THE IMPACT OF DE-REGULAMENTATION ON THE BRAZILIAN BANKING INDUSTRY: A PRODUCTION METAFRONTIER APPROACH

This paper analyzes the impact after the entry and the increase in the capital participation of foreign banks in the Brazilian financial institutions. In this sense, taking into account three sub-sets of banks by controlling capital origin - domestic privates, foreigner and public-, an analysis was carried out to find out whether there were technical efficiency and productivity gains in Brazil' banking industry. Therefore, a production frontier was built using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) which allows for the calculation of technical efficiency. Next, performing one of these measures, Malmquist's total productivity index is calculated. The results showed that the technical efficiency of the Brazilian banking industry has not evolved as must as it has been expected, although a total productivity increase has actually occurred, arising only from the technological progress. The foreign banks earned the most productivity gains followed by the domestic private banks. The technological leadership (test), proposed by Marinho and Benegas (2002), showed that the domestic private banks determined the industry's technological pattern.

Caractéristiques de la circulation du virus BVD en centre d’engraissement de jeunes bovins de race Blonde d’Aquitaine du Sud-Ouest de la France

L’objectif de l’essai est de déterminer l’importance du virus du BVD dans les ateliers d’engraissement du Sud-Ouest de la France. Sur les 1 363 jeunes bovins de race Blonde d’Aquitaine prélevés en centre d’allotement, seulement 914 ont pu être suivis en sérologie dans les ateliers d’engraissement. Le statut IPI a été déterminé par 2 RT-PCR (Kit Taquet BVDV Screening) positives à plus de 8 semaines d’intervalle, en l’absence de séroconversion. La séroprévalence et la séroconversion ont été réalisées par ELISA de compétition (Kit ELISA de compétition Symbiotics, détectant la protéine P80-125 des souches de type 1 et 2 du BVDV). La séroconversion au sein des lots a été déterminée sur un échantillon d’au moins 50% des animaux de chaque lot, choisis aléatoirement. La séroprévalence vis-à-vis du BVD des jeunes bovins à l’entrée en atelier d’engraissement est proche des 11% (n=47). La prévalence des animaux infectés permanents immunotolérants (IPI) entrant en atelier d’engraissement a été déterminée à 0. 22% [3/1353 ; Intervalle de confiance 95% = 0,081-0,647%]. Au terme des 107 premiers jours d’allotement [95-150 jours], les taux de séroconversion sont très élevés en présence d’individus IPI dans le lot (91,7% en moyenne, de 73.3 à 100%) et faibles en leur absence. Ces résultats s’inscrivent dans la continuité de la littérature déjà présente. L’absence de contamination virale, au centre de rassemblement, pour les 4 lots sans IPI allotés la même semaine que ceux avec IPI reste surprenante. Cette étude laisse supposer qu’une gestion rigoureuse des flux d’animaux en atelier d’allotement (limiter les mélanges d’animaux, réduire leur durée de transit et accélérer le processus de gestion) pourrait limiter la diffusion du BVD en ateliers d’engraissement

Hacia una gestión ambiental alternativa en áreas turísticas

La finalidad de la presente comunicación es generar un aporte entregando elementos para la reflexión en el ámbito del Seminario Patrimonio paisajista: turismo y recreación, organizado por el Laboratorio de Investigaciones del Territorio y el Ambiente. Nuestro planteo lo realizaremos desde el campo de la práctica de la gestión ambiental del territorio, en particular, referida a la oportunidad de elaboración del Proyecto de Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial de Montevideo, elaborado en la Facultad de Arquitectura en convenio con la Intendencia Municipal de Montevideo. En tal sentido, iniciamos expresando nuestra coincidencia con los fundamentos del Seminario cuando manifiesta que: "La rehabilitación de espacios abiertos públicos en las ciudades, donde éstos suelen ser un bien escaso, y en el ámbito rural, donde se identifica una parte importante de nuestros antecedentes en la apropiación del territorio, debería ser una acción prioritaria, ...vinculándolo al turismo cultural,"y agrego, por parte de los gobiernos locales especialmente

Generation and selection of anti-flagellin monoclonal antibodies useful for serotyping Salmonella enterica

In developing countries, bacterial acute gastroenteritis continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality among young children. Salmonellosis constitutes a major cause of infectious enteritis worldwide, most of them associated to the consumption of contaminated food products. Traditionally, Salmonella has been classified in serovars based on varieties of O and H surface antigens. In the present work we generated and characterized a panel of anti-flagellin monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in order to select antibodies useful for detecting the H surface antigen. Four different MAbs were obtained by somatic hybridization of splenocytes. We found two MAbs that recognised regions of flagellin conserved among different Salmonella serovars. Other two MAbs recognised structures restricted to Salmonella enterica sv. Typhimurium, being one of them suitable for agglutination tests. Using a diverse panel of S. enterica serovars with different H antigen varieties we confirmed that this MAb agglutinates specifically S. Typhimurium (antigenic formula: 4,12:i:1,2) or other serovars expressing flagellar factor i. In conclusion, we generated a valuable immunochemical tool to be used in simple assays for serotyping of epidemiologically relevant strains. The capacity to characterize specific strains and determine the primary sources of Salmonella contamination generate valuable information of the epidemiology of this microorganism, contributing to the improvement of public health.Fil: Hiriart, Yanina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Laboratorio de Investigaciones del Sistema Inmune; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Serradell, Maria de Los Angeles. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Cátedra de Microbiología General; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Araci. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Sampaolesi, Sofia. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Cátedra de Microbiología General; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez Maciel, Maria Dolores. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Laboratorio de Investigaciones del Sistema Inmune; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Chabalgoity, Jose Alejandro. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Yim, Lucia. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Algorta, Gabriela. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Rumbo, Martín. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Laboratorio de Investigaciones del Sistema Inmune; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Early Peritoneal Immune Response during Echinococcus granulosus Establishment Displays a Biphasic Behavior

Cystic echinococcosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the larval stage of the cestode Echinococcus granulosus and shows a cosmopolitan distribution with a worldwide prevalence of roughly 6 million infected people. Human cystic echinococcosis can develop in two types of infection. Primary infection occurs by ingestion of oncospheres, while secondary infection is caused by dissemination of protoscoleces after accidental rupture of fertile cysts. Murine experimental secondary infection in Balb/c mice is the current model to study E. granulosus-host interaction. Secondary infection can be divided into two stages: an early stage in which protoscoleces develop into hydatid cysts (infection establishment) and a later stage in which already differentiated cysts grow and eventually become fertile cysts (chronic infection). During infection establishment parasites are more susceptible to immune attack, thus our study focused on the immunological phenomena triggered early in the peritoneal cavity of experimentally infected mice. Our results suggest that early and local Th2-type responses are permissive for infection establishment

Extended-spectrum β-lactamases, transferable quinolone resistance, and virulotyping in extra-intestinal E. coli in Uruguay

Introduction: To characterize extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes in Escherichia coli isolates obtained from extra-intestinal samples in three Uruguayan hospitals. Methodology: Fifty-five ESBL-producing E. coli isolates were studied. Virulence genes, ESBLs, and PMQR genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction. ESBL-producing isolates were compared by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Multi-locus sequence typing was also performed on 13 selected isolates. Results: Thirty-seven isolates harbored blaCTX-M-15 (67.3%), eight blaCTX-M-2 (14.6%), five blaCTX-M-14 (9.1%), three carried both blaCTX-M-2 and blaCTX-M-14, one blaCTX-M-9, and one blaCTX-M-8. Among the CTX-M-15 producers, 92% belonged to sequence types ST131 and ST405, and carried aac(6’)Ib-cr as well. Isolates harboring blaCTX-M-2, blaCTX-M-14, blaCTX-M-9, or blaCTX-M-8 were found to be genetically unrelated. Conclusions: The successful dissemination of CTX-M-15-producing E.coli isolates seems to be linked to the spreading of high-risk clones and horizontal gene transfer. A trade-off between carrying more antibiotic resistance and less virulence-related genes could partially account for the evolutionary advantages featured by successful clones.Fil: Vignoli, Rafael. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: García Fulgueiras, Virginia. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Cordeiro, Nicolás F.. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Bado, Inés. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Seija, Verónica. Universidad de la República; Uruguay. Hospital Pasteur de Montevideo; UruguayFil: Aguerrebere, Paula. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Laguna, Gabriel. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Araújo, Lucía. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Bazet, Cristina. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Gutkind, Gabriel Osvaldo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Chabalgoity Rodríguez, José Alejandro. Universidad de la República; Urugua

IL-17A and Streptococcus pneumoniae respiratory infection: Prospects for the development of new immunotherapies

Nasopharyngeal colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae constitutes a pre-requisite for development of pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal diseases. Colonization is typically asymptomatic and is resolved due to a dynamic and complex interplay between microbiota, host immune system and environmental factors. Working with a murine model of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization, we have shown that IL-17A is a key cytokine in this process, since Il17a-/- mice were persistently colonized for up to 6 months whereas wild type mice cleared colonization in 10 days. We are currently trying to elucidate the downstream mechanisms that may account for the phenotype showed in Il17a-/- mice, including the production of specific antibodies, as well as the recruitment of innate cells and the expression of immune mediators in WT and Il17a-/- mice. On the other hand, we have studied the role of IL-17A in the development of protective immunity against acute pneumococcal pneumonia. Previously, we showed that prior sublethal infection resulted in solid protection against invasive pneumonia which is associated with over expression of IL-17A together with the presence of Th17 cells in the lungs. However, Il17a-/- mice showed same level of protection than WT, demonstrating that IL-17A by itself is not essential for protective immunity. Interestingly Il17a-/- mice showed overexpression of other IL-17 related genes suggesting a complex network where compensatory effects may be occurring. Finally, we have developed and tested alternative immunotherapies against pneumococcal pneumonia, and have evaluated the role of IL17A in the protection afforded. Overall, we believe that deciphering the molecular basis of protective immunity will result in the development of new cost-effective immunotherapies against pneumococcal pneumonia

Prion Replication in the Hematopoietic Compartment Is Not Required for Neuroinvasion in Scrapie Mouse Model

Fatal neurodegenerative prion diseases are caused by the transmissible PrPSc prion agent whose initial replication after peripheral inoculation takes place in follicular dendritic cells present in germinal centers of lymphoid organs. However, prion replication also occurs in lymphoid cells. To assess the role of the hematopoietic compartment in neuroinvasion and prion replication, we generated chimeric mice, on a uniform congenic C57/BL6J background, by bone marrow replacement with hematopoietic cells expressing different levels of PrP protein. Nine different types of chimeric mice were inoculated intraperitoneally either with the lymphotropic Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML) strain or the non lymphotropic ME-7 scrapie strain, at different doses. Here, we clearly demonstrate that overexpression of PrP by the hematopoietic system, or the lack of PrP expression by the bone marrow derived cells, does not change the incubation time period of the disease, even when the mice are infected at limiting doses. We conclude that the hematopoietic compartment is more or less permissive to prion replication, both for RML and ME-7, but does not play a role in neuroinvasion