Implication of the RDRio Mycobacterium tuberculosis sublineage in multidrug resistant tuberculosis in Portugal

Multidrug and extensively drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis are a threat to tuberculosis control programs. Genotyping methods, such as spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR typing (Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units), are useful in monitoring potentially epidemic strains and estimating strain phylogenetic lineages and/or genotypic families. M. tuberculosis Latin American Mediterranean (LAM) family is a major worldwide contributor to tuberculosis (TB). LAM specific molecular markers, Ag85C(103) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and RDRio long-sequence polymorphism (LSP), were used to characterize spoligotype signatures from 859 patient isolates from Portugal. LAM strains were found responsible for 57.7% of all tuberculosis cases. Strains with the RDRio deletion (referred to as RDRio) were estimated to represent 1/3 of all the strains and over 60% of the multidrug resistant (MDR) strains. The major spoligotype signature SIT20 belonging to the LAM1 RDRio sublineage, represented close to 1/5th of all the strains, over 20% of which were MDR. Analysis of published datasets according to stipulated 12 loci MIRU-VNTR RDRio signatures revealed that 96.3% (129/134) of MDR and extensively drug resistant (XDR) clusters were RDRio. This is the first report associating the LAM RDRio sublineage with MDR. These results are an important contribution to the monitoring of these strains with heightened transmission for future endeavors to arrest MDR-TB and XDR-TB. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ocorrência e determinação do perfil de sensibilidade às drogas das cepas de Staphylococcus aureus isoladas de fossas nasais e orofaringe dos servidores hospitalares

Staphylococcus aureus is a very important hospital and community pathogen. This species is related to supurative disease, systemic and widespread metastatic lesions. The ability of S. aureus to develop resistance to antibiotics, more recently to methicillin, associates this bacteria with epidemic outbreaks of severe nosocomial infection. The source of staphylococcal infection is a patient with a staphylococcal lesion or a career member of the hospital staff. We aimed to detect the frequency of S. aureus isolated from anterior nares and oral cavities among the hospital staff in Bauru - SP, and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates. Within 213 of the staff members analyzed. S. aureus was found in 94 (44.13%) of careers, with 47 (50%) of nasal carriers, 23 (24.4%) of oral carriers and 24 (25.5%) of both carriers. The biochemical characteristics analyzed for the species identification were similar to S. aureus ATCC 29213. All strains identified as S. aureus showed varied sensibility to the antimicrobial agents tested. No vancomicin resistant strains and only 8 (8.5%) strains with oxacilin resistance were found.

Estimativa do tamanho das fêmeas com ovos de Moina minuta Hansen, 1899 (Cladocera, Crustacea) no lago Amapá, Rio Branco, Estado do Acre Brasil

Moina minuta, a tropical species of Cladocera, was selected for the study of medium size at maturity and female egg production, due to its abundance and frequency in samples during low-water season in 1997 and high-water season in 1998, in Amapá Lake, Western Amazônia. The primiparous female had a size of 330 μm and 340 μm in low and high water, respectively. Moina individuals reached maximum size during high water (595μm). The medium size of the ovigerous females, in low water was 501 μm, producing an average of 4.41 eggs/female, while in high water, it was 533μm, with an average egg production of 4.84 eggs/female. The results, analyzed by the t test and Fischer's F test, showed that there were no statistical differences in size among individuals (t= -10.69, F=1.20 and P>0.1227), nor among ovigerous females (t= -4.45, F=1.02 and P>0.8906), considering the two seasons.

Development of a micro heat exchanger made with ceramic multi-layers (LTCC) and its setup to gas flow measurements

A green ceramic tape micro heat exchanger was developed using LTCC technology. The device was designed by using a CAD software and 2D and 3D simulations using a CFD package (COMSOL Multiphysics) to evaluate the fluid behavior in the microchannels. The micro heat exchanger is composed of five thermal exchange plates in cross flow arrangement and two connecting plates; heat exchanger dimensions are 26 × 26 × 6 mm3. Preliminary tests were carried out to characterize the device both in atmospheric pressure and in vacuum. The same techniques used in vacuum technology were applied to check the rotameters and to prevent device leakages. Thermal performance of the micro heat exchanger was experimentally tested. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

La utilización del muestreo en los censos de población y vivienda

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La salud y las mujeres en América Latina y el Caribe: viejos problemas y nuevos enfoques = Health and women in Latin America and the Caribbean: old issues and new approaches

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Prevenir en drogas: enfoques integrales y contextos culturales para alimentar buenas prácticas

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Fecundidad diferencial en la República del Paraguay según condición de ruralidad y nivel de instrucción de la mujer

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República Argentina: análisis de la mortalidad por causas, con especial referencia a la Capital Federal y la Provincia de Buenos Aires

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Proyección de población 1970-2025: urbana y rural y económicamente activa por sexo y grupo de edad

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Fast assembly of non-thiolated DNA on gold surface at lower pH

In a typical protocol for attaching DNA to a gold electrode, thiolated DNA is incubated with the electrode at neutral pH overnight. Here we report fast adsorption of non-thiolated DNA oligomers on gold electrodes at acidic pH (i.e., pH ~3.0). The peak-to-peak potential difference and the redox peak currents in typical cyclic voltammetry of [Fe(CN)6]3- are investigated to monitor the attachment. Compared with incubation at neutral pH, the lower pH can significantly promote the adsorption processes, enabling efficient adsorption even in 30min. The adsorption rate is DNA concentration-dependent, while the ionic strength shows no influence. Moreover, the adsorption is base-discriminative, with a preferred order of A>C≫G, T, which is attributed to the protonation of A and C at low pH and their higher binding affinity to gold surface. The immobilized DNA is functional and can hybridize with its complementary DNA but not a random DNA. This work is promising to provide a useful time-saving strategy for DNA assembly on gold electrodes, allowing fast fabrication of DNA-based biosensors and devices. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Trabajo femenino y fecundidad; antecedentes de investigacion y perspectivas teoricas

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Situación actual y perspectivas de la enseñanza de la demografía en México; versión preliminar

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