Accident caused by Rhopalurus agamemnon (Koch, 1839) (Scorpiones, Buthidae)

Acidentes escorpiônicos constituem um sério problema de saúde pública no Brasil. Rhopalurus agamemnon é um grande escorpião do bioma Cerrado, muito abundante em diversas localidades do Brasil Central. A espécie utiliza ambientes campestres e savânicos, sendo comum no interior de cupinzeiros. Entretanto, desaparece de locais onde o cerrado é removido. Os acidentes relatados apresentam sintomas de envenenamentos moderados, mas são baseados em identificações discutíveis. Aqui apresentamos o relato de um acidente seguramente causado por esta espécie. Concluímos que os poucos relatos disponíveis não permitem avaliar a gravidade dos acidentes e o eventual risco deste escorpião para a saúde pública. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTAccidents caused by scorpions are a serious public health problem in Brazil. Rhopalurus agamemnon is a large scorpion found in the Cerrado (savanna) biome, and it is very abundant in many localities in central Brazil. The species inhabits open savanna environments, and is common inside termite mounds. However, it disappears from places where the native vegetation has been removed. The accidents reported present moderate symptoms of envenoming, but are based on questionable identifications. Here, we present a report on an accident that was certainly caused by Rhopalurus agamemnon. We conclude that the few reports available do not make it possible to evaluate the severity of such accidents and the possible risk to public health from this scorpion

Microbial Enrichment of a Novel Growing Substrate and its Effect on Plant Growth

The quality of torrefied grass fibers (TGF) as a new potting soil ingredient was tested in a greenhouse experiment. TGF was colonized with previously selected microorganisms. Four colonization treatments were compared: (1) no inoculants, (2) the fungus Coniochaeta ligniaria F/TGF15 alone, (3) the fungus followed by inoculation with two selected bacteria, and (4) the fungus with seven selected bacteria. Cultivation-based and DNA-based methods, i.e., PCR-DGGE and BOX-PCR, were applied to assess the bacterial and fungal communities established in the TGF. Although colonization was not performed under sterile conditions, all inoculated strains were recovered from TGF up to 26 days incubation. Stable fungal and bacterial populations of 108 and 109 CFU/g TGF, respectively, were reached. As a side effect of the torrefaction process that aimed at the chemical stabilization of grass fibers, potentially phytotoxic compounds were generated. These phytotoxic compounds were cold-extracted from the fibers and analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Four of 15 target compounds that had previously been found in the extract of TGF were encountered, namely phenol, 2-methoxyphenol, benzopyran-2-one, and tetrahydro-5,6,7,7a-benzofuranone. The concentration of these compounds decreased significantly during incubation. The colonized TGF was mixed with peat (P) in a range of 100%:0%, 50%:50%, 20%:80%, and 0%:100% TGF/P (w/w), respectively, to assess suitability for plant growth. Germination of tomato seeds was assessed three times, i.e., with inoculated TGF that had been incubated for 12, 21, and 26 days. In these tests, 90–100% of the seeds germinated in 50%:50% and 20%:80% TGF/P, whereas on average only 50% of the seeds germinated in pure TGF. Germination was not improved by the microbial inoculants. However, plant fresh weight as well as leaf area of 28-day-old tomato plants were significantly increased in all treatments where C. ligniaria F/TGF15 was inoculated compared to the control treatment without microbial inoculants. Colonization with C. ligniaria also protected the substrate from uncontrolled colonization by other fungi. The excellent colonization of TGF by the selected plant-health promoting bacteria in combination with the fungus C. ligniaria offers the possibility to create disease suppressive substrate, meanwhile replacing 20% to 50% of peat in potting soil by TGF

Performance of Anaerobic Co‑digestion of Pig Slurry with Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Bio‑waste Residues

Agro-food industries produce large amounts of bio-waste, challenging innovative valorisation strategies in the framework of circular economy principles. Anaerobic digestion technology is an interesting route to stabilise organic matter and produce biogas as a renewable energy source. This paper aimed to study the optimal performance conditions for anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of pig slurry with pineapple (Ananas comosus) peel bio-waste. The anaerobic digestion (AD) trials were performed at lab scale, in a continuous stirred reactor, for 16 days’ hydraulic retention time in mesophilic conditions (37 ± 1 °C). Three hydraulic retention time were performed, one for the reference scenario ( T0) and two for AcoD trials ( T1, T2). Feeding mixtures (20:80; v:v) of pineapple peel liquor and pig slurry, with an OLR of 1.46 ± 0.04 g TVS L− 1 reactor day− 1 were used during AD/AcoD trials, presenting high values for soluble chemical oxygen demand and C/N ratio. This operational conditions highlight bioenergy recovery up to 0.58 L CH4 g TVSadded −1, in comparison with that obtained with pig slurry substrate (0.31 L CH4 g VSadded −1). The AD performance showed a total volatile solids and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency of 23% to 47% and 26% to 48%, comparing T0 with the average of T1 and T2, respectively. The digester stability, evaluated by specific energetic loading rate, was below the limit (0.4 day−1) throughout the trials. Pig slurry co-digestion with pineapple peel liquor seems to be a promising approach for potential bioenergy recovery.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Identification of unannotated exons of low abundance transcripts in Drosophila melanogaster and cloning of a new serine protease gene upregulated upon injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The sequencing of the <it>D.melanogaster </it>genome revealed an unexpected small number of genes (~ 14,000) indicating that mechanisms acting on generation of transcript diversity must have played a major role in the evolution of complex metazoans. Among the most extensively used mechanisms that accounts for this diversity is alternative splicing. It is estimated that over 40% of <it>Drosophila </it>protein-coding genes contain one or more alternative exons. A recent transcription map of the <it>Drosophila </it>embryogenesis indicates that 30% of the transcribed regions are unannotated, and that 1/3 of this is estimated as missed or alternative exons of previously characterized protein-coding genes. Therefore, the identification of the variety of expressed transcripts depends on experimental data for its final validation and is continuously being performed using different approaches. We applied the Open Reading Frame Expressed Sequence Tags (ORESTES) methodology, which is capable of generating cDNA data from the central portion of rare transcripts, in order to investigate the presence of hitherto unnanotated regions of <it>Drosophila </it>transcriptome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Bioinformatic analysis of 1,303 <it>Drosophila </it>ORESTES clusters identified 68 sequences derived from unannotated regions in the current <it>Drosophila </it>genome version (4.3). Of these, a set of 38 was analysed by polyA⁺northern blot hybridization, validating 17 (50%) new exons of low abundance transcripts. For one of these ESTs, we obtained the cDNA encompassing the complete coding sequence of a new serine protease, named SP212. The <it>SP212 </it>gene is part of a serine protease gene cluster located in the chromosome region 88A12-B1. This cluster includes the predicted genes CG9631, CG9649 and CG31326, which were previously identified as up-regulated after immune challenges in genomic-scale microarray analysis. In agreement with the proposal that this <it>locus </it>is co-regulated in response to microorganisms infection, we show here that SP212 is also up-regulated upon injury.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Using the ORESTES methodology we identified 17 novel exons from low abundance <it>Drosophila </it>transcripts, and through a PCR approach the complete CDS of one of these transcripts was defined. Our results show that the computational identification and manual inspection are not sufficient to annotate a genome in the absence of experimentally derived data.</p

VEGF Promotes Malaria-Associated Acute Lung Injury in Mice

The spectrum of the clinical presentation and severity of malaria infections is broad, ranging from uncomplicated febrile illness to severe forms of disease such as cerebral malaria (CM), acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) or severe anemia (SA). Rodent models that mimic human CM, PAM and SA syndromes have been established. Here, we show that DBA/2 mice infected with P. berghei ANKA constitute a new model for malaria-associated ALI. Up to 60% of the mice showed dyspnea, airway obstruction and hypoxemia and died between days 7 and 12 post-infection. The most common pathological findings were pleural effusion, pulmonary hemorrhage and edema, consistent with increased lung vessel permeability, while the blood-brain barrier was intact. Malaria-associated ALI correlated with high levels of circulating VEGF, produced de novo in the spleen, and its blockage led to protection of mice from this syndrome. In addition, either splenectomization or administration of the anti-inflammatory molecule carbon monoxide led to a significant reduction in the levels of sera VEGF and to protection from ALI. The similarities between the physiopathological lesions described here and the ones occurring in humans, as well as the demonstration that VEGF is a critical host factor in the onset of malaria-associated ALI in mice, not only offers important mechanistic insights into the processes underlying the pathology related with malaria but may also pave the way for interventional studies