Rapid detection of Van genes in rectal swabs by real time PCR in Southern Brazil

INTRODUCTION: Laboratory-based surveillance is an important component in the control of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). METHODS: The study aimed to evaluate real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (genes vanA-vanB) for VRE detection on 115 swabs from patients included in a surveillance program. RESULTS: Sensitivity of RT-PCR was similar to primary culture (75% and 79.5%, respectively) when compared to broth enriched culture, whereas specificity was 83.1%. CONCLUSIONS: RT-PCR provides same day results, however it showed low sensitivity for VRE detection.

Essential oils of the Sextonia rubra (Mez ) van der Werff (Lauraceae)

The essential oils of the leaves and branches of Sextonia rubra were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. In the leaves were identified as the major constituents α-pinene (21.7%), β-pinene (15.4%), α-copaene (12.5%) and germacrene D (12.1%). In the branches essential oil, α-copaene (22.9%), β-selinene (7.9%) and β-elemene (7.2%) were identified as the most abundant constituents. This paper describes for the first time the composition of these essential oils.

Atividade antibacteriana do Aspergillus niger van Tieghem, 1867; pesquisas em 14 amostras da National Collection of Type Cultures (M. R. C.)

1. Pesquisamos a atividade antibacteriana em 14 amostras de Aspergillus niger da National Collection of Type Cultures. 2. Em meio de Raulin e Mosseray, sete amostras apresentaram atividade total, nunca superior a 1:10, contra Staphylococcus aureus nº 553, sendo que as amostras 1.161 e 2.390 permaneceram ativas por mais de 40 dias. 3. A utilização do meio de Czapek-Dox com 5% de "corn-steep" não melhorou os resultados obtidos com o meio de Raulin e Mosseray. 4. No meio de levedo peptonado, todas as amostras apresentaram-se inativas.

First report of Ascarophis Van Beneden, 1871: A. Brasiliensis n.sp. (Nematoda, Ascarophidinae) and Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) Pereira/Annereaux, 1946 (Nematoda, Procamallaninae) in South America

Ascarophis brasiliensis recovered from the stomach of Trachinotus carolinus (L. 1766), is proposed as a new species and Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) pereirai Annereaux, 1946 is redescribed from a new host: Paralonchurus brasiliensis (Steind., 1875). A. brasiliensis is more closely related to A. crassicolis Dollfus & Campana-Rouget, 1956, from which it differs mainly by the absence of cervical cuticular expansion and size of the eggs. The new species is also compared to A. cooperi johnston & Mawson, 1945 and A. girellae (Yamaguti, 1935) Campana-rouget, 1955. The validity of the proposed species is discussed.

Otodistomum cestoides (Van Beneden, 1871) from two species of skates taken in chilean waters

Otodistomum cestoides (van Beneden, 1871) (Azygiidae: Digenea) is reported for the first time from Psammobatis scobina and Raja flavirostris. The skates were caught off the coast of San Antonio, Chile.

Comportamento reprodutivo de Synthesiomyia nudiseta van der Wulp (Diptera: Muscidae) sob condições de laboratório

Observations were carried out on the reproductive behavior of Synthesiomyia nudiseta females. The results of the biological parameters were: pre-oviposition period (15.5 ± 4.7 days), oviposition period (25.4 ± 14.7 days), number of eggs per oviposition (95.9 ± 18.4) rate of ovipositant females (97.5%), number of ovipositions (5.31 ± 3.2), number of eggs per females (509.7 ± 324.9), rate of hatching (68.0 ± 19.0), female longevity (53.2 ± 14.7 days), reproductive potential (67.4%) and reproductive investiment (4.1).

Identification and molecular characterization of Van A-type vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis in Northeast of Brazil

The isolation of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) in Brazil has rapidly increased, following the world wide tendency. We report in the present study the first isolation of vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE) in the Northeast of Brazil. The four VRE isolates were characterized for antimicrobial susceptibility, genotypic typing by macro restriction of chromosomal DNA followed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and for characterization of the Tn1546-like element and plasmid contents. The isolates showed resistance to multiple antibiotics and a single genotype profile, suggesting the dissemination of a single clone among the patients. Tn1546 associated to genetic elements as plasmids shows the importance of infection control measures to avoid the spreading of glycopetide resistance by conjugative transfer of VanA elements.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains of the Beijing genotype are rarely observed in tuberculosis patients in South America

The frequency of the Beijing genotype of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a cause of tuberculosis (TB) in South America was determined by analyzing genotypes of strains isolated from patients that had been diagnosed with the disease between 1997 and 2003 in seven countries of the subcontinent. In total, 19 of the 1,202 (1.6%) TB cases carried Beijing isolates, including 11 of the 185 patients from Peru (5.9%), five of the 512 patients from Argentina (1.0%), two of the 252 Brazilian cases (0.8%), one of the 166 patients from Paraguay (0.6%) and none of the samples obtained from Chile (35), Colombia (36) and Ecuador (16). Except for two patients that were East Asian immigrants, all cases with Beijing strains were native South Americans. No association was found between carrying a strain with the Beijing genotype and having drug or multi-drug resistant disease. Our data show that presently transmission of M. tuberculosis strains of the Beijing genotype is not frequent in Latin America. In addition, the lack of association of drug resistant TB and infection with M. tuberculosis of the Beijing genotype observed presently demands efforts to define better the contribution of the virulence and lack of response to treatment to the growing spread of Beijing strains observed in other parts of the world.

Modelagem da curva de retenção de água de Latossolos utilizando a Equação Duplo Van Genuchten

Os Latossolos da região do Cerrado brasileiro, em função da mineralogia da fração argila e estrutura granular, apresentam elevado volume de poros grandes e de poros extremamente pequenos, não mostrando significativo volume de poros intermediários, o que faz com que neles a disponibilidade de água para as plantas seja baixa. Este trabalho objetivou caracterizar e modelar o comportamento da retenção de água em Latossolos oxídicos da região do Cerrado, pertencentes a diferentes classes texturais. Foram coletadas amostras do horizonte Bw de 10 Latossolos oxídicos sob vegetação nativa. A retenção de água nos potenciais matriciais de 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 e 10 kPa foi obtida em unidade de sucção nos potenciais de 33, 60, 100, 500 e 1.500 kPa no extrator de Richards, e a água retida sob potenciais de 1.500 a 300.000 kPa foi quantificada utilizando o psicrômetro de termopar WP4-T. O modelo duplo van Genuchten foi proposto para ajustar os dados experimentais de retenção de água por meio de procedimentos de ajuste de modelos não lineares do software R 2.10.1; também foi avaliada a relação entre as estimativas dos parâmetros do modelo, bem como a inclinação do ponto de inflexão com as propriedades texturais dos solos, aplicando o teste de correlação de Pearson. Os resultados mostraram o bom ajuste do modelo e alto poder de predição, sendo observada correlação do conteúdo de argila do solo com os parâmetros da equação (Usat, Upmp, Ures), assim como, com a inclinação do segundo ponto de inflexão (Itex). A textura dos Latossolos influenciou o comportamento das curvas de retenção de água. As curvas de retenção de água dos Latossolos em estudo apresentaram comportamento bimodal no intervalo de potencial matricial estudado.

Caracterizacion de plantas de chicozapote (Manilkara zapota (L.) P. van Royen) de la coleccion del CATIE, mediante el uso del analisis multivariado

Efetuou-se a caracterização de plantas de sapotilha da coleção do CATIE com base em características qualitativas e quantitativas. Foram consideradas, no presente estudo, 49 variáveis, sendo 31 quantitativas e 18 qualitativas. Para a análise estatística dos dados, utilizou-se da análise de conglomerados, análise discriminante, discriminante canônica, provas F para características quantitativas e chi2 para as qualitativas. As 13 plantas avaliadas formaram três grupos, com quatro, seis e três plantas, respectivamente. Para estes agrupamentos, a prova F indicou somente seis características significativas entre os grupos das 31 avaliadas: diâmetro do fruto, diâmetro da polpa, rendimento do fruto, largura da folha, acidez e glicose. chi2 apontou apenas a forma do fruto como diferente entre os três grupos das 18 avaliadas.

Propriedades espectroscópicas Ab initio dos dímeros de van der waals Ne2 e Ar2

Results of high level ab initio calculations of the intermolecular potentials and theoretical dispersion coefficients for the Ne2 and Ar2 dimers were utilized to build analytical potentials for these species. The obtained potentials were used in the calculation of the dimers rovibrationals levels, and their respective spectroscopic constants determined. A comparison of high level experimental data with our theoretical results shows a very good agreement for Ne2, and also a good agreement for the Ar2 dimer.

Diagramas de Ellingham e de Van't Hoff: algumas considerações

The main subject of this article is to show the parallelism betwen the Ellingham and Van't Hoff diagrams. The first one is a graphic representation of the changes in the standard Gibbs free energy (deltarGtheta) as a function of T and was introduced by Ellingham in 1944, in order to study metallurgic processes involving oxides and sulphides. On the other hand, the Van't Hoff diagram is a representation of the function ln K versus (1/T). The equivalence between both diagrams is easily demonstrated, making simple mathematical manipulations. In order to show the parallelism between both diagrams, they are presented briefly and two examples are discussed. The comparison of the both diagrams surely will be helpful to students and teachers in their learning and teaching activities, and will certainly enrich important aspects of chemical thermodynamics.

Entalpía de disolución de sulfacetamida sódica en agua: comparación entre la calorimetría isoperibólica de solución y el método de van't Hoff

The dissolution enthalpy (ΔH0soln) of sodium sulfacetamide in water was determined by means of isoperibolic solution calorimetry. It was found that ΔH0soln diminishes as the drug concentration increases. Otherwise, the calorimetric values obtained as a function of the drug concentration were significantly different than those predicted by the van't Hoff method. It was demonstrated that the later is not a fully reliable method for the determination of ΔH0soln values in the specific case of highly soluble sodium salts. The observed phenomenon could be explained by the presence of strong solute-solute interactions at high salt concentrations, in addition to solute-solvent and solvent-solvent interactions.