Ergasilid copepods represent one of the commonest groups of fish parasites in Brazil. Within Ergasilidae, three genera share a peculiar latching mechanism on the antenna that completely encircles the gill filament, one of which is Acusicola Cressey, 1970. During a survey of estuarine fish from the Brazilian Amazon Coast, a new species of Acusicola was found on the gills of the largescale foureyes Anableps anableps (Linnaeus, 1758) (Actinopterygii: Anablepidae) in São Marcos Bay, State of Maranhão. Acusicola rochai n. sp. can be distinguished from its closest congeners mainly by three protrusions on the dorsal surface of third and fourth pedigerous somites, and by smooth interpodal plates. This work is the first report of a parasitic copepod infesting a fish from Anablepidae and, consequently, the host An. anableps. The existing dichotomous key proposed for the genus Acusicola includes only ten species, excluding the eight species subsequently described. Therefore, in the present work, a new dichotomous key is provided based on reliable and well-documented features.

Some have proposed the development of technologies that improve our moral behaviour – moral enhancement – in order to address global risks such as pandemics, global warming and nuclear war. I will argue that this technology could be weaponised to manipulate the moral dispositions of enemy combatants. Despite being morally controversial, weaponised moral enhancement would be neither clearly prohibited nor easily prohibitable by international war law. Unlike previous psychochemical weapons, it would be relatively physically harmless. I argue that when combatants are liable to lethal aggression to achieve an aim of war, they are also liable to weaponised moral enhancement to achieve that same aim. Weaponised moral enhancement will loosen just war requirements in both traditional and revisionist normative just war theories. It will particularly affect revisionist theories’ jus ad bellum requirements for humanitarian and preventive wars. For instance, weaponised moral enhancement could be more proportional and efficacious than lethal aggression to effect institutional changes in preventive and humanitarian wars. I will conclude that, despite evading international war laws and loosening normative just war requirements, the intuition that weaponised moral enhancement would gravely harm combatants can be defended by arguing that it would severely disturb personal identity, which could potentially ground future prohibitions.

Fifty years of deforestation in the Arc of Deforestation have put at risk species survival, ecosystem services and the stability of biogeochemical cycles in Amazonia, with global repercussions. In response, we need to understand the diversity, distribution and abundance of flagship species groups, such as primates, which can serve as umbrella species for broad biodiversity conservation strategies and help mitigate climate change. Here we identify the range, suitable habitat areas and population size of Vieira's titi monkey Plecturocebus vieirai and use it as an emblematic example to discuss biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation in one of the largest deforestation frontiers. Our findings show that deforestation for agriculture and cattle-ranching expansion is the major threat to P. vieirai and is responsible for present (56%) and projected (14%) reductions in habitat area and population size. We also found that human-driven climate change affects the P. vieirai niche negatively, triggering habitat degradation and further population decline even inside protected areas. Primate watching can be a profitable alternative to forest exploitation on private, public or Indigenous lands in the Arc of Deforestation and is a way to shift the traditional, predatory extraction of natural resources from Amazonia towards sustainable land use based on biodiversity conservation at local, regional and global scales, local people's welfare and climate change mitigation. New models of land use and income generation are required to protect the unique natural and human heritages of the Arc of Deforestation and the life-supporting ecosystem services and products provided by Amazonia.

It was investigated how many cattle become infected with Trypanosoma vivax by subcutaneous (SC), intramuscular (IM) and intravenous (IV) routes, using the same syringe and needle from an animal with acute T. vivax infection. Besides, the T. vivax viability in 109 injectable veterinary drugs (antibiotics, antiparasitics, reproductive hormones, vitamin complex and derivatives, vaccines, anaesthetics, anti-inflammatory/antipyretics, antitoxics). In the field assay, four groups were performed: T01, T02 and T03 animals that received saline solution with the same syringe and needle contaminated with T. vivax via SC, IM and IV routes, respectively, and T04 control animals that received only saline solution with the same syringe and needle IV. In the laboratory, drugs had their pH measured and T. vivax viability verified. The number of cattle infected with T. vivax via SC (3/20) was lower (P ≤ 0.05) compared to via IM (9/20), which was lower (P ≤ 0.05) compared to IV (15/20). The solution pH did not influence T. vivax viability. In 44% (48/109) of the products, T. vivax remained viable regardless of time, stooding out that in 100% of oxytocins the protozoan was verified, at some evaluation times. The mean of T. vivax quantified in foot-and-mouth and brucellosis vaccines and in doramectin-based products were higher (P ≤ 0.05) than found in blood + saline solution.

Bovine trypanosomosis has been spreading in Brazil. In the present study, we evaluated the spatial distribution, prevalence and risk factors of this disease in the state of Goiás, Brazil, and performed both molecular and phylogenetical analyses of Trypanosoma vivax. A total of 4049 blood samples were collected from cattle for a period of 2 years. The parasitological diagnosis was performed using the Woo method and a questionnaire was administered to the farmers to document risk factors associated with the disease in the herd. Positive samples were DNA sequenced and compared to GenBank codes. The prevalence of T. vivax was 8.84%, occurring on 24 ranches only in dairy cattle and mainly in the central and southern portions of the state. The acquisition of new animals infected with T. vivax and the administration of exogenous oxytocin to cows using the same syringe and needle were the main associated factors (P ≤ 0.05). After an outbreak, milk production decreased by 39.62%. The presence of biting flies (tabanids, Haematobia irritans and Stomoxys calcitrans) was not a risk factor (P > 0.05) for the occurrence of T. vivax. The epidemiological data demonstrate the importance of restricting the practice of auctions as well as eliminating the use of exogenous oxytocin in animals during milking. The samples tested by polymerase chain reaction were positive for T. vivax and were genetically homologous with T. vivax found in different states of Brazil and west Africa based on the 18S rRNA gene.

How individuals tend to evaluate the combination of their own and other’s payoffs—social value orientations—is likely to be a potential target of future moral enhancers. However, the stability of cooperation in human societies has been buttressed by evolved mildly prosocial orientations. If they could be changed, would this destabilize the cooperative structure of society? We simulate a model of moral enhancement in which agents play games with each other and can enhance their orientations based on maximizing personal satisfaction. We find that given the assumption that very low payoffs lead agents to be removed from the population, there is a broadly stable prosocial attractor state. However, the balance between prosociality and individual payoff-maximization is affected by different factors. Agents maximizing their own satisfaction can produce emergent shifts in society that reduce everybody’s satisfaction. Moral enhancement considerations should take the issues of social emergence into account.

Agostinho FR, Réus GZ, Stringari RB, Ribeiro KF, Ferreira GK, Jeremias IC, Scaini G, Rezin GT, Streck EL, Quevedo J. Olanzapine plus fluoxetine treatment alters mitochondrial respiratory chain activity in the rat brain.

Background: Evidence is emerging for the role of dysfunctional mitochondria in pathophysiology and treatment of mood disorders. In this study, we evaluated the effects of acute and chronic administration of fluoxetine (FLX), olanzapine (OLZ) and the combination of FLX/OLZ on mitochondrial respiratory chain activity in the rat brain.

Methods: For acute treatment, Wistar rats received one single injection of OLZ (3 or 6 mg/kg) and/or FLX (12 or 25 mg/kg) and for chronic treatment, rats received daily injections of OLZ (3 or 6 mg/kg) and/or FLX (12 or 25 mg/kg) for 28 days and we evaluated the activity of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes I, II, II–III and IV in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum.

Results: Our results showed that both acute and chronic treatments with FLX and OLZ alone or in combination altered respiratory chain complexes activity in the rat brain, but in combination we observed larger alterations.

Conclusions: Finally, these findings further support the hypothesis that metabolism energy could be involved in the treatment with antipsychotics and antidepressants in combination to mood disorders.