Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Participation, knowledge production, and evaluative research: participation by different actors in a mental health study

This article reflects on the interrelations between participation, knowledge production, and public policy evaluation in light of issues from our own experience with evaluative research on a municipal network of Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPS) in Brazil. The article discusses the coordination of the complex process and the potentials and limits of partnerships for conducting qualitative evaluative studies in mental health with participation by different social actors. The authors conclude that qualitative evaluative research aligned with the perspective of including different points of view representing various segments is the best approach for understanding the numerous spin-offs from the implementation of services linked to the Brazilian psychiatric reform movement, given the inherent specificities of the mental health field.No presente texto apresentamos considerações sobre pesquisa avaliativa qualitativa e participativa com base em investigação desta natureza realizada junto a uma rede municipal de Centros de Atenção Psicossocial (CAPS) ligados ao Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). A coordenação do complexo processo, bem como as potencialidades e limites do estabelecimento de parcerias para a realização de trabalhos de investigação avaliativa qualitativa em saúde mental, com a inclusão de diferentes atores sociais, são aqui discutidas. Concluímos que a pesquisa avaliativa qualitativa aliada à perspectiva de inclusão de distintos pontos de vista dos vários segmentos envolvidos é a que melhor se adequa à compreensão dos muitos desdobramentos oriundos da implementação de serviços ligados ao movimento de reforma psiquiátrica brasileira, dado as especificidades inerentes ao campo da saúde mental.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)Universidade Estadual de Campinas FCMUNIFESPSciEL

Reduced injury risk links sociality to survival in a group-living primate

This is the final version. Available on open access from Cell Press via the DOI in this recordData and code availability: Data have been deposited at Mendeley Data and are publicly available as of the date of publication. DOI is listed in the key resources table. All original code has been deposited on GitHub and is publicly available as of the date of publication. The link is listed in the key resources table. Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.Sociality has been linked to a longer lifespan in many mammals, including humans. Yet, how sociality results in survival benefits remains unclear. Using 10 years of data and over 1,000 recorded injuries in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), we tested two injury-related mechanisms by which social status and affiliative partners might influence survival. Injuries increased individual risk of death by 3-fold in this dataset. We found that sociality can affect individuals’ survival by reducing their risk of injury but had no effect on the probability of injured individuals dying. Both males and females of high social status (measured as female matrilineal rank and male group tenure) and females with more affiliative partners (estimated using the number of female relatives) experienced fewer injuries and thus were less likely to die. Collectively, our results offer rare insights into one mechanism that can mediate the well-known benefits of sociality on an individual’s fitness.ANID-Chilean scholarshipNational Institutes of Health (NIH)European Research Council (ERC)MacCracken FellowshipNational Science Foundation (NSF

Reduced injury risk links sociality to survival in a group-living primate

Sociality has been linked to a longer lifespan in many mammals, including humans. Yet, how sociality results in survival benefits remains unclear. Using 10 years of data and over 1,000 recorded injuries in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), we tested two injury-related mechanisms by which social status and affiliative partners might influence survival. Injuries increased individual risk of death by 3-fold in this dataset. We found that sociality can affect individuals’ survival by reducing their risk of injury but had no effect on the probability of injured individuals dying. Both males and females of high social status (measured as female matrilineal rank and male group tenure) and females with more affiliative partners (estimated using the number of female relatives) experienced fewer injuries and thus were less likely to die. Collectively, our results offer rare insights into one mechanism that can mediate the well-known benefits of sociality on an individual’s fitness

Quasi-Normal Modes of Stars and Black Holes

Perturbations of stars and black holes have been one of the main topics of relativistic astrophysics for the last few decades. They are of particular importance today, because of their relevance to gravitational wave astronomy. In this review we present the theory of quasi-normal modes of compact objects from both the mathematical and astrophysical points of view. The discussion includes perturbations of black holes (Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordstr\"om, Kerr and Kerr-Newman) and relativistic stars (non-rotating and slowly-rotating). The properties of the various families of quasi-normal modes are described, and numerical techniques for calculating quasi-normal modes reviewed. The successes, as well as the limits, of perturbation theory are presented, and its role in the emerging era of numerical relativity and supercomputers is discussed.Comment: 74 pages, 7 figures, Review article for "Living Reviews in Relativity

Spatial distribution of the risk of dengue fever in southeast Brazil, 2006-2007

Background: Many factors have been associated with circulation of the dengue fever virus and vector, although the dynamics of transmission are not yet fully understood. The aim of this work is to estimate the spatial distribution of the risk of dengue fever in an area of continuous dengue occurrence. Methods: This is a spatial population-based case-control study that analyzed 538 cases and 727 controls in one district of the municipality of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 2006-2007, considering socio-demographic, ecological, case severity, and household infestation variables. Information was collected by in-home interviews and inspection of living conditions in and around the homes studied. Cases were classified as mild or severe according to clinical data, and they were compared with controls through a multinomial logistic model. A generalized additive model was used in order to include space in a non-parametric fashion with cubic smoothing splines. Results: Variables associated with increased incidence of all dengue cases in the multiple binomial regression model were: higher larval density (odds ratio (OR) = 2.3 (95%CI: 2.0-2.7)), reports of mosquito bites during the day (OR = 1.8 (95%CI: 1.4-2.4)), the practice of water storage at home (OR = 2.5 (95%CI: 1.4, 4.3)), low frequency of garbage collection (OR = 2.6 (95%CI: 1.6-4.5)) and lack of basic sanitation (OR = 2.9 (95%CI: 1.8-4.9)). Staying at home during the day was protective against the disease (OR = 0.5 (95%CI: 0.3-0.6)). When cases were analyzed by categories (mild and severe) in the multinomial model, age and number of breeding sites more than 10 were significant only for the occurrence of severe cases (OR = 0.97, (95%CI: 0.96-0.99) and OR = 2.1 (95%CI: 1.2-3.5), respectively. Spatial distribution of risks of mild and severe dengue fever differed from each other in the 2006/2007 epidemic, in the study area. Conclusions: Age and presence of more than 10 breeding sites were significant only for severe cases. Other predictors of mild and severe cases were similar in the multiple models. The analyses of multinomial models and spatial distribution maps of dengue fever probabilities suggest an area-specific epidemic with varying clinical and demographic characteristics

A New Approach to Dengue Fatal Cases Diagnosis: NS1 Antigen Capture in Tissues

Dengue manifestations may vary from asymptomatic to potentially fatal complications. With an increasing number of Dengue Hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and fatal cases, the availability of new approaches useful for cases confirmation plays an important role for the disease surveillance. The diagnosis of fatal cases in frozen and fixed tissues from autopsies can be determined by techniques such as viral RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, viral proteins detection by immunohistochemistry and NS3 specific immunostaining. We aimed to assess for the first time the usefulness of NS1 capture tests as a diagnostic technique to demonstrate DENV antigens in human tissue specimens. The highest sensitivity was obtained by a rapid ICT which was also the most sensitive in liver, lung, kidney, brain, spleen and thymus. Despite a number of studies demonstrating the usefulness of DENV NS1 antigen detection by different ELISAs in plasma and/or sera of dengue patients, no research has been done previously to demonstrate NS1 presence in tissues of fatal dengue cases. Moreover, the application of NS1 kits to demonstrate the presence of DENV may provide a better understanding of viral tropism in fatal cases and may be useful for studies of pathogenesis in vivo and in experimental animals