PREVALÊNCIA E PERFIL DE SENSIBILIDADE DE Staphylococcus aureus ISOLADOS EM UM HOSPITAL ESCOLA NA CIDADE DE SANTA MARIA, BRASIL

Objetivou-se caracterizar a prevalência e o perfil de suscetibilidade de Staphylococcus aureus isolados no Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria (HUSM), através de levantamento de dados junto ao Laboratório de Análises Clínicas, durante o período de abril a junho de 2009. Foram solicitadas 3270 culturas, sendo que 1123 (34%) resultaram positivas. A prevalência de S. aureus em relação às culturas positivas foi de 89 (7,93%). Verificou-se que 33% das cepas foram resistentes à oxacilina e que 34,45% apresentaram resistência relacionada ao gene erm. Elevada sensibilidade ao sulfametoxazol-trimetoprima (72/80%) foi evidenciada pela automação e nenhuma cepa mostrou-se resistente à vancomicina. Portanto, a prevalência de S. aureus no HUSM e a resistência à oxacilina foram inferiores ao observado em outros hospitais terciários brasileiros. The objective ofthis study was to characterize the prevalence and susceptibility prof ile ofStaphylococcus aureus isolates at University Hospital ofSantaMaria, through data collection at the Laboratory ofClinicalAnalysis, duringApril to June 2009. Were requested 3270 cultures and 1123 (34%) were positive. The prevalence of S. aureus in relation to positive cultures was 89 (7,93%). It was f ound that these strains, 33% were resistant to oxacillin and 34.45% showed resistance related erm gene. High sensitivity to trimethoprim-sulf amethoxazole (72/80%) was detected f or the automation and no strain showed resistance to vancomycin. Theref ore, the prevalence of S. aureus and oxacillin resistance at HUSM were lower than observed in other tertiary hospitals in Brazil. Descritors: Prevalence; Staphylococcus aureus; Bacterial inf ection, Oxacillin.  

Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains

Ruiz JC, D'Afonseca V, Silva A, et al. Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(4): e18551.Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity. Methodology and Findings: We characterized two C. pseudotuberculosis genomes (Cp1002, isolated from goats; and CpC231, isolated from sheep). Analysis of the predicted genomes showed high similarity in genomic architecture, gene content and genetic order. When C. pseudotuberculosis was compared with other Corynebacterium species, it became evident that this pathogenic species has lost numerous genes, resulting in one of the smallest genomes in the genus. Other differences that could be part of the adaptation to pathogenicity include a lower GC content, of about 52%, and a reduced gene repertoire. The C. pseudotuberculosis genome also includes seven putative pathogenicity islands, which contain several classical virulence factors, including genes for fimbrial subunits, adhesion factors, iron uptake and secreted toxins. Additionally, all of the virulence factors in the islands have characteristics that indicate horizontal transfer. Conclusions: These particular genome characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis, as well as its acquired virulence factors in pathogenicity islands, provide evidence of its lifestyle and of the pathogenicity pathways used by this pathogen in the infection process. All genomes cited in this study are available in the NCBI Genbank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) under accession numbers CP001809 and CP001829

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio