Category: Noticias

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”.

Source: Notícias UP

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.

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

Event scheduled for the International One Health Day (November 3) will bring together specialists from the most varied areas to promote the debate on this holistic approach to Health.

On the November 3rd, International One Health Day, the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto will once again bring together specialists from the most varied areas and institutions in the country to promote the debate around a holistic approach to Health.

This year, with a more targeted program for the non-scientific community, the 2nd Porto One Health Day reflects the effort that the institution has been making to promote and disseminate the One Health concept among the scientific, academic and civil society communities.

For Henrique Cyrne Carvalho, director of ICBAS, this is a very important moment of affirmation of the work that ICBAS has been developing: “promoting this approach has been central to our strategy, we have held several meetings with specialists from the most varied areas, with the aim of showing that this is the way to the future and to find solutions together to promote the development and application of solutions with a view to ensuring the well-being of all, the sustainability of the planet and the promotion of public health”.

The session on November 3rd will open with the public presentation of the document 'New steps for ICBAS One Health strategy', a white paper which intends to present specific proposals for the future.

The afternoon will continue with three round tables that “are of total public interest, since they address issues that influence everyone's lives”, reinforces Henrique Cyrne Carvalho.

These topics are extremely current and include nutrition, antimicrobial resistance and health promotion in aging, in sessions that are completely open to the public “which provide an opportunity for anyone to question high-quality specialists on these topics, which we believe is fundamental. Bringing academia closer to civil society is essential to succeed in this proposal”, concludes the ICBAS director.

Starting at 2:00 p.m., in the Salão Nobre of ICBAS/FFUP, the ‘2nd Porto One Health Day’ will culminate with the opening, at 6:45 p.m., of the traveling photography exhibition “Perspective(s) on One Health”, at Aliados Metro station.

According to Cyrne Carvalho, “this is the highlight of this exhibition’s itinerancy [which represents various views on the “One Health” concept], since we can reach thousands of people a day, not only from our city, but also from various parts of the country and the world. The format will be a little different from what it has been so far, and aims to confront people with various day-to-day issues that have everything to do with this approach”.

Source: Notícias UP

Project framed in the "One Health" concept aims to promote the health and well-being of those who attend the complex of the two faculties.

The ICBAS  (ICBAS) and the Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto (FFUP) will develop a pioneering project which, based on biophilic principles and framed in the One Health, aims to promote the health and well-being of the academic community.

This is a project that goes through the incorporation of nature elements and their representations in the ICBAS/FFUP complex (indoor and outdoor spaces), with the aim of systemically influencing the health and well-being of its users.

For the director of ICBAS, Henrique Cyrne Carvalho, this project “is a way of materializing the One Health concept, but also of reinforcing our concern for the well-being of the entire community”.

“It is an ambitious project that, through biophilic design, will bring a new environment and new spaces to the ICBAS/FFUP complex, aiming at a better relationship between the community and our built space”, says Henrique Cyrne Carvalho.

Also Domingos Ferreira, director of FFUP, shares the holistic view of global health, and reinforces “the institutions’ commitment to the well-being of academic communities”. For the director of FFUP, “the project is not only ambitious, but also reinforces the position of the ICBAS/FFUP Complex as an innovative center in the promotion of health, well-being and integration with all areas of life sciences”.

What is Biophilia?

The “Biophilia Theory” argues that human beings are biologically programmed to relate to living systems and that this relationship with nature is instrumental for well-being and physical and mental health.

“With this project, we will assess the potential of biophilic design as an intervention tool in the academic space aimed at promoting health and well-being”, as Karine Silvaexplains, researcher at the Department of Behavioral Sciences at ICBAS and at ISPUP, and mentor of the scientific project.

“Based on the Theory of Biophilia, we will seek to create organic spaces in an arid landscape, which promote relaxation and psychological restoration, as well as stimulate creativity, coexistence and sharing”, he adds.

Using a participatory “photovoice”, the entire ICBAS/FFUP community will be invited to reflect on the concept of Biophilia and to contribute with suggestions for its implementation.

The collected suggestions will be subjected to a specialized and multidisciplinary analysis in the context of “focus groups”, and the resulting intervention will be evaluated regarding its impact in terms of a set of health and well-being parameters.

Karine Silva reinforces the relevance of this approach, in the post-pandemic context: “Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic strongly underlined the need to reconfigure the relationship between people and built spaces, thus reinforcing the potential of biophilic design”.

This activity is developed in partnership with the Student, Employability and Alumni Support Office. According to the coordinator of that office, Isabel Lourinho, the pandemic brought “a worsening of mental health in the university context”, which is why “it is urgent to promote mental health literacy and develop multidisciplinary activities in terms of prevention and promotion of well-being”.

This project, in addition to implementing the One Health concept, elevates the ICBAS/FFUP complex to an ambassador of biophilic design in the Portuguese academic context, promoting its recognition on the international stage as an active agent in the promotion of health and well-being.

Source: Notícias UP

The study, carried out by researchers from CIIMAR and the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto, was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment and identifies “for the first time” the emergence of long-term adverse effects related to the combined consumption of lithium and microplastics.

The researchers analyzed a planktonic crustacean (Daphnia magna), commonly known as the water flea, and concluded that long-term exposure to concentrations of lithium and mixtures of lithium and microplastics decreased its reproduction “up to 93% and 90% less”, respectively.

At the same time, exposure to lithium reduced the growth rate of water flea populations by 67%, and exposure to mixtures of lithium and microplastics by 58%.

The researcher Lúcia Guilhermino adds that the results are “worrying” and that the effects of the reduction in zooplankton can have “very serious consequences for ecosystems”.

“These organisms [zooplankton] represent the base of trophic chains, in addition to being essential for maintaining the quality of the water we all depend on, by filtering it while they feed,” observes the coordinator of the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology and Ecology of ICBAS.

Lúcia Guilhermino also points out that the water flea has a “very developed” nervous system, allowing the results obtained in the study to be “extrapolated” to other animals, including mammals.

The study also serves as an “alert to the effects that may be having on the human population, especially in regions rich in lithium, areas with high population density and heavy use of electronic devices, and industrial areas or areas that receive electronic waste”.

“Despite its natural origin, lithium is a very reactive element from a biological point of view”, stresses Lúcia Guilhermino, noting that this element can cause “toxicity in various systems and organs, such as the nervous system, liver, kidneys and the reproductive system, through mechanisms that are not yet completely described”.

Also regarding microplastics, the researcher points out that these materials can “act like sponges and bind other contaminants, such as lithium, altering their incorporation, accumulation and toxicity”.

“All living organisms are simultaneously exposed to many pollutants throughout their lives, and the interaction between these chemical agents can lead to different toxic effects, altering the previously established safety limits”, adds Lúcia Guilhermino.

At the moment, researchers are developing studies to assess the consequences resulting from global climate change on the long-term effects of lithium, microplastics and their mixtures.

This work, which had the collaboration of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto and CESPU — Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário, was co-funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Compete 2020 program and the North program 2020.

Source: Sapo Lifestyle

The aim is that owners find “credible, accurate and useful” information. There are also data about dog breeds with a greater predisposition to the development of tumors and ways to detect them early.

Professors and researchers from the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) and the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) launched an online platform for the owners of companion animals with cancer, which aims to provide “credible” information and characterize risk factors associated with the development of the disease.

Speaking to Lusa, Kátia Pinello, Professor at ICBAS and researcher at ISPUP, clarified that the website, entitled ‘Pet-OncoNet’, arises from the logic of the ‘One Health’ concept and the need to fill a "knowledge gap in this area”.

“We feel that tutors feel lost when dealing with the diagnosis of cancer in their animal companions”, said the researcher, who is one of the project coordinators. 

Launched to provide "credible, accurate and useful" information about companion animals, the digital platform includes, for example, data on dog breeds with a greater predisposition to the development of tumors, ways to detect cancer early in pets, and also information on ongoing clinical trials and procedures to support the animal during treatment.

“Our goal is to create a community that studies and shares information about veterinary oncology in all aspects", referred.

The website shows that in Portugal, the main tumors in pets are located in the skin, followed by mammary tumors.

In addition to providing information, the platform's objective is also to characterize the risk factors associated with the development of cancer in animals and humans.

"Increasingly, animals are active members of the family. This change in attitude towards animals makes them good research models and considered 'sentinels' for cancer, since they are closer and share the same environment as humans", indicated. 

In order to make it possible to proceed with the characterization of risk factors, the researchers are inviting all tutors and owners of companion animals – cats and dogs – to respond to an epidemiological inquiry, which will be available on the website until the end of October.

The results obtained in the context of the survey will later be published on the initiative's website.

The researchers also want to create a “psychological support group” to help guardians deal with animal grief, an issue that “is not yet very well accepted”. 

“Animal grief has implications for public health”, he noted, adding that “it is important to know how to face animal grief”. 

In order to continue the project, however, the researchers need financial help, which is why it is planned to open a crowdfunding campaign on the Pet-OncoNet website.

The site, developed in partnership with Oncowaf and financed by the Belgian fund for animals with cancer, is one of the interfaces of the network Vet-OncoNet, launched in December 2019, with the aim of gathering information on neoplasms present in companion animals and creating an animal oncological registry at national level.

With the collaboration of veterinarians and diagnostic laboratories that joined the project, researchers have been able to create an animal oncology registry. The objective now is to involve owners in this network, in order to better understand the common risk factors for development of cancer in animals and humans.

Source: CNN Portugal

With the aim of promoting and disseminating the One Health concept throughout the community and civil society, the 'Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar' of the University of Porto (ICBAS), together with the 'Instituto Português de Fotografia' (IPF), organized the Photography Contest ‘Perspective(s) on One Health’.

In the context of this contest, Teresa Nunes, photographer at IPF, wrote the following text, in order to frame and defend photography as a cultural tool:

‘Artivism’ – photography as a cultural tool

Art has always worked as a reflection of society, following reality over time, recording it, but also acting as an instrument of change. It is called “artivism”, a portmanteau [1] coming from the junction of the words “art” and “activism”. There is an extensive range of artists, in the most diverse artistic disciplines, who assume themselves as artivists, advocating for the most different causes.

Naturally, Photography is no exception, appearing as fertile ground for artivists. In a first analysis, it can be assumed that photographers related to artivism will be linked to documentary photography and photojournalism, but this is a reductive view. Although, effectively, this area of photography, which strives for the representation of the real without manipulations or alterations, is quite prone to artivism, other photographers, who depart from the canons of photojournalism, also fit into the concept. Whatever the area of photography, currently photographers are mobilized by the ability of photography to show the public and political agents issues in which the intervention and awareness of society is necessary.

Anthony Luvera, who was recently in Porto to speak at the lecture “Photography and Social Activism”, within the scope of the 'Encontros do Olhar' conversation cycle “Fragility – Transitoriedade”, organized by the Portuguese Institute of Photography, works with individuals and groups of marginalized people by inviting them to talk about their experiences, creating with them collaborative projects in areas such as mental health, addictions, homelessness and the LGBTQ+ community.

Eduardo Leal, with his series “Plastic Trees”, portrays pollution in the Bolivian Altiplano, demonstrating his concern for environmental issues. The author opted for an aestheticization of pollution as an alternative to traditional means of reporting, photographing plastic bags, one of the most used consumer items and which ends up becoming one of the biggest sources of pollution worldwide. With this work, he intended to draw attention to the problem of pollution, focusing on an area where thousands of bags wander with the wind until they end up stuck in the bushes, damaging the landscape.

Von Wong, known worldwide for his hyper-realistic works, staged and assembled with the help of his team and a multitude of volunteers who join the artist in each project. This one starts by setting up grandiose scenarios for his photographs that are always designed to raise awareness of issues such as pollution and excessive use of plastic, recycling and animal welfare, among others.

We can see that many authors fight for different causes with which they identify and that, to the most inattentive eyes, may seem disconnected and with no apparent reason to be the target of attention of the same people, however, it is increasingly commonly accepted that we all live on a planet in which everything is interconnected and issues of human, animal and environmental health are interconnected, explaining relationships that could, at first glance, seem almost unreasonable, is, after all, the One Health.

It is therefore to be concluded that photography can and should be understood as a cultural tool capable of communicating a message of awareness and inducing changes. In an era where civic participation is increasingly necessary to encourage changes in the society we live in, it is increasingly common to see photographers joining these causes in order to make use of their greatest tool to support them. 

[1] Palavra fantasista formada por elementos de outras duas (Dicionário infopédia de Inglês – Português [em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora. Disponível em https://www.infopedia.pt/dicionarios/ingles-portugues/portmanteau)

During the celebrations of 47th anniversary of ICBAS, held on May 5, 2022, the institution took the opportunity to announce the winners of the contest

Honorable mention:

Third prize:

Second prize:

First prize:

Metropolitan Area is drawing up a plan to respond to the phenomenon. Only in the cities along the Douro there are more than a thousand birds and they are breeding.

Never so many seagulls have inhabited the city of Porto. There will be between 1186 and 1626 seagulls flying over the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), according to the National Census of the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA). It is the largest number of seagulls in an urban environment in the country. And with bird breeding on the rise, the trend is to continue to rise. Matosinhos and Gaia also suffer from the problem, which translates into public health risks. A metropolitan plan to control the seagull population is being prepared, the report of which will be published shortly.

One of the measures that may be on the table is an eventual operation to remove eggs from the nests. However, as seagulls have an average life cycle of 20 years, the result of this work will take time to reveal itself. “In the late 1990s, seagulls began to expand to the north and exclusively to urban areas. When they successfully reproduce in a place, they always come back”, notes Nuno Oliveira, marine conservation technician at SPEA. The removal of eggs will always be “a lengthy process, which requires human and financial resources”, he adds, warning that during the first three or four years of life, seagulls do not reproduce.

Contamination Source
Easy access to food is the main reason for the movement of seagulls from the Center and South to the North of the country and their incessant reproduction is a risk to public health. That's the same alert that makes Adriano Bordalo e Sá, hydrobiologist and researcher od the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS): “They have the same pathogenic bacteria in their excrement as we do and are a clear source of water and soil contamination and disease transmission”.

“The explosion of food availability”, almost “without limitation”, leads to an increase in the population of seagulls, points out Nuno Oliveira, who notes “a great effort to improve waste management and temporary storage”. Fishing waste also feeds these animals, particularly thanks to the amount of already dead fish that are returned to the sea.

“It's free food for the seagulls. And there are eight thousand fishing vessels in the country”, notes Nuno Oliveira. The first step, says Bordalo e Sá, is the launch of “a campaign not to feed the seagulls, in the same way that there was one not to feed the pigeons”. Nuno Oliveira agrees.

To decide on strategies to combat the problem, AMP launched, two years ago, a public tender, with a base price of 135 thousand euros, for the elaboration of a population control plan. That work will be over.

The last study, published in 2011, pointed to the decrease in available food as one of the solutions.

Source: Jornal de Notícias
Text: Adriana Castro

On March 4th, World Obesity Day, was launched the book “Take care of yourself – Guidelines for a Healthy Life”, within the scope of the project with the same name, developed by the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), together with the Centro Materno Infantil do Norte (CMIN).

Winner of the “Comunicar Saúde” Award from Ciência Viva – National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture, for its contribution to the health literacy of the population, the project “Take care of yourself – Guidelines for a Healthy Life” aims to alert to the dangers of pediatric obesity and diabetes, emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis, as well as the implementation of measures to prevent the development of chronic disease in adulthood.

“Child obesity and diabetes, which is directly associated, is one of the main health problems for children and adolescents. It is a problem that in Portugal has a very worrying dimension, with overweight and obesity rates very close to 30%, which places Portugal as one of the countries with the highest incidence of the disease”, warns Alberto Caldas Afonso, professor at ICBAS, Director of CMIN and responsible for the project.

The book aims to clarify concepts and doubts, so that everyone can understand how to adopt a healthier lifestyle. The contents were developed by a multidisciplinary team, with the aim of being understood and disseminated by the greatest number of people.

“Take care of you- Guidelines for a Healthy Life” is aimed at all children, adolescents, families and schools. Through simple, appealing and didactic content, it alerts to the importance of an early diagnosis and the establishment of measures that can prevent conditioning of chronic illness in adult life.

“This book focuses on easily understandable, very practical content that will allow its use in everyday life. For the younger ones, an interactive game was also designed that challenges them to answer the questions presented in the book”, explains the coordinator of the work.

Taking into account the impact of social networks on teenagers, videos were also developed with two 'influencers' - the actress Madalena Aragão and the player of Futebol Clube do Porto, Francisco Conceição -, which show how diet and physical exercise allow them to maintain an optimal daily performance.

In order to reach school communities across the country, ICBAS partnered with Missão Continente, which included the book in the contents of itsu educational program (Escola Missão Continente). In this way, it is intended to reinforce the message of the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle to Pre-School, 1st and 2nd Cycles of Basic Education.