Deep Sequencing Analysis of RNAs from Citrus Plants Grown in a Citrus Sudden Death-Affected Area Reveals Diverse Known and Putative Novel Viruses.

Citrus sudden death (CSD) has caused the death of approximately four million orange trees in a very important citrus region in Brazil. Although its etiology is still not completely clear, symptoms and distribution of affected plants indicate a viral disease. In a search for viruses associated with CSD, we have performed a comparative high-throughput sequencing analysis of the transcriptome and small RNAs from CSD-symptomatic and -asymptomatic plants using the Illumina platform. The data revealed mixed infections that included Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) as the most predominant virus, followed by the Citrus sudden death-associated virus (CSDaV), Citrus endogenous pararetrovirus (CitPRV) and two putative novel viruses tentatively named Citrus jingmen-like virus (CJLV), and Citrus virga-like virus (CVLV). The deep sequencing analyses were sensitive enough to differentiate two genotypes of both viruses previously associated with CSD-affected plants: CTV and CSDaV. Our data also showed a putative association of the CSD-symptomatic plants with a specific CSDaV genotype and a likely association with CitPRV as well, whereas the two putative novel viruses showed to be more associated with CSD-asymptomatic plants. This is the first high-throughput sequencing-based study of the viral sequences present in CSD-affected citrus plants, and generated valuable information for further CSD studies

The minimal inhibitory concentration for sulbactam was not associated with the outcome of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter sp. treated with ampicillin/sulbactam

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the outcomes of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter infections treated with ampicillin/sulbactam were associated with the in vitro susceptibility profiles. METHODS: Twenty-two infections were treated with ampicillin/sulbactam. The median treatment duration was 14 days (range: 3-19 days), and the median daily dose was 9 g (range: 1.5-12 g). The median time between Acinetobacter isolation and treatment was 4 days (range: 0-11 days). RESULTS: The sulbactam minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged from 2.0 to 32.0 mg/L, and the MIC was not associated with patient outcome, as 4 of 5 (80%) patients with a resistant infection (MIC≥16), 5 of 10 (50%) patients with intermediate isolates (MIC of 8) and only 1 of 7 (14%) patients with susceptible isolates (MIC ≤4) survived hospitalization. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the need to improve the correlation between in vitro susceptibility tests and clinical outcome

The role of drug use sequencing pattern in further problematic use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other drugs

Background: There has been considerable debate regarding what typically occurs after experimentation with drugs throughout the life of young people who used various drugs. Aims: To evaluate the clinical importance of the most common sequence for the first use of a drug by two models (the “gateway model” and the “alternative model”, which is the most popular sequence for Brazilian university students according to a previous study) regarding the problematic use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illegal drugs, assessed by ASSIST. Method: People who had already experimented with three or more drugs across different stages of the two models were selected from a representative sample of university students from 27 Brazilian capitals (n = 12 711). Findings: There were no differences regarding the problematic use of the most consumed drugs in Brazil (alcohol, tobacco and cannabis) between the models. Multiple drug seekers and violators had more problematic use of illegal drugs other than cannabis than individuals in the model sequence. However, in the case of violators, this was only evident in the alternative model. Conclusions: Multiple drug seekers and violators deserve special attention due to their increased risk of problematic use of other illegal drugs

The role of first use of inhalants within sequencing pattern of first use of drugs among Brazilian university students.

The present study investigated the role of first use of inhalants within a first drug sequencing pattern. In a representative sample of university students from 27 Brazilian capitals (n = 12,711), we analyzed the patterns of transition from/to first use of inhalants to/from the first use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, ecstasy, amphetamines, prescription opioids, and tranquilizers. Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze data. Drugs that were not specified as the pair of drugs tested in each model were included as time-varying covariates in all models. In this sample, first use of inhalants was preceded only by the first use of alcohol and tobacco. However, first use of inhalants preceded first use of cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, and tranquilizers. First use of inhalants preceded the first use of prescription opioids, and vice versa. This study highlights the need to intervene early with youths who are at risk of or just beginning to use inhalants, because this class of drugs seems to be the first illegal drug in Brazil to be experimented by respondents in our sample. There is also a call for attention to individuals who have already first used inhalants because of their higher chance to experiment with other drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, and prescription drugs. All these findings show an in-transition culture of drug use, which should be tracked through time, because some classical models (i.e., gateway model) might be outdated and might also not fit within different settings

Comparative Genome Analysis of Bacillus sporothermodurans with Its Closest Phylogenetic Neighbor, Bacillus oleronius, and Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis Groups

Bacillus sporothermodurans currently possesses one of the most highly heat-resistant spores (HRS), which can withstand ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing. Determination of multiple whole genome sequences of B. sporothermodurans provided an opportunity to perform the first comparative genome analysis between strains and with B. oleronius, B. cereus, and B. subtilis groups. In this study, five whole genome sequences of B. sporothermodurans strains, including those belonging to the HRS clone (SAD and BR12) normally isolated from UHT milk, were compared with the aforementioned Bacillus species for gene clusters responsible for heat resistance. In the phylogenomic analysis, B. sporothermodurans, with its closest phylogenetic neighbor, B. oleronius, clustered with B. thermoamylovorans and B. thermotolerans. Heat shock proteins GrpE, GroES, GroEL, and DnaK presented identical sequences for all B. sporothermodurans strains, indicating that differences in functional efficiency are not involved in the thermal resistance variations. However, comparing all species evaluated, B. sporothermodurans exhibited a different gene configuration in the chromosomal region of the heat shock protein GrpE. Furthermore, only B. sporothermodurans strains presented the stage II sporulation protein P gene located in this region. Multisequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis of the ClpB protein showed differences for HRS and non-HRS strains. The study identified ClpC, ClpE, and ClpX as the three ATPases putatively involved in protein disaggregation in B. sporothermodurans. Bacillussporothermodurans exhibits high homology with other Bacillus species in the DnaK, DnaJ, GroEL, and GroES cluster of genes involved in heat resistance. The data presented here pave the way to select and evaluate the phenotypic effects of genes putatively involved in heat resistance

Pilocarpine accumulation on Pilocarpus pennatifolius tissue culture

Callus and cell suspension cultures were established from young leaves of Pilocarpus pennatifolius on Murashige & Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 5.0 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 1.0 mg/L kinetine. The pilocarpine contents of callus and cell suspension cultures were quantitatively compared by HPLC.Culturas de calos e de células em suspensão foram estabelecidas a partir de folhas jovens de Pilocarous pennatifolius em meio Murashige & Skoog (MS) suplementado com 5 mg/L de ácido 2,4-diclorofenoxiacético e 1 mg/L de cinetina. O teor de pilocarpina nas culturas e suspensões celulares foi quantitativamente comparado por CLAE

Current Status of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in São Paulo Hospitals

OBJECTIVES: Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) comprise coordinated interventions designed to improve antimicrobial use. Understanding the current structure of ASP hospitals will support interventions for the improvement of these programs. This study aimed to describe the status of ASPs in hospitals in São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on the ASPs of hospitals in the state of São Paulo from March to July 2018. Through interviews by telephone or e-mail, we queried which components of the Infectious Diseases Society of America/Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines were implemented. RESULTS: The response rate was 30% (28/93 hospitals), and 26 hospitals (85%) reported having a formal ASP. The most frequently implemented strategies were antimicrobial surgical prophylaxis guidelines (100%), empiric sepsis guidelines (93%), and the presence of ASP team members during bedside rounds (96%). The least commonly implemented strategies included prior authorization for all antimicrobials (11%), pharmacokinetic monitoring, and an adjustment program for patients on IV aminoglycosides (3%). Regarding the metrics of the ASP, the most common indicator was the rate of antimicrobial resistance (77%). Eighteen hospitals evaluated antimicrobial consumption using defined daily dose, and only 29% evaluated the days of therapy; 61% of hospitals reported their results to the hospital administration and 39% to the prescribers. CONCLUSIONS: Most hospitals have a formal and active ASP, but with timely actions. We observed inconsistencies between what program leaders understand as the main objective of ASP and the metrics used to evaluate it. Part of the effort for the next few years should be to improve program evaluation metrics and to provide feedback to physicians and hospital leadership

Trends in alcohol and tobacco use among Brazilian students: 1989 to 2010

Objective: To analyze temporal trends of the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use among Brazilian students. Methods: We analyzed data published between 1989 and 2010 from five epidemiological surveys on students from the 6th to the 12th grade of public schools from the ten largest state capitals of Brazil. The total sample consisted of 104,104 students and data were collected in classrooms. The same collection tool – a World Health Organization self-reporting questionnaire – and sampling and weighting procedures were used in the five surveys. The Chi-square test for trend was used to compare the prevalence from different years. Results: The prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use varied among the years and cities studied. Alcohol consumption decreased in the 10 state capitals (p < 0.001) throughout 21 years. Tobacco use also decreased significantly in eight cities (p < 0.001). The highest prevalence of alcohol use was found in the Southeast region in 1993 (72.8%, in Belo Horizonte) and the lowest one in Belem (30.6%) in 2010. The highest past-year prevalence of tobacco use was found in the South region in 1997 (28.0%, in Curitiba) and the lowest one in the Southeast in 2010 (7.8%, in Sao Paulo). Conclusions: The decreasing trend in the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use among students detected all over the Country can be related to the successful and comprehensive Brazilian antitobacco and antialcohol policies. Despite these results, the past-year prevalence of alcohol consumption in the past year remained high in all Brazilian regions

Disciplina Jurídica Trabalhista Contemporânea da Terceirização: reflexões pós-reforma trabalhista e decisões do STF

Este texto propõe-se examinar os elementos e o suporte que caracterizam a ideia e os efeitos jurídicos da terceirização no Brasil, no recorte da extensão das atividades terceirizadas. Apresenta as inovações legislativas pertinentes sobre o objeto da terceirização e comenta criticamente as decisões do STF sobre a validade da terceirização da atividade fim

Use transition between illegal drugs among Brazilian university students

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to test whether the first use of an illicit drug increases the chance of first use of other illicit drugs. Method: The transitions from the first use of a drug to the first use of another drug were analyzed. Comparisons were made between first drug users and non-users. Survival analysis methods were used to compare the cumulative probability of second drug use after adjusting for socio-demographic covariates and the intermediate use of alcohol and/or tobacco. A total of 12,721 Brazilian university students participated in this study. Results: Inhalants and marijuana were used prior to the use of several other drugs, whereas the opposite pattern was not found. Ecstasy was used before other drugs in several instances. Other well-examined drugs, such as amphetamines, cocaine and hallucinogens, were used both before and after other illicit drugs without any marked predominance for either of the two roles. Conclusions: This study supports the role of the use of marijuana and inhalants almost exclusively before the use of other illicit drugs, whereas the use of ecstasy has an opposite role. These roles could be linked to the prevalence of lifetime use and whether individuals were at an earlier or later age during experimentation