First report of a B chromosome in a natural population of Astyanax altiparanae (Characiformes, Characidae)

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

Comparação quantitativa da comunidade de aves de um fragmento de floresta semidecidual do interior do Estado de São Paulo em intervalo de 30 anos

Poucos estudos avaliaram em longo prazo a variação no tamanho populacional das espécies de aves em fragmentos florestais. Para avaliar a riqueza e a abundância específica da comunidade de aves de um remanescente de mata semidecidual do interior do Estado de São Paulo, sudeste do Brasil, foi conduzido o censo da avifauna florestal utilizando-se a metodologia de contagem em transecção. Estes resultados foram comparados com levantamento realizado na mesma localidade 30 anos antes, e as aves foram classificadas de acordo com suas categorias alimentares com a finalidade de associá-las à tendência ao aumento/diminuição de suas abundâncias após este intervalo de tempo. Embora tenha havido predominância de espécies com diminuição populacional, todas as categorias tróficas analisadas apresentaram também espécies com aumento em suas abundâncias. A maioria das espécies com propensão a deslocarem-se entre fragmentos apresentou diminuição em suas abundâncias. Sugerimos que, em relação a suas abundâncias específicas, as categorias tróficas são igualmente afetadas pelos processos da fragmentação, e que a regeneração florestal sofrida pelo remanescente pode ter resultado na perda de espécies de bordas. Espécies cujas abundâncias tenham reduzido neste intervalo de tempo podem sofrer extinção local futuramente.

Chromosome polymorphism of heterochromatin and nucleolar regions in two populations of the fish Astyanax bockmanni (Teleostei: Characiformes)

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

Cytogenetic characterization of the strongly electric Amazonian eel, Electrophorus electricus (Teleostei, Gymnotiformes), from the Brazilian rivers Amazon and Araguaia

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

Levantamento cariotípico em espécies de peixes marinhos costeiros de fundo arenoso (Osteichthypes, Perciformes)

Cytogenetics analyses in fish are important because they compose a private group among the vertebrates, occupying a central position in the animal evolution. The Perciforms Order, dominant in the marine and freshwater environment, it constitutes a model potentially useful in the genetic evaluation of populations, as well as in the understanding of its evolutionary processes. In spite of this, cytogenetics studies in this great group is scarce, above all for the inhabitants of sandy bottom and pelagics habits. The present work proposed to contribute for the cytogenetic characterization of nine species of fish marine of sandy bottom of the coast of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), identifying the evolutionary patterns related to the karyotype in these species and the existence of filogenetics affinities between them and other Perciformes. The animals were collected in the beaches of the Redinha, Ponta Negra and Búzios (Coast of Rio Grande do Norte) and in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago. Later on they were submitted to the cytogenetics technical that consist of mitotic estimulation, obtaining of mitotics chromosomes, proceeded by techniques of conventional coloration (Giemsa) and chromosomic bands (Ag-RONs and C band). Diploid number and fundamental number equal to 48 were observed in most of the species: Menticirrhus americanus, Ophioscion punctatissimus, Pareques acuminatus (Sciaenidae); Chloroscombrus chrysurus (Carangidae); Echeneis sp. 2 (Echeneidae); Archosargus probatocephalus (Sparidae) and Orthopristis ruber (Haemulidae). Trachinotus goodei (NF=52) (Carangidae) and Echeneis sp. 1 (Echeneidae) (NF=54) presented variation in NF, staying constant a diploid number equal to 48. RONs was situated in pericentromeric position in whole the scianids, and in the species Echeneis sp. 2 (22° pair), O. ruber and A. probatocephalus (1° pair), coinciding with great heterocromatics blocks in M. americanus (1° pair), P. acuminatus (2° pairl) and O. ruber (1° pair). RONs was also located in the telomeric area of the short arm of the 5° and 11° acrocentrics pairs in T. goodei, 4° and 19° pairs of C. chrysurus, 1° pair (sm) of Echeneis sp. 1. The C band detected centromeric blocks in most of the chromosomes of the species of Sciaenidae, Carangidae and Echeneidae, with great blocks in A. probatocephalus (4° pair). Heterocromatic blocks in telomeric areas in submetacentrics of Echeneis sp. 1, and pericentromerics in M. americanus (1° and 8° pairs), O. punctatissimus (1° pair) and P. acuminatus (2° pair) were also observed. It is noticed a marked conservatism cromossomic in the species of the family Scianidae and Haemulidae in what says respect to the number of acrocentrics chromosomes and the location of RONs. Even so it is outstanding the presence of heterocromatinization events during the karyotypic evolution of this family. Already in the families Sparidae and Carangidae, the obtained results reaffirm examples of small variations structural resultants of inversion and translocation Robertsonian, as important mechanisms of diversification karyotipical, as well as a pattern numerical evolutionary conserved, also observed in representatives of Echeneidae of Atlantic in relation to Pacific. The presence of RONs multiple, observed in the species T. goodei and C. chrysurus seems to represent a character derived in the family Carangidae. The results for the species O. ruber and A. probatocephalus suggest the presence of possible geographical or climatic barriers among populations of NE of Brazil in relationship the one of the SE

Efeito da Proteína Bruta e de Diferentes Balanços Eletrolíticos das Dietas Sobre o Desempenho de Frangos no Período Inicial

Foram realizados dois experimentos utilizando-se 520 pintos machos de um dia para avaliar o efeito da proteína bruta (PB) e do balanço eletrolítico (Na + K- Cl) sobre o desempenho de frangos de corte no período inicial. O Experimento I (1 a 7 dias de idade das aves) foi realizado em baterias, utilizando-se 160 pintos machos Cobb, no Experimento II (1 a 21 dias) foram utilizados 360 pintos machos Aviam Farms que foram alojados em um galpão experimental dividido em box. Nos dois experimentos as aves foram aquecidas com lâmpadas infravermelhas e receberam água e ração à vontade. O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado, em um esquema fatorial 2 x 2 (PB x balanço eletrolítico - BE), com 5 repetições e 8 aves por unidade experimental no Experimento I e fatorial 2 x 3 (PB x BE), com 3 repetições e 20 aves por unidade experimental no Experimento II. Os níveis de K foram mantidos constantes, oscilando-se o Na e o Cl para obter os balanços eletrolíticos desejados. Os parâmetro de desempenho (consumo de ração, ganho de peso e conversão alimentar) foram analisados no final de cada fase experimental. em ambos os experimentos não houve interação entre PB e BE. Os níveis de 21,0 e 23,5% de PB não afetaram o desempenho das aves. em dietas pré-iniciais e iniciais o melhor desempenho foi atingido com 260 mEq/kg.

Cardiovascular assessment of patients with Ullrich-Turner's Syndrome on Doppler echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging

OBJECTIVE: To assess the cardiovascular features of Ullrich-Turner's syndrome using echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging, and to correlate them with the phenotype and karyotype of the patients. The diagnostic concordance between the 2 methods was also assessed. METHODS: Fifteen patients with the syndrome were assessed by echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (cardiac chambers, valves, and aorta). Their ages ranged from 10 to 28 (mean of 16.7) years. The karyotype was analyzed in 11 or 25 metaphases of peripheral blood lymphocytes, or both. RESULTS: The most common phenotypic changes were short stature and spontaneous absence of puberal development (100%); 1 patient had a cardiac murmur. The karyotypes detected were as follows: 45,X (n=7), mosaics (n=5), and deletions (n=3). No echocardiographic changes were observed. In regard to magnetic resonance imaging, coarctation and dilation of the aorta were found in 1 patient, and isolated dilation of the aorta was found in 4 patients. CONCLUSION: The frequencies of coarctation and dilation of the aorta detected on magnetic resonance imaging were similar to those reported in the literature (5.5% to 20%, and 6.3% to 29%, respectively). This confirmed the adjuvant role of magnetic resonance imaging to Doppler echocardiography for diagnosing cardiovascular alterations in patients with Ullrich-Turner's syndrome.

Cytogenetic studies of Brazilian pediatric myelodysplastic syndrome cases: challenges and difficulties in a large and emerging country

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) are rare hematopoietic stem cell diseases affecting children. Cytogenetics plays an important role in the diagnosis of these diseases. We report here the experience of the Cytogenetic Subcommittee of the Brazilian Cooperative Group on Pediatric Myelodysplastic Syndromes (BCG-MDS-PED). We analyzed 168 cytogenetic studies performed in 23 different cytogenetic centers; 84 of these studies were performed in patients with confirmed MDS (primary MDS, secondary MDS, JMML, and acute myeloid leukemia/MDS+Down syndrome). Clonal abnormalities were found in 36.9% of the MDS cases and cytogenetic studies were important for the detection of constitutional diseases and for differential diagnosis with other myeloid neoplasms. These data show the importance of the Cooperative Group for continuing education in order to avoid a late or wrong diagnosis.

Isolation of Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis in Blue-Fronted Amazon Parrot (Amazona aestiva)

Avian salmonellosis is a disease caused by bacteria of the genus Salmonella that can cause three distinct diseases in birds: pullorum diseases, fowl typhoid, and paratyphoid infection. Various wildlife species are susceptible to infections by Salmonella, regardless of whether they live in captivity or freely in the wild. The present study verified the presence of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis in three captive specimens of Amazona aestiva. The study involved a total of 103 birds undergoing rehabilitation to prepare for living in the wild, after having been captured from animal traffickers and delivered to the Centrofauna Project of the Floravida Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. This is the first report of Salmonella Enteritidis isolation in A. aestiva that originated from capture associated with animal trafficking; Salmonella was detected during the study by the serologic method of rapid serum agglutination on a plate with bacterial isolate. The antimicrobial profile exam of the isolated samples demonstrated sensitivity to ampicillin, cefaclor, ciprofloxacin, and cloranfenicol. The three samples also presented resistance to more than four antibiotics. The presence of the genes invA and spvC was verified by PCR technique and was associated with virulence and absence of class 1 integron, a gene related to antimicrobial resistance. The commercial antigen for pullorum disease was shown to be a useful tool for rapid detection in the screening of Salmonella of serogroup D(1) in Psittaciformes. New studies on Salmonella carriage in birds involved in trafficking must be performed to better understand their participation in the epidemiologic cycle of salmonellosis in humans and other animals.

Effects of adding polyclonal antibody preparations on ruminal fermentation patterns and digestibility of cows fed different energy sources

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

Two Surgical Approaches to Fracture Malunion Repair

Two birds were presented with malunion fractures. The first was a young toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) with malunion of the tarsometatarsus that was treated by an opening-corrective osteotomy and an acrylic-pin external skeletal fixator (type II) to stabilize the osteotomy. The second bird was m adult southern caracara (Caracara plancus) with radial and ulnar malunion that was treated by closing-wedge osteotomies. Stabilization of the osteotomy sites was accomplished through 1 bone plate fixed cranially on the ulna with 6 cortical screws and an interfragmentary single wire in radius. In both cases, the malunion was corrected, but the manus of the southern caracara was amputated because of carpal joint luxation that induced malposition of the feathers.

A double antibody sandwich ELISA for rapid diagnosis of virus infection and to measure the humoral response against infectious bursal disease on clinical material

A double antibody sandwich ELISA (DAS-ELISA) was developed and employed for simultaneous direct detection of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) from bursal samples and to measure the humoral response, using the same basic immunoreagents, the purified and non-purified antigen, capture antibody and chicken hyperimmune sera were prepared, and standardized for this purpose, the DAS-ELISA was applied to both 80 bursal suspensions and 224 corresponding serum samples from vaccinated and non-vaccinated commercial hocks, Bursae samples were collected at 2 weeks of age, and submitted to histological examination, virus isolation in specific pathogen-free chickens embryos, and the DAS-ELISA technique, Serum titres obtained in indirect ELISA and serum neutralization test were compared with those in DAS-ELISA, the agreement was 80% between DAS-ELISA, and the conventional techniques, with high sensitivity (87%) and specificity (90%).

Replication of classical infectious bursal disease virus in the chicken embryo related cell line

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is an acute, highly contagious viral disease. The diagnosis of IBD depends on time-consuming and costly procedures, like virus isolation on chick embryos and histopathological examination, A double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA), immunoperoxidase and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were applied in this study to detect classical IBD virus (IBDV) after three blind passages of the Lukert strain on chicken embryo related (CER) cell monolayer after different periods of infection: 6, 12, 24 and 48 h, Cytophatic effects were most evident 12 h post-infection (p.i.) but were observed at 6 h p.i. The maximum discrimination between IBDV-infected and uninfected cell suspensions obtained by the use of DAS-ELISA for virus detection corresponded to 0.597+/-0.02 and 0.010+/-0.01 after 12h p.i., respectively. The RT-PCR was performed using the set of primers A3.1 and A3.2 to amplify the VP2 region of the IBDV genome, This molecular technique demonstrated that from 6 h p.i., it was possible to detect the viral RNA. The results show that the CER cell line can be used for classical IBDV propagation, confirmed by the DAS-ELISA, immunoperoxidase and RT-PCR assay.

Infectious bronchitis virus replication in the chicken embryo related cell line

The susceptibility of the chicken embryo related (CER) cell line to infectious bronchitis virus (IBV M41) was characterized after five consecutive passages in CER cells. Virus replication was monitored by cytopathic effect observation, electron microscopy, indirect immunofluorescence, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). At 96 h post-infection (p.i.), the cytopathic effect was graded 75% by cell fusion, rounding up of cells and monolayer detachment, and the electron microscopy image characterized by coronavirus morphology. Cytoplasmic fluorescence was readily observed by from 24 h p.i. onwards, and at all times the respective viral RNA from IBV-infected monolayers was demonstrated by RT-PCR. Extra-cellular virus was measured by virus titration performed on chicken kidney cells and embryonated chicken eggs, and respective titres ranged from 4.0 to 6.0 log(10) EID50/ml on embryonated chicken eggs, and from 2.0 to 6.0 log(10) TCID50/ml on both CER cells and chicken kidney cells studied from 24 to 120 h p.i. These results confirmed that the M41 strain replicated well in the CER cell line.

Detection of turkey coronavirus in commercial turkey poults in Brazil

Poult enteritis complex has been incriminated as a major cause of loss among turkey poults in other countries. We have observed this in Brazil, associated with diarrhoea, loss of weight gain and, commonly, high mortality In this study, we have used the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect turkey coronavirus (TCoV) in sick poults 30 to 120 days of age from a particular producer region in Brazil. The RT-PCR was applied to extracts of intestine tissue suspensions, and the respective intestinal contents, bursa of Fabricius, faecal droppings and cloacal swabs. Primers were used to amplify the conserved 3' untranslated region of the genome, and the nucleocapsid protein gene of TCoV Histo pathological and direct immunohistochemical examinations were performed to detect TCoV antigen in infected intestine and bursa slides. All the results from stained tissues revealed lesions as described previously for TCoV infection. The direct immunohistochemical positive signal was present in all intestine slides. However, all bursa of Fabricius tissues analysed were negative. RT-PCR findings were positive for TCoV in all faecal droppings samples, and in 27% of cloacal swabs. Finally, the best field material for TCoV diagnosis was faecal droppings and/or intestine suspensions.