Frequent respiratory pathogens of respiratory tract infections in children attending daycare centers

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Hemoglobina Köln diagnosticada em programa de triagem neonatal em São José do Rio Preto, SP

Alterações genéticas em que a mutação de aminoácidos nas globinas afeta a estrutura da molécula tornando-a instável são classificadas como hemoglobinas instáveis. Devido à grande diversidade dos pontos de mutações por substituições e deleções de aminoácidos, as formas de instabilização se apresentam muito variadas. A hemoglobina Köln é a variante instável descrita com maior freqüência na literatura e a terceira descoberta no Brasil, as outras são Hb Niterói e Hb Hasharon. Anemia moderada, icterícia e presença de urina escura caracterizam as manifestações clínicas da Hb Köln. em programa de triagem neonatal identificamos uma criança com suspeita de heterozigose para hemoglobina Köln, confirmada por procedimentos eletroforéticos e HPLC. Avaliações por diferentes metodologias laboratoriais e estudo familiar auxiliam no diagnóstico precoce, possibilitando minimizar os sintomas decorrentes da hemoglobina anormal e a realização do aconselhamento genético e educacional destas alterações hereditárias.

Limited movement of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) in yellow passion flower in Brazil

Symptoms of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) on yellow passion flower (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa) are characterized by bright yellow mottling on leaves, starting at random points on the vine and diminishing in intensity towards the tip, which becomes symptomless as it grows. To determine whether symptomless portions of vines are CMV-free or represent latent infection, leaves with and without symptoms were collected from infected vines in the field. Biological, serological (plate-trapped antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, PTA-ELISA), Western blot and dot-blot hybridization assays showed that portions of the vines without symptoms were CMV-free. Vegetatively propagated vines with symptoms showed remission of symptoms on newly developed leaves. One year later, no CMV was detected in the upper leaves of these plants. Mechanically inoculated passion flower seedlings behaved similarly; symptoms were shown by few leaves after inoculation. Afterwards, plants became symptomless and CMV was not detected in the upper leaves or root system, 40 or 85 days after inoculation. The mechanism responsible for remission of symptoms accompanied by CMV disappearance is not known.

Biological and molecular characterization of an isolate of Tobacco streak virus obtained from soybeans in Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Patents of drugs extracted from Brazilian medicinal plants

Background: Plants synthesise a vast repertoire of chemicals with various biological activities. Brazilian enormous botanical diversity facilitates the development of novel ethical drugs for the treatment of diseases in humans. Objective: To present therapeutic patent applications comprising Brazilian native plants published in the 2003 - 2008 period in light of legal aspects of patentability of biodiversity and public health concerns. Methods: Therapeutic patent applications related to Brazilian medicinal plants available at both the European Patent Office and the Brazilian National Institute of industrial Property databases were reviewed. Results/conclusion: Twenty-five patents are presented, most of which concern inflammatory, allergic, parasitic, infectious or digestive diseases, including extracts from Carapa guianensis, Copaifera genus, Cordia verbenacea, Erythrina mulungu, Physalis angulata and other pharmaceutical compositions with antileishmanial, antimalarial or trypanocidal activity. Brazilian research centres and universities are responsible for most of these inventions.

Controle biológico da podridão radicular (Pythium aphanidermatum) e promoção de crescimento por Pseudomonas chlororaphis 63-28 e Bacillus subtilis GB03 em alface hidropônica

Podridões radiculares causadas por espécies de Pythium são um importante problema em cultivos hidropônicos. Sintomas de subdesenvolvimento são observados nas plantas parasitadas pelo patógeno, sendo muitas vezes não diagnosticados pelo produtor. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o controle biológico da podridão radicular causada por Pythium aphanidermatum e a promoção de crescimento por Pseudomonas chlororaphis 63-28 e Bacillus subtilis GB03, reconhecidos agentes de controle biológico de doenças de plantas. A inoculação das plantas com P. aphanidermatum ocasionou o subdesenvolvimento, sendo essa diminuição de 20%. A adição dos agentes de biocontrole na solução nutritiva teve um efeito positivo no aumento da massa (6% a 13%), no número de folhas (4% a 7%) e no teor de clorofila (3%) das plantas de alface. Entretanto, maiores estudos devem ser realizados para melhorar a capacidade de controle da doença e de promoção de crescimento pelos agentes de biocontrole estudados no cultivo de alface hidropônica.

Análise das condições de saúde e de vida da população urbana de Botucatu, São Paulo (Brasil): IV - Morbidade referida em entrevistas domiciliárias, 1983-1984

Objetivou-se estudar a morbidade referida pela população urbana amostrada, no Município de Botucatu, SP, Brasil, em 1983/84, segundo sexo, idade, escolaridade e renda per capita. O método consistiu em entrevistas domiciliárias, com aplicação de dois formulários pré-codificados. Os entrevistadores eram leigos treinados e supervisionados, e a pessoa entrevistada foi quase sempre a mãe de família. O período recordatório estabelecido em relação aos eventos informados (queixas, sintomas, acidentes comuns e diagnósticos) foi de três semanas. Das 7.075 pessoas amostradas (12% da população), 56% apresentaram episódios mórbidos, totalizando 6.649 episódios. As mulheres, bem como o grupo etário de 50 e mais anos apresentaram maior freqüência de queixas. A escolaridade e a renda per capita não diferenciaram os entrevistados quanto à ocorrência maior ou menor de episódios. A prevalência de episódios mórbidos foi de 939/1.000 entrevistados. Predominaram queixas do aparelho respiratório (20% do total de queixas), principalmente as infecções respiratórias agudas. em segundo lugar, os sinais e sintomas mal definidos (19%) e, a seguir, as doenças do sistema osteo-muscular, do sistema nervoso e do sistema circulatório, com proporções similares (ao redor de 9%) e, finalmente, as do sistema digestivo e as lesões e envenenamentos (ao redor de 8%). Foram estimados os coeficientes de prevalência por grupos de doença (pela CID), segundo as variáveis estudadas. São comentadas as dificuldades de comparação dos resultados obtidos com os de trabalhos congêneres, face às diferenças nos métodos usados, apontando-se para a necessidade de uma padronização metodológica dos estudos de morbidade referida, cuja importância epidemiológica e para o planejamento em saúde vem sendo amplamente reconhecida.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ZINC-BINDING TO HUMAN RED-BLOOD-CELL MEMBRANES

The objective of the present study was to standardize the analysis of zinc binding on human red blood cell (RBC) membranes in 20 normal adults. The displacement studies revealed that at the maximal stable zinc concentration tested (600 muM), 57% (mean) of the bound Zn-65 was displaced and to displace half maximal Zn-65, the stable zinc concentration was 300 muM. Scatchard plots revealed two classes of binding sites for zinc on RBC membranes: one with higher affinity, Kd = 1.20 x 10(-5) M (site I), and the other with lower affinity, Kd = 2.77 x 10(-4) M (site II). Binding sites occupancy was 97% means and 58.5% means for sites I and 11, respectively. The displacement was affected by temperature, membrane protein concentration, freezing, thawing, and dialysis. Other metal cations, including Co++, Fe++, and Mn++, had very little effect on Zn-65 displacement, in contrast copper displaced Zn-65 from its binding sites on RBC membranes. Zinc binding to RBC membranes was rapid and readily reversible in a dynamic equilibrium with its binding sites. It is anticipated that this method will be applicable to studies of a wide variety of diseases specifically related to zinc metabolism in humans as well as in animals. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effects of tea from Turnera ulmifolia L. on mouse gastric mucosa support the Turneraceae as a new source of antiulcerogenic drugs

Turnera ulmifolia is a plant belonging to the family Turneraceae, popularly known in Brazil as chanana. This species is distributed from Guyana to southern Brazil where it is considered a weed. The plant occurs in tropical rain forest, fields, and gardens. Chanana tea is used in Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of diseases related mainly to gastric dysfunction including gastric and duodenal ulcers. In this study, the ability of a lyophilized infusion, as an aqueous fraction (AqF) of the aerial parts of T. ulmifolia, was investigated for its ability to prevent ulceration of the gastric and duodenal mucosa was examined in mice and rats, respectively. The AqF significantly reduced the formation of lesions associated with HCl/ethanol administration by 39% and 46%, respectively, at doses of 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg, p.o. The AqF also significantly reduced the incidence of gastric lesions induced by a combination of indomethacin and bethanechol by 58% and 72% at doses of 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg, respectively. In stress-induced gastric ulcer, the inhibition by the AqF was 48%, 57%, and 58% at doses of 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg, and 1000 mg/kg, respectively (p<0.05). A pyloric ligature experiment showed that the highest dose of the AqF significantly affected the gastric juice parameters by increasing the pH from 2.5 (control) to 5.3 and decreasing the acid output from 11.3 (control) to 3.7 mEq/ml/4 h. The AqF had no significant effect on duodenal ulcers induced by cysteamine. Preliminary phytochemical screening confirmed that flavonoids were the major constituents of the AqF of T. ulmifolia. These results indicate that this extract has a significant antiulcerogenic effect, as popularly believed.

rDNA-based characterization of a new binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. causing root rot on kale in Brazil

In this paper we present the first report of the occurrence of a binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. causing hypocotyl and root rot in kale in Brazil. Rhizoctonia spp. were isolated from kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) with symptoms of hypocotyl and root rot. The isolates, characterized as binucleate Rhizoctonia spp., did not show an anastomosis reaction with any of the binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. testers used. The pathogenicity of the isolates was tested under greenhouse conditions; all isolates were pathogenic and showed different symptom severities on kale. The ITS-5.8S rDNA sequences of kale isolates and 50 testers (25 binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. and 25 Rhizoctonia solani) were compared in order to characterize the genetic identity of Rhizoctonia spp. infecting kale. The kale isolates showed genetic identities ranging from 99.3 to 99.8% and were phylogenetically closely related to CAG 7 (AF354084), with identities of 98.5 and 98.7%. It is suggested that the binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. causing hypocotyl and root rot on kale Brazil comprises a new AG not yet described.

An evaluation of the genetic diversity of Xylella fastidiosa isolated from diseased citrus and coffee in São Paulo, Brazil

Strains of Xylella fastidiosa, isolated from sweet orange trees (Citrus sinensis) and coffee trees (Coffea arabica) with symptoms of citrus variegated chlorosis and Requeima do Cafe, respectively, were indistinguish able based on repetitive extragenic palindromic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR assays. These strains were also indistinguishable with a previously described PCR assay that distinguished the citrus strains from all other strains of Xylella fastidiosa. Because we were not able to document any genomic diversity in our collection of Xylella fastidiosa strains isolated from diseased citrus, the observed gradient of increasing disease severity from southern to northern regions of São Paulo State is unlikely due to the presence of significantly different strains of the pathogen in the different regions. When comparisons were made to reference strains of Xylella fastidiosa isolated from other hosts using these methods, four groups were consistently identified consistent with the hosts and regions from which the strains originated: citrus and coffee, grapevine and almond, mulberry, and elm, plum, and oak. Independent results from random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR assays were also consistent with these results; however, two of the primers tested in RAPD-PCR were able to distinguish the coffee and citrus strains. Sequence comparisons of a PCR product amplified from all strains of Xylella fastidiosa confirmed the presence of a CfoI polymorphism that can be used to distinguish the citrus strains from all others. The ability to distinguish Xylella fastidiosa strains from citrus and coffee with a PCR-based assay will be useful in epidemiological and etiological studies of this pathogen.

ANTS AS POTENTIAL VECTORS OF PATHOGENS IN HOSPITALS IN THE STATE OF SAO-PAULO, BRAZIL

Baiting studies performed in large, medium and small hospitals in Brazil revealed the presence of 14 ant species, with up to nine recorded in one hospital. Dominant species were exotic ants, and in the large hospital, Tapinoma melanocephalum was the most prevalent. Ants were not uniformly spread through the hospitals, but tended to be found in the more critical areas, particularly in nursery, intensive care, obstetrics, neurology and dermatology units. Bacteriological studies using specific media for bacteria associated with intra-hospital infections indicated the potential for the mechanical vectoring of species of Staphylococcus, Serratia, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Candida and Enterococcus by ants. Although T. melanocephalum did not have the highest rate of association with these bacteria, its ubiquitous occurrences resulted in the highest overall potential as a vector of these bacteria. Because of a large number of ant species occurring in Brazilian hospitals, ants pose a potential problem to the spread of diseases in hospitals. Because of the number of associated ant species in hospitals, the control of this potential problem is much more difficult than in registered temperate areas.

Pathogenicity of Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens to several plant species

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

First record of infection by entomopathogenic nematodes of the grass bug Collaria scenica Stal (Hemiptera: Miridae).

NARANJO N, MONTERO DAV, SAENZ APONTE A. 2011. First record of infection by entomopathogenic nematodes of the grass bug Collaria scenica Stal (Hemiptera: Miridae). ENTOMOTROPICA 26(3): 117-125. The study was aimed to test the pathogenicity of Steinernema sp. and Heterorhabditis sp. in Collaria scenica. The effect of different concentrations of infective juveniles (IJ) were tested on nymphs and adults of C. scenica. For this purpose, the bugs were inoculated with 5 000 JI of each nematode species in a factorial design (3x2), and seven concentrations were tested in a JI factorial design (7x2x2). The bugs showed 100% mortality and symptoms of pathogenicity. Infection was found with both species of nematodes and penetration was assumed to be through the spiracles and anus. A higher capacity of pathogenicity was observed with Steinernema sp. Based on the results Heterorhabditis sp. and Steinernema sp. could constitute an efficient tool to control populations of C. scenica in pastures.

Complicacoes respiratorias em criancas submetidas a anestesia geral

Background and Objectives - The decision to perform anesthetic and surgical procedures in children with upper airway infeccious disease, due to the possibility of intraoperative respiratory morbidity, has been a dilemma for anesthesiologists. This study aimed at evaluating the incidence of respiratory complications in children submitted to general anesthesia and correlate them to preoperative signs and symptoms related to the respiratory tract, thus determining anesthetic-surgical morbidity. Methods - Participated in this study 284 children, physical status ASA I or II, submitted to general anesthesia. During preoperative evaluation, respiratory signs and symptoms were recorded, as well as types of diseases and corresponding diagnoses. Respiratory complications during anesthesia and in the recovery room were also recorded and analyzed taking into account age, elective or urgent procedure, airway management and presence or absence of signs, symptoms or history of respiratory tract diseases. Results - We found 38% of patients with preoperative respiratory disease history. The most common respiratory disease was upper airway infection. Intraoperative respiratory complications were present in 26.4% of patients. Children under 12 months of age and those with preoperative respiratory disease history had more intraoperative and PACU complications. Conclusions - We concluded that children, specially younger, with respiratory system involvement, like upper airway infections, are at a higher risk of intra and postoperative respiratory complications, thus with an increased incidence of anesthetic-surgical morbidity.