Epidemiological aspects in leptospirosis. Research of anti-Leptospira spp antibodies, isolation and biomolecular research in bovines, rodents and workers in rural properties from Botucatu, SP, Brazil.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide infection, transmitted between man and animals that causes a decrease in the production of bovine flocks, and offer risks for public health, as an important zoonosis. The rodents are the main reservoirs of leptospires. It was studied 27 dairy farm properties located in or near from Botucatu-SP, Brazil. In these farms were collected blood and kidney samples from rodents, blood and urine samples from bovines and blood samples from the workers. The serology was performed with microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Samples of bovine urine and rodent kidneys were cultivated searching for leptospires isolation. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the kidneys of the rodents was performed. In MAT, 46/ 140 (32.85%) bovine and 8/34 (23.53%) human sera samples were positive, respectively. In human samples, the serovar Brastilava (37.51%) presented the highest occurrence, while in bovines, the serovars Hardjo and Castellonis were most frequent, with 26.08% each one. All of the rodents were negatives in serology. No leptospire was isolated, and kidney samples were negative in PCR. In bovines, the dam water and the bad hygiene quality of milking process were considered important risks of infection in the affected properties (p<0.05), where other reproductive problems, except abortion, can be related. In other side, to human beings the drainage system was the most important risk factor in the studied properties. Thus, it was verified the necessity of an improvement in zoosanitary handling of the properties, mainly of water supply.

Detection and quantification of Duffy antigen on bovine red blood cell membranes using a polyclonal antibody

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of reports of clinical trials published in six Brazilian dental journals indexed in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO)

Introduction: Open access publishing is becoming increasingly popular within the biomedical sciences. SciELO, the Scientific Electronic Library Online, is a digital library covering a selected collection of Brazilian scientific journals many of which provide open access to full-text articles. This library includes a number of dental journals some of which may include reports of clinical trials in English, Portuguese and/or Spanish. Thus, SciELO could play an important role as a source of evidence for dental healthcare interventions especially if it yields a sizeable number of high quality reports. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify reports of clinical trials by handsearching of dental journals that are accessible through SciELO, and to assess the overall quality of these reports. Material and methods: Electronic versions of six Brazilian dental Journals indexed in SciELO were handsearched at www.scielo.br in September 2008. Reports of clinical trials were identified and classified as controlled clinical trials (CCTs - prospective, experimental studies comparing 2 or more healthcare interventions in human beings) or randomized controlled trials (RCTs - a random allocation method is clearly reported), according to Cochrane eligibility criteria. Criteria to assess methodological quality included: method of randomization, concealment of treatment allocation, blinded outcome assessment, handling of withdrawals and losses and whether an intention-to-treat analysis had been carried out. Results: The search retrieved 33 CCTs and 43 RCTs. A majority of the reports provided no description of either the method of randomization (75.3%) or concealment of the allocation sequence (84.2%). Participants and outcome assessors were reported as blinded in only 31.2% of the reports. Withdrawals and losses were only clearly described in 6.5% of the reports and none mentioned an intention-to-treat analysis or any similar procedure. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that a substantial number of reports of trials and systematic reviews are available in the dental journals listed in SciELO, and that these could provide valuable evidence for clinical decision making. However, it is clear that the quality of a number of these reports is of some concern and that improvement in the conduct and reporting of these trials could be achieved if authors adhered to internationally accepted guidelines, e. g. the CONSORT statement.

Eye color as an indicator of social rank in the fish Nile tilapia

We investigated the association of eye color with the dominant-subordinate relationship in the fish Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Eye color pattern was also examined in relation to the intensity of attacks. We paired 20 size-matched fish (intruder: 73.69 ± 11.49 g; resident: 75.42 ± 8.83 g) and evaluated eye color and fights. These fish were isolated in individual aquaria for 10 days and then their eye color was measured 5 min before pairing (basal values). Twenty minutes after pairing, eye color and fights were quantified for 10 min. Clear establishment of social hierarchy was observed in 7 of 10 pairs of fish. Number of attacks ranged from 1 to 168 among pairs. The quartile was calculated for these data and the pairs were then divided into two classes: low-attack (1 to 111 attacks - 2 lower quartiles) or high-attack (112 to 168 attacks - 2 higher quartiles). Dominance decreased the eye-darkening patterns of the fish after pairing, while subordinance increased darkening compared to dominance. Subordinate fish in low-attack confrontations presented a darker eye compared to dominant fish and to the basal condition. We also observed a paler eye pattern in dominants that shared low-attack interactions after pairing compared to the subordinates and within the group. However, we found no differences in the darkening pattern between dominants and subordinates from the high-attack groups. We conclude that eye color is associated with social rank in this species. Moreover, the association between eye color and social rank in the low-attack pairs may function to reduce aggression.

Persistent Impairment of Testicular Histology and Sperm Motility in Adult Rats Treated with Cisplatin at Peri-Puberty

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

More than one inseminated female in colonies of the independent-founding wasp Mischocyttarus cassununga von Ihering (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Overview of Caste Differentiation in the Polistinae, Emphasizing the Neotropical Swarm-Founding Polistinae (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Dominance and Subordination Interactions Among Nestmates in Pre and Post-Emergence Phases of the Basal Eusocial Wasp Mischocyttarus (Monogynoecus) montei (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Prenatal testosterone exposure as a model for the study of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on the gerbil prostate

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

General structures of Hamiltonian hierarchies

Three dimensional exactly solvable quantum potentials for which an extra term of form 1/r(2) has been added are shown to maintain their functional form which allows the construction of the Hamiltonian hierarchy and the determination of the spectra of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions within the Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics formalism. For the specific cases of the harmonic oscillator and the Coulomb potentials, known as pseudo-harmonic oscillator and pseudo-Coulomb potentials, it is shown here that the inclusion of the new term corresponds to rescaling the angular momentum and it is responsible for maintaining their exact solvability.

Relationship between global structural parameters and Enzyme Commission hierarchy: Implications for function prediction

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

Light intensity can trigger different agonistic responses in juveniles of three cichlid species

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

Same-sized fish groups increase aggressive interaction of sex-reversed males Nile tilapia GIFT strain

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Sexual selection and social hierarchy in fishes.

Sexual selection is a crucial element to understand behavioral evolution. Teleost fish have been considered as good models for research on sexual selection in the last decades due to their variety of sexual behavior. Female fish can choose males based on body and behavioral traits, such as body size, body color, ornaments, territorial quality, nest size and courtship behavior. Choices are based upon several types of sensorial inputs, such as visual, chemical, sonorous and electrical signals. Intrasexual selection also acts on females because they can mate with a dominant individual in male-male competitions. For both approaches, there is an expectation regarding the benefits of sexual selection by means of female choice. However, in several cases females do not choose the dominant male. In this mini-review, we present and discuss both intersexual and intrasexual mechanisms of sexual selection in fish and point out that females do not always choose a male for mating.

Deformations of N=2 superconformal algebra and supersymmetric two-component Camassa-Holm equation

This paper is concerned with a link between central extensions of N = 2 superconformal algebra and a supersymmetric two-component generalization of the Camassa-Holm equation. Deformations of superconformal algebra give rise to two compatible bracket structures. One of the bracket structures is derived from the central extension and admits a momentum operator which agrees with the Sobolev norm of a co-adjoint orbit element. The momentum operator induces, via Lenard relations, a chain of conserved Hamiltonians of the resulting supersymmetric Camassa-Holm hierarchy.