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This study investigated the optimal dietary intake of zinc amino acid complex (Zn-AAC) for white-layer pullets, focusing on their productive performance, biochemical profile, organ biometry, and body zinc retention. The study involved 360 Dekalb White pullets (average weight: 433 ± 4.42 g) aged from 6 to 16 weeks and distributed into 6 treatments with 6 replications each. The Zn-AAC inclusion levels ranged from 5 to 75 mg kg-1. Zinc intake was modeled using a nonlinear equation, Y = ∝ *1- e-βX, where α is the maximum response, β is the rate at which the response approaches the maximum (P < 0.05). The Zn-AAC supplementation had significant effects on average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed convention ratio (FCR) (P < 0.01). Optimal intake levels of Zn-AAC were estimated at 0.234, 0.340, and 0.315 mg bird-1 day-1 (5.42, 7.87, and 7.30 mg kg-1) for ADG, ADFI, and FCR, respectively. The Zn-AAC supplementation affected the Zn body retention in pullets (P < 0.01), with an optimal ingestion at 1.86 mg bird -1 day-1, corresponding to a dietary supplementation of 43.10 mg kg-1. Additionally, supplementation affected alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity (P < 0.01) without significant changes in aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, and globulin levels. The optimal Zn-AAC intake level for ALP activity was 1.45 mg bird -1 day-1, corresponding to dietary supplementation of 33.60 mg kg-1. Based on Zn body retention, we recommend up to 1.86 mg bird -1 day-1 of Zn-AAC, which is equivalent to 43.10 mg kg-1., Competing Interests: We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, and there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the content of this paper. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Silva et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Coatis are hosts of a great diversity of parasites, that due to anthropic pressures in forest fragments, like changes in landscapes and ecosystems, can influence the dynamics and physiological responses to those parasite infections, affecting the animal's health and fitness. This is the first study about health parameters and parasitic infections of wild coati (Nasua nasua) populations in the Atlantic Forest (Pernambuco Center of Endemism). The following hypotheses were evaluated: (i) infections and co-infections by gastrointestinal parasites and ectoparasites can generate changes in the health parameters of coatis such as the body condition score (BCS), packed cell volume (PCV), leukogram, and serum protein profile; (ii) biological aspects (sex and age) or fragment they inhabit, can influence changes in the health parameters (BCS, PCV, leukogram and serum protein profile). Were studied 55 free-living coatis in three anthropized forest remnants in the Metropolitan Region of Recife. After chemical containment, the animals were submitted to physical examination and collection of biological samples (blood, feces, and ectoparasites). On the physical examination, 23.6% of coatis had a low BCS and 5.4% were overweighted. Amblyomma spp. ticks were found in 83.6% of the animals of all studied remnants, A. sculptumAmblyomma sculptum in 12.7% and A. ovale in 1.8%. Regarding gastrointestinal parasites, Ancylostoma sp. was the most prevalent (80.4%) and most animals (66.7%) had co-infection with Ancylostoma sp. and Capillaria sp., Strongyloides sp., Acanthocephala, Cestoda, and Coccidia. The 76.5% of the coatis presented co-infections with Ancylostoma spp. + Amblyomma spp. Principal coordinates analyses (PCoA) scores of health parameters were used as dependent variables and fragment, sex, age, Ancylostoma sp. infection, gastrointestinal parasites co-infection, Amblyomma spp. infestation and co-infection of Ancylostoma sp. + Amblyomma spp. as a predictor variable in the linear models. Parasites did not influence the PCV of the individuals, but a decrease was evident in adult animals. Variations in protein profile, neutrophils, and lymphocytes, without leaving the normal range for the species, but WBC were predicted by age group, and infections by Ancylostoma or Amblyomma spp., but not their co-infections. The free-living coati populations of the anthropized remnants in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil proved to be healthy and seem to be adapted to face the challenges of anthropization and parasitic infections., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Serum chemistry analyses represents a fundamental tool for the diagnosis and understanding of diseases in marine mammals. Although several studies are being conducted within the field of clinical pathology, haematological and serum chemistry data for Antillean manatees are deficient. The purpose of this study was to determine serum chemistry values for captive Antillean manatees within the CMA/Ibama facility in Brazil. Serum samples were obtained from five captive adult Antillean manatees fed with seagrass and analysed for aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, urea, creatinine, glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, total protein, albumin, globulin, phosphate, chloride, calcium and uric acid. Blood chemistry parameters were determined using a semi-automatic analyzer. Maximum, minimum, mean and standard deviations were calculated for each serum chemistry parameter. Differences on the values of males and females were verified using an unpaired Student's t-test. All the parameters analysed were similar between sexes, with exception of AP, which was higher in females (191.43 +/- 31.86 U/l). Alanine aminotransferase and uric acid values for Trichechus manatus manatus are reported for the first time in this paper. This study is the first to report serum chemistry parameter values for long-term captive male and female Antillean manatees. Therefore, the lower values of albumin, phosphate, chloride, cholesterol and triglycerides obtained here highlight the importance of clinical pathology during health monitoring of captive marine mammals.

The qualitative study had as objective to analyse the perception of egressed students and managers of health service approach by competence in the qualifying of technical level nursing professionals. The results have shown that workers have reached the necessary competence to perform the professional practice, however there are several aspects of the pedagogic process that still have to be improved, so that they may be able to transform the practices of the health services.

This study discusses the National Curriculum Policies for professional education in technology, and its implementation in the health field, more especifically in the nursing field. The matter is approached from three different topics: 1) the contextualization of technological education, 2) the legal rationale, 3) the creation of human resources for SUS (Public Health system). As a conclusion, the study points out that the nursing professional would have his/her work even more fragmented than it already is. According to the study, this kind of education does not meet the needs of assistance in the present days, considering the complexity of problems related to it, the advancement of knowledge, and population growth.