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.
The course, for students and graduates, will have a strong laboratory component aimed at protecting human and animal welfare.
A week of theoretical-practical component followed by at least 3 weeks of intense practical-laboratory work linked to the One Health. This is the challenge of the Summer Research School 1Health1Welfare that the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) will host between July 10th and September 8th. This is one of the first training opportunities resulting from the One Health strategy that the School has been reinforcing lately.
Based on the connection between animal and human well-being, widely associated with the One Health concept, the course aims to provide participants with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and research methods in one of these five areas: Immunology and infection; Animal nutrition; Parasitology; Conservation and management of wild populations; Animal welfare and human-animal interaction.
The research work can be carried out at ICBAS or at one of the institutions associated with the course, namely the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S) or the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources of the University of Porto (CIBIO).
The objective, according to the researcher in charge, Anna Olson, is to “bring students and research closer together”: “Participants will gain a theoretical and practical basis in the One Health research methodology and will experience the scientific process in its real context”, ensures the coordinator.
The applicationsare open until the 19th of May and are intended for students, from the University of Porto and other institutions, who are attending, or who have completed, a cycle of studies (bachelor, master or doctorate) in the area of Life and Health sciences.
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.
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”.
This is a selection of images that portray the integrated vision of Health that ICBAS has been promoting. It is a result of the homonymous photography contest that took place in March and April 2022.
The photography contest 'Perspective(s) on One Health' intended to promote the dissemination of the concept in the U. Porto academic community. Around 250 images were received, of which ICBAS, together with the Portuguese Institute of Photography (IPF), a partner in this project, selected 20 for a traveling exhibition which could be visited in several places in the city of Porto.
The exhibition can now be visited, for the first time, outside Porto, at the Municipal Gallery of Alcochete City Council, between April 6 and 27, 2023 (Paços do Concelho – Largo de São João 5 – Alcochete). Free entrance.
This exhibition is an opportunity to promote a joint reflection on the One Health concept, as well as to alert civil society to the impact we all have on the health of humans, animals and the environment.
Diet has impacts on fertility that can be inherited for two generations
Parents' food choices may have consequences on their children's health.
Um estudo desenvolvido por investigadores do Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), no Porto, concluiu que a alimentação produz impactos na fertilidade masculina que podem ser transmitidos e herdados por duas gerações.
O instituto revela que no estudo, publicado na revista “Molecular Nutrition & Food Research“, researchers from the Multidisciplinary Unit of Biomedical Research at ICBAS described the biomarkers that make it possible to identify a “metabolic memory” present in the testes.
The alterations are “consequences of eating a high-fat diet” and can be inherited by two generations, that is, father-son-grandson, having “implications on male fertility”.
Marco Alves and Luís Crisóstomo, in the center of the image, at the PhD defense of ICBAS student, accompanied by the jury and the entire research team.
A equipa, liderada pelo investigador Marco Alves, já tinha determinado, em trabalhos anteriores, que a ingestão excessiva de gordura durante as primeiras fases da vida altera o conteúdo lípido e o metabolismo dos testículos, “afetando negativamente a capacidade reprodutiva durante o resto da vida” e “resultando em alterações que não são reversíveis com a mudança para uma dieta equilibrada”.
In this study, carried out in animal models (mice), the researchers “went further” and described the transgenerational effects that are transmitted by parents who eat a diet rich in fats to children and grandchildren who follow a balanced diet.
“The offspring showed, in the testicles, an alteration in the metabolism of choline”, an essential nutrient for the regulation of various functions, such as brain function, and the development of spermatozoa.
The investigation also showed alterations in the activity of mitochondria, in antioxidant defenses and in the presence of various lipids.
"These alterations promote a proinflammatory environment in the testicle, altering sperm count and quality", stresses the researcher, noting that transgenerational effects are also observed when the father's intake of fat is only until puberty.
The researcher Marco Alves points out that reproduction “is also a reflection of diet”.
“Our food choices will have consequences for our children and, very possibly, for our grandchildren as well”, he says, adding that these effects may have even more impact on assisted reproduction processes, since the spermatozoon is chosen randomly and without taking into account biomarkers such as those identified in the study.
“The increase in infertility is clearly associated with the increase in metabolic diseases (overweight, obesity and diabetes, among others), and this association has already been recognized by the World Health Organization”, highlights Marco Alves.
The metabolic memory in the testis is transmitted by the Sertoli cells, which respond to ensure all the structural and metabolic needs during the sperm formation process.
The stimuli captured by these cells, in addition to altering their own genetic expression, also alter the epigenetics.
“Knowing these changes and the transmission mechanisms will allow selecting the best spermatozoa and the best window of time to perform in vitro fertilization, improving the efficiency of assisted reproduction techniques and opening up new therapeutic opportunities in male infertility”, adds the researcher.
Além da equipa do ICBAS, o estudo contou também com investigadores da Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, da Universidade de Aveiro, do Instituto Politécnico da Guarda e da Associação Protetora dos Diabéticos de Portugal (APDP).
The work also resulted from several international partnerships, including the University of Zagreb and the University College of London.
No próximo dia 3 de novembro, Dia Internacional Uma Saúde, o Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) da Universidade do Porto vai voltar a reunir especialistas das mais variadas áreas e instituições do país para promover o debate em torno de uma abordagem holística da Saúde.
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