Contextual Reading and Metalinguistic Processing in Brazilian Portuguese: A Longitudinal Study

Metalinguistic skill is the ability to reflect upon language as an object of thought. Amongst metalinguistic skills, two seem to be associated with reading and spelling: morphological awareness and phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability of reflecting upon the phonemes that compose words, and morphological awareness is the ability of reflecting upon the morphemes that compose the words. The latter seems to be particularly important for reading comprehension and contextual reading, as beyond phonological information, syntactic and semantic information are required. This study is set to investigate - with a longitudinal design - the relation between those abilities and contextual reading measured by the Cloze test. The first part of the study explores the relationship between morphological awareness tasks and Cloze scores through simple correlations and, in the second part, the specificity of such relationship was inquired using multiple regressions. The results give some support to the hypothesis that morphological awareness offers an independent contribution regarding phonological awareness to contextual reading in Brazilian Portuguese.

Two new species of marsupial tree-frogs genus Gastrotheca Fitzinger, 1843 (Anura, Hemiphractidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Two new species of Gastrotheca are described from northeastern Minas Gerais and southern Bahia, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Data on morphology, calls, mitochondrial, and nuclear DNA are provided. Allied to G. fissipes and G. megacephala, the new taxa provide evidence for a higher diversity of species of Gastrotheca than previously thought at the Atlantic Forest. The data also suggest that G. pulchra, another Atlantic Forest taxon, is more closely related to non-Atlantic Forest species than to the remaining analyzed Brazilian Gastrotheca species. This implies that the Gastrotheca at the Brazilian coastal forests have at least two independent origins.

Use of alcohol and other drugs among Brazilian college students: effects of gender and age

Objective: To assess the frequency of drug use among Brazilian college students and its relationship to gender and age. Methods: A nationwide sample of 12,721 college students completed a questionnaire concerning the use of drugs and other behaviors. The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST-WHO) criteria were used to assess were used to assess hazardous drug use. A multivariate logistic regression model tested the associations of ASSIST-WHO scores with gender and age. The same analyses were carried out to measure drug use in the last 30 days. Results: After controlling for other sociodemographic, academic and administrative variables, men were found to be more likely to use and engage in the hazardous use of anabolic androgenic steroids than women across all age ranges. Conversely, women older than 34 years of age were more likely to use and engage in the hazardous use of amphetamines. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with results that have been reported for the general Brazilian population. Therefore, these findings should be taken into consideration when developing strategies at the prevention of drug use and the early identification of drug abuse among college students.

Rickettsial infection in Amblyomma cajennense ticks and capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in a Brazilian spotted fever-endemic area

Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii, is the deadliest spotted fever of the world. In most of the BSF-endemic areas, capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are the principal host for the tick Amblyomma cajennense, which is the main vector of BSF. In 2012, a BSF case was confirmed in a child that was bitten by ticks in a residential park area inhabited by A. cajennense-infested capybaras in Itú municipality, southeastern Brazil. Host questing A. cajennense adult ticks were collected in the residential park and brought alive to the laboratory, where they were macerated and intraperitoneally inoculated into guinea pigs. A tick-inoculated guinea pig that presented high fever was euthanized and its internal organs were macerated and inoculated into additional guinea pigs (guinea pig passage). Tissue samples from guinea pig passages were also used to inoculate Vero cells through the shell vial technique. Infected cells were used for molecular characterization of the rickettsial isolate through PCR and DNA sequencing of fragments of three rickettsial genes (gltA, ompA, and ompB). Blood serum samples were collected from 172 capybaras that inhabited the residential park. Sera were tested through the immunofluorescence assay using R. rickettsii antigen. A tick-inoculated guinea pig presented high fever accompanied by scrotal reactions (edema and marked redness). These signs were reproduced by consecutive guinea pig passages. Rickettsia was successfully isolated in Vero cells that were inoculated with brain homogenate derived from a 3rd passage-febrile guinea pig. Molecular characterization of this rickettsial isolate (designated as strain ITU) yielded DNA sequences that were all 100% identical to corresponding sequences of R. rickettsii in Genbank. A total of 83 (48.3%) out of 172 capybaras were seroreactive to R. rickettsii, with endpoint titers ranging from 64 to 8192. A viable isolate of R. rickettsii was obtained from the tick A. cajennense, comprising the first viable R. rickettsi isolate from this tick species during the last 60 years. Nearly half of the capybara population of the residential park was seroreactive to R. rickettsii, corroborating the findings that the local A. cajennense population was infected by R. rickettsii.