Frequency of seropositivity to Toxocara canis in children of different socioeconomic strata

Para estudar a freqüência da infecção pelo Toxocara canis em crianças de classes sociais diferentes de Brasília, Brasil, foram testados soros de 602 crianças de ambos os sexos, de 1 a 12 anos, distribuídas em dois grupos representativos de condições socioeconômicas distintas. As amostras do primeiro grupo foram obtidas em laboratório público que atende bairros pobres. As do segundo grupo foram colhidas em laboratório privado, que serve à classe média. Os anticorpos anti-Toxocara foram detectados pelo método ELISA, com antígenos de Toxocara canis, e absorção com antígenos do Ascaris suum. A prevalência de soropositividade foi de 21,8% (66/302) no primeiro grupo e de 3% (9/300) no segundo (p<0,0001). Não houve diferença quanto ao gênero ou idade das crianças. Os resultados sugerem significativa prevalência de toxocaríase na população infantil de Brasília, com predomínio nas classes sociais menos favorecidas economicamente. __________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTFrequency of seropositivity for Toxocara in children from different socioeconomic strata in the city of Brasilia (Brazil) was measured. Six hundred and two children of both sexes, aged one to 12 years were distributed in two socioeconomically distinct groups. The samples of sera of the first group were obtained from blood drawn for routine tests in the laboratory of a public hospital attending children from low-income families. Samples from the second group were obtained from private laboratories attending children from middle-class families. Antitoxocara antibodies were detected by ELISA, using Toxocara canis excretory-secretory antigens previously absorbed with Ascaris suum extract. The prevalence of seropositivity was 21.8% (66/302) in the first group and 3% (9/300) in the second (p< 0.0001). No differences in frequency according to age or sex could be detected. Our results suggest a high prevalence of childhood toxocariasis in Brasilia, with children from lower income brackets being the most affected

Utilização de geotecnologias para implementação do Cadastramento Ambiental Rural: Estudo de caso na Amazônia Legal

The need to ensure environmental regularization of rural properties situated in the priority municipalities for deforestation control has made the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) a strategic instrument for the monitoring of alteration to Forest cover at the property scale. With the CAR, state environment agencies are able to identify areas that were deforested illegally or without authorization from the relevant agency, thus speeding up compliance of rural properties with environmental law. CAR entails the electronic register of rural properties with state environment agencies, including geo-referencing information demarcating areas destined for productive activities and other alternative uses. The advantages of the CAR for environmental management, that optimizes investments in monitoring and enforcement, speeds up legal accountability and favors integration at various levels of territorial planning, from macrozoning to the scale of each property, thus permitting landscape conservation. For rural producers, this attests regularity of production throughout the production chain, confers judicial security, access to credit and preserves the environmental patrimony of the property. Thus, this article presents a brief discussion on the implementation of a pilot project of CAR in the Legal Amazon. The project was conducted in six municipalities of Legal Amazonia, where there was the mapping of land use and geo-referencing rural properties. Information was crossed by rural property to generate environmental diagnostics. Briefly, the project achieved the expected objectives and represented a learning experience for the consolidation of public policy, today under "new forestry code," Law n°. 12.651.Pages: 2533-254