Infection and exposure to vector-borne pathogens in rural dogs and their ticks, Uganda

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.[Background]: In rural parts of Africa, dogs live in close association with humans and livestock, roam freely, and usually do not receive prophylactic measures. Thus, they are a source of infectious disease for humans and for wildlife such as protected carnivores. In 2011, an epidemiological study was carried out around three conservation areas in Uganda to detect the presence and determine the prevalence of vector-borne pathogens in rural dogs and associated ticks to evaluate the risk that these pathogens pose to humans and wildlife. [Methods]: Serum samples (n=105), blood smears (n=43) and blood preserved on FTA cards (n=38) and ticks (58 monospecific pools of Haemaphysalis leachi and Rhipicephalus praetextatus including 312 ticks from 52 dogs) were collected from dogs. Dog sera were tested by indirect immunofluorescence to detect the presence of antibodies against Rickettsia conorii and Ehrlichia canis. Antibodies against R. conorii were also examined by indirect enzyme immunoassay. Real time PCR for the detection of Rickettsia spp., Anaplasmataceae, Bartonella spp. and Babesia spp. was performed in DNA extracted from FTA cards and ticks. [Results]: 99 % of the dogs were seropositive to Rickettsia spp. and 29.5 % to Ehrlichia spp. Molecular analyses revealed that 7.8 % of the blood samples were infected with Babesia rossi, and all were negative for Rickettsia spp. and Ehrlichia spp. Ticks were infected with Rickettsia sp. (18.9 %), including R. conorii and R. massiliae; Ehrlichia sp. (18.9 %), including E. chaffeensis and Anaplasma platys; and B. rossi (1.7 %). Bartonella spp. was not detected in any of the blood or tick samples. [Conclusions]: This study confirms the presence of previously undetected vector-borne pathogens of humans and animals in East Africa. We recommend that dog owners in rural Uganda be advised to protect their animals against ectoparasites to prevent the transmission of pathogens to humans and wildlife.This study received partial support from the project CGL2010-17931.Peer Reviewe

Tuberculose orbitária diagnosticada por imunohistoquímica

PURPOSE: To describe three cases of orbital tuberculosis, with their clinical characteristics and respective diagnostic procedures, showing the importance of histopathology for the correct diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three patients diagnosed and treated for orbital tuberculosis, in the "Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo" during the years of 1999 and 2001. RESULTS: All of the patients were female and referred a chronic evolution of swelling of one eyelid associated or not with other symptoms. They had not HIV infection. Two of them had positive epidemiology for tuberculosis. However, the search for systemic evidence of the disease and staining for bacilli (Ziehl-Neelsen method) were negative in all three patients. In all the cases, only the biopsy with immunohistochemical analysis could confirm the diagnosis. COMMENTS: Orbital involvement is a rare ocular manifestation of tuberculosis. Even in a tertiary hospital, few cases, if any, are diagnosed per year. However, the global incidence and prevalence of M. tuberculosis infections is not under control yet, and it has been a serious public health problem. Thus, one must be aware of the possibility of tuberculosis among the orbital diseases.OBJETIVO: Este estudo descreve 3 casos de tuberculose orbitária, com suas características clínicas, procedimentos diagnósticos, mostrando a importância da histopatologia para o diagnóstico correto. PACIENTES E MÉTODOS: Descrição de 3 casos de pacientes com tuberculose orbitária diagnosticada e tratada no Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo entre os anos 1999 e 2001 RESULTADOS: Todos os casos apresentaram-se como massa orbitária de evolução lenta e progressiva em pacientes de sexo feminino, sem doença pulmonar concomitante evidente. Duas tinham epidemiologia positiva para tuberculose. A pesquisa de bacilo álcool ácido resistente (BAAR), pelo método de Ziehl-Neelsen, entretanto, havia sido negativa em todos os casos. O diagnóstico etiológico nos três pacientes foi realizado pela identificação imunohistoquímica de bacilos tuberculínicos intracitoplasmáticos. COMENTÁRIOS: Baseando-se na elevada prevalência da tuberculose nos países em desenvovimento, associada ao aumento de sua incidência na última década, torna-se necessário considerá-la no diagnóstico diferencial das massas orbitárias em nosso meio

BANCO DE DADOS GEOGRÁFICOS COMO FERRAMENTA DE SUPORTE PARA O MAPEAMENTO E MONITORAMENTO DA REGIÃO DA FLORESTA NACIONAL DO TAPAJÓS (PA)

This article presents the results of mapping and monitoring of Tapajós National Forest (PA), one of the test area of LBA “Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazônia” Project, through the development of a geographic database. Remote sensing images (Landsat 1988, 1997, 1999 e 2001; RADARSAT 2002; Hyperion 2001; and aerial Videography 1999 and 2000), forest inventories of large sampling intensity and ancillary informations (thematic maps, topographic charts and annual cumulative precipitation data) were employed as information layers of the database. Through the integration of these informations, it was possible to produce a map of land cover for the Tapajós National Forest region and to evaluate its natural conservation. Keywords: Remote Sensing; Geoprocessing; Tropical Forest and Amazonia.Este artigo apresenta os resultados do mapeamento e monitoramento da Floresta Nacional (FLONA) do Tapajós (PA), uma das áreas teste do projeto LBA “Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazônia”, através do desenvolvimento de um banco de dados geográfico. Imagens de sensoriamento remoto (Landsat 1988, 1997, 1999 e 2001; RADARSAT 2002; Hyperion 2001; e Videografia aérea de 1999 e 2000), dados de inventários florestais (IF’s) de grande intensidade amostral e informações auxiliares (mapas temáticos, cartas topográficas e dados de precipitação acumulada anual) foram empregados como planos de informação no banco de dados. Através da integração dessas informações, foi possível produzir um mapa de cobertura vegetal para a região da Floresta Nacional do Tapajós e avaliar o seu estado de conservação. Palavras-Chave: Sensoriamento Remoto; Geoprocessamento; Floresta Tropical e Amazônia

Programa Saúde na Escola: avanços, dificuldades e desafios na promoção da saúde nas escolas do Brasil

Brazil has gone through an extensive historical journey until the institutionalization of a national program to work in the school environment. The realization of this study is justified by the need to analyze how health promotion has been carried out within the country's schools, allowing a reflection on the effectiveness of the activities carried out until then, as well as supporting the execution of the next actions by the management and by health professionals under this program. It aimed to identify advances, difficulties and challenges for health promotion in Brazilian schools after the implementation of the School Health Program (PSE). This is an integrative literature review, carried out in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (Scielo), Google Scholar and Virtual Health Library (BVS) databases, to answer the guiding question: what studies bring about the advances, difficulties, and challenges for health promotion in Brazilian schools after PSE implementation? The searches took place in October 2021, with the descriptors “health promotion”, “school health service”, and “Brazil”. A total of 511 articles were identified, of which 16 were selected according to eligibility criteria, evaluated for methodological rigor and level of evidence. The 16 articles presented level of evidence VI. Advances were identified in the path of health promotion, such as the approximation of the school-family bond and the health unit and the multiprofessional action in the agreed activities. However, it was pointed out as difficulties and challenges overload and accumulation of activities by professionals, lack of material inputs, inadequate infrastructure, weaknesses of intersectoral bonds and fragmented actions focused on disease prevention.O Brasil passou por um extenso percurso histórico até a institucionalização de um programa nacional para atuação no âmbito escolar. A realização deste estudo justifica-se diante da necessidade de se analisar como a promoção da saúde vem se efetivando dentro das escolas do país, possibilitando uma reflexão sobre a efetividade das atividades até então realizadas, assim como embasar a execução das próximas ações pela gestão e por profissionais de saúde no âmbito deste programa. Teve como objetivo identificar avanços, dificuldades e desafios para promoção da saúde nas escolas brasileiras pós implementação do Programa Saúde na Escola (PSE). Trata-se de uma revisão integrativa da literatura, realizada nas bases de dados Scientific Electronic Library Online (Scielo), Google Scholar e Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS), para responder à questão-norteadora: o que estudos trazem acerca dos avanços, dificuldades e desafios para promoção da saúde nas escolas brasileiras pós implementação do PSE? As buscas ocorreram em outubro de 2021, com os descritores “promoção da saúde”, “serviço de saúde escolar”, e “Brasil”. Identificaram-se 511 artigos, dos quais 17 foram selecionados pelos critérios de elegibilidade, avaliados quanto ao rigor metodológico e nível de evidência. Os 17 artigos apresentaram nível de evidência VI. Identificaram-se avanços no percurso da promoção da saúde, como aproximação do vínculo escola-família e unidade de saúde e a atuação multiprofissional nas atividades pactuadas. Contudo, apontou-se como dificuldades e desafios sobrecarga e acúmulo de atividades pelos profissionais, carência de insumos materiais, infraestrutura inadequada, fragilidades de vínculos intersetoriais e ações fragmentadas e centradas na prevenção de doenças

Temporal characteristics of semantic perseverations induced by blocked-cyclic picture naming

When unimpaired participants name pictures quickly, they produce many perseverations that bear a semantic relation to the target, especially when the pictures are blocked by category. Evidence suggests that the temporal properties of these "semantic perseverations" may differ from typical lexical perseverations in aphasia. To explore this, we studied semantic perseverations generated by participants with aphasia on a naming task with semantic blocking [Schnur, T. T., Schwartz, M. F., Brecher, A., & Hodgson, C. (2006). Semantic interference during blocked-cyclic naming: Evidence from aphasia. Journal of Memory and Language, 54, 199-227]. The properties of these perseverations were investigated by analyzing how often they occurred at each lag (distance from prior occurrence) and how time (response-stimulus interval) influenced the lag function. Chance data sets were created by reshuffling stimulus-response pairs in a manner that preserved unique features of the blocking design. We found that the semantic blocking manipulation did not eliminate the expected bias for short-lag perseverations (recency bias). However, immediate (lag 1) perseverations were not invariably the most frequent, which hints at a source of inconsistency within and across studies. Importantly, there was not a reliable difference between the lag functions for perseverations generated with a 5 s, compared to 1 s, responsestimulus interval. The combination of recency bias and insensitivity to elapsed time indicates that the perseveratory impetus in a named response does not passively decay with time but rather is diminished by interference from related trials. We offer an incremental learning account of these findings

Corpo social e as relações de cuidado / Social body and care relationships

Diversas são as concepções de corpo, para entendê-lo, aspectos muito além da mera biologia devem ser abordados sendo a importância desse entendimento fundamental para relações humanas, principalmente quando se fala em profissionais da saúde e pacientes. Objetivou-se refletir sobre as concepções de corpos na antropologia e a sua relação no cuidado e assistência à saúde. O trabalho foi realizado a partir de uma revisão de literatura sobre o corpo social e as relações de cuidado e a partir daí realizou-se a construção de um texto coletivo. Considera-se que o corpo nunca é encontrado em seu estado natural, já que até mesmo o modo de pensar do indivíduo é influenciado, e ao longo do tempo essa influência faz com que o corpo se torne um fenômeno cultural, único. A partir disso, o grande desafio dos profissionais da saúde, é o reconhecimento desta concepção e a partir dela adequarem-se a cada tipo de paciente, pois só através de um relacionamento contratualista, o profissional conseguirá a adesão de seus pacientes ao tratamento, e para tanto, faz-se necessário o entendimento do corpo, não meramente biológico, mas aquele construído na sociedade

A comprehensive assessment of the transcriptome of cork oak (Quercus suber) through EST sequencing

Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber) is one of the rare trees with the ability to produce cork, a material widely used to make wine bottle stoppers, flooring and insulation materials, among many other uses. The molecular mechanisms of cork formation are still poorly understood, in great part due to the difficulty in studying a species with a long life-cycle and for which there is scarce molecular/genomic information. Cork oak forests are of great ecological importance and represent a major economic and social resource in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. However, global warming is threatening the cork oak forests by imposing thermal, hydric and many types of novel biotic stresses. Despite the economic and social value of the Q. suber species, few genomic resources have been developed, useful for biotechnological applications and improved forest management. Results: We generated in excess of 7 million sequence reads, by pyrosequencing 21 normalized cDNA libraries derived from multiple Q. suber tissues and organs, developmental stages and physiological conditions. We deployed a stringent sequence processing and assembly pipeline that resulted in the identification of ~159,000 unigenes. These were annotated according to their similarity to known plant genes, to known Interpro domains, GO classes and E.C. numbers. The phylogenetic extent of this ESTs set was investigated, and we found that cork oak revealed a significant new gene space that is not covered by other model species or EST sequencing projects. The raw data, as well as the full annotated assembly, are now available to the community in a dedicated web portal at http://www.corkoakdb.org. Conclusions: This genomic resource represents the first trancriptome study in a cork producing species. It can be explored to develop new tools and approaches to understand stress responses and developmental processes in forest trees, as well as the molecular cascades underlying cork differentiation and disease response.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of the cork oak transcriptome dynamics during acorn development

Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) has a natural distribution across western Mediterranean regions and is a keystone forest tree species in these ecosystems. The fruiting phase is especially critical for its regeneration but the molecular mechanisms underlying the biochemical and physiological changes during cork oak acorn development are poorly understood. In this study, the transcriptome of the cork oak acorn, including the seed, was characterized in five stages of development, from early development to acorn maturation, to identify the dominant processes in each stage and reveal transcripts with important functions in gene expression regulation and response to water. Results: A total of 80,357 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were de novo assembled from RNA-Seq libraries representative of the several acorn developmental stages. Approximately 7.6 % of the total number of transcripts present in Q. suber transcriptome was identified as acorn specific. The analysis of expression profiles during development returned 2,285 differentially expressed (DE) transcripts, which were clustered into six groups. The stage of development corresponding to the mature acorn exhibited an expression profile markedly different from other stages. Approximately 22 % of the DE transcripts putatively code for transcription factors (TF) or transcriptional regulators, and were found almost equally distributed among the several expression profile clusters, highlighting their major roles in controlling the whole developmental process. On the other hand, carbohydrate metabolism, the biological pathway most represented during acorn development, was especially prevalent in mid to late stages as evidenced by enrichment analysis. We further show that genes related to response to water, water deprivation and transport were mostly represented during the early (S2) and the last stage (S8) of acorn development, when tolerance to water desiccation is possibly critical for acorn viability. Conclusions: To our knowledge this work represents the first report of acorn development transcriptomics in oaks. The obtained results provide novel insights into the developmental biology of cork oak acorns, highlighting transcripts putatively involved in the regulation of the gene expression program and in specific processes likely essential for adaptation. It is expected that this knowledge can be transferred to other oak species of great ecological value.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Relação da vegetação de caatinga com a condição geomorfométrica local

Objetivou-se, com o presente trabalho, avaliar o potencial das variáveis geomorfométricas extraídas de dados SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) para identificação de tipos vegetacionais da Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural de Serra das Almas, CE. Em estudo conduzido na escala de 1:100.000, as variáveis geomorfométricas (elevação, declividade, orientação de vertente, curvatura vertical e curvatura horizontal) foram confrontadas com o mapa de vegetação referência, através de análises de histogramas e análises discriminantes. As variáveis mais importantes na distinção entre os tipos vegetacionais, foram a elevação, a declividade e a curvatura vertical, embora se pudesse observar preferências de tipos mapeados em relação às demais variáveis. Apesar dos dados geomorfométricos mostrarem potencial indicativo das classes de vegetação pela interpretação dos padrões, as análises sob abordagem numérica resultaram em discriminação em um nível aquém do detalhamento temático do mapa referência. Concluiu-se que os dados geomorfométricos representaram significativos insumos para o mapeamento fitogeográfico, devendo ser explorados de forma integrada, em complementaridade às demais variáveis já utilizadas.The objective of this work was to assess the potential of geomorphometric variables, derived from SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) data, to help in identifying vegetation types in the Serra das Almas National Park (CE). A 1:100.000 survey vegetation map was used as reference and the geomorphometric variables (elevation, slope, aspect and profile and plan curvatures) were compared to the mapped units. The variables elevation, slope and profile curvature were shown as the most important for their high discrimination power of the vegetation types. Although geomorphometric data had strong potential for characterizing vegetation through map comparisons, the achieved thematic detail levels were under those of the reference map when data was analyzed under a numerical approach. It was concluded that geomorphometric data were important input for vegetation mapping, and should be employed together with currently used data

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