Efeito de temperaturas alternadas sobre desenvolvimento de Aedes (Stegomyia) aegyoti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae)

Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti is a species of mosquitoes known to be the vector of diseases such as dengue and yellow fever, and a better understanding of aspects of their biology can help in the establishment of control strategies for the same. Several previous studies showed that temperature significantly affects the development of immature stages of insects. In general, higher temperatures (up to a threshold) accelerate the development of insects, and lower temperature retards the same. This rule also applies to mosquitoes, including Ae. aegypti. But not still know the effects of daily variation of temperature on the developmental stages of mosquitoes. And this detail is very important, since in natural breeding or artificial, The mosquitoes usually face temperature variations over a single day, which should interfere with its development until the emergence of the adult forms. For this reason, the objective of this study is to analyze the effect of alternating temperatures on the development of Ae. aegypti. To conduct the study, adults were collected active in the neighborhood Bela Vista Campus of UNESP - Rio Claro, SP, using a sweep net or using ovitraps for immatures, and the active search for breeding. Individuals collected were kept under experimental conditions in the laboratory. The adult samples were identified to species level, were considered for the experiments, only samples of Ae. aegypti. The insects were housed in plastic cages, suitable for creating flies. These were fed with sugar solution and blood meal on alternate days. The eggs obtained were used in the experiment with four different temperature regimes. The data collected were analyzed by evaluating whether the different treatments influenced the development of immature to adult, performing the Kruskal-Wallis test and the statistical software BioEstat. Statistical analysis of the sex ratio... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Rhamnolipids: solution against Aedes aegypti?

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

Ações educativas para o controle de vetores da dengue e leishmaniose visceral

Results of educative actions on the control of vectors for dengue and leishmaniasis were evaluated by using an online semi-present course directed to teachers from Fundamental I Education level in Araçatuba-SP. 40 teachers from municipal schools located on geographical areas of town with higher occurrence of dengue and leishmaniasis cases, attended to the course, which consisted in a conceptual part directed to specific subjects such as vector borne and zoonotic diseases, responsible ownership of pets and health education and a practical phase, directed to execution and application of educative projects in the target schools. Data about the teacher’s specific knowledge, before and after the attendance to the course, were submitted to the Wilcoxon test with a 5% of significant level. The application of practical educative projects was evaluated by multiplicative actions involving target public. Tests showed statistically significant increase in the knowledge about the studied diseases (p<0.0001) after the course, especially on questions related to etiological agent, clinical symptoms on man and animals and prevention. Activities of knowledge multiplication envolved teachers and students which detected the problems and promoted education actions in their neighborhood as stage performing, group cleaning activities and elaboration and distribution of folders during a student pared. In conclusion, educative actions direct to the control of diseases vectors using a semi-present course, provides new knowledge to the teachers, impelling them to motivate their students to adopt vectors control measures and environmental cares and to sensitive the community to collaborate with control diseases.

Spatial distribution of arboviral mosquito vectors (Diptera, Culicidae) in Vale do Ribeira in the South-eastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Mosquitoes are vectors of arboviruses that can cause encephalitis and hemorrhagic fevers in humans. Aedes serratus (Theobald), Aedes scapularis (Rondani) and Psorophora ferox (Von Humboldt) are potential vectors of arboviruses and are abundant in Vale do Ribeira, located in the Atlantic Forest in the southeast of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The objective of this study was to predict the spatial distribution of these mosquitoes and estimate the risk of human exposure to mosquito bites. Results of the analyses show that humans are highly exposed to bites in the municipalities of Cananeia, Iguape and Ilha Comprida. In these localities the incidence of Rocio encephalitis was 2% in the 1970s. Furthermore, Ae. serratus, a recently implicated vector of yellow fever virus in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, should be a target for the entomological surveillance in the southeastern Atlantic Forest. Considering the continental dimensions of Brazil and the inherent difficulties in sampling its vast area, the habitat suitability method used in the study can be an important tool for predicting the distribution of vectors of pathogens.

A stochastic spatially structured epidemic model with diffusive processes

We developed a stochastic lattice model to describe the vector-borne disease (like yellow fever or dengue). The model is spatially structured and its dynamical rules take into account the diffusion of vectors. We consider a bipartite lattice, forming a sub-lattice of human and another occupied by mosquitoes. At each site of lattice we associate a stochastic variable that describes the occupation and the health state of a single individual (mosquito or human). The process of disease transmission in the human population follows a similar dynamic of the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model (SIR), while the disease transmission in the mosquito population has an analogous dynamic of the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible model (SIS) with mosquitos diffusion. The occurrence of an epidemic is directly related to the conditional probability of occurrence of infected mosquitoes (human) in the presence of susceptible human (mosquitoes) on neighborhood. The probability of diffusion of mosquitoes can facilitate the formation of pairs Susceptible-Infected enabling an increase in the size of the epidemic. Using an asynchronous dynamic update, we study the disease transmission in a population initially formed by susceptible individuals due to the introduction of a single mosquito (human) infected. We find that this model exhibits a continuous phase transition related to the existence or non-existence of an epidemic. By means of mean field approximations and Monte Carlo simulations we investigate the epidemic threshold and the phase diagram in terms of the diffusion probability and the infection probability.

Eight novel families of miniature inverted repeat transposable elements in the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae

Eight novel families of miniature inverted repeat transposable elements (MITEs) were discovered in the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, by using new software designed to rapidly identify MITE-like sequences based on their structural characteristics. Divergent subfamilies have been found in two families. Past mobility was demonstrated by evidence of MITE insertions that resulted in the duplication of specific TA, TAA, or 8-bp targets. Some of these MITEs share the same target duplications and similar terminal sequences with MITEs and other DNA transposons in human and other organisms. MITEs in A. gambiae range from 40 to 1340 copies per genome, much less abundant than MITEs in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Statistical analyses suggest that most A. gambiae MITEs are in highly AT-rich regions, many of which are closely associated with each other. The analyses of these novel MITEs underscored interesting questions regarding their diversity, origin, evolution, and relationships to the host genomes. The discovery of diverse families of MITEs in A. gambiae has important practical implications in light of current efforts to control malaria by replacing vector mosquitoes with genetically modified refractory mosquitoes. Finally, the systematic approach to rapidly identify novel MITEs should have broad applications for the analysis of the ever-growing sequence databases of a wide range of organisms.

Student lectures notes on chemistry and materia medica, and medical recipes, of Lyman Spalding, 1795-1799 (inclusive)

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding during eleven chemistry lectures delivered by Harvard Professor Aaron Dexter (1750-1829) in the fall of 1795 and recipes prepared and used by Spalding in his medical practice in 1797. The recipes include elixir vitriol, containing liquor, Jamaica pepper, cinnamon, and ginger, and an electuary for a cough, containing oxymel squills (sea onion in honey), licorice, antimonium tartaricum potash (a compound of the chemical element antimony and a potassium-containing salt), and opium. The volume also contains writings about chemistry by Spalding, some of which appear transcribed from published sources, in undated entries, and a diary entry from 1799 regarding an experiment with water.

Student lecture notes on the Theory & Practice of Physic, and patient case histories, of Lyman Spalding, 1795-1799 (inclusive)

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding from lectures delivered by Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846) in 1795. The notes cover the history of medicine, theories of contemporary physicians like Herman Boerhaave, William Cullen, and John Brown, and topics like fetal growth, digestion, and circulation. The volume also contains six pages of patient case notes from Spalding’s medical practice in Walpole, New Hampshire, in 1799, which detail the patients’ symptoms and course of treatment he pursued. In the case of a young man who complained of pain in his breast following a wrestling match, Spalding bled him and prescribed a cathartic of soap and aloes. Spalding also operated on a man who cut off part of his ankle with an ax.

Student lecture notes on anatomy and surgery, and medical notes, of Lyman Spalding, 1795

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding (1775-1821) from lectures on anatomy and surgery delivered by Harvard Professor John Warren (1753-1815) in 1795, as well a section entitled “Medical Observations,” which includes entries on “Vernal Debility,” or diseases occurring in the spring, and lung function. It is unclear if these are Spalding’s own writings or transcriptions from a published work. There is also text transcribed from “Elementa Medicinae,” published in 1780 by Scottish physician John Brown.

Student notes from medical lectures by Benjamin Rush, undated

The volumes contain student notes on a course of medical lectures given by Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) while he was Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Clinical Practice at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, likely in circa 1800-1813. The notes indicate Rush often referenced the works or teachings of contemporaries such as Scottish physicians William Cullen, John Brown, John Gregory, and Robert Whytt, and Dutch physician Herman Boerhaave. He frequently included anecdotes and case histories of his own patients, as well as those of other doctors, to illustrate his lecture topics. He also advised students to take notes on the lectures after they ended to allow them to focus on what they were hearing. Volume 1 includes notes on: physician conduct during visits to patients; human and animal physiology; voice and speech; the nervous system; the five senses; and faculties of the mind. Volume 2 includes notes on: food, the sources of appetite and thirst, and digestion; the lymphatic system; secretions; excretions; theories of nutrition; differences in the minds and bodies of women and men; reproduction; pathology; a table outlining the stages of disease production; “disease and the origin of moral and natural evil”; contagions; the role of food, drink, and clothing in producing disease; worms; hereditary diseases; predisposition to diseases; proximate causes of diseases; and pulmonary conditions. Volume 3 includes notes on: the pulse; therapeutics, such as emetics, sedatives, and digitalis, and treatment of various illnesses like pulmonary consumption, kidney disease, palsy, and rheumatism; diagnosis and prognosis of fever; treatment of intermitting fever; and epidemics including plague, smallpox, and yellow fever, with an emphasis on the yellow fever outbreaks in Philadelphia in 1793 and 1797.

Old family letters: copied from the originals for Alexander Biddle.

Mode of access: Internet.

Annual report ...

Also included in Rockefeller foundation. Annual report. 1927-1933 not issued separately.

Bulletin ...

Walter Wyman, surgeon-general, Public Health and Marine Hospital Service.