The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic represents an extra burden in the majority of public and private health systems worldwide beyond the most pessimistic expectations, driving an urgent rush to develop effective vaccines and effective medical treatments against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The Nucleocapsid structural viral protein is remarkably immunogenic and hugely expressed during infection. High IgG antibodies against Nucleocapsid protein (N protein) levels were detected in the serum of COVID-19 patients, confirming its pivotal antigen role for a T lymphocyte response in a vaccine microenvironment. Currently, adverse events associated with immunizations have raised some degree of concern, irrespective of its huge benefits in dealing with disease severity and decreasing mortality and morbidity. This hitherto study evaluates histological changes in rats’ testes, epididymis, prostate, and seminal vesicles and analyzes hormone levels after solely N protein inoculation. Therefore, we exposed a group of Lewis rats to weekly injections of the recombinant N protein for 28 days, while a control group was inoculated with a buffer solution. The N group revealed a more significant number of spermatozoa. Spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules were counted in twenty 400 × microscopy fields (mean of 9.2 vs. 4.6 in the control group; p < 0,01), but significantly lower testosterone levels (mean of 125.70 ng/dl vs. 309,00 ng/dl in the control group; p < 0,05) were found. No other histological and biochemical changes were displayed. Conclusively, these data suggest testicular hormonal imbalance mediated by the SARS-CoV-2 N protein that could be linked to reported post-COVID-19 syndrome hypogonadism. More relevant research might be performed to confirm this viral antigen’s deleterious mechanism in the human testicular microenvironment, particular in Leydig cell function.

ResumoO Brasil possui cerca de 80 espécies de psitac deos catalogados, sendo cinco delas identi cadas como Araras. Como na grande maioria das aves, as Araras têm como seu principal meio de locomoção o voo. No entanto, a força e o impulso gerado durante o ciclo do bater das asas exigem um mecanismo de controle ativo neuromuscular e adaptações especializadas dos músculos responsáveis pelo voo, que são inervados pelo plexo braquial. Este estudo visa a descrever a origem e distribuição dos nervos periféricos que compõem o plexo braquial da Arara Canindé (Ara ararauna, innaeus, 1758 , a m de auxiliar o médico veterinário a reconhecer e localizar lesões neuromusculares nessa espécie. Foram utilizados cinco cadáveres, provenientes do Centro de riagem de Animais Silvestres da Para ba, nos quais os nervos foram identi cados mediante dissecação direta. Foram visualizadas quatro raízes nervosas, originando três troncos nervosos, que são provenientes dos espaços intervertebrais entre da décima vértebra cervical e a segunda vértebra torácica. Os nervos provenientes do cordão dorsal inervavam os músculos extensores, enquanto os nervos do cordão ventral inervavam os músculos exores da asa, além dos ramos peitorais, responsáveis pela inervação dos músculos super ciais torácicos e do ombro. ararauna, Linnaeus, 1758). Brazil has about 80 species of parrots cataloged, and ve of them are identi ed as Biotemas, 27 (3): 157-166, setembro de 2014 ISSNe 2175-7925 http://dx. Abstract Origin, distribution, and insertion of the brachial plexus nerves in Blue-and-yellow Macaws (Ara

ResumoEste trabalho teve o objetivo de descrever a musculatura das asas da arara canindé (Ara ararauna), visando a contribuir para aumentar o conhecimento acerca de sua anatomia e auxiliar a prática clínica com essa espécie. Foram utilizadas cinco araras provenientes do Centro de Triagem de Animais Silvestres da Paraíba (Cetas-PB), sendo a musculatura identificada mediante dissecação direta. Os músculos flexores, assim como os extensores, mostraram-se bem definidos, tinham bom calibre e bom desenvolvimento, contribuindo, assim, para uma minuciosa descrição anatômica e para a definição de sua origem, inserção e funcionalidade nas asas das araras.Palavras-chave: Arara canindé; Asa; Dissecação; Musculatura AbstractWing muscles in blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna, Linnaeus, 1758): basic knowledge applied to the clinic of wild animals. This paper aimed to describe the wing muscles in blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), in order to contribute to increase knowledge on its anatomy and help the clinical practice with this species. Five macaws from the Screening Center for Wild Animals in Paraíba (CETAS-PB) were used, and the muscles were identified by direct dissection. Flexor muscles, as well as extensor muscles, were well defined, had a good caliber and development, thus contributing to a detailed anatomical description and to a definition of their origin, insertion, and functionality in the wings of macaws.