Airborne fungi isolated from Fortaleza city, State of Ceará, Brazil

Airbone fungi are considered important causes of allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma. The knowledge of these fungi in a city or region is important for the ecological diagnosis and specific treatment of allergic manifestations induced by inhalation of fungal allergens. The airborne fungi of Fortaleza, State of Ceará, Brazil, were studied during a one year period. Five hundred and twenty Petri dishes with Sabouraud dextrose agar medium were exposed at ten different locations in the city. The dishes exposed yielded one thousand and five hundred and twenty one colonies of twenty four genera. The most predominants were: Aspergillus (44.7%), Penicillium (13.3%), Curvularia (9.8%), Cladosporium (6.8%), Mycelia sterilia (6.0%), Fusarium (3.5%), Rhizopus (3.1%), Drechslera (2.6%), Alternaria (2.4%) and Absidia (2.2%). The results shown that Aspergillus, Penicillium, Mycelia sterilia, Fusarium and Alternaria were found during all months in the year. Absidia was more frequent during the dry season. Anemophilous fungi and the high concentration of spores in the air are important because may result in an increased number of people with allergic respiratory disease.

The perception, beliefs and practices toward genitourinary schistosomiasis by inhabitants of selected endemic areas (Edo/Delta States) in south-eastern Nigeria

Well-structured questionnaire on the perception, impression and response to genitourinary bilharziasis (Genitourinary schistosomiasis) was administered and explained in local languages: 'Igbo' 'Esan' 'Ezon' Itshekiri and Bini to 33815 inhabitants of selected endemic areas in south-eastern Nigeria from January, 1999 to December, 2001. Out of this number, 3815 (11.3%) were properly filled and returned. About 42.0% of the inhabitants admitted knowledge of the disease, while 14 (0.4%) knew about the aetiologic agent. About 181 (5.0%) who responded, admitted procuring treatment, while 100 (5.0%) declined to seek treatment of any sort. The relationships between water-bodies and human activities, and infection were well discussed. Amongst those who admitted knowledge of the disease but no knowledge of its etiologic agent, declined seeking treatment of any kind, but believe the disease is a natural phenomenon in ones developmental stage and therefore of no morbidity and mortality. Laboratory analysis of urine, faeces, semen and HVS was employed to assess questionnaire responses, and in some cases, physical examination was utilized to augment laboratory analysis in confirming urinal diagnosis. Haematuria was only directly related to egg count in the early part of life. Females were significantly haematuric and excreted more ova than males (p < 0.05). Headache (43.0%) and fever (31.0%) were major clinical signs while sexual pains (22.0%) were the least.

Evolution of genotypes of Group A streptococci from colonization and infection

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Biologia

Characterization of Cryptococcus neoformans isolated from urban environmental sources in Goiânia, Goiás State, Brazil

Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes meningoencephalitis as the most frequent clinical presentation in immunocompromised patients, mainly in people infected by HIV. This fungus is an environmental encapsulated yeast, commonly found in soil enriched with avian droppings and plant material. A total of 290 samples of pigeon and the other avian droppings, soil, ornamental trees and vegetable material associated with Eucalyptus trees were collected to study environmental sources of Cryptococcus species in Goiânia, Goiás State. The determination of varieties, serotypes and the susceptibility in vitro to fluconazole, itraconazole and amphotericin B of C. neoformans isolates were performed. C. neoformans var. grubii (serotype A) was found in 20.3% (36/177) of pigeon dropping samples and in 14.3% (5/35) of samples of Eucalyptus. None of the environmental isolates of C. neoformans showed in vitro resistance to three antifungal agents. The knowledge of major route for human cryptococcal infection (inhalation of infectious particles from saprophytic sources) and a total of 60 C. neoformans isolates obtained from AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis between October 2001 and April 2002 justify the study of the habitats of these yeasts as probable sources of cryptococcosis in this city.

First record of Anopheles (Anopheles) costai Fonseca & Ramos, 1939 in Espírito Santo State, Brazil

Field collections of immatures and adults of Culicidae were carried out in the Rio Doce Valley, Espírito Santo State, aiming to increase knowledge on the anopheline species of that region. Considering all Culicidae species collected, among other anopheline it is noteworthy the presence of Anopheles darlingi, An. oswaldoi and An. costai. Regarding to An. darlingi, responsible for malaria outbreak in the low lands in that state, it was expected to confirm its presence in the area. The register of specimens of An. costai in the field collections is relevant, increasing the geographical distribution of the species and representing better knowledge of the Series Arribalzagia of the subgenus Anopheles.

Effects of Exercise on Physical and Mental Health, and Cognitive and Brain Functions in Schizophrenia: Clinical and Experimental Evidence

Exercise promotes several health benefits, such as cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory improvements. It is believed that the practice of exercise in individuals with psychiatric disorders, e.g. schizophrenia, can cause significant changes. Schizophrenic patients have problematic lifestyle habits compared with general population; this may cause a high mortality rate, mainly caused by cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate changes in physical and mental health, cognitive and brain functioning due to the practice of exercise in patients with schizophrenia. Although still little is known about the benefits of exercise on mental health, cognitive and brain functioning of schizophrenic patients, exercise training has been shown to be a beneficial intervention in the control and reduction of disease severity. Type of training, form of execution, duration and intensity need to be better studied as the effects on physical and mental health, cognition and brain activity depend exclusively of interconnected factors, such as the combination of exercise and medication. However, one should understand that exercise is not only an effective nondrug alternative, but also acts as a supporting linking up interventions to promote improvements in process performance optimization. In general, the positive effects on mental health, cognition and brain activity as a result of an exercise program are quite evident. Few studies have been published correlating effects of exercise in patients with schizophrenia, but there is increasing evidence that positive and negative symptoms can be improved. Therefore, it is important that further studies be undertaken to expand the knowledge of physical exercise on mental health in people with schizophrenia, as well as its dose-response and the most effective type of exercise.

Clonal types and antimicrobial resistance profiles of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from hospitals in south Brazil

In the present study were evaluated the DNA macrorestriction profile and SCCmec types for nine multi-resistant MRSA selected. Also antimicrobial susceptibility testing by disk diffusion method was evaluated for 68 MRSA isolates against 12 antimicrobial agents. The isolates were recovered from blood culture collected from hospitalized patients in three hospitals of Porto Alegre, Brazil. PFGE and PCR for mecA and SCCmec I, II, III, IV types genes were done on selected nine isolates with susceptibility only to vancomycin, teicoplanin and linezolid. Two clone profiles, with five subtypes, were demonstrated among multi-resistant MRSA analyzed. Eight isolates showed harbor SCCmec type III and one isolate was not typeable. The knowledge of SCCmec type, clone and antimicrobial profiles among S. aureus is essential mainly to prevention and control of dissemination of the antimicrobial resistance.

(Un)suitability of the use of pH buffers in biological, biochemical and environmental studies and their interaction with metal ions – a review

The use of buffers to maintain the pH within a desired range is a very common practice in chemical, biochemical and biological studies. Among them, zwitterionic N-substituted aminosulfonic acids, usually known as Good’s buffers, although widely used, can complex metals and interact with biological systems. The present work reviews, discusses and updates the metal complexation characteristics of thirty one commercially available buffers. In addition, their impact on biological systems is also presented. The influences of these buffers on the results obtained in biological, biochemical and environmental studies, with special focus on their interaction with metal ions, are highlighted and critically reviewed. Using chemical speciation simulations, based on the current knowledge of the metal–buffer stability constants, a proposal of the most adequate buffer to employ for a given metal ion is presented.

Quinoxaline, its derivatives and applications: a state of the art review

Quinoxaline derivatives are an important class of heterocycle compounds, where N replaces some carbon atoms in the ring of naphthalene. Its molecular formula is C8H6N2, formed by the fusion of two aromatic rings, benzene and pyrazine. It is rare in natural state, but their synthesis is easy to perform. In this review the State of the Art will be presented, which includes a summary of the progress made over the past years in the knowledge of the structure and mechanism of the quinoxaline and quinoxaline derivatives, associated medical and biomedical value as well as industrial value. Modifying quinoxaline structure it is possible to obtain a wide variety of biomedical applications, namely antimicrobial activities and chronic and metabolic diseases treatment.

Biosynthesis-Assisted Structural Elucidation of the Bartolosides, Chlorinated Aromatic Glycolipids from Cyanobacteria

The isolation of the bartolosides, unprecedented cyanobacterial glycolipids featuring aliphatic chains with chlorine substituents and C-glycosyl moieties, is reported. Their chlorinated dialkylresorcinol (DAR) core presented a major structural-elucidation challenge. To overcome this, we discovered the bartoloside (brt) biosynthetic gene cluster and linked it to the natural products through in vitro characterization of the DAR-forming ketosynthase and aromatase. Bioinformatic analysis also revealed a novel potential halogenase. Knowledge of the bartoloside biosynthesis constrained the DAR core structure by defining key pathway intermediates, ultimately allowing us to determine the full structures of the bartolosides. This work illustrates the power of genomics to enable the use of biosynthetic information for structure elucidation.

Etiological agents of diarrhea in patients infected by the human immunodeficiency virus-1: a review

Despite the importance of understanding the epidemiology of agents responsible for infectious diarrhea in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) population, the number of articles about this subject is relatively few. The current article summarizes published data on bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic enteropathogens in the HIV/AIDS seropositive subjects in different countries, regions and localities. In general, there is a great difference in the frequencies of etiological agents due to factors which include immune status, geographical location, climate and socioeconomic conditions. It is important to stress that a great prevalence of infection by emergent agents has been reported in the more advanced stages of AIDS. Therefore, to establish specific treatment depends directly on knowledge of these agents and risk factors associated to their distribution. Moreover, the colonization by potential pathogenic agents verified in these individuals is high thus implicating that they act as carriers. Finally, public health measures of control and prevention must take into consideration the regional previously identified enteropathogens, especially in areas where HIV prevalence is high.

Analysis of the Out-Of-Plane Seismic Behavior of Unreinforced Masonry: A Literature Review

Although the issue of the out-of-plane response of unreinforced masonry structures under earthquake excitation is well known with consensus among the research community, this issue is simultaneously one of the more complex and most neglected areas on the seismic assessment of existing buildings. Nonetheless, its characterization should be found on the solid knowledge of the phenomenon and on the complete understanding of methodologies currently used to describe it. Based on this assumption, this article presents a general framework on the issue of the out-of-plane performance of unreinforced masonry structures, beginning with a brief introduction to the topic, followed by a compact state of art in which the principal methodologies proposed to assess the out-of-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry structures are presented. Different analytical approaches are presented, namely force and displacement-based, complemented with the presentation of existing numerical tools for the purpose presented above. Moreover, the most relevant experimental campaigns carried out in order to reproduce the phenomenon are reviewed and briefly discussed.

Um estudo sobre geometria no 1.º ciclo: simetria em figuras planas

Este estudo insere-se no âmbito da Geometria e pretende compreender a influência dos recursos didáticos utilizados no reconhecimento de propriedades e relações geométricas em figuras planas. De acordo com o objetivo do estudo formulamos duas questões orientadoras que se articulam entre si. - Que fragilidades apresentam os alunos, no reconhecimento de propriedades geométricas em figuras planas? - Que contributos resultam da utilização de materiais manipuláveis, na visualização espacial e investigação de propriedades geométricas? Com este estudo pretendemos reunir informação que contribua para aprofundar o conhecimento sobre o raciocínio geométrico dos alunos. Em termos metodológicos segue um método de investigação misto, com recolha de informação qualitativa de natureza interpretativa e quantitativa, na modalidade de estudo de caso. A recolha de dados foi realizada numa turma de 4.º ano do ensino básico onde foi desenvolvida a experiência didática. A informação recolhida resultou da observação direta e as fontes dos dados foram as produções dos alunos, as notas de campo, registos fotográficos, vídeo e áudio. A docente assumiu o papel de investigadora e orientadora das tarefas propostas aos alunos tendo estes desempenhado um papel ativo na construção do seu próprio conhecimento. Os resultados obtidos permitem evidenciar as fragilidades dos alunos no reconhecimento de propriedades geométricas de figuras planas em diferentes posições. Destacam ainda os contributos da utilização da Mira e do Tangram, no estudo da simetria e no desenvolvimento da visualização espacial para a concretização de aprendizagens concretas, motivadoras e significativas.

Geometria: um estudo sobre quadriláteros no 4.º ano de escolaridade com recurso ao geoplano e ao GeoGebra

O presente estudo foi desenvolvido no âmbito do Mestrado de Didática da Matemática e Ciências da Natureza, no 1.º e 2.º Ciclos, no domínio da Geometria. Tem como principal objetivo compreender e analisar, através da implementação de uma sequência de tarefas de investigação e exploração, de que forma o processo de ensino e aprendizagem dos alunos, na área dos quadriláteros, com os recursos GeoGebra e o Geoplano, contribui para o desenvolvimento do raciocínio geométrico. Neste sentido, definiram-se as seguintes questões de investigação: (1) Qual a imagem concetual que os alunos possuem de cada um dos quadriláteros? (2) Que conhecimentos têm os alunos sobre as propriedades dos quadriláteros: quadrados, retângulos e losangos? (3) Quais os contributos do Geoplano e do GeoGebra na compreensão e identificação das propriedades dos quadriláteros? A metodologia adotada foi de natureza qualitativa, do tipo interpretativo, baseada em dois estudos de caso. Na recolha de dados, foram utilizados os seguintes instrumentos: observação, questionário, documentos produzidos pelos alunos, entrevistas informais, registos áudio e fotografias aos trabalhos realizados. Na análise dos dados, procurou-se descrever e interpretar os dados recolhidos, no âmbito do objeto do estudo. Os resultados mostraram que a sequência de tarefas e o modo como foram desenvolvidas foram fundamentais na compreensão dos conteúdos trabalhados. Regista-se também que os recursos utilizados motivaram os alunos e contribuíram para a interação, como também para a compreensão dos conceitos geométricos. Por outro lado, a utilização do GeoGebra e do Geoplano contribuíram para o desenvolvimento do raciocínio espacial e geométrico.

Bioactive beads for local sensing of proteases in 3D engineered tissues

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Bioengenharia (MIT)