Piranha Attacks on Humans in Southeast Brazil: Epidemiology, Natural History, and Clinical Treatment, with Description of a Bite Outbreak

There are many tales describing ferocious schools of piranha attacking humans, but there are few scientific data supporting such behavior. The very few documented instances of humans attacked and eaten by piranha schools include 3 that occurred after death by other causes (eg, heart failure and drowning). These predaceous fishes, however, do occasionally injure bathers and swimmers in lakes and rivers. The characteristic profile of most injuries is a single bite per victim, generally related to the fish defending its brood. This paper describes an outbreak of piranha bites in a dammed river portion in southeast Brazil. The outbreak was caused by the speckled piranha, Serrasalmus spilopleura, a widespread species which benefits from the growing tendency of damming rivers all over Brazil. This article focuses on the epidemiological and clinical aspects of the injuries, as well as on piranha biology, to gain a better understanding of the natural history of bite outbreaks.

Puncture wounds by driftwood catfish during bucket baths: Local habits of riverside people and fish natural history in the Amazon

Objective. - To assess the prevalence of stings by small spiny driftwood catfish (carataí) of the genus Centromochlus (Auchenipteridae) accidentally caught in buckets during bucket bathing by riverside people along the Brazilian Amazon and to determine the probability of catching specimens of these fish during random throws of a bucket into the river. Methods. - We interviewed 27 adult residents living at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers in Brazil regarding whether or not they had ever been stung by driftwood catfish while bucket bathing. To assess the likelihood of catching catfish in bathing buckets, we randomly threw a typical plastic bucket used for bathing in 4 series of 10 throws into the river at dusk or night around a floating house. Results. - Seventeen of the 27 subjects (63%) reported being injured by driftwood catfish during bucket bathing. Three individuals (17.6%) had been injured 2 to 3 times, totaling 23 puncture accidents. All stings occurred at dusk or early night. In the 4 series of 10 bucket throws, we caught 3 driftwood catfish (in 1 series we did not catch any fish). Thus, the chance of catching a driftwood catfish in a single bucket throw at dusk was slightly less than 10%. Conclusions. - The prevalence of stings by driftwood catfish to people bucket bathing in this section of the Brazilian Amazon is high, partly because of the relatively high chances of catching these small catfish during random throws of a bathing bucket into the river.

Othonella araguaiana (Bivalvia, Megadesmidae) from the Corumbataí formation (Midlle Permian), eastern margin of the Paraná Basin: Systematic, evolutionary and biostratigraphic significances

In this study, the occurrence of Othonella araguaiana Mendes, a rare bivalve species is reported for the fi rst time in the Pinzonella illusa biozone, Middle Permian Corumbataí Formation, in the State of São Paulo. This species was originally described in coeval rocks of the Estrada Nova Formation (= Corumbataí) from the Alto Araguaia and Alto Garças regions, State of Mato Grosso. The specimens of O. araguaiana were found in the base of a bioclastic sandstone bed, a proximal tempestite, in the middle of the Corumbataí Formation, in the city of Rio Claro, São Paulo State. The silicifi ed shells and internal molds are well preserved, showing impressions of muscle scars and other internal anatomic characters (e.g., hinge), never illustrated by previous authors. In his original description, Mendes (1963) called attention to the similarity between O. araguaiana and Terraia aequilateralis, a common veneroid of the Corumbataí Formation. Conversely, Runnegar and Newell (1971) suggested that O. araguaiana belongs to Megadesmidae, being a junior synonym of Plesiocyprinella carinata (the commonest megadesmid of the Passa Dois Group). Our study indicates that O. araguaiana is indeed a megadesmid, but is distinct from the P. carinata. The new occurrence of O. araguaiana demonstrates that a) the paleobiogeographic distribution of this species is wider than previously thought (that it was restricted to the northern part of Paraná Basin, Mato Grosso State); b) the molluscan fauna of the Corumbataí Formation (P. illusa biozone) in the State of São Paulo is more diverse and dominated by megadesmids; and c) the composition of the molluscan fauna of the Corumbataí Formation in Alto Garças, State of Mato Grosso, is essentially the same as that of the P. illusa biozone of the eastern margin of the Paraná Basin.

Perceptions of environmental change and use of traditional knowledge to plan riparian forest restoration with relocated communities in Alcantara, Eastern Amazon

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Multivariate analysis of the temporal variability of sugarcane ripening in south-eastern Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Heydrichia (?) poignantii, sp nov (Sporolithaceae, Sporolithales, Rhodophyta), a 100 million year old fossil coralline red alga from north-eastern Brazil, and a new Hauterivian record of Sporolithon from Switzerland

Fossil specimens of Heydrichia (?) poignantii, sp. nov. (Sporolithaceae, Sporolithales, Rhodophyta), representing the first confirmation of the genus in the fossil record, were discovered in thin sections of Albian limestones from the Riachuelo Formation, Sergipe Basin, and in thin sections of Albian -Cenomanian limestones from the Ponta do Mel Formation, Potiguar Basin in north-eastern Brazil. A detailed morphological-anatomical account of the species is provided, and its placement in Heydrichia is discussed in relation to current classification proposals. Comparisons with the four other known species of the genus, all non-fossil, show that H. poignantii is the only known species of Heydrichia in which thalli are encrusting to sparsely warty to horizontally layered with overlapping lamellate branches that commonly appear variously curved or arched, and in which thalli have sporangial complexes that become buried in the thallus. The evolutionary history of Heydrichia remains uncertain, but available data suggest that the genus may have diverged from the sporolithacean genus Sporolithon, known as early as Hauterivian times (c. 129.4-132.9 +/- 1 Ma) from Spain (and newly reported here from Switzerland), or it may have arisen from a graticulacean alga such as Graticula, dating from mid-Silurian times (c. 427-435 Ma). Current data also suggest that Heydrichia is more likely to have arrived in Brazil from Central Atlantic waters than from higher latitude South Atlantic waters. This implies that currently living species in southern Africa probably arose later from ancestors further equatorward in the South Atlantic, although confirming studies are needed. All non-fossil species of Heydrichia are known only from the southern hemisphere.

Higher education in evening courses in Brazil: history, growth and public policies at the beginning of the XXI Century

There are three distinct and complementary objectives in this article in order to clarify the higher education outline in Brazil, specifically evening courses (classes are held on weekdays, generally from 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm) and thesecurrent sector policies. The first objective is to present a short historical overview on the establishment of evening courses in Brazil, including those in the higher education level, occurred on the middle of last century. The second objective is to demonstrate the growth of evening higher education in Brazil, considering that in 1998, of the 2.1 million college enrollments, 55.3% were enrolled in evening courses; in 2010, twelve years later, of the 5.4 million students enrolled, there were 63.5% enrolled in evening courses. This expansion is due to the growing need of many students who must work while attending college, to defray costs of the study as well as personal and family costs. The reality of the working student is hostile considering external factors, such as transport problems, public security and lack of legislation for flexible working hours. The third objective is to discuss current public policies to expand eveningopenings in public institutions which represent nowadays only 16.1% of the 3.4 million enrollments for evening classes, including federal (6.8%), state (7.0%) and municipal (2.3%) institutions. In the third objective it is included the discussion of programs for scholarships and tuition loans. The methodology applied was to rescue historical information on the establishment and the expansion of evening courses in Brazil, analyzing the current general Brazilian policies and the specific ones from the State of São Paulo. The research results pointed to the importance of federal programs for scholarships and tuition loans for students from private institutions such as the 1,382,484 scholarships since 2004 (PROUNI Program) and the 847,000 tuition loans since 1999 (FIES Program). Important steps have been made by the Brazilian government. Considering that there are 3,987,424 enrollments in private institutions, the effectiveness of the programs for scholarships and tuition loans is still insufficient to meet the universal benefits for the student’s needs. Evening courses became the real instrument of social inclusion for many Brazilian youths and must be expanded quantitatively and qualitatively, with aggressive public policies, including also, scholarships and tuition loans.