Anomalous content of chromium in a Cretaceous sandstone aquifer of the Bauru Basin, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Anomalous and natural concentrations of Cr(6+), occasionally exceeding the permitted limit for human consumption (0.05 mg/L), have been detected in groundwater in the northwestern region of the state of Sao Paulo. As part of a water-rock interaction investigation, this article describes the chemical and mineralogical characterization of rock samples taken from boreholes in the municipality of Urania, with the objective of identifying Cr-bearing minerals and determining how chromium is associated with these minerals. Rock sample analysis were performed using X-ray Fluorescence, X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, electron microprobe and sequential extraction techniques. Chemical analyses indicated that the quartzose sandstones show a geochemical anomaly of chromium, with an average content of 221 ppm, which is higher than the reported chromium content of generic sandstones (35 ppm). Diopside was identified as the primary Cr-bearing mineral potentially subject to weathering processes, with a chromium content of up to 1.2% as Cr(2)O(3). Many of the diopside grains showed dissolution features, confirming the occurrence of weathering. Sequential extraction experiments indicated that 99.3% of the chromium in samples is tightly bonded to minerals, whereas 0.24% is weakly bonded via adsorption. Assuming hypothetically that all adsorbed chromium is released via desorption, the theoretical Cr concentration in water would be one order of magnitude higher than the concentrations of Cr(6+) detected in groundwater. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural analysis of the Itapucumi Group in the Vallemi region, northern Paraguay: Evidence of a new Brasiliano/Pan-African mobile belt

The Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) Itapucumi Group in northern Paraguay is composed of carbonate and siliciclastic rocks, including ooid grainstones, marls, shales and sandstones, containing Cloudina fossils in the eastern region. It is almost undeformed over the Rio Apa Cratonic Block but shows a strong deformational pattern at its western edge. A detailed structural analysis of the Itapucumi Group was conducted in the Vallemi Mine, along with a regional survey in other outcrops downstream in the Paraguay River and in the San Alfredo, Cerro Paiva and Sargent Jose E. Lopez regions. In the main Vallemi quarry, the structural style is characterized by an axial-plane slaty cleavage in open to isoclinal folds, sometimes overturned, associated with N-S trending thrust faults and shear zones of E-vergence and with a low-grade chlorite zone metamorphism. The structural data presented here are compatible with the hypothesis of a newly recognized mobile belt on the western side of the Rio Apa Cratonic Block, with opposite vergence to that of the Paraguay Mobile Belt in Brazil. Both belts are related to the Late Brasiliano/Pan-African tectonic cycle with a Lower Cambrian deformation and metamorphism age. The deformation could be due to the late collision of the Amazonian Craton with the remainder of Western Gondwana or to the western active plate boundary related to the Pampean Belt. The structural and lithologic differences between the western Itapucumi Group in the Vallemi and Paraguay River region and the eastern region, near San Alfredo and Cerro Paiva, suggest that this group could be divided into two lithostratigraphic units, but more stratigraphic and geochronological analyses are required to confirm this possibility. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fluoride in the groundwater of the Tubarao and Crystaline aquifers, Salto-Indaiatuba region (SP)

Anomalous concentrations of fluoride in groundwater were identified in 19 drilling wells in the Salto-Indaiatuba region, Sao Paulo State, with an average concentration of 3.03 mg dm(-3) and a maximum of 6.95 mg dm(-3), which constitute a restriction for the water`s usage in terms of human consumption. The wells exploit water from the Tubarao Aquifer (sedimentary, granular) and Crystalline Aquifer (granitic, fractured), used for sanitary or industrial purposes. These groundwaters are typically HCO(3) and HCO(3)-SO(4) types, with high concentrations of HCO(3) -and Na(+) and high pH-values between 7.5 and 10.0. The highest concentrations of F-are associated to the Tubarao and Tubarao/Crystalline aquifer drilling wells. The presence of F-in groundwater is controlled by these high pH-values, alkalinity, and fluorine availability. The source of fluoride in the Tubarao and Crystalline Aquifers can be related to the percolation of hydrothermal fluids associated with Mesozoic lava flow, emplaced due to the opening of Atlantic Ocean and/or hydrolysis of fluorine-rich minerals and clay minerals.

Geologia e geoquimica do complexo cambaizinho, sao gabriel - RS

Mapeamentos geológicos feitos pelo autor na região do Arroio Cambaizinho - são Gabriel/RS, resultaram na definição do Complexo Cambaizinho, representado pelas seqüências meta-sedimentar e máfica-ultramáfica, intimamente associadas ao longo de toda a extensão da associação supracrustal. A seqüência meta-se dimentar é constitu1da por gnaisses quartzo-feldspáticos dominan tes, anfibolitos bandados e quartzitos subordinados, derivados de sedimentos areno-pelítico-carbonatados estruturados, de forma ritmica em ambiente subaquoso. Niveis composicionais de ocorrência restrita contendo estaurolita, definem o grau metamórfico (médio) para esta região. Intercalações de serpentinitos, xistos magnesianos variados e anfibolitos a granulação fina, na forma de camadas e/ou lentes interestratificadas nos meta-sedimentos indicam suas derivações a partir de derrames e/ou intrusões , ígneas de pequena profundidade de composição básica-ultrabásica. Este juntamente com níveis de sedimentos qu1micos intercalados e corpos de gabros, constituem a seqüência máfica-ultramáfica. O complexo, representa o segmento norte de um cintu rão supracrustal polideformado de forma geométrica aproximadamente linear, com orientação NNE, que se extende desde a localidade de Passo do Ivo, situado mais a sul, até a região objeto deste trabalho. Quatro fases de deformação dúcteis foram das para a área, estando as duas primeiras (Dl e D2) identifica associadas xx aos eventos metamórficos regionais Ml e M2. O metamorfismo mais antigo (Ml), assinalado por paragêneses diagnósticas em metapelitos alcançou o fácies anfibolito (zona da estaurolita), estando representado em outras litologias pela ocorrência de olivina metamórfica em paragênese com tremolita e/ou talco (meta-serpentinitos) e hornblenda mais oligoclásio/andesina em meta-básicas. O M2, mais jovem, atingiu o fácies xistos verdes, cujas assembléias mineralógicas se associam à foliação S2, de distribuição ir regular ao longo do cinturão. As condições fisicas de Ml foram de média P/T, similares às do metamorfismo Dalradiano. Intrusões graniticas na forma de lâminas (corpos ta bulares) durante a segunda fase de deformação D2, datados pelo mé todo Rb/Sr em 661 :: 29 Ma e agrupados sob a denominação de Granatóides Sanga do Jobim, fornecem idades mínimas para o complexo. Os vários grupos composiciconais da seqüência máfic~ -ultramáfica, individualizados com base em critérios petrográf~ cos e conteúdo de elementos maiores correspondem a: serpentinitos e olivina-talco ultramafitos (cumulados komatilticos); xis tos magnesianos à talco e clorita e anfibólio xistos (komatiitos); clorita-hornblenda xistos (basaltos komatiiticos), litos e metagabros (basaltos e gabros tolelticos). anfibo Estes vários tipos litológicos foram originados através de diferentes graus de fusão parcial do manto como indicado pelo hiato composicional de MgO (11 à 17%) e os diferentes padrões de ETR existentes entre os anfibolitos/metagabros (toleitos) e os serpentinitos/xistos magnesianos (komatiltos).As variações composicionais no interior de cada grupo, foram controladas pelo fracionamento (acumulação ou extração) de olivina e pouco ortopiroxênio (serpentinitos e olivina-talco ultramafitos)clinopiroxênios (clorita e anfibólios xistos, clorita hornblenda xistos), clinopiroxênio e plagioclásio (anfibolitos e metagabros). As abundâncias e os padrões de ERTL (elementos terras raras leves) enriquecidos, juntamente com os baixos valores das razões A1203/Ti02 e CaO/Ti02 das amostras de xistos magnesiinos das camadas A e B sugerem derivações deste material a partir de baixas percentagens de fusão de um manto enriquecido em mentos incompatíveis. As anomalias negativas de Ce e Eu na ele maio ria das rochas da seqüência máfica-ultramáfica indicam que protólitos ígneossofreram alterações em ambiente submarino.

New species of Harttia (Loricariidae, Loricariinae) from the Rio Sao Francisco Basin

A new species of the mailed catfish genus Harttia is described from the Sao Francisco River drainage, States of Minas Gerais and Bahia, Brazil. The new species is distinguished from congeners by the combination of an abdominal region covered by small bony plates; plates 3-4 times in eye diameter; interorbital width 3.1-4.0 in head length and greater than eye diameter; body width at anal fin origin 6.3-8.3 in standard length; margins of the head and pectoral fin spine of mature males with elongate and conspicuous odontodes; anal fin of males longer than of females. A key to Harttia species and a comparison with other species are provided.

Chaunus ictericus (Spix, 1824) as paratenic host of the giant kidney worm Dioctophyme renale (Goeze, 1782) (Nematoda: Enoplida) in Sao Cristovao district, Tres Barras county, Santa Catarina state, Brazil

Dioctophyme renale larvae have been found in cysts in the gastric wall of 5.17% (3/58) Chaunus ictericus specimens from Sao Cristovao district, Tres Barras municipality, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. However, larvae of this nematode were not found in sympatric Chaunus schneideri. The larvae caused a mild granulomatous reaction. This is the first report of paratenic hosts for D. renale in Brazil, and probably is also the first in the Neotropical region. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

First Autochthonous Case of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis in the Center of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

Background: Leishmaniasis is one of the most important vector-borne diseases of humans. This parasitic disease can be caused by many species of Leishmania. In humans, different species of the parasite are associated with different forms of the disease, cutaneous and visceral. Among domesticated animals, dogs are the most important species in the epidemiology of this disease. Leishmania chagasi, an important zoonosis, is well established as the agent of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. The disease is endemic in north, northeast, midwest and southeast, and is transmitted to mammals by hematophagous insects such as the Lutzomyia longipalpis. In 2008, our research group has diagnosed a case of canine leishmaniasis in the municipality of Uruguaiana and subsequently there were several cases in the city and the neighbor municipality of Sao Borja. Most Brazilian states are endemic for leishmaniasis, with the exception of Rio Grande do Sul. In southern Brazil, the reports of humans and dogs infected by Leishmania spp. are the source of endemic area in the country. Therefore, the aim of this study is register the first clinical case of canine visceral leishmaniasis in the municipality of Santa Maria, RS.Case: In october 2010, a veterinary clinic of Santa Maria received a canine, female, Doberman, with two years of age. The animal had severe skin lesions on the head and limbs, pale mucous membranes, and enlarged lymph nodes. According to the owner, the animal showed progressive weight loss and anorexia for more than five days. During the clinical examination the blood was collected for hemogram and cytology of lymph nodes was performed by puncture aspiration with a fine needle. In the erythrogram, it was observed a decrease in the total number of erythrocytes (2.8 x 10(6)/mu L), hematocrit (21%), hemoglobin (6.8 g/dL) and platelets (98 x 10(3)/mu L). In the leucogram, any alteration was observed. The cytology of lymph nodes showed amastigotes forms, suggestive of the Leishmania spp. Based on this finding; we performed the blood collection for PCR, to confirm parasitism and to determine the species of Leishmania. At the molecular test was used PCR-specific for L. chagasi, and the result was positive.Discussion: This is the first autochthonous clinical case in the central region of the RS, non-endemic area for leishmaniasis. In serological studies of visceral leishmaniasis it was diagnosed in five asymptomatic dogs in the municipalities of Santa Maria, Julio de Castilhos and Itaara, however not confirmed by molecular analysis. In the municipalities of Cruz Alta and Uruguaiana cases of L. chagasi have been reported in dogs which previously resided in Leishmania sp. endemic areas. The municipality of Sao Borja had the first record of L. longipalpis in the RS during the leishmaniasis outbreak in 2008-2009. In the central region of the RS vector has not been found, but because in this first autochthonous case dog in Santa Maria believe that the parasite is present and/or doing other insect transmission of leishmaniasis. Clinical signs associated with hematologic and coagulation disorders observed in the canine are commonly described in symptomatic dogs in endemic regions. This case of autochthonous leishmaniasis reinforces the idea of the vector presence in Santa Maria, center of the RS. We believe that canine leishmaniasis is an emerging disease in the southern region of Brazil.

Deep barcode divergence in Brazilian freshwater fishes: the case of the Sao Francisco River basin

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Description of a new species of Pareiorhina (Siluriformes: Neoplecostominae) from Rio Sao Francisco basin

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

Biology and shell relationship in Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc, 1802) (Crustacea, Diogenidae) from Sao Vicente, SP, Brasil.

This study aimed to characterize the populational structure of Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc, 1802), as well as to determine the morphometric relations between the animal's size and the variables: length of their chelar propodus and the size of the shell opening. C. vittatus is a relatively abundant pagurid on the west Atlantic coast, it occurs in the intertidal region from 38 degrees N to 28 degrees S. The animals in this study were randomly sampled every month on the Paranapu (a) over tilde Beach (46 degrees 23' S e 23 degrees 59' W), S (a) over tilde $ o Vicente (SP), Brazil. The biometrics data were adjusted to the power equation (y = ax(b)), by means of the minimum square method. A total of 427 individuals were collected. The size of the cephalothoraxic shield ranged from 2.5 to 12.7 mm, evidencing a representative sample of the population. The of most commonly genus of Gastropoda shells occupied by the hermits was Thais (97,26%). In relation to the morphometric analyses performed, it was observed a positive correlation between the animal size and the variables length of the chelar propodus and the size of the shells.

Diversity and distribution of crustaceans from 13 sheltered sandy beaches along Sao Sebastiao Channel, south-eastern Brazil

The crustacean species composition in the intertidal zones of 13 sheltered unconsolidated marine beaches in south-eastern Brazil is described. Fifty-three crustacean species were collected, adding 46 species to the total reported by previous studies in the same region. Decapods dominated the community, in contrast to exposed sandy beaches where peracarids normally predominate. The species were distributed irregularly among the beaches. Richness varied markedly among sites, and was positively related to a combination of factors such as fine sand grains, high organic matter content, and relatively low silt-clay content. The presence of rock fragments enabled both rocky shore and sandy beach crustaceans to occur oil the same beaches. Richness and abundance of crustaceans showed no clear relationship to sediment grain size and slope, in contrast to the norm for exposed sandy beaches. The dominance of the tanaid Kalliapseudes schubarti in sonic areas may be a result of organic matter pollution in the region. These beaches showed higher species richness than typical sheltered and exposed sandy beaches, indicating that this sheltered, highly heterogeneous seascape is an important area for conservation.

Lack of association between ABO histo-blood groups, secretor and non-secretor phenotypes, and anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies among pregnant women from the northwestern region of São Paulo State, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Development of environmental and natural vulnerability maps for Brazilian coastal at Sao Sebastiao in São Paulo State

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

POPULATION-BASED INCIDENCE OF IDDM IN THE STATE OF SAO-PAULO, BRAZIL

OBJECTIVE- To study the incidence of IDDM among children, infants to 14 yr of age, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, 1987-1991.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - A prospective population-based register was established, using physician reports of newly diagnosed IDDM patients < 15 yr of age as the primary source of case identification and school surveys as the main secondary source. Data were collected according to the methods recommended by the Diabetes Epidemiology Research International group.RESULTS - Case ascertainment was estimated at 95.0, 92.8, and 98.8% complete for each of the three cities studied. The average annual IDDM incidence was 7.6/100,000 inhabitants (95% confidence interval, 5.6-9.7). We found a higher incidence rate in girls than boys.CONCLUSIONS - the incidence of childhood IDDM in a tropical region in South America (São Paulo, Brazil) is in the middle incidence range observed in developed countries throughout the world. Increased incidence of IDDM in girls compared with boys will be tested by the ongoing Brazilian incidence study being developed in 18 other centers across the country.

The Sao Vicente earthquake of 2008 April and seismicity in the continental shelf off SE Brazil: further evidence for flexural stresses

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)