Bionomics of Anopheles aquasalis Curry 1932, in Guaraí, state of Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil: I. Seasonal distribution and parity rates

From a total of 12,721 anophelines collected in a lowland area in Guaraí, Rio de Janeiro, from November 1991 to October 1992, 99.7% (12,688) were Anopheles aquasalis. This species occurred throughout the year, but in higher numbers from April to September, when rainfall was low or moderate. The proportion of parous females in June was significantly higher than the annual rate. An. aquasalis was weakly attracted by a light-trap, and no significant differences in abundance were detected between nights with and without moonlight.

Re-descriptions of Isospora ameivae Carini, 1932 in the Teiid Lizard Ameiva ameiva and Isospora hemidactyli Carini, 1936 in the Gecko Hemidactylus mabouia, with Particular Reference to their Endogenous Stages

Redescriptions are given of the mature oocysts of Isospora ameivae Carini, 1932, from the teiid lizard Ameiva ameiva, and Isospora hemidactyli Carini,1936 from the gecko Hemidactylus mabouia, in north Brazil. The endogenous stages of the two parasites in the small intestine are described. Those of I. ameivae are intracytoplasmic, whereas those of I. hemidactyli are intranuclear.

Description of Lutzomyia bianchigalatiae n. sp. a sand fly within the subgenus Pintomyia Costa Lima 1932 (Diptera; Psychodidae)

A new sand fly species is described based on males collected in Bananal, municipality of Mariana and the female from Sabará city, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Taxonomic remarks, geographic distribution and the description of new species are presented. The name Lutzomyia (Pintomyia) bianchigalatiae is in honour of Dr Eunice Aparecida Bianchi Galati, friend and researcher at the Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo.

Maintenance and breeding of Thrichomys (Trouessart, 1880) (Rodentia: Echimyidae) in captivity

South American histricognath rodents Thrichomys apereoides laurentius and Thrichomys pachyurus are natural hosts of Trypanosoma cruzi, agent of Chagas disease. We established breeding colonies of these species to serve as experimental models in various parasitological studies. Both species of Thrichomys have all the requirements necessary to become excellent laboratory models: they can be easily maintained in the standard laboratory conditions and breed throughout the year and they do not have any special dietary demands and can be fed by standard food pellets designed for laboratory mice. Both species produce precocious offspring that have their eyes and ears open, teeth erupted, fur well developed, and can eat solid food in the first week of life. T. a. laurentius has larger litter sizes and lower body masses at birth and weaning than T. pachyurus. Moreover, females of T. a. laurentius reach puberty earlier and with lower body mass than T. pachyurus.

Quantification of the genetic change in the transition of Rhodnius pallescens Barber, 1932 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from field to laboratory

Previous studies have reported genetic differences between wild-caught sylvatic, domestic and laboratory pop-ulations of several Triatominae species. The differences between sylvatic and laboratory colonies parallel are similar to the differences observed between sylvatic and domestic populations. Laboratory colonies are frequently used as references for field populations, but the consequences of founder events on the genetic makeup of laboratory or domestic populations are rarely quantified. Our goal was to quantify the genetic change in Rhodnius pallescens populations artificially submitted to founder effects via laboratory colonization. We compared the genetic makeup of two sylvatic populations and their laboratory descendants using a panel of 10 microsatellite markers. Both sylvatic populations were initially collected from palm trees, but the colonies differed in the number of founder insects and amount of time kept in the laboratory. We evaluated allelic polymorphism, differences between expected and observed heterozygosity, estimates of population differentiation (Fst) and inbreeding (Fis, Fit) and cluster analyses based on Nei's distances. We found a unique genetic structure for each sample population, with significant differentiation between the field insects and each of the laboratory generations. These analyses showed strong founder effects and showed that genetic drift had led to a genetic equilibrium over several generations of isolation. Our results suggest that laboratory colonies of R. pallescens have a different genetic structure than their wild relatives and similar processes likely affect other Triatominae laboratory stocks.

Fiscalização e formação das parteiras em São Paulo (1880-1920)

Este artigo faz parte de uma pesquisa mais ampla realizada em nível de Pós-Doutuorado na Escola de Enfermagem da USP (1999-2000), intitulada «Caminhos Cruzados: os cursos para formação de parteiras e enfermeiras em São Paulo (1880-1971)» que teve por objetivo refletir sobre as atribuições de parteiras e enfermeiras obstétricas e a exclusão dessas profissionais na assistência ao parto no decorrer do século XX. O artigo se detém nos primeiros cursos para formação de parteiras e na fiscalização da profissão, apontando que no início do século XX, já se pode perceber uma associação entre parteiras e enfermeiras, não apenas em alguns cursos para formação profissional, como também no cotidiano de trabalho. Passa a existir a expectativa de que a parteira fosse também enfermeira.

Tabela de vida de fertilidade de Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson, 1880) (Hymenoptera, Aphidiidae) em Schizaphis graminum (Rondani, 1852) (Hemipera, Aphididae)

Life table analyses have been developed to understanding the impact of various sources of intrinsic and extrinsic mortalities on the rate of population growth. The understanding of the population increase of the parasitoids related to their hosts is important in biological control programs. This work had as objective to evaluate the survival and fertility of the parasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson, 1880) on Schizaphis graminum (Rondani, 1852) as a host under fertility life table. The experiment were carried out in a climatic chamber at 25 ± 1ºC, RH 60 ± 10% and 10h photophase. To determine the immature mortality, the development time and the sex ratio of the parasitoid, 12 females of the parasitoid (less than one day old) and 240 nymphs of S. graminum (3 days old) were used. To evaluate the longevity and fertility of L. testaceipes, 15 females (less than one day old) were used. Nymphs of S. graminum (3 days old) were offered for each parasitoid female daily, until the female died, being in the 1st day - 300 nymphs; 2nd day - 250 nymphs; 3rd day - 200 nymphs; 4th day - 150 and in the other days a number of 50 nymphs. L. testaceipes had an immature mortality of 22,2%, and a development time of males and females of 9.0 and 9.1 days, respectively. The females of L. testaceipes laid, in it first life day, 257.8 eggs, and they survived up until seven days. The net reproduction rate (Ro) and the intrinsic rate of increase (r m) were respectively, 301.9 and 0.513. The finite rate of increase (l) was 1.67 females per day, the mean length of a generation (T) was 11.13 days and the time to duplicate the population (TD) was 1.35 weeks. The parasitoid L. testaceipes have a high potential of population growth on S. graminum as a host under the analyzed conditions.

Religião, identidade e segurança entre imigrantes luteranos da Pomerânia, no Espírito Santo (1880-2005)

No século 19, muitas pessoas de diversas regiões rurais da Alemanha emigraram pra o Brasil. Vários contingentes oriundos da Pomerânia Oriental (hoje noroeste da Polônia) fixaram-se no estado do Espírito Santo. A maioria era seguidora da igreja luterana. Neste artigo, examinamos como sua religião ajudou esses imigrantes a conservar um nível de segurança satisfatório. A palavra segurança é utilizada especialmente mas não exclusivamente no sentido existencial ou ontológico. Na busca de certo nível de segurança em sua nova pátria, eles e seus descendentes construíram, reproduziram, desconstruiram e reconstruíram suas identidades coletiva e individual. Mostra-se como a religião ressaltou entre os recursos transnacionais utilizados, junto com a cultura e a língua pomeranas.

Education and development projects in Brazil (1932-2004): political economy perspective

This paper discusses the long-run history of education policies in Brazil. It is suggested that the main reason for the educational backwardness was the existence of strong political interests over education. It is also defended that these interests can be empirically observed in the allocation of public resources between the different levels of education, with political choices favouring specific groups in society. It was not a matter of lack of investment in education, but of inadequate allocation of resources. This pattern of political-based policies created a strong negative path dependence of misallocation of resources in education in Brazil, particularly with significant underinvestment in secondary education.