The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, in Madeira Island

The environmental conditions in Madeira Island are favorable for the presence and dissemination of the pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Five hundred Pinus pinaster wood samples were collected in several forest areas and PWN was detected in 22.8 % of the samples. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus isolates from Madeira Island displayed the species-specific diagnostic characters. A morphological variation in the female tail terminus was detected. In most females, the tail presented a broadly rounded terminus and, occasionally, a digitate terminus with a terminal nipple-like extension resembling a mucro. PCR ITS-RFLP analysis revealed that Madeira Island isolates exhibited patterns specific to the species B. xylophilus and similar to virulent isolates. Amplified ITS regions were further sequenced and no genetic diversity was found for this genomic region among 17 Portuguese isolates (Madeira Island and Continental Portugal). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Portuguese isolates grouped with isolates from China, Korea and one isolate from Japa

Hypersomnia in Whipple disease: case report.

Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2006 Sep;64(3B):865-8. Hypersomnia in Whipple disease: case report. Maia LF, Marta M, Lopes V, Rocha N, Lopes C, Martins-da-Silva A, Monteiro L. SourceDepartment of Neurological Disordes and Senses, Hospital Geral de Santo António, Largo Prof. Abel Salazar, 4099-001 Porto, Portugal. Abstract Whipple disease (WD) is a rare systemic infection caused by Tropheryma whippelii. Neurological involvement has been recognised in 40% of patients, either as initial manifestations or during the course of the disease. We report on a 45 years-old man with WD with initial, persistent and irresistible episodes of daytime somnolence. The patient was HLA-DQB1*0602 positive (genetic marker for narcolepsy). WD diagnosis was suspected on clinical and MRI basis and confirmed by histological and immunohistochemical study of duodenal biopsy. Forty months later all clinical features improved, narcoleptic-like episodes disappeared and cerebral MRI and CSF normalised. Longitudinal neurophysiological studies revealed persistent sleep pattern abnormalities with sleep fragmentation, paucity of slow wave and of REM sleep. The disruption of the hypocretin circuitry in the hypothalamic - diencephalic region triggered by the infection was the probable cause of the hypersomnia and narcopleptic symptoms. WD should be added to the list of causes of secondary hypersomnia

Tolerância de ovinos ao hidróxido de sódio e/ou sódio residual contido em cama de frangos de corte.

Resumo: Foram utilizados 18 ovinos da raca Corriedale, num delineamento em blocos inteiramente casualizados, com um arranjo fatorial 2 x 3, dois tipos de cama de frangos de corte, cama de casca de arroz (CCA) e cama de palha de arroz (CPA) e tres niveis de NaOH (zero, 6% e 12%). O consumo de sodio, consumo de agua, producao urinaria e a relacao de Na: Kurinaria foram significativamente (P0,05). O pH da urina mostrou tendencia a se elevar somente a medida que foram aumentados os niveis de alcali na dieta dos animais. O pH ruminal parece nao ter sido afetado pelo consumo das dietas tratadas com NaOH. O balanco de sodio foi negativo e inversamente relacionado com o consumo deste mineral, nao havendo dados suficientes que permitam a explicacao deste fato. [Sheep tolerance to sociu hydroxide and/or residual contents in the broiler litter]. Sheep tolerance to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treated diets was studied. Eighteen Corriedale sheep were used in a completely randomized block design, witha 2 x 3 factorial arrangement. The design included two types of brolier litter lone composed of rice huiis and the other one of rice straw) and three leveis of NaOH (zero, 6% and 12%). Water and Na intakes, urine excretion and Na: K urinary ratio, increased (P 0.05) when yield increased. The urine pH showed only a tendency of increasing when the alkaii treatment in the animal diet increased. No effect of the NaOH treatments on the ruminal pH was detected. Sodium balance was negative and inversely related to the Na intake. However, there were not enough data fora ciear explanation of this fact

The type of adjuvant in whole inactivated influenza a virus vaccines impacts vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes a disease burden in the swine industry in the US and is a challenge to prevent due to substantial genetic and antigenic diversity of IAV that circulate in pig populations. Whole inactivated virus (WIV) vaccines formulated with oil-in-water (OW) adjuvant are commonly used in swine. However, WIV-OW are associated with vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) when the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase of the vaccine strain are mismatched with the challenge virus. Here, we assessed if different types of adjuvant in WIV vaccine formulations impacted VAERD outcome. WIV vaccines with a swine δ1-H1N2 were formulated with different commercial adjuvants: OW1, OW2, nano-emulsion squalene-based (NE) and gel polymer (GP). Pigs were vaccinated twice by the intramuscular route, 3 weeks apart, then challenged with an H1N1pdm09 three weeks post-boost and necropsied at 5 days post infection. All WIV vaccines elicited antibodies detected using the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay against the homologous vaccine virus, but not against the heterologous challenge virus; in contrast, all vaccinated groups had cross-reactive IgG antibody and IFN-γ responses against H1N1pdm09, with a higher magnitude observed in OW groups. Both OW groups demonstrated robust homologous HI titers and cross-reactivity against heterologous H1 viruses in the same genetic lineage. However, both OW groups had severe immunopathology consistent with VAERD after challenge when compared to NE, GP, and non-vaccinated challenge controls. None of the WIV formulations protected pigs from heterologous virus replication in the lungs or nasal cavity. Thus, although the type of adjuvant in the WIV formulation played a significant role in the magnitude of immune response to homologous and antigenically similar H1, none tested here increased the breadth of protection against the antigenically-distinct challenge virus, and some impacted immunopathology after challenge

Assessment of oil contamination in the bay of Porto Grande (Cape Verde) using the mullet Chelon bispinosus

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of persistent organic pollutants, some of which are mutagenic and carcinogenic so PAH concentrations in fish used for human consumption are crucial to assess impact to human health. Total PAH concentrations in muscle and liver of mullets Chelon bispinosus from the Bay of Porto Grande (Cape Verde) (four sites in the bay and a control) ranged from 112.7 to 779.5 and 291.5 to 7548.7 ng/g d. w., respectively. Two and three ring PAHs were the most frequent (72.8 to 90.8% in the muscle and 75.9 to 98.3% in the liver), but levels of carcinogenic PAHs (mainly Dibenzo (a,h) antracene) in certain sites (CN and PG) are of concern. Results reflect a chronic PAH pollution in the bay and sources are a mixture of anthropogenic (petrogenic and pyrolytic) and natural sources, making their identification extremely complex. Although, BaP levels were below the threshold established by Cape Verde and the European Union, BaPEs levels in muscle ranged from 0.28 to 3.66 ng/g w. w. and BAPEs and TPAHs exposure for the average adult was 0.02 to 0.26 and 1.6 to 11.2 μg/day, respectively. Further knowledge of PAH concentrations in other species are necessary for a proper environmental risk assessment policy.Key words: Bay of Porto Grande, Cape Verde, Chelon bispinosus, mullets, PAHs, BaPEs, daily intake

Trajectories of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms over Five Years since Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Results of the NEON-BC Prospective Study

Anxiety and depression symptoms are frequent among patients with breast cancer (BCa) and may last after initial treatments. We aimed to identify five-year trajectories of anxiety and depression symptoms among women with BCa. Neuro-oncological complications of BCa (NEON-BC) cohort included 506 patients admitted at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto in 2012, who were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale before cancer treatment and after one, three, and five years (7.9% attrition rate). Mixed-effect models were used to model anxiety and depression scores over time and model-based clustering to identify the different trajectories. Three trajectories of anxiety symptoms were identified: (1) high scores at baseline and increasing over time (21.7%); (2) consistently low scores over time (63.6%); (3) mid-range scores at baseline, decreasing over time (14.6%). Three trajectories were identified for depression symptoms: (1) high scores at baseline and increasing over time (21.1%); (2) mid-range scores at baseline, which decreased afterward (58.7%); (3) consistently low levels over time (20.2%). Age, education, baseline, and one-year anxiety/depression status predicted the worst five-year trajectories. These results show that assessing anxiety and depression symptoms before treatment and after one year may contribute to identifying the patients who could benefit the most from psychological support. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This research was funded by the European Regional Development Funds (POCI-01-0145-FEDER016867) and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), under the project “A five-year prospective cohort study on the neurological complications of breast cancer: frequency and impact in patient-reported outcomes” (PTDC/DTP-EPI/7183/2014), and by FCT under EPIUnit-Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (UIDB/04750/2020) and Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional (LA/P/0064/2020). NA receives funding from FCT under the project NeurodegCov19-Neurological Complications after COVID-19 (PTDC/SAU-EPI/6275/2020) and C.L., from FCT under the project NEON-PC: neuro-oncological complications of prostate cancer-longitudinal study of cognitive decline (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032358, Ref. PTDC/SAU-EPI/32358/2017). Data management activities up to the first year of follow-up were supported by the Chair on Pain Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, and the Grünenthal Foundation—Portugal

Having a prevention regulatory focus longitudinally predicted distress and health‐protective behaviors during the COVID‐19 pandemic

People focused on prevention (vs. promotion) are motivated by safety and are less inclined to take risks. We tested if having a prevention (vs. promotion) focus before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak predicted threat perceptions and health outcomes throughout the pandemic. Participants (N = 161) took part in a longitudinal study. Measures were assessed before the pandemic was declared (on November 2019, T1) and after a global pandemic was declared (on June 2020, T2). Participants who were more focused on prevention prior to the onset of the pandemic (at T1) perceived greater risk and were more worried about contracting COVID-19 and engaged in more preventive behaviors during the pandemic (at T2). They also reported less anxiety and felt healthier (at T2). Exploratory analyses revealed that enacting preventive behaviors helped people cope with pandemic-related anxiety. Being motivated by security and enacting preventive behaviors seems to have helped people reduce anxiety over risk even during the pandemic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contagem de células somáticas, perfil de sensibilidade antimicrobiana e microorganismos isolados de mastites em búfalos: uma breve revisão.

Resumo: Apesar de haver alguns mitos sobre a espécie bubalina, esses animais apresentam problemas sanitários semelhantes aos dos bovinos, dentre eles a ocorrência de casos de mastite. Embora algumas particularidades relacionadas a características anatômicas do úbere e imunologia da glândula mamária proporcionem maior resistência contra a infecção, búfalas com elevada contagem de células somáticas (CCS) apresentam redução da produção de leite e alterações dos teores de seus constituintes. Esta revisão teve como objetivo levantar informações sobre o padrão de CCS normalmente encontrado para a espécie, os microorganismos mais frequentemente isolados e a resistência microbiana frente à antibióticoterapia. Abstract: Despite there are some myths about the buffalo, these animals have health problems similar to those of cattle, among them the occurrence of mastitis. Although some peculiarities related to anatomical features of the udder and immunology of the mammary gland provide greater resistance to infection, buffaloes with high somatic cell count (SCC) present lower productivity and changes in milk constituent?s levels. This review aimed to gather information about pattern of SCC usually found for specie, most frequently isolated microorganisms and microbial resistance against antibiotic therapy

Public debt, economic growth, and inflation in African economies

We analyse the relationship between public debt, economic growth and inflation in a group of 52 African economies between 1950 and 2012. The results indicate that the limits of public debt are negatively related to economic growth and exhibit, from a given level of debt, an inverted U behaviour regarding the relationship between economic growth and public debt. Briefly, the high levels of public debt are coincident with reduced rates of economic growth and rising levels of inflation. Our results for three specific geographical areas resemble those of the overall analysis, despite some differences. In North African countries, the growth rates of the GDP and inflation also show an inverted U behaviour as the ratio of public debt/GDP increases. The highest rate of economic growth is recorded when the ratio public debt/GDP is below 30% of GDP and corresponds to an average inflation rate of 5.33%. Identical behaviour of the GDP growth rates and inflation also appears in Sub-Saharan countries until the third interval (60-90%). However, the highest growth rate of the GDP and GDP per capita is registered when the public debt/GDP ratio is in the second interval (30-60%). For SADC countries, the highest average rate of economic growth (6.8%) is similar to North African countries, when the ratio public debt/GDP is below 30% of GDP, with an average inflation rate of 11%. A number of robustness analyses were performed and the great majority of them confirm the general analysis.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio