The Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar of the University of Porto (ICBAS), which has been working on the One Health concept for four years, wants to make Porto a "pilot city" in the reflection around the relationship between animals, humans and the environment.
“The objective is to use Porto, a city with international visibility, and with an important regional and national weight, as a pilot for the 'One city, One Health' project and think about health with these three components [animals, environment and people] and not individually. Thinking about the animals that are on the streets without forgetting environmental policies, including people, seeing the characteristics of the environment where they live, thinking, for example, that a health support infrastructure can not be created without respect for the environment”, said the director of ICBAS, Henrique Cyrne Carvalho.
In an interview with the Lusa agency – on the One Health subject, a concept and vision that ICBAS leads and which has already taken Cyrne Carvalho to the European Parliament this year, after having been on the Ethics Committee National Council for Life Sciences in the Portuguese Parliament – he said that he has already met with the Porto municipality and that the partnership is “being worked on”.
The Center for Research in Human and Animal Health, a project of the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar of the University of Porto (ICBAS), that will be located in Maia, will include riding stables to promote community contact with horses.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, the director of ICBAS, Henrique Cyrne Carvalho, highlighted that the project, in addition to the scientific and research aspect, includes as its objective “a very marked connection to the community, using horses for the benefit of mental health and some groups of pathologies.”.
“We know that hippotherapy is of enormous benefit to various disorders of the autism spectrum, among others. On the other hand, by having riding stables, we can promote the interaction and proximity of the community with the horses”, said Henrique Cyrne Carvalho.
The path is made by walking, wrote Antonio Machado (1875-1839) in what was the poem that left him for the eternity of letters. It is in this slow path made of persistent steps that the One Health concept is forming a school, which may come to revolutionize the way of looking at Health, the one that guides us, comforts us, makes us believe that it is possible to be better, which gives us quality of life and circumvents the void of pessimism even when the scenario is the darkest and the days seem shortened to death.
A new release by U. Porto Press proposes a reflection on the evolution of veterinary medicine and the relationship between humans and animals.
“What does a veterinarian do?”, “What animal species is he/she dedicated to?”, “How is his/her training structured?” or “Is it a difficult profession?”, reads on the back cover of Many Species, One Veterinary Medicine. This short questionnaire sets the tone for reading one of the most recent editorial novelties of the U.Porto Press, the number four of the Studies and Teaching collection of the publishing office.
“This book reflects, precisely, on the evolution of veterinary medicine and on the evolution of the relationship between humans and animals”, defends Paulo Martins da Costa, professor at the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar and author of the publication.
In response to the question about whether Veterinary Medicine is a difficult profession, Paulo Martins da Costa says yes. “A veterinarian needs dedication, knowledge, worldview and a keen ethical sense”, adding that “it is less and less frequent for people to understand (and respect) animals in their essence, tending now to humanize them, now to mechanize them”.
According to the author, the profession is complex, being “at the center of a circle of important animals for man”. These animals fall into several quadrants, being attributed different “human meanings” to them – domestic, wild, experimental, sports, pests, disease vectors, adorable, symbolic, dangerous, faithful…
There is a lot of water on the Planet. But since it is 97% salty, it cannot be directly used by most land, air and freshwater aquatic beings. If 2000 years ago we had the same amount of water available as today, at the time for the consumption of 72 million inhabitants, the 8 billion people today have to share it among everyday uses, such as domestic, industrial and agricultural, requiring ever-increasing amounts. The pressure on the water resource has never been so high, but with ongoing climate change, globally applicable measures must be taken to protect the hydrosphere.
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly approved a historic resolution considering access to drinking water as a human right, along with other enshrined rights. Part of the water returns to the aquatic environment, but with different chemical, physical and even microbiological characteristics. In other words, polluted. Contaminated water means a sick environment and, ultimately, leads to the degradation of the health of the Biosphere, the thin layer of the Earth where living beings are distributed.
The One Health is not a new concept, but it gained another meaning with the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is known that the most plausible hypothesis for the worldwide action of a virus that had never affected humans is that it was transmitted by an animal, like 75% of the infections that affect us. But the relationship between animals, humans and the environment is not limited to infectious diseases and has led various entities, such as the French NHS, to invest in new ways of investigating and protecting health.
The Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), in Porto, has been studying this 'global health' for four years, and on several fronts. With various investigations in progress, they introduced the 'One Health' subject in all courses and is the only faculty in ways of creating a MSc programme focused on this new way of seeing health.
Due to the work carried out, the director of ICBAS was the only Portuguese heard in the European Parliament talking about the concept and how it could be applied.
Henrique Cyrne Carvalho is a cardiologist and director of the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. Foto: Rui Duarte Silva (Expresso).
To Expresso, Henrique Cyrne Carvalho guarantees that thinking about human health without detaching it from animal and environmental health will have to dominate the research, training and policy strategies of the future.
On February 28, 2023, the director of ICBAS, Professor Henrique Cyrne Carvalho, participated in a public hearing on One Health in the European Parliament, in Brussels.
The session “Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and recommendations for the future”, aimed to discuss the link between the accelerated loss of biodiversity and the spread of zoonoses such as COVID-19, and their impacts on health human. The objective of this hearing was to gather contributions on how the European Union can implement the One Health One Health in its policies.
Prof. Henrique Cyrne Carvalho at the session “Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and recommendations for the future”.
For Prof. Henrique Cyrne “This was a unique opportunity to share the One Health plan of action that we have in course at ICBAS and, above all, to contribute to our local action to reflect on the implementation of actions of global impact, notably through the European Union”.
A pioneering project at the U.Porto aims to promote the community's mental health and well-being through contact and reconnection with nature.
The Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), in partnership with the 'Go Wild', recently launched the ‘Nature Baths’, a pioneering project at the University of Porto, which aims to promote mental health and well-being through the contact and reconnection with nature.
To test this new concept, ICBAS challenged a group of workers and students to disconnect from their concerns and tasks for 90 minutes, to let themselves be guided in a reconnection with Nature. The day was inviting and expectations were high, despite some skepticism.
There were 90 minutes of presence and active involvement with neighboring gardens of the Crystal Palace in an attempt to return tranquility and reduce the levels of stress and mental fatigue of the academic community of the Institute.
Grupo de trabalhadores e estudantes no primeiro ‘Banho de Natureza’. Foto: ICBAS.
How it all began…
The pandemic drove the Go Wild project, at a time when Nadja Imhof, one of the founders, felt very disconnected from nature: “I did some research and realized that nature baths were a very common practice in other countries and with a scientific basis solid, so I decided to start the six-month online training to become a certified guide”.
After completing the training, Nadja and Vanessa, a psychologist and partner in this project, began by defining a strategy that involved finding places in the city conducive to this practice and finding the target audience.
“Students, who during the pandemic were very isolated and suffering from anxiety, seemed to us to be the ideal target , so we started looking for ways to reach them and that's how we came across ICBAS. Furthermore, we knew that for this to work, we had to look for places close to the city, or in the city itself, which would therefore motivate people to participate”, explains Nadja Imhof.
Today, this is a more robust project that has been growing “albeit slowly. After all, this is a new practice in Portugal and people are not very comfortable with this proximity”, emphasizes the founder of the project.
‘Baths of Nature’ wellness promoters
But shyness, shame or resistance aside, the 'Nature Baths' have gathered an ever-growing community of followers, thanks to the multiple physical and mental benefits they represent.
“The benefits are global, mental and physical. Physical because even without running we are moving our body. Mental because it has been proven that this contact with nature reduces anxiety and all feelings related to depression or stress. What helps us sleep better, increases our ability to concentrate and creativity”, clarifies Nadja Imhof.
Also for João Silva, student at the Faculty of Sciences of the U.Porto (FCUP) and collaborator of researcher Karine Silva, from the Department of Behavioral Sciences at ICBAS, becoming a guide for the Nature Baths has been an “incredible” experience.
“Realizing that the connection with nature has so many benefits, with such solid scientific bases, was very important for my work. At this moment I would like this project to reach more people, and above all to see these people bathing in nature by themselves. Give them the recipe so they can make it a routine”, says the student.
“Test” passed successfully
The truth is that, after an hour and a half spent in deep contact with nature, the opinions were unanimous: “this activity was an excellent initiative, which without a doubt makes us feel better, calmer, more serene, better prepared and motivated to the work."
For the participants, this is “an excellent way to gain energy, to feel better about ourselves”, as highlighted by Nuno Ferreira, from the ICBAS IT Department.
“It offered us new tools to reduce anxiety”, points out Sara Pereira, from the International Relations and Mobility Office, about an experience that promises to be repeated.
A commitment shared by Zélia Lopes, from the Postgraduate and Continuing Education Unit “I loved it, I feel very calm and decided that I'm going to start coming to the Crystal Palace more often to connect with nature. Undoubtedly, this action was the driving force behind this decision”.
Also for the student of the Integrated Master in Medicine, Maria João Estêvão, this is an activity that she will recommend to her colleagues: “It was a different morning and it was very positive to come here and slow down a little. I had never looked at the Palace in this way. I totally recommend it, I think this is a very important strategy to reduce anxiety.”
Study supports DGAV's decision not to implement the proposed European legislation to amend the beef health inspection protocol.
Researchers of the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), of the University of Portorecently published a study in journal One Health, in which they prove the importance of post mortem inspection in the identification of Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) lesions, and its contribution to the respective Eradication Plan. The same study also supports the decision of the General Directorate for Food and Veterinary (DGAV) not to implement the proposed European legislation to amend the beef health inspection protocol, making it tend to be visual.
Carried out in collaboration with the DGAV and the University of Trás os Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), the work now published is based on European regulations that define new rules for official controls on foodstuffs, namely the health inspection of meat.
The Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/627 provides that “the health inspection of bovine meat may tend to be visual in animals up to 8 months and between 8 and 20 months, if they are reared in a controlled environment, without contact with the outside world”, as explained by the veterinarian and ICBAS teacher, Eduarda Gomes Neves.
These changes may have an impact on the detection of this zoonosis and reduce the efficiency of the National Plan for the Eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis, in force since 1991. The study analyzes data from 10 years (between October 2010 and January 2020) and concludes that using only visual inspection in younger cattle may be insufficient for detecting bTB.
As Eduarda Gomes Neves explains, “in the current context, it still does not make sense to suppress the incision in the tissues of animals aged less than 8 months, under penalty of being approved for human consumption meat from animals with lesions”. With this work, “we provide robust data that support the need to maintain the previous procedures, not making the health inspection of cattle more flexible at this time. The results of the National bTB Eradication Plan indicate that the problem still persists”, adds the professor and researcher.
In addition to the conclusions shared with the DGAV, with the aim of supporting decision-making on maintaining the practice of inspection with palpation and incisions, this work reinforces the importance of approaching health problems from an integrated and holistic perspective.
“When we work on issues related to food safety, public health and animal health, we cannot fail to include the environmental component. In the case of Bovine Tuberculosis, we know that direct or indirect contact between farm animals and wild animals, for example through access to pasture land, contributes to the transmission of the disease. Game species, such as deer or wild boar, are reservoirs of the Mycobacterium bovis, as several studies have demonstrated”, says Eduarda Gomes Neves, concluding that it is essential to keep this investigation “within the scope of One Health”.
Researchers from the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) characterized the potential for emission of greenhouse gases in cattle farms and found significant differences during the lactation phase that open “doors” for further investigations.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the researcher and first author of the study, Ana Raquel Rodrigues, clarified that the investigation focused on the “greenhouse gas emissions (methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide) and ammonia” in three commercial dairy farms in the North region.
On the farms, researchers collected feces and urine samples from animals at different stages of lactation, which were later evaluated and characterized in the laboratory, using “cameras that simulate the pavement” of holdings.
“We checked the different stages of lactation of the animals, the collection times and the potential for emission of faeces and urine throughout the day”, said Ana Raquel Rodrigues.
The work was developed by the researcher Ana Raquel Rodrigues in the context of the Doctoral Program in business environment SANFEED.
Despite "preliminary“, the results of the study, published in the scientific journal Journal of Environmental Management, show “differences in the level of nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions in post-peak lactation”.
Also the researcher and coordinator of the study, Henrique Trindade, clarified that in the “post-peak of lactation” bovine animals “emit higher emissions” of greenhouse gases, which require “greater care”, in particular, in adapting waste cleaning systems.
“Cleaning is often done in the morning because the logic is in the morning performing all the work. Studying in detail, it can be concluded that perhaps it is preferable to clean more frequently at the end of the day and not so much in the morning", he said, highlighting that "more emissions occur in the afternoon".
Henrique Trindade also highlighted that the results were obtained in the laboratory at “constant temperatures and ventilation rates”, which in practice could be even more significant in terms of gas emissions, since “temperatures are higher at noon for the evening than during the morning.”
The coordinator added that the information collected in this study, and in others developed within the scope of Ana Raquel Rodrigues' PhD, could help, for example, “adjust manure management systems".
“With these results we can start to look at other aspects, such as the frequency of removal and application of additives that reduce emissions. A series of mitigation measures that are already available in the activity and that can be focused on the periods when we know that emissions are higher", he said, also highlighting the importance of mitigation measures being "flexible” throughout the entire day.
Ana Raquel Rodrigues also stressed that the research “opens doors” to other works, since the results allowed “understand animals a little better, their metabolisms and the way faeces and urine behave when deposited on the ground”.
“This research opens doors, but more work will have to be done to achieve results adjusted to reality and to be applied in practice”, added the student of the Sustainable Animal Nutrition and Feeding (SANFEED) doctoral program, co-funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology and managed by ICBAS.
In addition to ICBAS, the study had the collaboration of researchers from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) and the Escola Superior Agrária of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (ESA-IPV).
The investigation was also carried out in partnership with the Agricultural Cooperative of Vila do Conde and AGROS – Union of Cooperatives of Milk Producers.
Source: Observador
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