Natural history of the South American water snake Helicops leopardinus (Colubridae : Hydropsini) in the pantanal, Central Brazil

The South American water snake Helicops leopardinus is very abundant in the Pantanal wetlands of Central Brazil. We studied the biology of this species based on specimens collected by local workers in the Paraguay River. Females attained greater body lengths and had larger heads than males, but the latter had longer tails. Helicops leopardinus fed on a wide variety of fishes (70% of the total prey items) and frogs, with fishes of the order Gymnotiformes (33.34%) and frogs of the family Hylidae (23.34%) representing the most common prey items. There was relatively lows diet overlap between the sexes and between juveniles and adults. Mean litter size was 6.6 and ranged from 4-11. The reproductive cycle was seasonal, with birth occurring late in the wet season (simultaneous with the flooding of the Paraguay River), facilitating dispersal of young snakes by floating vegetation. Floating vegetation may be a critical habitat for H. leopardinus, and management plans for their maintenance need to be developed.

New host records of Brazilian pentastomid species

Pentastomida é um táxon de organismos parasitas obrigatórios de sistema respiratório de vertebrados, principalmente répteis. Embora esse táxon seja muito importante para a compreensão da filogenia dos Metazoa, tem recebido pouca atenção. No Brasil, existem poucas coleções que abrigam espécies de pentastomídeos, quais sejam: a Coleção Helmintológica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (CHIOC), a Coleção de Invertebrados do Laboratório de Zoologia da Universidade Regional do Cariri (LAZ-URCA) e a Coleção Helmintológica do Laboratório de Parasitologia de Animais Silvestres (LAPAS). O presente trabalho descreve as espécies de pentastomídeos depositados na Coleção Helmintológia do LAPAS. O trato respiratório e as cavidades do corpo dos répteis foram removidos e analisados sob Microscópio Esteroscópico; quando encontrados os pentastomídeos, foram montados slides em meio Hoyer e identificados. Foram identificadas quatro espécies e outras três ficaram identificadas no nível de gênero, tendo sido registrados quatro novos hospedeiros para as espécies de pentastomídeos.

Genotyping of Brazilian Giardia duodenalis human axenic isolates

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Natural history of the coral snake Micrurus Pyrrhocryptus Cope 1862 (Elapidae) from semideciduous forests of western Brazil.

Coral snakes in the genus Micrurus are widely distributed in the Neotropics, with more than 50 species already described in this region. They are primarily ground or leaf litter dwellers, feed on snakes or other elongate vertebrates, and tend to reproduce during the rainy season. We present data on the biology of Micrurus pyrrhocryptus from two semideciduous forests of Mato Grosso do Sul state, western Brazil. Two snake species were consumed: the dipsadid Sibynomorphus lavillai and the typhlopid Typhlops brongersmianus. Sexual dimorphism is marked in M. pyrrhocryptus. with males attaining larger sizes and having longer tails. Activity was concentrated in the wet season, when reproduction occurs. The defensive behavior in this species is similar to that displayed by other Micron's, although less pronounced.

Structural characterization of a new acylpolyaminetoxin from the venom of Brazilian garden spider Nephilengys cruentata

Mario Sergio Palma, Yasuhiro Itagaki, Tsuyoshi Fujita, Hideo Naoki and Terumi Nakajima. Structural characterization of a new acylpolpaminetoxin from the venom of Brazilian garden spider Nephilengys: cruentata. Toxicon 36, 455-493, 1998.-The use of mass spectrometry, in which high-energy CID and charge remote fragmentation both of protonated and sodium-attached molecular ions was applied, afforded the structural elucidation of a new acylgolyaminetoxin with M-W= 801 da from the venom of the Brazilian garden spider Nephilengys cruentata. In spite of having the same M-W of the NPTX-2, previously described in the venom of the Joro spider Nephila clavata, neither toxins are isomers. In order to differentiate them by using the most usual nomenclature, the new toxin was named NPTX-801C and the NPTX-2 was renamed to NPTX-801E. Both toxins have as common structure the 4-hydroxyindole-3-acetyl-asparaginyl-cadaveryl moiety in their molecules and their structure may be represented in a simplified way: NPTX-801E is HO-indole-Asn-Cad-Pta-Orn-Arg and NPTX-801C is HO-indole-Asn-Cad-Gly-Put-Pta-Pta. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ronderosia ommexechoides: a new species of Brazilian dichroplini (Orthoptera : Acrididae, Melanoplinae)

A new species of the genus Ronderosia Cigliano 1997 is described. Color illustrations of the female and male, drawings of female and male external genitalia as well as drawings of its phallic structures and photographs of the chromosomes are included.

Pericentric inversion events in karyotypic distinction of Brazilian lizards of genus Phyllopezus (Squamata, Gekkonidae) detected by chromosomal banding patterns

Cytogenetic investigations based on conventional and differential staining analysis (C-and replication R-banding and Ag-staining) were carried out on eight specimens of Phyllopezus periosus, 17 of P. pollicaris pollicaris, and one of P. pollicaris przewalskii collected from different localities of Brazil. P. periosus and P. p. pollicaris share the same diploid number of 2n = 40 chromosomes, and their karyotypes are very distinctive regarding to the number of biarmed and uniarmed chromosomes. After careful side-by-side comparison of R-banded chromosomes in both taxa, pronounced homology between, at least, eight pairs was revealed. The R-banding patterns allowed us to postulate that karyotype differentiation could be due to pericentric inversion events. P. p. przewalskii (2n = 38) exhibited a very similar karyotype to that found in P. p. pollicaris, except for the presence of one metacentric pair, which probably resulted from a Robertsonian rearrangement. Single and multiple pairs of NOR-bearing chromosomes, showing variation in number and location, were detected among the three forms of Phyllopezus. Similar C-banding patterns were found in P. periosus and P. p. pollicaris. Sex chromosomes were not positively identified.

Soil profile, relief features and their relation to structure and distribution of Brazilian Atlantic rain forest trees

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Psychological, biochemical and physiological responses of Brazilian soccer players during a training program

Aims of the study. - The aim of this study is to investigate the behavior of the physiological, biochemical and psychological parameters in Brazilian soccer players during a training program.Materials. - Fifteen athletes were evaluated at the beginning (T1), in the middle (T2) and at the end (T3) of the training program. on the first day, at 7:30 am, before the blood collecting at rest for the determination of serum creatine kinase (CK), serum creatinine and serum urea, the athletes had their psychological parameters assessed by the profile of mood state questionnaire (POMS). After 90 min, they performed a 250-m sprint. on the second day at 8:30 am, the athletes had their alactic anaerobic performance measured and, after 40 min, they completed the aerobic test. Friedman test was used to verify the behavior of overtraining markers.Results. - There was a decrease in vigor score in T3 (p=0.01) compared with T1 and T2. In T3 (p=0.01), the athletes also showed an increase in serum creatinine levels compared to T1. Furthermore, in the same period, we verified a diminishing in the team performance.Conclusion. - The training program developed between T2 and T3 led to the fall of the vigor score, the increase in serum creatinine concentrations and the diminishing in team performance. (c) 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-long form overestimates self-reported physical activity of Brazilian adults

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Functional capacity of Brazilian patients with Parkinson's disease (PD): Relationship between clinical characteristics and disease severity

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Foot-trembling behavior in Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus reveals prey on surface of Brazilian beaches

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Phylogenetic relationships within anuran clade Terrarana, with emphasis on the placement of Brazilian Atlantic rainforest frogs genus Ischnocnema (Anura: Brachycephalidae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Is the evolutionary history of the O-type P element in the saltans and willistoni groups of Drosophila similar to that of the canonical P element?

We studied the occurrence of O-type P elements in at least one species of each subgroup of the saltans group, in order to better understand the phylogenetic relationships among the elements within the saltans group and with those of species belonging to the willistoni group. We found that the O-type subfamily has a patchy distribution within the saltans group (it does not occur in D. neocordata and D. emarginata), low sequence divergence among species of the saltans group as well as in relation to species of the willistoni group, a lower rate of synonymous substitution for coding sequences compared to Adh, and phylogenetic incongruities. These findings suggest that the evolutionary history of the O-type subfamily within the saltans and willistoni groups follows the same model proposed for the canonical subfamily of P elements, i.e., events of horizontal transfer between species of the saltans and willistoni groups.

Effect of grape pre-drying and static pomace contact on physicochemical properties and sensory acceptance of Brazilian (Bordo and Isabel) red wines

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)