Amphibians on the hotspot: Molecular biology and conservation in the South American Atlantic Rainforest

Amphibians are the focus of a recent debate and public attention owing to the global decline in their populations worldwide. Amphibians are one of the most threatened and poorly known groups of vertebrates in several geographic areas, even though they play a central role in their own ecosystems. At different levels, amphibians make their contribution to proper ecosystem functioning. They act as regulators of the food web and nutrient cycling, and they also provide several valuable ecosystem services, e.g., as a food source and as animal models for lab research. In this sense, it seems clear that the maintenance of amphibian diversity should be one of the major goals for the several countries where their population decline is observed. However, we are still struggling with the very first step of this process, i.e., the correct identification of the amphibian species diversity. Over the past few decades, research on molecular identification of amphibians using DNA barcoding has encountered some difficulties related to high variability in the mitochondrial genome of amphibians, and a research gap is noticeable in the literature. We herein evaluated both COI and 16S rRNA mitochondrial genes for the molecular identification of frogs and tadpoles in a large fragment of the South American Atlantic Rainforest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our results suggest that both COI and 16S rRNA are informative markers for the molecular identification of the amphibian specimens with all specimens unambiguously identified at the species level. We also made publicly available 12 new sequences of Atlantic Rainforest amphibian species for the first time, and we discussed some conservation issues related to amphibians within the Atlantic Rainforest domains in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.The authors benefited from grants provided to CFDR (304791/2010-5; 470265/2010- 8 and 302974/2015-6) from Conselho Nacional do Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and through "Cientistas do Nosso Estado" Program from FAPERJ to CFDR (process No. E-26/ 102.765.2012 E-26/202.920.2015). We would like to thank C. Haddad (Universidade Estadual Paulista) and M. L. Lyra (Universidade Estadual Paulista) for some of the specimens and the primers used in the present manuscript and L. A. Fusinatto, who kindly revised the manuscript offering helpful suggestions. FP was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [IF/01356/2012] and Northern Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020) through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [MARINFO NORTE-01-0145-FEDER- 000031]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Vacinação contra hepatite B e exposição ocupacional no setor saúde em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

OBJETIVO: Identificar fatores associados à vacinação contra hepatite B em trabalhadores da saúde. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com 1.808 trabalhadores da saúde do setor público de Belo Horizonte, MG, em 2009. Questionário autoadministrado foi usado e a situação vacinal foi analisada considerando características sociodemográficas, estilo de vida, características e condições de trabalho. Análises estatísticas univariada (p < 0,20) e múltipla foram realizadas utilizando regressão de Poisson (p < 0,05) para avaliação de fatores associados à vacinação. RESULTADOS: Declararam ter sido vacinados 85,6% dos trabalhadores, 74,9% dos quais receberam esquema completo da vacina. Não ter sido vacinado associou-se a não ter companheiro, a escolaridade em nível médio/técnico ou superior incompleto e a características do trabalho, como atuar na vigilância ou setor administrativo/serviços gerais e não utilizar equipamentos de proteção individual. CONCLUSÕES: Foram identificados grupos com menor cobertura vacinal. São necessários esforços para garantir o acesso e a adesão à vacinação a todos os grupos ocupacionais.OBJECTIVE: To identify factors associated with vaccination against hepatitis B among healthcare workers. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study on 1,808 public-sector healthcare workers in Belo Horizonte, Southeastern Brazil, in 2009. A self-administered questionnaire was used and the vaccination situation was analyzed taking sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle and working conditions and characteristics into consideration. Univariate (p < 0.20) and multiple (p < 0.05) statistical analyses were performed using Poisson regression to evaluate factors associated with vaccination. RESULTS: Of the workers, 85.6% declared that they had been vaccinated, although only 74.9% of the vaccinated professionals had received a complete imunization schedule. Not having been vaccinated was associated with not having a partner; having high school, technical or incomplete higher education level; work characteristics such as working in surveillance or the administrative/general services sector; and not using personal protection equipment. CONCLUSIONS: Groups with lower vaccination coverage were identified. Efforts are required to ensure access and adherence to vaccination among healthcare workers, such as awareness-raising mechanisms.OBJETIVO: Identificar factores asociados con la vacunación contra hepatitis B en trabajadores de la salud. MÉTODOS: Estudio transversal con 1.808 trabajadores de la salud del sector público de Belo Horizonte, Sudeste de Brasil, en 2009. Se usó cuestionario auto-administrado y se analizó la situación de la vacunación considerando características sociodemográficas, estilo de vida, características y condiciones de trabajo. Se realizaron análisis estadísticos univariado (p< 0,20) y múltiple utilizando regresión de Poisson (p< 0,05) para evaluación de factores asociados con la vacunación. RESULTADOS: Declararon haber sido vacunados 85,6% de los trabajadores, 74,9% recibieron esquema completo de vacunación. No haber sido vacunado se asoció a no tener compañero, a la escolaridad en nivel medio/técnico o superior incompleto y a características de trabajo, como actuar en la vigilancia o sector administrativo/servicios generales y no utilizar equipamientos de protección individual. CONCLUSIONES: Se identificaron grupos con menor cobertura de vacunación. Son necesarios esfuerzos para garantizar el acceso y la adhesión a la vacunación entre los trabajadores de la salud, como ejemplo de mecanismos de sensibilización