Correlation of cGAS, STING, INF-α and INF-β gene expression with Zika virus kinetics in primary culture of microglia and neurons from BALB/c mice

Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Laboratório de Microscopia Eletrônica. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular. Ananindeua, PA, BrasilPattern recognition receptors participate in the innate immune response. Among PRRs, the cGAS/STING pathway is known to detect cytosolic DNA and cyclic dinucleotides, but it’s also important in RNA virus infection. We aimed to evaluate the gene expression of some important genes of cGAS/STING pathway and to correlate this expression with Zika virus kinetics in mice microglia and neurons. Cells were infected by MOI = 1.0. Indirect immunofluorescence, plaque titration of supernatant, extraction, and quantification of total intracellular RNA, RT-qPCR and Western blotting were performed. Plaque titration profile in microglia and neurons was similar, including higher titers of plaque forming units at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hpi, respectively. ZIKV kinetics evaluated by RT-qPCR was similar in both cells, with highest viral titers at 48, 72, 24 and 96 hpi, respectively. Expression profile of cGAS, STING, INF-α and INF-β was quite different between the cells, including gene suppression, as observed for cGAS in neurons. Our results showed a differentiated expression profile of cGAS/STING pathway genes in mice microglia and neurons, which can be explained by the different mechanisms that ZIKV uses to bypass the immune response of these cells. Furthermore, each cell type responds differently to combat the viral infection

Guillain-Barré syndrome and dengue-like disease in 2015: temporal relationship in Piauí state and implications on Zika virus surveillance

Secretaria de Estado da Saúde do Piauí. Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella. Teresina, PI, Brasil / Fundação Municipal de Saúde de Teresina. Diretoria de Vigilância em Saúde. Teresina, PI, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Secretaria de Estado da Saúde do Piauí. Gerência de Vigilância em Saúde. Teresina, PI, Brasil.Universidade Federal do Piauí. Departamento de Medicina Especializada. Teresina, PI, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Secretaria de Estado da Saúde do Piauí. Gerência de Vigilância em Saúde. Teresina, PI, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Fundação Municipal de Saúde de Teresina. Diretoria de Vigilância em Saúde. Teresina, PI, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil

Avaliação do perfil de expressão de genes relacionados a via de microrna’s e apotose em células neurais infectadas experimentalmente pelo vírus Zika (ZIKV) / Evaluation of the expression of genes related to the microrna's via and apotose in neural cells experimentally infected by Zika Virus (ZIKV)

O vírus zika é um arbovírus transmitido por mosquitos Aedes, com ocorrência descrita juntamente com o aumento da microcefalia em recém nascidos. Tendo em vista a gravidade associada aos casos de microcefalia e outras desordens neurológicas, a Organização Mundial da Saúde chegou a caracterizá-lo como sendo de Emergência de Saúde Pública de Importância Nacional. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o perfil de expressão de genes que codificam proteínas-chave relacionadas ao microRNA e vias de apoptose em células neurais de roedores da família Muridae infectadas por esse vírus. As células neurais infectadas foram Neuro-2a, e os métodos empregados foram reação quantitativa em cadeia da transcrição reversa-polimerase e bioluminescência. A produção viral e a ativação da caspase-3/7 foram maiores às 96 horas após a infecção, bem como a expressão de genes que codificam Ago1, DGCR8, RIG-I e FAS-L

Natural infection of Aedes aegypti by Chikungunya and Dengue type 2 Virus in a transition area of north-northeast Brazil

Dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika are diseases caused by viruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. In Brazil, the number of human infections is high, but few studies are performed in mosquito vectors. This study aimed to investigate the presence of Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses in Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus from the municipalities of Alto Alegre, Caxias, Codó, and São Mateus do Maranhão, located in the state of Maranhão, Northeast Brazil. The mosquitoes were collected with a mechanical aspirator, identified, triturated, and then submitted to RNA extraction and RT-qPCR. The positive samples were confirmed by virus isolation and genome sequencing. Three hundred and forty-eight Ae. aegypti (176 males and 172 females) and 12 Ae. albopictus (eight males and four females) were collected and tested. Ae. aegypti was the only vector positive in two municipalities-Codó, with detection of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) belonging to the East-Central-South African genotype, and in Caxias, with detection of Dengue virus (DENV)-2 belonging to the Asian/American genotype. The detection of CHIKV and DENV-2 is evidence that those viruses are maintained in arthropod vectors, and shows the epidemiological risk in the area for chikungunya cases and a possible increase of severe dengue cases, associated with the occurrence of dengue hemorrhagic fever. © 2019 by the authors

Phylogenetic analysis of rabies surveillance samples from north and northeast Brazil

Viruses of the Lyssavirus genus are classified into several genotypes (GT1 to GT7), of which only GT1 (classic rabies virus—RABV) has a cosmopolitan distribution and circulates in Brazil. GT1 is subdivided into several antigenic variants (AgV) maintained in independent cycles with a narrow host range and distinct geographic distributions, namely, AgV1 and AgV2 found in dogs, AgV3 in the vampire bats Desmodus rotundus, and AgV4 and AgV6 in bats non-hematophagous Tadarida brasiliensis and Lasiurus cinereus, a common variant of marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), and crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous). In this study, we performed phylogenetic analysis to identify at the antigenic variant level; six RABV genomes derived from the Rabies Surveillance in the north and northeast regions of Brazil. The analysis resulted in the formation of 11 monophyletic clusters, each corresponding to a particular variant, with high bootstrap support values. The samples were positioned inside the AgV3, AgV6, and Callithrix variant clades. This is the first report of the AgV6 variant found in northern Brazil, which provides valuable information for rabies surveillance in the country. The possibility of viral spillover has been much debated, as it deals with the risk of shifting transmission from a primary to a secondary host. However, more genomic surveillance studies should be performed, with a greater number and diversity of samples to better understand the transmission dynamics of each variant to detect changes in its geographic distribution and spillover events

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

ATLANTIC-PRIMATES: a dataset of communities and occurrences of primates in the Atlantic Forests of South America

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co-occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data. © 2018 by the The Authors. Ecology © 2018 The Ecological Society of Americ

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: a pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants

Background Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30–79 years from population-representative studies with measurement of blood pressure and data on blood pressure treatment. We defined hypertension as having systolic blood pressure 140 mm Hg or greater, diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg or greater, or taking medication for hypertension. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the prevalence of hypertension and the proportion of people with hypertension who had a previous diagnosis (detection), who were taking medication for hypertension (treatment), and whose hypertension was controlled to below 140/90 mm Hg (control). The model allowed for trends over time to be non-linear and to vary by age. Findings The number of people aged 30–79 years with hypertension doubled from 1990 to 2019, from 331 (95% credible interval 306–359) million women and 317 (292–344) million men in 1990 to 626 (584–668) million women and 652 (604–698) million men in 2019, despite stable global age-standardised prevalence. In 2019, age-standardised hypertension prevalence was lowest in Canada and Peru for both men and women; in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and some countries in western Europe including Switzerland, Spain, and the UK for women; and in several low-income and middle-income countries such as Eritrea, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Solomon Islands for men. Hypertension prevalence surpassed 50% for women in two countries and men in nine countries, in central and eastern Europe, central Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. Globally, 59% (55–62) of women and 49% (46–52) of men with hypertension reported a previous diagnosis of hypertension in 2019, and 47% (43–51) of women and 38% (35–41) of men were treated. Control rates among people with hypertension in 2019 were 23% (20–27) for women and 18% (16–21) for men. In 2019, treatment and control rates were highest in South Korea, Canada, and Iceland (treatment >70%; control >50%), followed by the USA, Costa Rica, Germany, Portugal, and Taiwan. Treatment rates were less than 25% for women and less than 20% for men in Nepal, Indonesia, and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. Control rates were below 10% for women and men in these countries and for men in some countries in north Africa, central and south Asia, and eastern Europe. Treatment and control rates have improved in most countries since 1990, but we found little change in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. Improvements were largest in high-income countries, central Europe, and some upper-middle-income and recently high-income countries including Costa Rica, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, and Iran. Interpretation Improvements in the detection, treatment, and control of hypertension have varied substantially across countries, with some middle-income countries now outperforming most high-income nations. The dual approach of reducing hypertension prevalence through primary prevention and enhancing its treatment and control is achievable not only in high-income countries but also in low-income and middle-income settings