Analysis of Climatic Factors Impact on RSV Infection Distribution in Children Attending Childcare at Northwest Region of São Paulo, Brazil

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was detected in samples collected from children from 0 to 6 years of age with acute respiratory infection, attending public childcare on Northwest region of São Paulo, Brazil. RSV distribution was associated to seasonal climatic variables as temperature, rainfall and relative air humidity. We utilized samples of nasopharyngeal aspirate collected during the period of July 2003 to September 2005. RT-PCR was the chosen method for viral identification. Results showed that from the 817 samples (collected from 179 children), 7.7% (63/817) were RSV positive. In 2003, RSV was detected from July until October. In 2004, RSV infections occurred in March, May, June, July, October, November, and December. In 2005, RSV was detected in March, April, May, August, and September. RSV circulation patterns in childcare children showed seasonal distribution associated to decreases in temperature and relative air humidity. RSV was detected in childcare children as an important viral agent causing respiratory infections, with varying patterns of circulation into the cohort during the study period. Moreover, RSV distribution showed to be associated with the dry season on Northwest region of São Paulo, Brazil.

Greenhouse gas balance in the conversion from extensive pasture to other agricultural systems in Andean region of Colombia

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Ciência do Solo) - FCAV

Molecular characterisation of Cryptosporidium spp. in lambs in the south central region of the State of São Paulo

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

Reference evapotranspiration models using different time scales in the Jaboticabal region of Sao Paulo, Brazil

The aim of this paper is to compare 18 reference evapotranspiration models to the standard Penman-Monteith model in the Jaboticabal, Sao Paulo, region for the following time scales: daily, 5-day, 15-day and seasonal. A total of 5 years of daily meteorological data was used for the following analyses: accuracy (mean absolute percentage error, Mape), precision (R-2) and tendency (bias) (systematic error, SE). The results were also compared at the 95% probability level with Tukey's test. The Priestley-Taylor (1972) method was the most accurate for all time scales, the Tanner-Pelton (1960) method was the most accurate in the winter, and the Thornthwaite (1948) method was the most accurate of the methods that only used temperature data in the equations.

Balancing immunity and tolerance: genetic footprint of natural selection in the transcriptional regulatory region of HLA-G

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Epidemiological profile of hepatitis C virus infection in patients from west region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a serious public health problem and is the leading cause of liver transplantation due to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In Brazil, it is estimated that there are approximately 2 to 3 million HCV chronic carriers. Few data regarding HCV infection are available in West region of Minas Gerais State. Due to the absence of an effective vaccine against this important human pathogen and the high costs of antiviral treatment, it is important to conduct epidemiological studies with the purpose of carry out the planning and implementation of measures to prevent hepatitis C in different populations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological aspects of HCV patients from West region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Sociodemographic data and risk factors for HCV infection were determined from 74 HCV patients from Uberlandia city (Minas Gerais State). Reactive anti-HCV sera samples were submitted to HCV RNA and genotype detection. Most of individuals were male (63.5%) with mean age of 51 years and presenting low socioeconomic status. HCV genotype was determined among 40 samples and the frequencies were: genotype 2 (45%), 1 (37.5%) and 3 (17.5%). Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was common among male and low socioeconomic status individuals.

Evaluation of the genotoxicity of waters impacted by domestic and industrial effluents of a highly industrialized region of So Paulo State, Brazil, by the comet assay in HTC cells

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Entoepidemiology of Chagas disease in the Western region of the State of Sao Paulo from 2004 to 2008, and cytogenetic analysis in Rhodnius neglectus (Hemiptera, Triatominae)

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

Seroprevalence of salmonella and mycoplasma in commercial broilers, backyard chickens, and spent hens in the region of Triangulo Mineiro, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Avian salmonellosis and mycoplasmosis are infectious diseases that, in addition of causing lack of flock uniformity, represent a hazard to human health. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of mycoplasmosis and salmonellosis in commercial broilers, backyard chickens, and spent hens slaughtered at a processing plant with local health inspection in Uberlandia, MG, Brazil. A total of 210 samples were randomly collected at the time of bleeding. Samples were submitted to rapid plate serum agglutination test (RSA) for the classification of Salmonella pullorum, Salmonella gallinarum, Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae. In order to increase result specificity, mycoplasmosis-positive samples were submitted to hemagglutination inhibition test (HI). No samples presented detectable antibodies against Salmonella pullorum or Salmonella gallinarum in the RSA test. Only Mycoplasma synoviae was detected in 14% of the backyard chickens and 0.74% in commercial broilers, whereas no antibodies were detected in spent hens. The seroprevalence rates found in the present study emphasize the need of keeping chicken flocks free from disease using effective biosafety systems.

Volcanological aspects of the northwest region of Parana continental flood basalts (Brazil)

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

Triatominae survey (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) in the south-central region of the state of Bahia, Brazil between 2008 and 2013

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Salmonella serovars in laying hen flocks and commercial table eggs from a region of Sao Paulo State, Brazil

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

Distribution, composition and seasonality of aquatic birds in the Nhecolandia sub-region of South Pantanal, Brazil

Despite remarkable significance of Pantanal for the conservation of aquatic birds, the status of their populations, the spatiotemporal patterns of distribution and habitat use and structure of communities are little known. Thus, we studied three aquatic environments (Negro river, bays and salines) from 2007 to 2009 in the Nhecolandia Pantanal to verify the distribution and composition of aquatic birds and also if there is significant seasonal influence on these aspects. We adopted the transect method (288 hours of sampling) and recorded 135 species (7.834 individuals). The Negro river showed the highest diversity, while the salines the lowest. The similarity of aquatic bird communities was higher between bays and salines, followed by Negro river and bays and lower between salines and Negro river. The equidistribution is more variable in the salines and more stable in the Negro river. The environments strongly differ from each other in aquatic bird composition in space (habitat use and distribution) and time (seasonal water fluctuations). The diversity of bird community in the dry season varies significantly in the salines, followed by the bays and more stable in the Negro river. The Negro river, regardless of large annual amplitude of flow, is more seasonally stable since its riparian vegetation is continuous (not isolated) and constant. These aspects provide better conditions to stay all year, contributing to decrease the seasonal nomadic tendencies of aquatic birds. Finally, all these data provide strong arguments to the preservation of all phytophysiognomies in the Nhecolandia sub-region of Pantanal, but with special attention to the salines widely used by many flocks of aquatic birds (mainly in the dry season) and migrant and/or rare species restricted to this habitat.

Endoparasites of horses from the Formiga city, located in center-west region of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

With the aim of studying the endoparasite fauna of horses from the Formiga city, located in center-west region of the state of Minas Gerais, 25 animals that were naturally infected with helminths were evaluated. By means of parasitological necropsies, different endoparasites were found. The subfamily Cyathostominae presented the highest incidence, followed by Trichostrongylus axei, Oxyuris equi, Triodontophorus serratus, Strongyloides westeri, Strongylus edentatus, Habronema muscae, Parascaris equorum, Probstmayria vivipara, Strongylus vulgaris, Gasterophilus nasalis, Anoplocephala magna and Anoplocephala perfoliata. In the present study, if the species Probstmayria vivipara was not considered in the prevalence, the frequency of Cyathostominae was equivalent to 94.85%. The results obtained in this study allowed us to detect and identify different species of helminths in horses, and confirmed the high incidence of nematodes belonging to the subfamily Cyathostominae in the center-west region of Minas Gerais.

Distribution of stream macroalgae in the northwest region of Sao Paulo State, southeastern Brazil

Forty-four stream segments were sampled from May to October in 1992 and 1993 in the northwest region of São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil (19 degrees 45'-21 degrees 25'S, 49 degrees 05'-51 degrees 30'S). Thirty-six macroalgal subgeneric taxa were found and Chlorophyta was the dominant algal group (47% species), followed by Cyanophyta (33.5%), Rhodophyta (14%) and Chrysophyta (5.5%). The most widespread species were Stigeoclonium helveticum (25% sites), Batrachospermum delicatulum and Compsopogon coeruleus (20.5%). Distribution was patchy, with species number per sampling site ranging from 0 to six (3.1 +/- 1.7) and correlated positively with species abundance. Species cover ranged from 0 to 61% of the stream bottom (19.1 +/- 19.7%). Most sites (57%) were dominated by one or two macroalgae species. No significant difference was found between the frequency distribution of variables measured for streams and for total macroalgae, but the most widespread species differed for most parameters and occurred over wider ranges of environmental conditions. Mean species number and abundance were close to values found in distinct regions or biomes of North America. Higher conductance and lower oxygen values, as well as rocky substrata, generally constituted the most favourable combination of conditions for the development of macroalgae in the region. The pattern of strong dominance of few species was considered to be typical for stream macroalgal communities in general.