Caracteres morfo-anatômicos da folha e do caule de Alternanthera brasiliana (L.) O. Kuntze, Amaranthaceae

Alternanthera brasiliana (L.) O. Kuntze, Amaranthaceae, é herbácea perene de origem brasileira, empregada como analgésico e antiinflamatório na medicina tradicional. Este trabalho analisou a morfo-anatomia de folha e caule, a fim de fornecer subsídios à identificação da planta medicinal. O material foi fixado, seccionado à mão livre e corado de acordo com técnicas usuais. As folhas são simples, inteiras, decussadas, oval-lanceoladas e púrpuras, e apresentam epiderme unisseriada, tricomas tectores pluricelulares revestidos por cutícula papilosa, estômatos anomocíticos e diacíticos em ambas as faces; o mesofilo é dorsiventral, com feixes vasculares colaterais e drusas. O caule, em estrutura secundária, tem o sistema de revestimento similar ao da folha; o colênquima é angular em alternância com o clorênquima, ocorrem drusas e uma organização cambial variante, consistindo de arcos cambiais extranumerários concêntricos ao primeiro câmbio vascular e feixes vasculares dispostos linearmente na medula.Alternanthera brasiliana (L.) O. Kuntze, Amaranthaceae is a Brazilian perennial herb employed as analgesic and anti-inflammatory in the traditional medicine. This work has analysed the morpho-anatomy of the leaf and stem, in order to supply knowledge to the medicinal plant identification. The botanical material was fixed, freehand sectioned and stained according to usual microtechniques. The leaves are simple, entire, decussate, oval-lanceolate and purple, presenting uniseriate epidermis, pluricellular non-glandular trichomes coated by papillose cuticle, anomocytic and diacytic stomata on both surfaces; the mesophyll is dorsiventral, with collateral vascular bundles and druses. The stem, in secondary growth, has the dermal system similar to the leaf; the angular collenchyma alternates with the chlorenchyma; it occurs druses and a cambial variant, consisting of concentrical arcs of extra-cambia outside the first cambium and aligned vascular bundles in the pith

Comparative performance evaluation of hepatitis C virus genotyping based on the 5' untranslated region versus partial sequencing of the NS5B region of brazilian patients with chronic hepatitis C

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has become an essential tool for prognosis and prediction of treatment duration. The aim of this study was to compare two HCV genotyping methods: reverse hybridization line probe assay (LiPA v.1) and partial sequencing of the NS5B region.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Plasma of 171 patients with chronic hepatitis C were screened using both a commercial method (LiPA HCV Versant, Siemens, Tarrytown, NY, USA) and different primers targeting the NS5B region for PCR amplification and sequencing analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparison of the HCV genotyping methods showed no difference in the classification at the genotype level. However, a total of 82/171 samples (47.9%) including misclassification, non-subtypable, discrepant and inconclusive results were not classified by LiPA at the subtype level but could be discriminated by NS5B sequencing. Of these samples, 34 samples of genotype 1a and 6 samples of genotype 1b were classified at the subtype level using sequencing of NS5B.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sequence analysis of NS5B for genotyping HCV provides precise genotype and subtype identification and an accurate epidemiological representation of circulating viral strains.</p

Infecção respiratória aguda por adenovirus: comparação dos métodos de PCR e imunofluorescência indireta para o seu diagnóstico e dados clínicos dos pacientes infectados

Infecções respiratórias por Adenovírus (ADV) são geralmente descritas associadas com alta mortalidade. O diagnóstico laboratorial é essencial para o estabelecimento da terapêutica adequada e para orientar a implantação de medidas preventivas evitando a propagação da infecção. Com o objetivo de analisar a sensibilidade e a especificidade dos métodos de avaliação de diagnóstico laboratorial, foi comparada a detecção de antígeno por imunofluorescência indireta (IF) com a reação em cadeia da polimerase específica (PCR) para detectar AdV em amostras respiratórias coletadas de pacientes internados com doença respiratória aguda. As amostras com resultados positivos foram inoculadas em cultura celular. Foram analisadas 381 amostras da secreção nasofaríngea coletadas durante o ano de 2008, das quais 2,6% foram positivas pela IF e 10% pela PCR, isolamento positivo foi obtido em 40% e 26% dos casos positivos pelos testes anteriores, respectivamente. A maioria dos pacientes infectados eram crianças com menos de seis meses de idade, e apesar do fato de que um número significativo de pacientes necessitou de cuidados intensivos, a taxa de mortalidade foi baixa (5%). Em conclusão, os métodos moleculares são úteis para o diagnóstico rápido de infecções por adenovírus com maior sensibilidade do que a detecção do antígeno, a sua introdução na rotina permitiu um aumento significativo no diagnóstico de infecções por adenovírus.Adenovirus (AdV) respiratory infections are usually described as being associated with high mortality rates. Laboratory diagnosis is essential for the establishment of the appropriate therapy, and for guiding the implementation of preventive measures in order to prevent the spread of the infection. Aiming to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of the laboratorial diagnosis methods available, we compared antigen detection by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IF), and a specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), to detect AdV in respiratory samples collected from patients admitted to hospital with acute respiratory disease. Positive samples were inoculated into a cell culture to confirm the results. We analyzed 381 samples from the nasopharyngeal aspirates collected during the year 2008; of these, 2.6% tested were positive for adenovirus through IF and 10% through PCR; positive isolation was obtained in 40% and 26% of these cases, respectively. Most infected patients were children under six months of age, and despite of the fact that a significant number of patients required intensive care, the mortality rate was low (5%). In conclusion, molecular methods were found to be useful for rapid diagnosis of adenovirus infections with higher sensitivity than antigen detection; their introduction permitted a significant increase in diagnoses of adenovirus infections

The epidemiology and antigenic characterization of influenza viruses isolated in Curitiba, South Brazil

Several studies conducted all over the world have reported that the influenza virus is associated with great morbidity and mortality rates. In this study, we analyzed the incidence of the influenza virus between 2000 and 2003 in Curitiba. We studied 1621 samples obtained from outpatients and hospitalized patients of both sexes and all ages. The study was conducted at the local primary care health units (outpatients) and at the tertiary care unit (hospitalized) of the General Hospital of the Federal University in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Nasopharyngeal aspirates and, eventually, bronchoalveolar lavage were assayed for the presence of viral antigens, either by indirect immunofluorescence or cell culture. Of the samples studied, 135 (8.3%) were positive for influenza virus, and of those, 103 (76.3%) were positive for type A and 32 (23.7%) for type B. Additionally, positive samples were analyzed by reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction and subtypes H1 and H3 were identified from this group. A high incidence of positive samples was observed mainly in the months with lower temperatures. Furthermore, outpatients showed a higher incidence of influenza viruses than hospitalized patients

Whole-Genome Characterization of a Novel Human Influenza A(H1N2) Virus Variant, Brazil

We report the characterization of a novel reassortant influenza A(H1N2) virus not previously reported in humans. Recovered from a a pig farm worker in southeast Brazil who had influenza-like illness, this virus is a triple reassortant containing gene segments from subtypes H1N2 (hemagglutinin), H3N2 (neuraminidase), and pandemic H1N1 (remaining genes)