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Microplastic debris is a pervasive type of contaminant in marine ecosystems, being considered a major threat to marine biota. One of the problems of microplastics is that they can adsorb contaminants in extremely high concentrations. When released from the particle, these contaminants have the potential to cause toxic effects in the biota. So far, reports of toxic effects are mostly linked with the direct exposure of organisms through ingestion of contaminated microplastics. There is little information on the toxicity of leachates from microplastics to marine organisms. In this study, we conducted experiments to evaluate the toxicity of leachates from virgin and beached plastic pellets to embryo development of the brown mussel (Perna perna). We compared the efficiency of two test procedures, and evaluated the toxicity of beached pellets collected in a coastal marine protected area. We observed that mussel embryo is sensitive to leachate from both virgin and beached pellets. However, the toxicity of the leachate from beached pellets was much higher than that of virgin pellets. We suggest contaminants adsorbed onto the surface of beached pellets were responsible for the high toxicity of leachate from beached pellets, while the toxicity of leachate from virgin pellets was mainly due to plastic additives. Our results suggest microplastic debris may be harmful even if ingestion is not the only or main pathway of interaction of marine organisms with contaminated plastic debris.

La competencia de Agility es una especialidad deportiva canina que está en auge. La dificultad de este deporte es sincronizar velocidad y calidad de ejecución, los caninos que practican este deporte sufren lesiones en sus extremidades anteriores. Las lesiones más frecuentes son tendoligamentosas y de las bolsas sinoviales debido a que deben saltar obstáculos y pueden ser causa de claudicación luego de la competencia y de una deformación liquida palpable. La ultrasonografía (US) musculoesquelética, es un estudio dinámico, no invasivo, de bajo costo y no requiere de sedación del paciente. Se atendieron 5 caninos, raza Border collie con diagnóstico de bursitis y tendinitis de codo confirmadas mediante ultrasonografía musculoesquelética. Para valoración del dolor se utilizó la Escala de Dolor Descriptiva Simple. Se realizó goniometría para evaluar funcionalidad de la articulación del codo. Protocolo Fisioterápico: Reposo relativo, Crioterapia 5 minutos (aplicación diaria), LASER semiconductor de arseniuro de galio, dosis de 8 J/cm², ultrasonido terapéutico pulsátil 1 Mhz, dosis 0,5 W/cm² 5 minutos. 2 sesiones semanales. 24 sesiones totales. Para el análisis estadístico se aplicó la prueba de Wilcoxon. El objetivo de este trabajo fue observar la eficiencia del protocolo de fisioterapia para lesiones tendoligamentosas mediante ultrasonografía musculoesquelética. The Agility competition is a canine sports specialty that is booming. The difficulty of this sport is to synchronize speed and quality of execution.The canines that practice this sport suffer injuries in their forelimbs. Tendon lesions, ligaments and synovial bursae are the most frecuently in these dogs because they must jump obstacles which can be the cause for claudication after competition and palpable liquid deformation. Ultrasonography (US) musculoskeletal is a dynamic, non-invasive, low cost and does not require patient sedation. We treated 5 Border Collie breed canines with diagnosed bursitis and elbow tendonitis confirmed by musculoskeletal ultrasonography. The Simple Descriptive Pain Scale was used to assess pain. Goniometry was performed to evaluate functionality of the elbow joint. Physiotherapy protocol: Diagnóstico y control de lesiones tendoligamentosas en perros atletas 269 InVet Vol. 20 Nº 2, 2018 Relative rest, Cryotherapy 5 minutes (daily application), LASER semiconductor gallium arsenide, dose of 8 J / cm2, pulsatile therapeutic ultrasound 1 Mhz, dose 0.5 W / cm2 5 minutes. 2 sessions per week, a total of 24 sessions. For the statistical analysis, the Wilcoxon test was applied. The aim of this work was to observe the efficiency of the physiotherapy protocol for lesions tendo ligaments by means of musculoskeletal ultrasonography.

Os plásticos têm trazido grandes benefícios aos humanos, sendo utilizados em diversas atividades como em aplicações médicas, entretenimento e na indústria de alimento. O uso crescente de plástico e seu descarte não adequado têm contribuído para o acúmulo deste detrito no meio ambiente, em especial nos oceanos onde tendem a acumular. Dentre os detritos de plástico de maior importância atualmente estão os microplásticos, que são partículas de plástico de tamanho entre 1 μm e 5 mm. Os principais riscos que os microplásticos oferecem são sua grande capacidade de persistência e dispersão no ambiente marinho, sua grande afinidade por poluentes persistentes orgânicos, sua a ingestão pela biota e a transferência para a teia trófica marinha. Dentre os ambientes marinhos mais impactados por microplásticos, estão as praias arenosas, onde estas partículas tendem a acumular após encalharem ao serem trazidas pelo mar. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a contaminação por microplásticos em uma praia de uma área de proteção marinha costeira e avaliar a toxicidade de pellets virgens e coletados nesta praia no desenvolvimento embriolarval de mexilhão marrom Perna perna. Foram realizadas coletas de microplásticos entre o período de fevereiro de 2014 a fevereiro de 2015 na praia de Paranapuã em duas regiões do perfil da praia (linha de maré alta e supralitoral). As partículas foram analisadas individualmente em laboratório e quanto a composição de seu polímero por Espectrofotômetro de Infravermelho por Transformada de Fourier (FT-IR). Os resultados sugerem que a poluição por microplásticos na praia de Paranapuã ocorre ao longo do ano inteiro, porém variando em concentração ao longo do tempo e com um padrão de distribuição espacial irregular na praia. A concentração de microplásticos está aparentemente relacionada com a direção do vento, tendendo a ser maior quando a direção do vento é a favor da praia. A concentração de microplásticos na praia de Paranapuã (4,72 microplásticos/m²) é próxima àquela encontrada em outras praias no mundo e da região. Os experimentos de toxicidade demonstraram que tanto pellets de plástico virgens como aqueles coletados na praia inibem o desenvolvimento embriolarval de mexilhão marrom. Entretanto, os pellets coletados na praia mostraram uma alta toxicidade que resultou numa porcentagem de larvas anormais ou mortas de 100%, significativamente superior aos pellets virgens que foi de 23,5%. Acredita-se que a diferença de toxicidade entre os pellets virgens e coletados na praia pode ser causada por contaminantes adsorvidos na superfície dos pellets coletados no campo. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que praias de áreas de proteção marinha costeira próximas a zonas urbanas e regiões portuárias apresentam risco de contaminação por plásticos. Apesar de terem acesso restrito a humanos, os microplásticos entram nestas praias através do ambiente marinho, podendo causar efeitos adversos na fauna destes ambientes. As informações deste trabalho contribuem para a melhor compreensão dos efeitos da contaminação de ambientes costeiros por microplásticos, fornecendo informações básicas para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas voltadas para uma gestão deste tipo de poluição em áreas de proteção ambiental. Plastics have great benefits to humans, used in various activities such as medical applications, entertainment and food industry. The increasing use of plastic and your inappropriate disposal have contributed to the accumulation of this debris in the environment, particularly in the oceans where they tend to accumulate. Among the most important plastic waste are the microplastic which are plastic particles of size between 1 μm and 5 mm. The main risks that microplastics offer are your large capacity persistence and dispersal in the marine environment, your great affinity for persistent organic pollutants and their ingestion by biota and transfer to the marine food web. Among the marine environments most impacted by microplastics are sandy beaches where these particles tend to accumulate after carried by sea. This study evaluate the contamination by microplastics on a beach of a coastal marine protected area, and assess the virgin pellets toxicity and collected on this beach in embryo-larval development of brown mussel Perna perna. Microplastics samples were collected in the period from February 2014 to February 2015 on the beach of Paranapuã in two regions of the beach (high tide line and supralittoral). The particles were analyzed individually in the laboratory and the composition of your polymer was identified for Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results suggest that pollution microplastics in Paranapuã beach is continuous in entire year, but varying in concentration over time and with a pattern irregular of spatial distribution on the beach. The microplastics concentration is apparently related to the wind direction, tends to be higher when the wind direction is downwind. The concentration of microplastics on the beach Paranapuã (4.72 microplastics/m²) is similar to other beaches in the world. The toxicity experiments showed that both virgin plastic pellets as those collected on the beach inhibit embryo-larval development of brown mussels. However, the pellets collected at the beach showed high toxicity resulting in abnormal or percentage of dead larvae 100%, significantly higher than for virgin pellets, which was 23.5%. It is believed that the difference in toxicity between the virgin pellets and collected on the beach can be caused by high concentration of adsorbed contaminants on the surface of the pellets collected in the field. The results of this study suggest that beaches areas of coastal marine protection near urban areas and port areas have high risk of contamination by plastics. Although this beach has access restricted to humans, microplastics enter these beaches through the marine environment, potentially causing adverse effects on the local fauna of these environments due to your high toxicity. The information from this study contribute to a better understanding of the effects of contamination of coastal environments by microplastics, providing basic information for the development of public policies for management of this type of pollution in the areas of environmental protection.

The crab Ucides cordatus and the red mangrove Rhizophora mangle are endemic mangrove species and potential bio-accumulators of metals. This study quantified the accumulation of six metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn and Pb) in different organs (claw muscle, hepatopancreas and gills) of U. cordatus, as well as in different maturation stages of the leaves (buds, green mature, and pre-abscission senescent) of R. mangle. Samples were collected from mangrove areas in Cubatão, state of São Paulo, a heavily polluted region in Brazil. Data for metal contents in leaves were evaluated by one-way ANOVA; while for crabs a factorial ANOVA was used to investigate the effect of different tissues, animal size and the interactions between them. Means were compared by Tukey test at five percent, and the association between the metal concentrations in each crab organ, depending on the size, was evaluated by Pearson's linear correlation coefficient (r). Concentrations of Pb and Hg were undetectable for the different leaf stages and crab tissues, while Cd concentrations were undetectable in the leaf stages. In general, the highest accumulation of metals in R. mangle leaves occurred in pre-abscission senescent and green mature leaves, except for Cu, which was found in the highest concentrations in buds and green mature leaves. For the crab, Cd, Cu, Cr and Mn were present in concentrations above the detection limit, with the highest accumulation in the hepatopancreas, followed by the gills. Cu was accumulated mostly in the gills. Patterns of bioaccumulation between the crab and the mangrove tree differed for each metal, probably due to the specific requirements of each organism for essential metals. However, there was a close and direct relationship between metal accumulation in the mangrove trees and in the crabs feeding on them. Tissues of R. mangle leaves and U. cordatus proved effective for monitoring metals, acting as important bioindicators of mangrove areas contaminated by various metals.