Molecular detection of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in asymptomatic captive psittacines

Psittaciformes are one of the most endangered groups of birds, and several Brazilian species are classified between vulnerable and critically endangered. It is thus necessary to identify agents that cause infections in captive wild animals and to assess the risks posed thereof and to design interventions to minimize the possibility of disease outbreaks, leading to the conservation of endangered species. The purpose of this study was to identify enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) cloacal isolates from asymptomatic psittacines in captivity and evaluate the distribution of the EPEC pathotype. Cloacal swabs were obtained from 46 asymptomatic birds, and resulting isolates were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of the attaching and effacing gene (eae) and bundle-forming pilus structural gene (bfpA) of EPEC. Samples from several species were tested, and three samples were found to be positive for the eae and bfpA genes and characterized as typical EPEC. This is the first report of this pathotype in asymptomatic psittacines. Although certain E. coli strains are more pathogenic than others, various factors should be considered when determining the potential of E. coli isolates to cause disease in captive psittacines. Birds that are positive for the EPEC (typical) strain could be zoonotic sources of infection, and may have acquired these strains through contact with humans or domestic animals. These findings may also be valuable for the long-term management of endangered species ex situ as one EPEC sample was isolated from a Red-tailed Amazon (Amazona brasiliensis).

Hematology and Serum Chemistry of Free-ranging Jaguars (Panthera onca)

We collected and analyzed blood samples from 12 free-ranging jaguars (Panthera onca). Clinical examinations, hematolog, and serum chemistry indicate the jaguars were in good overall health. Results may help as values for free-ranging jaguars under the same handling conditions.

Modernismo de pés descalços: Mário de Andrade e a cultura caipira

Depois das "palavras em liberdade" de Pauliceia desvairada, Mário de Andrade inaugurou, nos anos de 1920, uma nova fase de sua obra literária, que correspondia a uma reorientação do próprio Modernismo brasileiro: a busca da "contribuição milionária de todos os erros" (Oswald de Andrade, "Manifesto Pau Brasil"). Contra as regras da gramática e do discurso letrado, procurava-se imitar a "língua errada do povo". No caso de Mário de Andrade, o desejo de estilizar a fala popular resultou no projeto da Gramatiquinha da Língua Brasileira, que tinha no chamado dialeto caipira uma de suas inspirações. O diálogo com a cultura caipira ocorre em momentos centrais da sua produção literária: Macunaíma, Clã do jabuti, Os contos de Belazarte. Estudando a pintura de Tarsila do Amaral, Mário dirá que a sua brasilidade consiste no "caipirismo" das cores e das formas; algo que também se aplica, e mais radicalmente, à literatura cada vez mais enraizada de Mário de Andrade, na qual os "erros" de linguagem e a presença de personagens caipiras ou selvagens figuram o deslocamento do Brasil e o do próprio escritor em relação ao processo de modernização.