies in egg-laying species with limited energy budgets for embryo growth and differentiation. In general, the extent to which miniaturization coincides with alterations in animal development remains obscure. To address the interplay among body size, life history, and ontogeny, miniaturization in chelydroid turtles was examined. The analyses corroborated that miniaturization in the Chelydroidea clade is underlain by a dampening of the ancestral growth trajectory. There were no associated shifts in the early sequence of developmental transformations, though the relative duration of organogenesis was shortened in miniaturized embryos. The size of eggs, hatchlings, and adults was positively correlated within Chelydroidea. A phylogenetically broader exploration revealed an alternative miniaturization mode wherein exceptionally large hatchlings grow minimally and thus attain diminutive adult sizes. Lastly, it is shown that miniaturized Chelydroidea turtles undergo accelerated ossification coupled with a ~10% reduction in shell bones. As in other vertebrates, the effects of miniaturization were not systemic, possibly owing to opposing functional demands and tissue geometric constraints. This underscores the integrated and hierarchical nature of developmental systems.

Pankiv M. V., Paltov Ye. V., Masna Z. Z. Structural components of the normal thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in rats. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2021;11(1):163-169. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2021.11.1.016 https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2021.11.1.016 https://zenodo.org/record/4476516 The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. § 8. 2) and § 12. 1. 2) 22.02.2019. © The Authors 2021; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 25.12.2020. Revised: 14.12.2020. Accepted: 28.01.2021. UDK: 611.711/.712.018.3.019 Structural components of the normal thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in rats M. V. Pankiv, Ye. V. Paltov, Z. Z. Masna Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine M. V. Pankiv, PhD-student at the Department of Normal Anatomy, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3714-2577 Ye. V. Paltov, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2622-4753 Z. Z. Masna, MD, Professor, Head of the Department of Operative Surgery and Topographical Anatomy, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2057-7061 Abstract The relevance of this topic is determined by the fact that laboratory animals are widely used in experimental morphology. The most widely used ones are rats [1 - 7]. There are a number of studies in which the authors cover in detail the normal morphological state of various organs of rats and its changes under experimentally simulated pathological conditions [8 - 12]. The available studies on the rats’ musculoskeletal system and spine highlight this topic insufficiently. Aim. We aimed to study the structure of the normal thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in the rats. Materials and methods of research. The objects of our study were 15 sexually mature outbred male rats, weight 80 g, age 4,5 months. All animals were kept in a vivarium. Keeping, care, labeling, and all other manipulations were carried out in accordance with with ‘the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes’ [Strasbourg, 1985], ‘Ethical principles of animal experiments’, approved by the First National Congress on Bioethics [Kyiv, 2001], Law of Ukraine № 3447 - IV ‘On protection of animals from cruel treatment’. The study was approved by the Commission on Bioethics of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University which declared that the study met the ethical requirements according to the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine № 231 of November 1, 2000 (protocol № 10 of December 26, 2011), (protocol №2 of February 20, 2012 year). Before sampling, the animals were sedated with dibutyl ether. Skeletalized rat bones were used as material for the macroanatomical study of the structural components of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. The spines were dissected after euthanasia, and then the vertebrae of the thoracic and lumbar spine were boiled for four hours, followed by careful separation of the remained soft tissues. The obtained bones were treated with a solution of hydrogen peroxide with the following photography in different projections in order to identify all anatomical structures involved in the formation of thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Photography was made using a digital camera Nikon D 3100. Results. The study of 15 spinal column preparations of white, outbred male rats weighing 80 g, aged 4.5 months made by the use of a set of morphological methods revealed a lot of aspects of the normal structural components of the vertebrae of the lower thoracic and lumbar spine of rats. The spinal column of the rat consists of a set of vertebrae that form its divisions. There are 57 vertebrae in the rat spine. The cervical division is represented by 7 vertebrae, thoracic - 13, lumbar - 6, sacral - 4 and caudal - 27 vertebrae. Conclusions: As a result of our study, we identified the morphology of normal vertebrae of the thoracic and lumbar spine in rats. We studied a set of morphological components of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae of the normal spinal column in rats. Keywords: morphology; thoracic and lumbar spine; normal state; rat.

Topicality. Along with the pronounced pharmacological effectiveness, high requirements for the safety are applied to new medicines. To obtain the necessary information regarding the safety of a potential drug and predict the risk of further side effects, a preclinical study of possible toxic effects, primarily acute toxicity, is performed.Aim. To study the acute toxicity of a new pharmaceutical composition for the correction of placental dysfunction in pregnant women.Materials and methods. The study object was the pharmaceutical composition in the form of solid gelatinous capsules containing active pharmaceutical ingredients from basic therapeutic group of drugs used for fetoplacental dysfunction in pregnant women. The acute toxicity was determined according to the methodological guidelines “Preclinical studies of drugs” edited by A. Stefanov, in outbreed female rats weighing 200-250 g in compliance with the “European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes” (Strasburg, 1985).Results and discussion. The study of the pharmaceutical safety has been performed by the acute toxicity criterion under the condition of short-term influence of a new pharmaceutical composition combining the required pharmaceutical ingredients in well-balanced doses affecting different chains of pathogenesis of placental dysfunction. Under the condition of the acute experiment a new combined composition (intraperitoneal introduction in the dose of 5000 mg/kg of the body weight) does not cause changes in the rat’s organism. It has been determined that this pharmaceutical composition belongs to practically nontoxic substances – Toxicity Class V according to the generally accepted classification system.Conclusions. The data for the preclinical safety assessment of a new combined composition for the correction of placental dysfunction in pregnant women have been obtained.

A promising area of further research is the use of a combination of components of tissue growth factors in combination with low-intensity electromagnetic effects of light radiation. Objective. Investigation of various methods of influence on the healing of sutures of the small intestinal anastomosis in conditions of peritonitis. Materials and methods. The experiment was conducted on 20 white Wistar male rats weighing 180-250 g, the content, care and methods of experimental work with which corresponded to the observance of the International Principles of the European Convention on the Protection of Vertebrate Animals (Strasbourg, 1985) Results. The research work reflects the results of an experimental study, the purpose of which was to develop a method of sealing the small intestinal anastomosis under peritonitis. The experiment was performed on 20 white Wistar male rats weighing about 250 grams. The possibilities of using physical (light of a certain wavelength) and biological (tissue growth factors) methods in the prevention and treatment of acute inflammatory reactions and stimulation of reparative processes are shown. It is noted that a promising direction for further research on methods for the prevention of insolvency of small bowel anastomoses is the use of electromagnetic effects of low intensity of the light spectrum in combination with the application of tissue growth factors. Conclusion. A promising direction for further research is the use of a combination of sealing lines with the application of components of tissue growth factors in combination with a low-intensity electromagnetic effect of light radiation.

Detection and classification of animals is a major challenge that is facing the researchers. There are five classes of vertebrate animals, namely the Mammals, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Fish, and each type includes many thousands of different animals. In this paper, we propose a new model based on the training of deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) to detect and classify two classes of vertebrate animals (Mammals and Reptiles). Deep CNNs are the state of the art in image recognition and are known for their high learning capacity, accuracy, and robustness to typical object recognition challenges. The dataset of this system contains 6000 images, including 4800 images for training. The proposed algorithm was tested by using 1200 images. The accuracy of the system’s prediction for the target object was 97.5%.

Summary Amitraz is an insecticide of the formamidine pesticides family, used in veterinary medicine for the treatment of ectoparasites of certain animals. It inhibits monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, but above all has alpha-2-adrenergic properties in mammals. Very few cases in men have been reported whose circumstances may be accidental or voluntary. Evolution can be fatal if management is delayed. The toxicological screening using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) returned positive to amitraz in the biological matrices. The care in the intensive care unit has consisted in treatment disinfector skin, gastric, and symptomatic in the absence of a specific antidote treatment. Although rare, poisoning with amitraz can be serious. It must be diagnosed and treated early to ensure life-threatening conditions. We report two cases of amitraz poisoning. The main objective is to describe the clinical signs of acute poisoning caused by this uncommon pesticide and to prevent its abuse for the maintenance of hives instead of its usual use as veterinary antiparasitic drugs in vertebrate animals.

The highway infrastructures are a source of multiple environmental problems; one of the worst effects on wildlife is roadkill. Most of the research on roadkill has focused on how certain aspects, such as seasons, traffic density, and location of roadways, among others affect wildlife mortality on roads. However, little attention has been paid to understanding how the geometric design of roads affects wildlife mortality. On a highway in the Central Andes of Colombia, we investigated if the geometric design, specifically horizontal alignment and vertical curves of the road, influence the mortality of vertebrate animals on roadways. We determined the number of the straight lines, circular, transition curves, and vertical convex curves along the entire route of the highway (13.9 km), and from April 2018 to December 2019, we made 336 surveys in search of wildlife roadkill. We then investigated the relation of animal deaths to different road shapes. Out of 95 roadkill, reptile deaths made up 47% of the total. We found no dependence on the distribution of deaths by class of animals on the road shape; the shape in which most deaths occurred was a straight line (58 deaths). However, when the proportion of mortality events per meter was analysed on the shape units on the road, we found that circular and transition curves presented two and three times (respectively) a higher proportion of mortality events per meter than the straight lines. Roadkill hotspots were found in curved segments and were not associated only with riparian forest. The curved sections present more dangerous geometric designs than the straight lines for wildlife, regardless of their length on the road. Our research indicates that the relationship of the geometric design of roads needs to be considered in the development of management and conservation plans of altered ecosystems with the road infrastructure.

Nasilający się przez kilkadziesiąt ostatnich lat wpływ człowieka na Ziemię prowadzi do degradacji środowiska. Okres ten nazwano zatem Antropocenem. Głównymi czynnikami sprawczymi tej degradacji jest liczebny wzrost populacji ludzkiej i potrzeba zaspokajania jej wymagań. Prowadzą one do niedoborów energii i pożywienia, którym przeciwdziałać mogą nowe, odnawialne źródła energii (wiatr, promieniowanie słoneczne, woda geotermalna, biomasa i rozszczepianie atomu) oraz pożywienie w postaci owadów. Owady są nie tylko cennym źródłem białka, lecz także, w farmakologii związanej z odżywianiem, źródłem chityny oraz jej deacetylenowej pochodnej, chitosanu, które wchłaniają w przewodzie pokarmowym człowieka 12 razy więcej tłuszczu niż same ważą. Poza tym związki te regulują zawartość cholesterolu LDL we krwi oraz mogą działać podobnie do błonnika zawartego w innych pokarmach. Owady wymagają o wiele mniej pokarmu i wody do budowy ciała niż zwierzęta kręgowe i rośliny. Opory wielu europejskich narodów przy spożywaniu owadów są mniejsze, gdy pokarm z tych zwierząt jest wysoko przetworzony.

The Cuvieri Cave is a palaeontological site located in the Lagoa Santa Karst, known for its large number of caves containing bones preserved from recent and extinct vertebrate animals. These caves ...

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a viruses group that co-infects humans and other vertebrate animals. CoV infections affect the respiratory, gastrointestinal, liver, and central nervous systems of humans, livestock, birds, bats, mice, and many other wild animals [Wang, et.al, 2006, Ge]. The source of unexplained pneumonia was first discovered in Wuhan in Dec, 2019, and SARS-CoV-2, a new coronavirus, was isolated from the respiratory epithelium of patients. It belongs to a new evolutionary branch within the CoV. On Feb. 11th, 2020, the new coronavirus was officially renamed “SARS-CoV-2” from “2019-nCoV” [Gorbalenya et.al,2020]. The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 was called “coronavirus disease 2019” (COVID-19) [Who 2020].

Introduction. Special attention has been recently paid to photosensitizers that absorb and fluoresce in the near infrared region of the spectrum. One of the most promising photosensitizers is bacteriosens, a synthetic bacteriochlorin derivative. Objective. To conduct a preclinical study of the biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of bacteriosens in animals.Materials and methods. The active ingredient of bacteriosens is (meso-tetra(3-pyridyl)bacteriochlorin) with of λmax 747 nm). The biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of the agent were studied in mice and rabbits. It was administered intravenously once at three doses: 1.0; 2.5 and 6.25 mg/kg for the mice and 0.236; 0.59 and 1.475 mg/kg for the rabbits. Local fluorescence spectroscopy was used for the quantitative determination of the pharmacokinetic parameters of bacteriosens.Results. Bacteriosens was removed quickly from the mouse bloodstream at 1 and 4 days after using minimal (1.0 mg/kg) and maximal (6.25 mg/kg) doses, respectively. When given at doses of 6.25 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg, bacteriosens was recorded in the skin, muscle, and spleen for 4 days and 24 h, respectively. The agent most intensively accumulated and long persisted in the omentum, liver, and kidneys for more than 6 days (6.25 mg/kg) and 2 days (1.0 mg/kg). A similar pattern was observed in the rabbits. Bacteriosens was rapidly removed from the rabbit bloodstream at 1 and 3 days after using at doses of 0.236 and 1.475 mg/kg, respectively. The agent was recorded in the skin, muscle, and spleen up to 4 days (1.475 mg/kg) and 3 days (0.236 mg/kg). It most intensively accumulated and long persisted in the omentum, liver, and kidneys for more than 6 days (1.475 mg/kg) and 4 days (0.236 mg/kg).Conclusion. Bacteriosens was removed from the animal bloodstream within 3–4 days after administration of the maximum dose that was 2.5 times higher than therapeutic one. The half-life of bacteriosens for mice was directly proportional to the dose and increased from 8 to 24 min; the half-life for rabbits was 20 min, irrespective of the dose. The drug was recorded in the skin for no more than 4 days. The main routes of bacteriosens elimination from the body of animals were the kidneys and liver.The study was performed in accordance with ethical principles adopted by the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes.

Myiasis is the lesion resulting from the parasitism of diptera larval form in the living tissues of vertebrate animals. These are bloody conditions, causing severe damage to the welfare and the health of humans and animals. In Brazil, Cochliomyia hominivorax is the main responsible species for causing myiasis in humans and animals. The conventional treatment of these lesions in animals massively uses chemosynthetic products. The irrational use of these molecules has led to environmental degradation and has affected human health. The standard treatment of human myiasis is based only on larvae removal, surgically or not, supported by the use of antiparasitic drugs. Human myiasis is an important zoonosis, given its close relation with animal myiasis. However, this zoonosis has currently been neglected in Brazil and other developing countries in America. The One Health approach makes it possible to realize that the occurrence of myiasis in humans is directly related to the maintenance of stocks of this diptera in nature. Recognizing the direct relation that domestic and wild animals have as reservoirs in the human myiasis cycle is essential, in order to formulate strategies to control this ancient and important disease that still affects the population in Brazil.

BACKGROUND The effect of hyponatremia on the body is studied on model objects. The related question concerns the degree of compliance between manifestations of hyponatremia and protective mechanisms in humans and other species of vertebrates. OBJECTIVES To identify the regulation ranges and patterns of adaptation to hyponatremia by cells of various organs and tissues of vertebrate animals. METHODS To assess the regulation ranges and patterns of adaptation to hyponatremia, a comparative analysis has been applied to the data obtained from humans, mammals and freshwater fish. RESULTS The physiological content of sodium in the blood plasma in humans is regulated and maintained within a narrow value range which is similar to that occurring in a number of other vertebrate species. The counteraction to hyponatremia is performed by means of accelerating the transport of sodium, potassium, chloride and organic osmolytes from the cells into the internal environment. CONCLUSIONS The data regarding mammals are fragmented and reflect the manifestation of protective mechanisms taking place during the initial period of hyponatremia. The method tested on freshwater fish allows for studying patterned changes in inorganic ions and content of organic osmolytes in the internal environment and cells of various organs and tissues of the body from the start of developing hyponatremia till the completion of the recovery process in vivo (Fig. 2, Ref. 72).

Leptospirosis is a disease that disproportionately affects impoverished urban communities, but is likely to become more prevalent as changing climate alters flooding regimes. The persistence and transmission of the Leptospira pathogen is reliant on small vertebrate animals, predominantly rodents. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Peterson et al. demonstrate how changes in rodent diversity and abundances across the complex mosaic of abandonment and recovery investment in post-Katrina New Orleans can predict zoonotic infection prevalence. Understanding the ecological conditions that support persistence and transmission of zoonotic pathogens in urban ecosystems, where they are most likely to affect humans, is critical to effective monitoring and prevention.

In line with the Latin expression “sed parva forti” meaning “small but mighty,” the family Parvoviridae contains many of the smallest known viruses, some of which result in fatal or debilitating infections. In recent years, advances in metagenomic viral discovery techniques have dramatically increased the identification of novel parvoviruses in both diseased and healthy individuals. While some of these discoveries have solved etiologic mysteries of well-described diseases in animals, many of the newly discovered parvoviruses appear to cause mild or no disease, or disease associations remain to be established. With the increased use of animal parvoviruses as vectors for gene therapy and oncolytic treatments in humans, it becomes all the more important to understand the diversity, pathogenic potential, and evolution of this diverse family of viruses. In this review, we discuss parvoviruses infecting vertebrate animals, with a special focus on pathogens of veterinary significance and viruses discovered within the last four years.

Objective. Elaboration of method for hermetization of sutures of the small bowel anastomosis in conditions of peritonitis. Materials and methods. The experiment was performed on 20 white male rats of a Wistar line owing a body mass approximately 250 g. The protocol for the laboratory animals care, the content and methods of experimental work were corresponded to principles of European Convention for defense of a vertebrate animals, which are used for research and scientific purposes (Strasbourg, 1986). Results. The experimental investigation conduction have shown the possibilities of application of physical (the light waves of a certain length) and biological (the tissue growth factors) methods in prophylaxis and treatment of an acute inflammatory reactions and for stimulation of reparative processes. Conclusion. The trend for further investigation of prophylactic measures for the small bowel anastomoses insufficiency, using the electro–magnet impact of the low–intense of the light spectrum in combination with application of the tissue growth factors, demonstrate a perspective.

Author(s): Lockwood, JL; Welbourne, DJ; Romagosa, CM; Cassey, P; Mandrak, NE; Strecker, A; Leung, B; Stringham, OC; Udell, B; Episcopio-Sturgeon, DJ; Tlusty, MF; Sinclair, J; Springborn, MR; Pienaar, EF; Rhyne, AL; Keller, R | Abstract: The annual trade in exotic vertebrates as pets is a multi-billion-dollar global business. Thousands of species, and tens of millions of individual animals, are shipped both internationally and within countries to satisfy this demand. Most research on the exotic pet trade has focused on its contribution to native biodiversity loss and disease spread. Here, we synthesize information across taxa and research disciplines to document the exotic pet trade's contribution to vertebrate biological invasions. We show recent and substantial worldwide growth in the number of non-native animal populations introduced via this invasion pathway, which demonstrates a strong potential to increase the number of invasive animals in the future. Key to addressing the invasion threat of exotic pets is learning more about the socioeconomic forces that drive the massive growth in the exotic pet market and the socioecological factors that underlie pet release by owners. These factors likely vary according to cultural pet-keeping traditions across regions and whether purchases were legal or illegal. These gaps in our understanding of the exotic pet trade must be addressed in order to implement effective policy solutions.

Using live vertebrate animals to demonstrate learning and memory is typically not done in high school biology classes. We designed an apparatus and protocol by which students observe learning in fish. Students generate questions and discover answers (e.g., does age, sex, species, or chemical exposure impact learning and memory outcomes)?

In XXI century in vivo experiments came into a common use in connection with development of biological and medical scientific fields. In the first part of the work historical and techni-cal aspects of use of animals in in vivo experiments are considered. In the work the problem of choice of a kind of laboratory animal for experimental purposes is discussed, and also the number of animals in the experimental groups is substantiated for further statistical processing of the primary information and determination of the reliability of differences in interpretation of the obtained results. According to the data of analyzed literature sources, modern researchers keep to the non-violence strategy and ahimsa principle (from Lat. ahimsᾱ causing no harm). Here, the dominating point of view is the necessity for in vivo experiments for further development of the biomedical science. This is possible provided suffering of animals are minimized with their minimal number in an experiment. The choice of the animal species first of all depends on the task faced by an experimenter. Besides, in each research a thorough choice of a specific animal is required based on the information of its health, maintenance and feeding, anatomical and physiological peculiarities, age, genetic characteristics. Chronic and acute surgical experiments are usually conducted on large vertebrate animals: dogs, European rabbits, house cats, while the action and effectiveness of pharmacological drugs are more conveniently studied on small laboratory animals: house mice, common rats, guinea-pigs, golden hamsters.

Southeast Asia is considered one of worldwide hotspots consisting many distinct zoonotic infections. With optimal condition for the development of various pathogens, Vietnam is facing serious risks of zoonotic diseases. Besides, more than 50% Vietnamese people settle in rustic areas and earn their livings through small-scale animal breeding. It is possible that zoonotic diseases can be easily spread to the population by close contact with the infected animals, their infected residues, contaminated water, soil, or other possible means of transmission. In fact, zoonotic infections-transmissible infections between vertebrate animals and humans-cover a wide range of diseases with distinctive clinical and epidemiological highlights. With insufficient understanding and swift alteration in toxicity of the pathogens, these infections have gained more concerns due to sophisticated routes of transmission and harmful threats to humans. Recently emerging viral diseases exerted potential dangers to human beings, which required many countries to impose immediate actions to prevent any complications. Vietnam has recorded several cases of zoonotic diseases, especially pig-related illnesses; however, the studies on these diseases in this country remain limited. This work aims to highlight the zoonotic diseases transferring from pigs to humans and discuss risk factors of these diseases in Vietnam.

Pesticides, veterinary medicines and anticoagulant rodenticides are used globally and any adverse impact of their past, current and future use on the world's food, flora and fauna is assessed largely by our ability to detect, identify and quantify residues of the hundreds and thousands of different chemicals involved. An analytical strategy that combines QuEChERS based sample preparation and UHPLC-MS/MS (that incorporates polarity switching) has been developed and validated to allow the rapid and simultaneous determination of 159 multi-class pesticides, veterinary medicines, anticoagulant rodenticides and paracetamol in biological specimens from a variety of non-target vertebrate animals. The procedure covers residues in the linear range 0.0005–0.05 μg ml−1 in liver (chicken), muscle tissue (chicken) and kidney (lamb) matrices (correlation coefficient R2 was ≥0.99 for all analytes in each matrix). Mean recoveries complied with validation criteria which was set at 60–140% and CVs ≤ 20% for all analytes in each matrix with just a few exceptions. The limit of quantitation was determined as 3 μg kg−1 for the nine anticoagulant rodenticides and 25 μg kg−1 for all other compounds. The method has been successfully deployed in the investigation of hundreds of suspected poisoning incidents. This streamlined approach has dramatically reduced analysis turnaround times, solvent consumption and perhaps most importantly, continues to generate scientific evidence regarding the magnitude and scope of chemical exposure of non-target animals that serves to inform regulatory authorities accordingly.

A number of retinal diseases are known to result in impaired vision and even blindness. In this regard, the major issue that modern biology faces nowadays is to identify endogenous populations of cells that could be a potential source of retinal regeneration and provide their detailed description using advanced methods and various animal models. This will allow for finding the ways to control the behavior and regenerative activity of these cells in order to replace damaged retinal neurons, particularly photoreceptors, either by involving natural mechanisms or via cell transplantation. In this review, the latest data published in literature and results of the authors’ own research on localization, biology, and molecular genetic features of cell sources for retinal regeneration, obtained for all classes of vertebrates, from fish to mammals, are summarized. In the range of these cell populations existing in vertebrates, certain versatility in terms of gene expression has been found. A variety of ways for their mobilization for regeneration of the damaged retinal tissue in different animal classes and species have also been well documented.

Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases of humans caused by pathogens that are shared between humans and other vertebrate animals. Previously, pristine natural areas with high biodiversity were seen as likely sources of new zoonotic pathogens, suggesting that biodiversity could have negative impacts on human health. At the same time, biodiversity has been recognized as potentially benefiting human health by reducing the transmission of some pathogens that have already established themselves in human populations. These apparently opposing effects of biodiversity in human health may now be reconcilable. Recent research demonstrates that some taxa are much more likely to be zoonotic hosts than others are, and that these animals often proliferate in human-dominated landscapes, increasing the likelihood of spillover. In less-disturbed areas, however, these zoonotic reservoir hosts are less abundant and nonreservoirs predominate. Thus, biodiversity loss appears to increase the risk of human exposure to both new and established zoonotic pathogens. This new synthesis of the effects of biodiversity on zoonotic diseases presents an opportunity to articulate the next generation of research questions that can inform management and policy. Future studies should focus on collecting and analyzing data on the diversity, abundance, and capacity to transmit of the taxa that actually share zoonotic pathogens with us. To predict and prevent future epidemics, researchers should also focus on how these metrics change in response to human impacts on the environment, and how human behaviors can mitigate these effects. Restoration of biodiversity is an important frontier in the management of zoonotic disease risk.

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUG Emerging evidences show that innate immune cells can display changes in their functional programs after infection or vaccination, which lead to immunomodulation (increased or reduced responsiveness) upon secondary activation to the same stimuli or even to a different one. Innate cells acquire features of immunological memory, nowadays using the new term of "trained immunity" or "innate immune memory", which is different from the specific memory immune response elicited by B and T lymphocytes. The review focused on the concept of trained immunity, mostly on myeloid cells. Special attention is dedicated to the pathogen recognition along the evolution (bacteria, plants, invertebrate and vertebrate animals), and to techniques used to study epigenetic reprogramming and metabolic rewiring. Nanomaterials can be recognized by immune cells offering a very promising way to learn about trained immunity. Nanomaterials could be modified in order to immunomodulate the responses ad hoc. Many therapeutic possibilities are opened, and they should be explored. Xunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC-ED431C 2020/02 Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. BIO2017-84974-R Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer | Ref. PROYE16074BORR Departamento de Salud del Gobierno Vasco | Ref. 2020333024

Giving chances of hands-on experience is important for K-12 education, in order to make students obtain deep understanding. However, there is less opportunities of such experience in science education in Japan, due to some reasons. Therefore, in this paper, a virtual reality system is proposed with which the students can interactively experiment the dissection of vertebrate animals. Through a series of four stages in VR space, the proposed system provides a learner to learn the inner structure of the animal and the procedure of the dissection. Also giving the haptic sense in use of the vibration on the hand controllers, the system represents difference between alive and dead, so that the learner has a chance to think of the animal ethics.

Aquatic vertebrate animals—in particular, fish—present a series of traumatic and/or toxic defenses to survive in their environment. A large number of fish species produce toxins. Some have specialized structures to inoculate these substances, and this feature characterizes them as venomous animals. Fish of commercial value (such as catfish) can be venomous, and encounters with rays and many other fish capable of envenomations are common. These injuries occur mainly in professional fishermen. In addition to fish, there are venomous sea snakes and even venomous mammals, which are also discussed in this chapter. The chapter also addresses treatment measures and ways to try and prevent traumatic injuries and envenomations by fish and reptiles.

A potential cause of suffering in animal experimentation is pain induced by procedures, diseases, and injuries. Pain is not only nociception, the sensory nervous system’s response to (potentially) harmful stimuli, but has been defined as a “subjective, sensory and emotional experience” [1, 2] in humans. It is very likely that pain, as an affective experience, also exists in other vertebrate animals than humans. Therefore, anesthesia and pain treatment become ethical and, in most countries, legal obligations in any animal experiment or related procedures, e.g., breeding or marking procedures, that induce more than mild pain of short duration. Article 14 of the EU Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, for example, states that “member states shall ensure that, unless it is inappropriate, procedures are carried out under general or local anesthesia, and that analgesia or another appropriate method is used to ensure that pain, suffering and distress are kept to a minimum.”

Tissue repair and regeneration are ubiquitous phenomena and are required for the long-term survival of animals in the natural environment. However, the ability of tissue repair and regeneration in different animals varies widely. Some lower invertebrates (such as polyps and worms) can regenerate a new individual. Lower vertebrate animals such as newt can regenerate limbs, retina, lens, spinal cord and tail. Zebrafish can regenerate heart and fins [1, 2]. Higher vertebrates, such as mammals, cannot completely regenerate tissues and organs, and can only undergo simple healing and fibrotic repair [1, 2].

This work shows the results of an application of augmented reality for learning about vertebrate animals in preschool children. A mobile application with augmented reality, called ARAnimals, was implemented following the agile Scrum methodology. The research design was quasi-experimental, where the sample consisted of two classrooms of 5-year-old students from a private school in the city of Lima. The experimental group improved by 33.04% compared to the control group, which only improved by 14.56%. Furthermore, the difference in the average time it took to evaluate the subject in the experimental group and in the control group was significant. The time for the experimental group was 13.3 min., and the time for the control group was 16.7 min. It is concluded that the use of a mobile application with augmented reality satisfactorily influences the learning of vertebrate animals, specifically in four aspects that are included in the dimensions to which they correspond.

BACKGROUND Salamanders stand out among vertebrate animals in two key characteristics: their ability to regenerate body parts, and their large and variable genome sizes. RESULTS Here we show how to unite seemingly disparate facets of salamander biology, regeneration ability, and genome size variation, into one synthetic view. Large and variable genome sizes may be the key to understanding the prodigious ability of most salamanders to regenerate damaged or lost body parts. We report a correlate of genome size variation that has been previously neglected: the impacts of genome size on the structure and function of the genes themselves. Salamanders are, in essence, paradoxically much younger, especially at the cellular level than their chronological age would suggest. CONCLUSIONS Because of the large size and range of variation in genome size in salamanders, we hypothesize that this relationship uncouples a dynamic interaction between growth and differentiation in processes of morphogenesis, pattern formation, and regeneration in ways that are unique among vertebrates.

Akbari M, Rafinejad J, Hanafi-Bojd AA, Aivazi AA, Biglarian A, Sheikhi S, Shavali Z, Akbarzadeh K. 2020. Human myiasis survey in Ilam Province, Southwest of Iran. Nusantara Bioscience 12: 143-147. Myiasis is the infestation of live human and vertebrate animals with dipterous larvae, which at least for a period. Ilam Province of Iran is one of the most important animal husbandry areas, especially nomadic, in Iran. The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of myiasis in shepherds in Ilam Province. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the shepherds in Ilam Province, western Iran. Out of the 11 counties in Ilam Province, 6 were randomly chosen from three different climates for this study. A questionnaire was used by a trained interviewer to obtain the information from subjects. The disease has been seen in spring, summer, and autumn seasons. About 94.1% of people have been infested at least once. Pharyngeal myiasis had the highest prevalence with 58.3%. Itchy, painful throat, sneeze, cough, and headache were common symptoms. About 85.1% of people described the symptoms of the disease as severe and very severe. About 75.4% stated that the duration of the disease was more than 5 days. According to the results of the study, it was found that the prevalence of myiasis among shepherds in the Ilam Province is high and it is necessary to take appropriate measures to control the disease and increase health literacy.

Collagen is a ubiquitous biomaterial in vertebrate animals. Although each of its 28 subtypes contributes to the functions of many different tissues in the body, most studies on collagen or collagenous tissues have focussed on only one or two subtypes. With recent developments in analytical chemistry, especially mass spectrometry, significant advances have been made toward quantifying the different collagen subtypes in various tissues; however, high-throughput and low-cost methods for collagen subtype quantification do not yet exist. In this Review, we introduce the roles of collagen subtypes and crosslinks, and describe modern assays that enable a deep understanding of tissue physiology and disease states. Using cartilage as a model tissue, we describe the roles of major and minor collagen subtypes in detail; discuss known and unknown structure-function relationships; and show how tissue engineers may harness the functional characteristics of collagen to engineer robust neotissues.

Viruses are the smallest currently known organisms. All are obligate parasites; thus, they have absolute requirement to grow in host cells, and, in many cases, can only grow in particular tissue types and/or in specific types of hosts. For example, viruses that infect vertebrate animals cannot infect plants and vice versa, although a few viruses can grow in insects and in either plants or animals. Because no virus can replicate by itself, the need to use a host cell often results in disease manifestation. Several characteristics differentiate viruses from all other known organisms. All known cellular life forms have their genetic information as DNA, and this DNA is copied into RNA for protein translation. While some viruses also have DNA genomes, many viruses have an RNA genome and never make or use DNA. Of more fundamental difference, all cellular life forms replicate by binary division, whereas viruses are spontaneously assembled from their component parts.

On over years, the accuracy level of any algorithm for animal detection using a computer vision system is still practically unusable under uncontrolled environment. A lot of interesting has been shown to object detection, recognition, and classification, etc. Visual monitoring in scenes, for animal, is currently one of the most active research topics in computer vision (CV). In spite of there are a lot of research, intelligent, real-time, but the methods of dynamic object detection and recognition are still unavailable. This paper suggests using Deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to detect and classify the animals (vertebrate classes) in digital images. Our dataset consists of 12000 different images, 9600 images for training stage, and the rest images (2400) for evaluation stage. After apply the proposed system, we found the best image size for this algorithm is 50x50 and the best number of epochs is 100. The total performance of the results reached to 97.5%. The experimental results reflected that the proposed algorithm has a positive effect on overall animal classification performance.

Lactobacillus reuteri is a bacterial gut symbiont found in many vertebrate animals. The genetic heterogeneity of L. reuteri is likely to contribute to differences in ecological performance within a host. Here, we report the draft genome sequences of 12 L. reuteri strains of rodent origin.

Malang Regency has a high potential for diversity of invertebrates and vertebrates, so it needs to be optimized as a learning resource. The purpose of this study was to analyze invertebrate and vertebrate animals based on the local potency of Malang Regency as a learning resource for animal diversity subjects in biology students at the Universitas Negeri Malang. Animal diversity subjects require learning resources as a reference that is used to teach the diversity of invertebrate and vertebrate animals based on their characteristics. This research was conducted in the southern Malang Regency in May-August 2019. The research design used the exploration method. The results of this exploration activity obtained a diversity of invertebrate and vertebrate species as many as 6 phyla namely Coelenterata, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Annelida, and Chordata; 13 classes; 29 orders; 42 families, 51 genera, and 55 species. This research can reveal the potency of invertebrate and vertebrate animals in the Malang Regency which can be used as learning resources in animal diversity subjects at Universitas Negeri.

Importation and Quarantine Summary/Abstract: The importation of new zebrafish increases the risk of colony animals being exposed to pathogens if imported fish are not managed appropriately. An importation and quarantine program should be designed to minimize this risk to the existing colony, while still allowing for scientific collaboration and sharing of fish lines, and ensuring adherence to regulations that require tracking the number of vertebrate animals used for research. This chapter will review the importation processes and procedures for receiving various life stages of zebrafish. Quarantine goals and strategies to achieve those goals will be also be discussed, including methods for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. Finally, the quarantine facility design and workflow will be reviewed.

The use of nanoagrochemicals is fundamental to modern agriculture and the applications of nanotechnology in the form of nanopesticides or nanofertilizers are growing all over the world. Notwithstanding, risk assessment of these products has been far outpaced by their development. Environmental and human health impacts are general concerns that have been addressed, as reviewed in this chapter. Many studies focus on the level of toxicity testing using organisms such as prokaryotes, plants, and invertebrate and vertebrate animals. The data, however, are still insufficient, as many studies are incomplete, lacking full physical-chemical analysis, adequate controls, or continuity. This impairs the development of regulatory policies and, consequently, the marketing of these products. Risk assessment is needed to ensure the safety of the nanoagrochemicals and the benefits that the environment may attain from their use. This field urges for researchers, funding and organized international collaborative initiatives to thrive.

In Chapter 1 , we laid a foundation on which we can now build the components found in urban landscapes. The new landscape we created in Chapter 1 essentially is a patch within a matrix. A matrix is the larger, more extensive landscape component in which a small-scale urban landscape occurs. If you are at the center of a large city, your matrix consists of man-made structures and roads. In rural areas, the matrix can be the native forest or perhaps agricultural production land. Within the matrix, there are patches and corridors. Large patches could be subdivisions, golf courses, parks, or retail developments. Small patches may be plantings of azaleas or roses in a residential landscape. Patches can be made by planting something new or by isolating an area through development. If the development of the new landscape from Chapter 1 left a grouping of native trees in the middle of that site it would be a remnant patch. That remnant patch was once connected but is now isolated and disconnected ecologically. Patches in the urban landscape are easy to visualize: think of the common subdivision used throughout the United States. The process, called fragmentation, creates patches. Some patches maintain connectivity through passages called corridors. Corridors are like roads through which wildlife can move. In highly urbanized areas, these corridors also serve as one of the few places in these landscapes where the seeds of wild plants can germinate and populations expand independent of human activity. Several neighborhoods in Auburn, Alabama, have remnant patches of endemic trees throughout that provide corridors for wildlife. Those corridors provide passage for deer, fox, and other vertebrate animals. As we will see later, the abundance and composition of plants within a patch are also significant influences on the accumulation of pests in urban landscapes.

A widespread misconception in much of psychology is that (a) as vertebrate animals evolved, “newer” brain structures were added over existing “older” brain structures, and (b) these newer, more complex structures endowed animals with newer and more complex psychological functions, behavioral flexibility, and language. This belief, although widely shared in introductory psychology textbooks, has long been discredited among neurobiologists and stands in contrast to the clear and unanimous agreement on these issues among those studying nervous-system evolution. We bring psychologists up to date on this issue by describing the more accurate model of neural evolution, and we provide examples of how this inaccurate view may have impeded progress in psychology. We urge psychologists to abandon this mistaken view of human brains.

Many animals under human care are kept indoors to prevent infectious diseases vectored by wildlife, facilitate environment control, or due to the lifestyle of their owners. However, ultraviolet radiation has documented effects on animal vision, vitamin synthesis, immunity, behavior, psychogenic disorders and on their environment. Ultraviolet-emitting lights are commercially available and the documentation of their effect on indoor-housed animals is increasing. This article reviews published information about ultraviolet effects in vertebrate animals from veterinary and ethological perspectives, and techniques used to assess ultraviolet exposure across animal taxa.

The increasing of the number of the species of mammals there was not less than 28 %, for birds – 129 % within the last century owing to the synanthropization of fauna of vertebrate animals in residential landscape of the southwest of Belarus. The synanthropic population of Vertebrata includes 42 species of mammals, 104 species of birds, 3 species of reptiles and 12 species of amphibiouses in general. Except the obligate sinanthropic species, that integrated in synanthropic ecological complex in residential ecosystems the group of sporadic and synanthropic species (101 species) is widely provided in which modern structure numerous species make 13 %, usual – 45, rare – 35, very rare – 7 %. The synanthropization exponent (offered in article) calculated for taxonomical or ecological groups of Vertebrate allows to note that now in southwest part of Belarus to process of synantropization amphibiouses are most subject (extent of synanthropization 0.62), to the smallest – reptile (0.22), and birds and mammals are intermediate (respectively 0.29 and 0.36). The new species of vertebrate animals which are settled in the territory of the Brest region in the last century from the northern and northeast directions belong generally to eurytopic species, southern and southwest – to synanthropic species.

At present time, the issue of age-dependence of morphological parameters of the thymus blood vessels in members of various terrestrial vertebrates classes has been poorly studied, due to the lack of comparative morphological approaches. Therefore, the main goal of our work was to specify this kind of dependences. We studied samples of thymus glands from vertebrate animals belonging to four classes: Amphibians, Reptilian, Aves, and Mammals, including humans. For the first time, using methods of light microscopy, we performed comparative morphological studies of thymic blood microvessels in animals and humans, looking for age dependence of these differences. It was found the number and area of microcirculatory bed in thymic cortex and medullary substance depends on age, taxonomic class of the animal as well as on the environmental conditions. We have also revealed age-related differences of the intra-organ vasculature in thymus, including large arteries and venous vessels. Some specific age-related changes were found for human thymic vascular bed. On the basis of our studies, we can make conclusions about functional role of age-related changes of thymic blood vessels in immunity. The results of this study are important for basic and applied biology and medicine, being of interest to researches, especially in immunology.

On the basis of study of pathomorphological changes in the skin effectiveness of collagenogenesis was determined as a result of setting of resorbing and permanent implants. The studies were performed on 30 mature albino male rats of the "Vistar" line weighing 100-130 g. Experimental animals were divided into 2 groups depending on the type of implanted threads. The rats of all groups (14, 30 and 90 days) were divided into 3 subgroups each of them consisting of 10 individuals. For all 10 rats of each subgroup, the same type of suture material was implanted. The following Aptos threads were used during the experiment: Light Lift Spring (LLS) та Light Lift Thread (LLT). Light Lift series (Light Lift Spring – LLS –long thread-spring, Light Lift Thread – LLT – thread with notches soldered with needle, 50% caprolactone + 50% polylactic acid, biodegradation time 365 days) made from caprolactone, which is a biosynthetic material. The resorption of the thread occurs during the year, and the effect of its use persists up to 2 years. It was applied mainly in patients under the age of 40 who had an initial stage of ovate of the face. The specified threads contain in their composition L-isomer of lactic acid possessing revitalizing properties and slowing down the aging process. All the animals were kept in the vivarium of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University; experiments were conducted in accordance with the provisions of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes (Strasbourg, 1986), Council Directive 86/609/EEC (1986), Law of Ukraine No. 3445-IV "On the Protection of Animals from Cruelty". The animals were removed from the experiment by overdose of ether anesthesia (5-7 min. exposure) on the 14th, 30th and 90th days of the experiment. Fragments of skin with subcutaneous adipose tissue from the back area [1] were used for the morphological study. Paraffin blocks were made from each fragment; histologic staining by routine method and Malory histochemical staining were performed. During study of morphological changes in the per-implant zone, it was found that in all the groups of experimental rats, on different chronological stages collagen with different biodegradation time and in different quantities is formed. Dependence between the type of implantation thread (structure) and stimulation of collagenogenesis has been established. Conclusions. 1. While studying morphological changes in the per-implant zone, it was found that in all the groups of experimental rats, collagen with different term of biodegradation and in different quantities on various chronological stages is formed. 2. It was established that collagenogenesis is stimulated unevenly, depending on the type of implantation thread (chemical composition and structure). 3. On the 90th day of the experiment, the resorbing thread did not completely degrade, which does not contradict the information provided by the manufacturer about the period of disintegration (365 days), and the expediency of using these cosmetic threads in aesthetic dermatology for the purpose of prolonged lifting skin correction. 4. The specificity of the structure of implant threads, namely the form of a spring (LLS), as a provocative factor for long-term alteration, causes long-term inflammatory response in tissues (90th day of the experiment).