Antigens of worms and eggs showed a differentiated detection of specific IgG according to the time of Schistosoma mansoni infection in mice

INTRODUCTION: The correlation between the immunological assay and the antibody titer can offer a tool for the experimental analysis of different phases of the disease. METHODS: Two simple immunological assays for Schistosoma mansoni in mice sera samples based on specific IgG detection for worms soluble antigens and eggs soluble antigens were standardized and evaluated in our laboratory. Fifty mice were used in negative and positive groups and the results obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) assays were compared with the number of worms counted and the IgG titers at different times of infection. RESULTS: Data showed that ELISA using adult worm antigens (ELISA-SWAP) presented a satisfactory correlation between the absorbance value of IgG titers and the individual number of worms counted after perfusion technique (R²=0.62). In addition, ELISA-SWAP differentially detected positive samples with 30 and 60 days post infection (p=0.011 and 0.003, respectively), whereas ELISA using egg antigens (ELISA-SEA) detected samples after 140 days (p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: These data show that the use of different antigens in immunological methods can be used as potential tools for the analysis of the chronological evolution of S. mansoni infection in murine schistosomiasis. Correlations with human schistosomiasis are discussed.

Evaluation of CD4+CD25+ T lymphocyte response time kinetics in patients with chronic Chagas disease after in vitro stimulation with recombinant Trypanosoma cruzi antigens

Introduction CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes have been implicated in the regulation of host inflammatory response against Trypanosoma cruzi, and may be involved in the clinical course of the disease. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with chronic Chagas disease were cultured in the presence of T. cruzi recombinant antigens and assayed for lymphocytes at distinct time points. Results It was possible to differentiate clinical forms of chronic Chagas disease at days 3 and 5 according to presence of CD4+CD25+ T cells in cell cultures. Conclusions Longer periods of cell culture proved to be potentially valuable for prospective evaluations of CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes in patients with chronic Chagas disease.

Pulmonary tuberculosis in São Luis, State of Maranhão, Brazil: space and space-time risk clusters for death (2008-2012)

INTRODUCTION: The objective was to identify space and space-time risk clusters for the occurrence of deaths in a priority city for the control of tuberculosis (TB) in the Brazilian Northeast. METHODS: Ecological research was undertaken in the City of São Luis/Maranhão. Cases were considered that resulted in deaths in the population living in the urban region of the city with pulmonary TB as the basic cause, between 2008 and 2012. To detect space and space-time clusters of deaths due to pulmonary TB in the census sectors, the spatial analysis scan technique was used. RESULTS: In total, 221 deaths by TB occurred, 193 of which were due to pulmonary TB. Approximately 95% of the cases (n=183) were geocoded. Two significant spatial clusters were identified, the first of which showed a mortality rate of 5.8 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants per year and a high relative risk of 3.87. The second spatial cluster showed a mortality rate of 0.4 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants per year and a low relative risk of 0.10. A significant cluster was observed in the space-time analysis between 11/01/2008 and 04/30/2011, with a mortality rate of 8.10 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants per year and a high relative risk (3.0). CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of priority sites for the occurrence of deaths can support public management to reduce inequities in the access to health services and permit an optimization of the resources and teams in the control of pulmonary TB, providing support for specific strategies focused on the most vulnerable populations.

Two decades of tuberculosis in a city in Northeastern Brazil: advances and challenges in time and space

Abstract: INTRODUCTION This study presents two decades of epidemiological data on tuberculosis (TB), in order to understanding the disease profile and its spatiotemporal dynamics. METHODS This descriptive study was performed in the City of Olinda/Pernambuco, Brazil, from 1991-2010, and it analyzed new patients with TB living in the city. We used the χ²-test with a p-value <0.05 to identify differences in trends. Incidence and cluster distribution were identified using spatial scan statistics. RESULTS In total, 6202 new cases were recorded during the two decades. The highest incidence occurred in 1995 (110 cases/100,000 inhabitants), and the lowest occurred in 2009 (65 cases/100,000 inhabitants) (β=-1.44; R²=0.43; p=0.0018). The highest mortality occurred in 1998 (16 deaths/100,000 inhabitants), and the lowest occurred in 2008 (5 deaths/100,000 inhabitants) (β=-0.19; R²=0.17; p=0.07). There was a male predominance (65%), and ages ranged from 20-49 years (65%). There was a substantial increase in the number of patients that were cured after treatment (60% to 67%; p<0.001) as well as those tested for HIV (1.9% to 58.5%; p<0.001). During the first decade, clusters with p-values <0.05 included 29% of the total notified cases, and in the second decade, that percentage was 12%. CONCLUSIONS We observed a decreasing trend in incidence, which was significant, and mortality rates, which was not significant. The increased number of laboratory tests performed reflects advances in surveillance, and a reduction in the proportion of cases in primary clusters suggests, among other things, that the disease is spreading across the region.

Primate populations in continuous forest and forest fragments in Central Amazonia

Population densities of six primate species (Saguinus midas, Pithecia pithecia, Cebus apella, Chiropotes satanas, Alouatta seniculus and Ateles paniscus) were estimated in continuous forest and in isolated reserves (one of 100 ha and four of 10 ha). Saguinusdensities in the continuous forest were found to be low, probably due to the lack of edge habitat and second growth favoured by them; Pithecia, Cebus and Ateles populations are also low, possibly because of more widely distributed and/or less abundant food sources than is true for other Amazonian regions, although hunting in the past, particularly of Ateles may also be a contributing factor; and Chiropotes and Alouatta densities were found to be similar to those observed in other areas of Amazonas forests. Ateles and Chiropotes, which occupy ranges on the order of three km2 were excluded from the 100-ka reserve at the time of its isolation. Unfortunately populations were not known prior to isolation of this reserve but during isolation there remained four groups of Saguinus, two Pitheciagroups, one Cebus groups and five Alouatta groups. One Saguinus group disappeared two months later, and one year post-isolation the Cebus group also left the reserve. Single Alouatta groups survive in the isolated 10-ha reserves. Saguinus, present in the four 10-ha reserves following isolation, have disappeared from two of them. One 10-ha reserve retains a group of Pithecia.

FOOD CONCENTRATION AND TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON LIFE CYCLE CHARACTERISTICS OF TROPICAL CLADOCERA (Daphnia gessneri Herbst, Diaphanosoma sarsi Richard, Moina reticulata (Daday)): I. DEVELOPMENT TIME

The effects of food concentration and temperature on embryonic and postem-bryonic duration of three tropical species, Daphnia gessneri(1.5mm), Diaphanosoma sarsi(1.2mm) and Moina reticulata(0.8mm), were investigated as part of life cycle studies which included growth, body size and reproduction. These are the very first experimental studies undertaken on these species. The long-term growth experiments were performed under controlled laboratory conditions at all combinations of temperature (22"C, 27"C and 32"C) and constant food concentration (0.03, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 mgC/L) of the unicellular green alga Scenedesmus acutus.Animals were examined twice daily throughout their life cycle from the neonate to third adult instar. In all three species, temperature exerted the most powerful influence on embryonic duration but there was also a smaller food effect. In D. gessneri,postembry-onic durations remained more or less the same at food levels 0.25 mgC/L but were influenced by temperature. At food concentrations of 0.1 mgC/L or lower, postembryonic durations became increasingly prolonged, particularly at high temperatures. This threshold concentration is affected by temperature: in D. gessneri,it was 0.1 mgC/L at 22oC and 27oC but higher at 32oC (between 0.25 and 0.50 mgC/L). At the same temperature of 27oC, the food threshold level varied between species: it was higher (0.25 mgC/L) for D. sarsiand lower (0.05 mgC/L) for M. reticulatacompared with D. gessneri(0.1 mgC/L). In both embryonic and postembryonic durations there is a body size effect as the absolute durations were longest in the largest species and shortest in the smallest species In all three species, prolongation of postembryonic duration at combinations of high temperature and lowered food levels was accompanied by increased number of juvenile instars.

Changes in population and land use over time in the Ecuadorian Amazon

This paper draws upon a detailed longitudinal survey of households living on agricultural plots in the northern three provinces of the Ecuadorian Amazon, the principal region of colonization by migrants in Ecuador since the 1970s. Following the discovery of petroleum in 1967 near what has subsequently come to be the provincial capital and largest Amazonian city of Lago Agrio, oil companies built roads to lay pipelines to extract and pump oil across the Andes for export. As a result, for the past 30 years over half of both Ecuador's export earnings and government revenues have come from petroleum extracted from this region. But the roads also facilitated massive spontaneous in-migration of families from origin areas in the Ecuadorian Sierra, characterized by minifundia and rural poverty. This paper is about those migrants and their effects on the Amazonian landscape. We discuss the data collection methodology and summarize key results on settler characteristics and changes in population, land use, land ownership, technology, labor allocation, and living conditions, as well as the relationships between changes in population and changes in land use over time. The population in the study region has been growing rapidly due to both natural population growth (high fertility) and in-migration. This has led to a dramatic process of subdivision and fragmentation of plots in the 1990's, which contrasts with the consolidation of plots that has occurred in most of the mature frontier areas of the Brazilian Amazon. This fragmentation has led to important changes in land tenure and land use, deforestation, cattle raising, labor allocation, and settler welfare.

Time-variations of equivalent water heights'from Grace Mission and in-situ river stages in the Amazon basin

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission is dedicated to measuring temporal variations of the Earth's gravity field. In this study, the Stokes coefficients made available by Groupe de Recherche en Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS) at a 10-day interval were converted into equivalent water height (EWH) for a ~4-year period in the Amazon basin (from July-2002 to May-2006). The seasonal amplitudes of EWH signal are the largest on the surface of Earth and reach ~ 1250mm at that basin's center. Error budget represents ~130 mm of EWH, including formal errors on Stokes coefficient, leakage errors (12 ~ 21 mm) and spectrum truncation (10 ~ 15 mm). Comparison between in situ river level time series measured at 233 ground-based hydrometric stations (HS) in the Amazon basin and vertically-integrated EWH derived from GRACE is carried out in this paper. Although EWH and HS measure different water bodies, in most of the cases a high correlation (up to ~80%) is detected between the HS series and EWH series at the same site. This correlation allows adjusting linear relationships between in situ and GRACE-based series for the major tributaries of the Amazon river. The regression coefficients decrease from up to down stream along the rivers reaching the theoretical value 1 at the Amazon's mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. The variation of the regression coefficients versus the distance from estuary is analysed for the largest rivers in the basin. In a second step, a classification of the proportionality between in situ and GRACE time-series is proposed.

Photosynthetic parameters and growth in seedlings of Bertholletia excelsa and Carapa guianensis in response to pre-acclimation to full sunlight and mild water stress

Light and water are important factors that may limit the growth and development of higher plants. The aim of this study was to evaluate photosynthetic parameters and growth in seedlings of Bertholletia excelsa and Carapa guianensis in response to pre-acclimation to full sunlight and mild water stress. I used six independent pre-acclimation treatments (0, 90 (11h15-12h45), 180 (10h30-13h30), 360 (09h00-15h00), 540 (07h30-16h30) and 720 min (06h00-18h00)) varying the time of exposure to full sunlight (PFS) during 30 days, followed by whole-day outdoor exposure for 120 days. Before PFS, the plants were kept in a greenhouse at low light levels (0.8 mol m-2 day-1). The PFS of 0 min corresponded to plants constantly kept under greenhouse conditions. From the beginning to the end of the experiment, each PFS treatment was submitted to two water regimes: moderate water stress (MWS, pre-dawn leaf water potential (ΨL) of -500 to -700 kPa) and without water stress (WWS, ΨL of -300 kPa, soil kept at field capacity). Plants under MWS received only a fraction of the amount of water applied to the well-watered ones. At the end of the 120-day-period under outdoor conditions, I evaluated light saturated photosynthesis (Amax), stomatal conductance (g s), transpiration (E) and plant growth. Both Amax and g s were higher for all plants under the PFS treatment. Stem diameter growth rate and Amax were higher for C. guianensis subjected to MWS than in well-watered plants. The contrary was true for B. excelsa. The growth of seedlings was enhanced by exposure to full sunlight for 180 minutes in both species. However, plants of B. excelsa were sensitive to moderate water stress. The higher photosynthetic rates and faster growth of C. guianensis under full sun and moderate water stress make this species a promissory candidate to be tested in reforestation programs.

Use of transesophageal echocardiography during implantation of aortic endoprosthesis (stent). Initial experience

OBJECTIVE: To report the role played by transesophageal echocardiography during implantation of self-expanding aortic endoprostheses (stent) at a hemodynamics laboratory. METHODS: Thirteen patients underwent stent implantation in the descending thoracic aorta with the aid of transesophageal echocardiography during the entire procedure. Indications for stenting were as follows: 8 aortic dissections, 2 true aneurysms, 2 penetrating atherosclerotic ulcers, and 1 traumatic pseudoaneurysm. RESULTS: No complications resulting from the use of transesophageal echocardiography were observed. In 12 patients, the initial result was considered appropriate, with total or partial resolution of the major lesion confirmed by a posterior examination. In 1 patient, the procedure was suspended after transesophageal echocardiography and angiography showed that the proximal aortic diameter was inappropriate. Transesophageal echocardiography contributed to clarifying relevant points, such as aortic diameter, anatomic detail of the intimal lesion, and location and size of the communicating orifice. In addition, it facilitated placing the stent in the target lesion, reduced the time of exposure to radiation and the use of contrast medium, and provided rapid identification of intercurrent events, possibly reducing the total duration of the procedure. CONCLUSION: The use of transesophageal echocardiography during placement of aortic stents seems appropriate. The actual advantages of the procedure will be defined in a comparative prospective study.

Consequences of the Prolonged Waiting Time for Patients Candidates for Heart Surgery

OBJECTIVE - To assess mortality and the psychological repercussions of the prolonged waiting time for candidates for heart surgery. METHODS - From July 1999 to May 2000, using a standardized questionnaire, we carried out standardized interviews and semi-structured psychological interviews with 484 patients with coronary heart disease, 121 patients with valvular heart diseases, and 100 patients with congenital heart diseases. RESULTS - The coefficients of mortality (deaths per 100 patients/year) were as follows: patients with coronary heart disease, 5.6; patients with valvular heart diseases, 12.8; and patients with congenital heart diseases, 3.1 (p<0.0001). The survival curve was lower in patients with valvular heart diseases than in patients with coronary heart disease and congenital heart diseases (p<0.001). The accumulated probability of not undergoing surgery was higher in patients with valvular heart diseases than in the other patients (p<0.001), and, among the patients with valvular heart diseases, this probability was higher in females than in males (p<0.01). Several patients experienced intense anxiety and attributed their adaptive problems in the scope of love, professional, and social lives, to not undergoing surgery. CONCLUSION - Mortality was high, and even higher among the patients with valvular heart diseases, with negative psychological and social repercussions.

The Benefits of Prone SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging in Reducing Both Artifact Defects and Patient Radiation Exposure

AbstractBackground:Prone imaging has been demonstrated to minimize diaphragmatic and breast tissue attenuation.Objectives:To determine the role of prone imaging on the reduction of unnecessary rest perfusion studies and coronary angiographies performed, thus decreasing investigation time and radiation exposure.Methods:We examined 139 patients, 120 with an inferior wall and 19 with an anterior wall perfusion defect that might represented attenuation artifact. Post-stress images were acquired in both the supine and prone position. Coronary angiography was used as the “gold standard” for evaluating coronary artery patency. The study was terminated and rest imaging was obviated in the presence of complete improvement of the defect in the prone position. Quantitative interpretation was performed. Results were compared with clinical data and coronary angiographic findings.Results:Prone acquisition correctly revealed defect improvement in 89 patients (89/120) with inferior wall and 12 patients (12/19) with anterior wall attenuation artifact. Quantitative analysis demonstrated statistically significant difference in the mean summed stress scores (SSS) of supine and mean SSS of prone studies in patients with disappearing inferior wall defect in the prone position and patent right coronary artery (true negative results). The mean difference between SSS in supine and in prone position was higher with disappearing than with remaining defects.Conclusion:Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) tetrofosmin myocardial perfusion imaging with the patient in the prone position overcomes soft tissue attenuation; moreover it provides an inexpensive, accurate approach to limit the number of unnecessary rest perfusion studies and coronary angiographies performed.

When is the Best Time for the Second Antiplatelet Agent in Non-St Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome?

Abstract Dual antiplatelet therapy is a well-established treatment in patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS), with class I of recommendation (level of evidence A) in current national and international guidelines. Nonetheless, these guidelines are not precise or consensual regarding the best time to start the second antiplatelet agent. The evidences are conflicting, and after more than a decade using clopidogrel in this scenario, benefits from the routine pretreatment, i.e. without knowing the coronary anatomy, with dual antiplatelet therapy remain uncertain. The recommendation for the upfront treatment with clopidogrel in NSTE-ACS is based on the reduction of non-fatal events in studies that used the conservative strategy with eventual invasive stratification, after many days of the acute event. This approach is different from the current management of these patients, considering the established benefits from the early invasive strategy, especially in moderate to high-risk patients. The only randomized study to date that specifically tested the pretreatment in NSTE-ACS in the context of early invasive strategy, used prasugrel, and it did not show any benefit in reducing ischemic events with pretreatment. On the contrary, its administration increased the risk of bleeding events. This study has brought the pretreatment again into discussion, and led to changes in recent guidelines of the American and European cardiology societies. In this paper, the authors review the main evidence of the pretreatment with dual antiplatelet therapy in NSTE-ACS.

Hereditariedade da homeose

A preliminary account on the normal development of the imaginai discs in holometabolic Insects is made to serve as an introduction to the study of the hereditary homoeosis. Several facts and experimental data furnished specially by the students of Drosophila are brought here in searching for a more adequate explanation of this highly interesting phenomenon. The results obtained from the investigations of different homoeotic mutants are analysed in order to test Goldschmidt's theory of homoeosis. Critical examination of the basis on which this theory was elaborated are equally made. As a result from an extensive theoretical consideration of the matter and a long discussion of the most recent papers on this subject the present writer concludes that the Goldschmidt explanation of the homoeotic phenomena based on the action of diffusing substances produced by the genes, the "evocators", and on the alteration of the normal speed of maturation of the imaginai discs equally due to the activity of the genes, could not be proved and therefore should be abandoned. In the same situation is any other explanation like that of Waddington or Villee considered as fundamentally identical to that of Goldschmidt. In order to clear the problem of homoeosis in terms which seem to put the phenomenon in complete agreement with the known facts the present writer elaborated a theory first published a few years ago (1941) based entirely on the assumption that the imaginai discs are specifically determined by some kind of substances, probably of chemical nature, contained in the cytoplam of the cells entering in the consti- tution of each individual disc. These substances already present in the blastem of the egg in which they are distributed in a definite order, pass to different cells at the time the blastem is transformed into blastoderm. These substances according to their organogenic potentiality may be called antenal-substance, legsubstance, wing-substance, eye-substance, etc. The hipoderm of the embryo resulting from the multiplication of the blastoderm cells would be constituted by a series of cellular areas differing from each other in their particular organoformative capacity. Thus the hypoderm giving rise to the imaginai discs, it follows that each disc must have the same organogenic power of the hypodermal area it came from. Therefore the discs i*re determinated since their origin by substances enclosed in the cytoplasm of their cells and consequently can no longer alter their potentiality. When an antennal disc develops into a leg one can conclude that this disc in spite of its position in the body of the larva is not, properly speaking, an antennal disc but a true leg disc whose cells instead of having in their cytoplasm the antennal substance derived from the egg blastem have in its place the leg-substance. Now, if a disc produces a tarsus or an antenna or even a compound appendage partly tarsus-like, partly antenna-like, it follows tha,t both tarsal and antennal substances are present in it. The ultimate aspect of the compound structure depends upon the reaction of each kind of substance to the different causes influencing development. For instance, temperature may orient the direction of development either lowards arista or tarsus, stimulating, or opposing to the one or the other of these substances. Confering to the genes the faculty of altering the constitution of the substances containing in the cytoplasm forming the egg blastem or causing transposition of these substances from one area to another or promoting the substitution of a given substance by a different one, the hereditary homoeocis may be easily explained. However, in the opinion of the present writer cytoplasm takes the initiative in all developmental process, provoking the chromosomes to react specifically and proportionally. Accordingly, the mutations causing homoeotic phenomena may arise independently at different rime in the cytoplasm and in the chromosomes. To the part taken by the chromosomes in the manifestation of the homoeotic characters is due the mendalian ratio observed in homoeotic X normal crosses. Expression, in itself, is mainly due to the proportion of the different substances in the cells of the affected discs. Homoeotic phenomena not presenting mendelian ratio may appear as consequence of cytoplasmic mutation not accompanied by chromosomal mutation. The great variability in the morphology of the homoeotic characteres, some individual being changed towards an extreme expression of the mutant phenotype while others in spite of their homozigous constitution cannot be distinguished from the normal ones, strongly supports the interpretation based on the relative proportion of the determining substances in the discs. To the same interpretation point also asymetry and other particularities observed in the exteriorization of the phenomenon. In conformity with this new conception homoeosis should not prove homology of Insect appendages (Villee 1942) since a more replacement of substances may cause legs to develop in substitution of the wings, as it was already observed (requiring confirmation in the opinion of Bateson 1894, p. 184) and no one would conclude for the homology of these organs in the usual meaning of the term.