Review of a Small-scale Pelagic Longline Fishery off Northeastern Brazil

The annual catches of four small longliners operating off northeast Brazil from 1983 to 1997 were examined across different areas and locations. The total catch comprised tunas (30%), sharks (54%), billfishes (12%), and other fish species (4%). Fishing strategy and annual composition of catches showed large spatial and temporal variabilities with the dominant catches alternating among yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares; gray sharks, Carcharhinus spp.; and blue shark, Prionace glauca. Catches of blue and gray sharks showed a significant interaction among seamounts, with gray sharks occurring in maximum abundance around those seamounts that had relatively deep summits and low-sloping depth profiles. Results are discussed in terms of the various factors that may have influenced distribution of effort

Dengue epidemic in Belém, Pará, Brazil, 1996-97.

We describe clinical and epidemiologic findings during the first epidemic of dengue fever in Belém, Pará State, Brazil, in 1996-97. Of 40,237 serum samples, 17,440 (43%) were positive for dengue by virus isolation or serologic testing. No hemorrhagic cases or deaths were reported. Mycobacterium tuberculosi

Diversidade na produção de milho na região central de Minas Gerais.

O trabalho pretende contribuir para o necessário processo reflexivo sobre a complexidade do sistema de produção de milho na região central de Minas Gerais, para que sejam levadas em conta suas potencialidades em atender as demandas do produtor e do mercado com o devido cuidado para com as fragilidades locais. Os sistemas de produção de milho na região central de MG (cultivado em praticamente todas as pequenas propriedades rurais) foram objeto de pesquisa de campo em 2010. Características inerentes ao território e à comunidade da região foram consideradas quando da análise das informações oriundas desses sistemas de produção de milho. Em 48 propriedades de 19 municípios da regional da EMATER-MG de Sete Lagoas, foram avaliadas 16 lavouras de milho-silagem e 33 lavouras de milho-grão. Estes produtores foram visitados (entre março e maio de 2010) por uma comissão de técnicos da Emater e da Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, quando foi aplicado um questionário padrão. Foram obtidos dados de produção da lavoura selecionada, das técnicas utilizadas, dos tipos e quantidades de insumos e serviços, da infraestrutura de produção e armazenamento e a percepção ambiental dos produtores. Seguindo a tendência mundial da migração do campo para a cidade, a falta de mão de obra rural na região, citada com frequência pelos entrevistados, surge como problema de considerável relevância: cerca de 70% da população da região é urbana. A área média de produção demilho foi de 3,7 ha, enquanto a de milho-silagem foi de 6,1 ha. Com o predomínio de pequenas propriedades, a produção é, em sua maioria, voltada para consumo próprio (72% plantaram o milho com essa finalidade). A maior área encontrada com produção de milho-grão foi de 36 ha, e para silagem, 60 ha. A lavoura de subsistência e a lavoura comercial são identificadas no atual estudo como sendo “sem integração”, representando 77% das lavouras pesquisadas. Acrescentam-se, a partir das visitas realizadas em 2010, sistemas caracterizados com tipos específicos de consórcio, ainda em proporções incipientes: a integração-lavoura-pecuária (ILP) e a integração-lavoura-pecuária-floresta (ILPF). Afora os adubos sintéticos, herbicida é o insumo com potencial de gerar poluição ambiental mais frequentemente utilizado na região. Em 2005, um levantamento semelhante apontava uma produtividade de 5.655,2 kg/ha em 10 lavouras de milho-grão na região, enquanto em 2010, tal parâmetro atingiu a marca de 7.704,5 kg/ha em média. Dez produtores fizeram uso de inseticida sintético (20,8%), enquanto 09 dos 48 produtores detectaram a presença de inimigos naturais nas lavouras de milho. O aporte tecnológico na atualidade deve-se, em parte, ao esforço de instituições presentes na região, como o Escritório Regional de Sete Lagoas, a EMATER-MG, a Embrapa Milho e Sorgo e a EPAMIG em melhor informar o produtor a respeito das possibilidades de acréscimos tecnológicos à lavoura. Políticas voltadas para o incremento na produção de agricultores familiares necessitam incorporar a noção de externalidades negativas para que as mudanças sugeridas e implementadas sejam realmente capazes de melhorar a condição de vida dos produtores familiares e do entorno.bitstream/item/33558/1/bol-31.pd

The role of adjuvants in therapeutic protection against paracoccidioidomycosis after immunization with the P10 peptide

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a common chronic mycosis in Latin America, is a granulomatous systemic disease caused by the thermo-dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. The glycoprotein gp43 is the main antigen target of P. brasiliensis and a 15-mer internal peptide (QTLIAIHTLAIRYAN), known as P10, defines a major CD4+-specific T cell epitope. Previous results have indicated that, besides having a preventive role in conventional immunizations prior to challenge with the fungus, protective anti-fungal effects can be induced in P. brasiliensis-infected mice treated with P10 administered with complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). The peptide elicits an IFN-γ-dependent Th1 immune response and is the main candidate for effective immunotherapy of patients with PCM, as an adjunctive approach to conventional chemotherapy. In the present study we tested the therapeutic effects of P10 combined with different adjuvants [aluminum hydroxide, CFA, flagellin, and the cationic lipid dioctadecyl-dimethylammonium bromide (DODAB)] in BALB/c mice previously infected with the P. brasiliensis Pb18 strain. Significant reductions in the number of colony forming units of the fungus were detected in lungs of mice immunized with P10 associated with the different adjuvants 52 days after infection. Mice treated with DODAB and P10, followed by mice treated with P10 and flagellin, showed the most prominent effects as demonstrated by the lowest numbers of viable yeast cells as well as reductions in granuloma formation and fibrosis. Concomitantly, secretion of IFN-γ and TNF-α, in contrast to interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10, was enhanced in the lungs of mice immunized with P10 in combination with the tested adjuvants, with the best results observed in mice treated with P10 and DODAB. In conclusion, the present results demonstrate that the co-administration of the synthetic P10 peptide with several adjuvants, particularly DODAB, have significant therapeutic effects in experimental PCM

Numerical relations and skill level constrain co-adaptive behaviors of agents in sports teams

Similar to other complex systems in nature (e.g., a hunting pack, flocks of birds), sports teams have been modeled as social neurobiological systems in which interpersonal coordination tendencies of agents underpin team swarming behaviors. Swarming is seen as the result of agent co-adaptation to ecological constraints of performance environments by collectively perceiving specific possibilities for action (affordances for self and shared affordances). A major principle of invasion team sports assumed to promote effective performance is to outnumber the opposition (creation of numerical overloads) during different performance phases (attack and defense) in spatial regions adjacent to the ball. Such performance principles are assimilated by system agents through manipulation of numerical relations between teams during training in order to create artificially asymmetrical performance contexts to simulate overloaded and underloaded situations. Here we evaluated effects of different numerical relations differentiated by agent skill level, examining emergent inter-individual, intra- and inter-team coordination. Groups of association football players (national - NLP and regional-level - RLP) participated in small-sided and conditioned games in which numerical relations between system agents were manipulated (5v5, 5v4 and 5v3). Typical grouping tendencies in sports teams (major ranges, stretch indices, distances of team centers to goals and distances between the teams' opposing line-forces in specific team sectors) were recorded by plotting positional coordinates of individual agents through continuous GPS tracking. Results showed that creation of numerical asymmetries during training constrained agents' individual dominant regions, the underloaded teams' compactness and each team's relative position on-field, as well as distances between specific team sectors. We also observed how skill level impacted individual and team coordination tendencies. Data revealed emergence of co-adaptive behaviors between interacting neurobiological social system agents in the context of sport performance. Such observations have broader implications for training design involving manipulations of numerical relations between interacting members of social collectives

An Epidemic of Sylvatic Yellow Fever in the Southeast Region of Maranhao State, Brazil, 1993–1994: Epidemiologic and Entomologic Findings

Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil/ Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Developpement. Marseille, France.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil / Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Developpement. Marseille, France.Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, BrasilMinistério da Saúde. Fundação Nacional de Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Yellow fever virus transmission was very active in Maranhao State in Brazil in 1993 and 1994. An investigation was carried out to evaluate the magnitude of the epidemic. In 1993, a total of 932 people was examined for yellow fever from Maranhao: 70 were positive serologically, histopathologically, and/or by virus isolation, and another four cases were diagnosed clinically and epidemiologically. In Mirador (17,565 inhabitants), the incidence was 3.5 per 1,000 people (case fatality rate [number of deaths/number of cases diagnosed] = 16.4 percent), while in a rural yellow fever risk area (14,659 inhabitants), the incidence was 4.2 and the case-fatality rate was 16.1 percent (10 of 62). A total of 45.2 percent (28 of 62) asymptomatic infections were registered. In 1994, 49 serum samples were obtained and 16 cases were confirmed (two by virus isolation, two by seroconversion, and 12 by serology). No fatal cases were reported. In 1993, 936 potential yellow fever vectors were captured in Mirador and a single strain was isolated from a pool of Haemagogus janthinomys (infection rate = 0.16 percent). In 1994, 16 strains were isolated from 1,318 Hg. janthinomys (infection rate = 1.34 percent) and one Sabethes chloropterus (infection rate = 1.67 percent). Our results suggest that this was the most extensive outbreak of yellow fever in the last 20 years in Brazil. It is also clear that the lack of vaccination was the principal reason for the epidemic, which occurred between April and June, during the rainy season, a period in which the mosquito population in the forest increases

Epidemia de dengue em Fortaleza, Ceará: inquérito soro-epidemiológico aleatório

OBJECTIVE: A seroepidemiological random survey was carried out in Fortaleza city, State of Ceará, Brazil, following an epidemic of dengue virus type 2 (DEN 2), with the purpose of evaluating the frequency of clinical manifestations (signs and symptoms) and the prevalence of dengue infection. METHOD: A questionnaire calling for information on address, sex, age, clinical, epidemiological and economic status was applied to the population, followed by venupuncture collection of 5-10 ml of blood for testing by hemagglutination-inhibition (HI). The sample was calculated to obtain a prevalence of 20% with relative risk of 10% and confidence interval of 95%. All information obtained was analyzed by computer using Epi Info 5.0®, Lotus 123®, Excel 5.0®, and Stata® software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A total of 1,341 serum samples were obtained from nine Health Districts (SD) and tested by hemagglutination inhibition. Of these, 589 (44%) were positive and 752 (56%) negative. Of the positive results, 93 primary responses (PR) (7%) to DEN-2 and 496 secondary responses (SR) (37%) were observed. The global prevalence in the SD ranged from 21% to 71%. There were 41% (243/589) asymptomatic infections and 59% (346/589) symptomatic infections. Data analysis showed no difference in frequency by sex, age, on schooling, although a highly statistically significant difference was found as between the different social classes, the infection most commonly observed being among people of better social status.The stratification of positive cases showed greater prevalence of AI (pOBJETIVO: Seguindo-se à epidemia de dengue (DEN), em 1994, em Fortaleza, Ceará, causada pelo sorotipo 2 (DEN-2), realizou-se inquérito soro-epidemiológico aleatório para avaliar e dimensionar o impacto da mesma e a prevalência do dengue por distrito sanitário. MÉTODO: Foi aplicado questionário contendo informações gerais, condições socio-econômicas, informações sobre o quadro clínico e tempo de doença. A amostra foi calculada para estimar uma prevalência de 20%, com erro relativo de 10%, e intervalo de confiança de 95% (erro a de 5%). O sorteio e as análises foram realizadas por meio de computador usando programas apropriados. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: Foram colhidas 1.341 amostras de soro de 9 distritos sanitários, testadas por inibição da hemaglutinação, sendo classificadas como negativas e positivas (respostas primária - RP e secundária - RS). Foram reativas 588 (44%) amostras, sendo 93 (7%) RP e 495 (37%) RS. A prevalência global em Fortaleza variou de 21% a 71%. Houve 41% (243/588) de infecções assintomáticas (IA) e 59% (346/588) sintomáticas (IS). Não houve diferença da prevalência quanto ao sexo, faixa etária e escolaridade, ao contrário da condição socioeconômica que apresentou diferenças estatisticamente significantes (p < 0,001). Ocorreram mais IA (

Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Therapeutic DNA Vaccine Encoding Peptide P10 against Experimental Paracoccidioidomycosis

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), caused by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, is the most prevalent invasive fungal disease in South America. Systemic mycoses are the 10th most common cause of death among infectious diseases in Brazil and PCM is responsible for more than 50% of deaths due to fungal infections. PCM is typically treated with sulfonamides, amphotericin B or azoles, although complete eradication of the fungus may not occur and relapsing disease is frequently reported. A 15-mer peptide from the major diagnostic antigen gp43, named P10, can induce a strong T-CD4+ helper-1 immune response in mice. The TEPITOPE algorithm and experimental data have confirmed that most HLA-DR molecules can present P10, which suggests that P10 is a candidate antigen for a PCM vaccine. In the current work, the therapeutic efficacy of plasmid immunization with P10 and/or IL-12 inserts was tested in murine models of PCM. When given prior to or after infection with P. brasiliensis virulent Pb 18 isolate, plasmid-vaccination with P10 and/or IL-12 inserts successfully reduced the fungal burden in lungs of infected mice. In fact, intramuscular administration of a combination of plasmids expressing P10 and IL-12 given weekly for one month, followed by single injections every month for 3 months restored normal lung architecture and eradicated the fungus in mice that were infected one month prior to treatment. The data indicate that immunization with these plasmids is a powerful procedure for prevention and treatment of experimental PCM, with the perspective of being also effective in human patients