Caracterização genética e evolução dos vírus dengue no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte

Dengue is considered as the most important arthropod-borne viral disease throughout the world due to the high number of people at risk to be infected, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the planet. The etiologic agent is Dengue Virus (DENV), it is a single positive-stranded RNA virus of the family Flavivirus, genus Flaviviridae. Four serotypes are known, DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4. One of the most important characteristic of these viruses is the genetic variability, which demands phylogenetic and evolutionary studies to understand key aspects like: epidemiology, virulence, migration patterns and antigenic characteristics. The objective of this study is the genetic characterization of dengue viruses circulating in the state of Rio Grande does Norte from January 2010 to December 2012. The complete E gene (1485 pb) of DENV1, 2 e 4 from Brazilian (Rio Grande do Norte) patients was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using MEGA 5.2 software, Tamura-Nei model and Neighbor-Joining trees were inferred for the datasets. In Brazil, there is just one DENV-1 genotype (genotype V), one DENV-2 genotype (Asian/American) and two DENV-4 genotypes (genotypes I and II). Brazilian strains of DENV-1 are subdivided in two different lineages (BR-I and BR-II), the Brazilian strains of DENV-2 are subdivided in four lineages (BRI-IV) and genotype II of DENV-4 is subdivided in three Brazilian lineages (BRI-III). The viruses isolated in RN belong to lineage BR-II (DENV-1), BR-IV (DENV-2) and BR-III (DENV-4).The Caribbean and near Latin American countries are the main source of these viruses to Brazil. Amino acids substitutions were detected in three domains of E protein, this makes clear the necessity of studies that associate epidemiological and molecular data to better understand the effects of these mutations. This is the first study about genetic characterization and evolution of Dengue viruses in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Coeficientes de incidência do dengue e sua relação com os diferenciais intra-urbanos segundo condições de vida no município do Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

This study sprang from the hypothesis that spatial variations in the morbidity rate for dengue fever within the municipality of Natal are related to intra-city socioeconomic and environmental variations. The objective of the project was to classify the different suburbs of Natal according to their living conditions and establish if there was any correlation between this classification and the incidence rate for dengue fever, with the aim of enabling public health planners to better control this disease. Data on population density, access to safe drinking water, rubbish collection, sewage disposal facilities, income level, education and the incidence of dengue fever during the years 2001 and 2003 was drawn from the Brazilian Demographic Census 2000 and from the Reportable Disease Notification System -SINAN. The study is presented here in the form of two papers, corresponding to the types of analysis performed: a classification of the urban districts into quartiles according to the living conditions which exist there, in the first article; and the incidence of dengue fever in each of these quartiles, in the second. By applying factorial analysis to the chosen socioeconomic and environmental indicators for the year 2000, a compound index of living condition (ICV) was obtained. On the basis of this index, it was possible to classify the urban districts into quartiles. On undertaking this grouping (paper 1), a heterogeneous distribution of living conditions was found across the city. As to the incidence rate for dengue fever (paper 2), it was discovered that the quartile identified as having the best living conditions presented incidence rates of 15.62 and 15.24 per 1000 inhabitants respectively in the years 2001 and 2003; whereas the quartile representing worst living conditions showed incidence rates of 25.10 and 10.32 for the comparable periods. The results suggest that dengue fever occurs in all social classes, and that its incidence is not related in any evident way to the chosen formula for living conditions

Desenvolvimento de um sistema computacional para geração automática de mapas de vulnerabilidade como ferramenta de auxílio às ações de prevenção ao derramamento de óleo em áreas costeiras

The northern portion of the Rio Grande do Norte State is characterized by intense coastal dynamics affecting areas with ecosystems of moderate to high environmental sensitivity. In this region are installed the main socioeconomic activities of RN State: salt industry, shrimp farm, fruit industry and oil industry. The oil industry suffers the effects of coastal dynamic action promoting problems such as erosion and exposure of wells and pipelines along the shore. Thus came the improvement of such modifications, in search of understanding of the changes which causes environmental impacts with the purpose of detecting and assessing areas with greater vulnerability to variations. Coastal areas under influence oil industry are highly vulnerable and sensitive in case of accidents involving oil spill in the vicinity. Therefore, it was established the geoenvironmental monitoring of the region with the aim of evaluating the entire coastal area evolution and check the sensitivity of the site on the presence of oil. The goal of this work was the implementation of a computer system that combines the needs of insertion and visualization of thematic maps for the generation of Environmental Vulnerability maps, using techniques of Business Intelligence (BI), from vector information previously stored in the database. The fundamental design interest was to implement a more scalable system that meets the diverse fields of study and make the appropriate system for generating online vulnerability maps, automating the methodology so as to facilitate data manipulation and fast results in cases of real time operational decision-making. In database development a geographic area was established the conceptual model of the selected data and Web system was done using the template database PostgreSQL, PostGis spatial extension, Glassfish Web server and the viewer maps Web environment, the GeoServer. To develop a geographic database it was necessary to generate the conceptual model of the selected data and the Web system development was done using the PostgreSQL database system, its spatial extension PostGIS, the web server Glassfish and GeoServer to display maps in Web