The Afro-American Biomphalariae

The reports on the occurrence of African planorbids in South America and of South American species in Africa and Asia are reviewed.

Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) whitmani s.l . (Antunes & Coutinho, 1939)(Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae): geographical distribution and the epidemiology of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil Mini-review

The aim of the present study, in view of the widespread geographical distribution of Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) whitmani s.l. in Brazil, in close association with the regions of transmission of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and L. (V.) shawi, is to investigate the distribution of this sand fly species and American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) in relationship to vegetation and landscape ecology throughout Brazil. Thematic maps were elaborated by the MapInfo programme, giving information on the spatial distribution of L. whitmani s.l., in accordance with types of vegetation and foci of ACL. With regards to the known areas of transmission of ACL in Brazil, it is notable that L. (N.) whitmani s.l. occurs in most of them, where it has been implicated as a possible vector of L. (V.) braziliensis. The presence of L. whitmani s.l. has been registered in 26 states, the one exception being Santa Catarina; in some states such as Roraima, Acre, Tocantins, and Mato Grosso do Sul this sand fly species has been recorded in a large number of municipalities. L. whitmani s.l. has been found in association with a variety of vegetation types, including the Amazonian forest, savanna ("campos cerrados"), and northeastern savanna ("caatingas nordestinas" or "savana estépica").

Cloning and characterization of a V-ATPase subunit C from the American visceral leishmaniasis vector Lutzomyia longipalpis modulated during development and blood ingestion

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a serious tropical disease that affects approximately 500 thousand people worldwide every year. In the Americas, VL is caused by the parasite Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi mainly transmitted by the bite of the sand fly vector Lutzomyia longipalpis. Despite recent advances in the study of interaction between Leishmania and sand flies, very little is known about sand fly protein expression profiles. Understanding how the expression of proteins may be affected by blood feeding and/or presence of parasite in the vector's midgut might allow us to devise new strategies for controlling the spread of leishmaniasis. In this work, we report the characterization of a vacuolar ATPase subunit C from L. longipalpis by screening of a midgut cDNA library with a 220 bp fragment identified by means of differential display reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis. The expression of the gene varies along insect development and is upregulated in males and bloodfed L. longipalpis, compared to unfed flies.

Phlebotomine fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) and species abundance in an endemic area of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in southeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil

This study was undertaken to identify the phlebotomine fauna and species abundance in domiciliary and peridomiciliary (hen-house and guava-tree) environments, on a lake shore, a cultivated area of coffee and banana, and a forested area of Conceição da Aparecida municipality, southeastern the state of Minas Gerais, to provide information for the control and epidemiological surveillance of leishmaniasis in this area. The captures were carried out monthly between May 2001 and November 2002, with automatic light and Shannon traps. A total of 1444 sand flies were captured, 951 (76.5%) with automatic light traps and 493 (23.5%) with the Shannon trap. Thirteen species were captured, the most frequent being Nyssomyia whitmani (62.7%), Migonemyia migonei (21.4%), Pintomyia fischeri (6.9%), and Evandromyia lenti (3.6%). Species abundance was determined using the automatic light traps installed in the six environments. The most abundant species according to the standardized index of species abundance were Ny. whitmani (1.0) and Mg. migonei (0.82). In view of the dominance of these two species, known vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in other Brazilian areas, their participation in the transmission of the disease in this county is suggested. The diversity and evenness indexes in the domicile were the lowest due to the high frequency (83%) of Ny. whitmani. The capture of Lutzomyia longipalpis, rarely recorded in the south-eastern and southern regions of Minas Gerais, is also noteworthy.

Biology of three species of North American Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) fed on rabbits

Aspects related to hatching, lifetime, number of blood meals for molting, mortality, feeding time, and postfeeding defecation delay were evaluated and compared in each instar of three North American Triatominae: Triatoma gerstaeckeri, Triatoma lecticularia and Triatoma protracta, all of them fed on rabbits. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found among the three species regarding mean hatching rate, which was close to 20 days. Egg-to-adult development times were significantly shorter (p < 0.05) for T. lecticularia. Number of blood meals for molting to next instar ranged from one to five for T. protracta, and from one to six for T. gerstaeckeri and T. lecticularia. Mortality rates were higher in younger nymphs of T. lecticularia and T. protracta, while rates in T. gerstaeckeri were higher in fifth-instar nymphs. Mean feeding time was longest in T. gerstaeckeri, followed by T. lecticularia. More than twice the number of T. gerstaeckeri nymphs completed the development process, if compared to the nymphs from the other two species. Defecation delay was less than 10 min for T. lecticularia, T. protracta and the youngest nymphs of T. gerstaeckeri. Results point out that these three species may be important potential vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi for human populations, in areas of Mexico where these species are currently present.

Open Educational Resources : Experiences of use in a Latin-American context

This paper presents practical experiences using Open educational Resources (OER) for basic and elementary education (K12), educational research and research training on two inter-institutional projects with the collaboration of thirteen higher education institutions and with the support of the Corporación de Universidades para el Desarrollo del Internet (CUDI) and by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) of Mexico and hosted by the Tecnológico de Monterrey. The first initiative is titled "Knowledge Hub for K-12 Education" with the main goal of enrich a catalog of Open Educational Resources for basic and elementary education (K-12) for Mexico and Spanish speaking countries in Latin-America. The main goal of the second initiative is to build a collection of Open Educational Resources for Mobile Learning to address the issue of educational research and research training.

Studies on the sandfly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) from transmission areas of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in state of Acre, Brazil

Studies were undertaken on the phlebotomines in the municipalities of Bujari, Xapuri and Rio Branco in the state of Acre. The abundance of species on the ground and in the tree canopy was estimated by Standardized Index of Species Abundance. Of the 52 species identified, Lutzomyia (N.) antunesi, Lutzomyia (N.) whitmani, Lutzomyia (P.) davisi, Lutzomyia migonei, Lutzomyia (N.) umbratilis, Lutzomyia (N.) flaviscutellata, Lutzomyia (T.) ubiqui-talis, Lutzomyia (P.) hirsuta hirsuta, Lutzomyia (P.) paraensis and Lutzomyia (P.) ayrozai are known to be vectors of Leishmania, the causative agent of American cutaneous leishmaniasis. Lutzomyia (T.) auraensis, Lu. (N.) antunesi, Lu. (N.) whitmani and Lu. (P.) davisi accounted for 66.95% of the specimens collected. Lu. (N.) whitmani was the most abundant species, followed by Lu. (N.) antunesi and Lu. (P.) davisi. Lu. (N.) antunesi was the most abundant species in the soil as well as in the canopy. Lu. (N.) umbratilis occurred in all three municipalities and was the fifth most abundant species in the Chico Mendes Municipal Park in Rio Branco. It was collected on both the ground level as well as in the canopy; however, it was more frequently collected in the tree canopy. The present study suggests the existence of three transmission cycles of Leishmania in Acre, including the transmission of Leishmania (V.) guyanensis by Lu. (N.) umbratilis south of the Amazon River.

Phlebotomine fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) of an American cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

The occurrence of an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis associated with Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis in the municipality of Bela Vista, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and the absence of information on its vectors in this area led the authors to undertake captures of phlebotomine sand flies, using Shannon traps and automatic CDC light traps, in domiciles, forested areas and animal shelters from February 2004-January 2006. A total of 808 specimens belonging to 18 sandfly species have been identified: Bichromomyia flaviscutellata,Brumptomyia avellari, Brumptomyia brumpti, Brumptomyia sp, Evandromyia aldafalcaoae, Evandromyia cortelezzii, Evandromyia evandroi, Evandromyia lenti, Evandromyia teratodes, Evandromyia termitophila, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Nyssomyia whitmani, Pintomyia christenseni, Psathyromyia aragaoi, Psathyromyia campograndensis, Psathyromyia punctigeniculata, Psathyromyia shannoni and Sciopemyia sordellii. The presence of Lu. longipalpis, Ny. whitmani and Bi. flaviscutellata, vectors of Leishmania chagasi, Leishmania braziliensis and L. amazonensis, respectively, has increased.

In Vivo Selection of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolates Expressing Plasmid-Mediated Quinolone Resistance and Expanded-Spectrum β-Lactamase

A ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli isolate, isolate 1B, was obtained from a urinary specimen of a Canadian patient treated with norfloxacin for infection due to a ciprofloxacin-susceptible isolate, isolate 1A. Both isolates harbored a plasmid-encoded sul1-type integron with qnrA1 and blaVEB-1 genes. Isolate 1B had amino acid substitutions in gyrase and topoisomerase.

Performance levels of four Latin American laboratories for the serodiagnosis of Chagas disease in Mexican sera samples

In nearly all of the previous multicentre studies evaluating serological tests for Trypanosoma cruzi infection, sera samples from Central or South American countries have been used preferentially. In this work we compared the reliability of the serological tests using Mexican sera samples that were evaluated in four independent laboratories. This included a reference laboratory in Brazil and three participant laboratories, including one in Central America and two in Mexico. The kappa index between Brazilian and Honduran laboratories reached 1.0 and the index for the Mexican laboratories reached 0.94. Another finding of this study was that the source of antigen did not affect the performance of the serological tests.

Functional Variants in NOS1 and NOS2A Are Not Associated with Progressive Hearing Loss in Ménière's Disease in a European Caucasian Population

Hearing loss in Meniere's disease (MD) is associated with loss of spiral ganglion neurons and hair cells. In a guinea pig model of endolymphatic hydrops, nitric oxide synthases (NOS) and oxidative stress mediate loss of spiral ganglion neurons. To test the hypothesis that functional variants of NOS1 and NOS2A are associated with MD, wed genotyped three functional variants of NOS1 (rs41279104,rs2682826, and a cytosine-adenosine microsatellite repeat in exon 1f) and the CCTTT repeat in the promoter of NOS2A gene (rs3833912) in two independent MD sets(273 patients in total) and 550 controls. A third cohort of American patients was genotyped as replication cohort for the CCTTT repeat. Neither allele nor genotype frequencies of rs41279104 and rs2682826 were associated with MD, although longer alleles of the cytosine-adenosine microsatellite repeat were marginally significant (corrected p = 0.05) in the Mediterranean cohort but not in a second Galicia cohort. Shorter numbers of the CCTTT repeat in NOS2A were significantly more frequent in Galicia controls (OR = 0.37 [CI, 0.18-0.76], corrected p =0.04), but this finding could not be replicated in Mediterranean or American case-control populations. Meta-analysis did not support an association between CCTTT repeats and risk for MD. Severe hearing loss (>75 dB) was also not associated with any functional variants studied. Functional variants of NOS1 and and NOS2A do not confer susceptibility for MD.

Granada Virus: a Natural Phlebovirus Reassortant of the Sandfly Fever Naples Serocomplex with Low Seroprevalence in Humans

A new member of the phlebovirus genus, tentatively named Granada virus, was detected in sandflies collected in Spain. By showing the presence of specific neutralizing antibodies in human serum collected in Granada, we show that Granada virus infects humans. The analysis of the complete genome of Granada virus revealed that this agent is likely to be a natural reassortant of the recently described Massilia virus (donor of the long and short segments) with ayet unidentified phlebovirus (donor of the medium segment)

Proven and putative vectors of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil: aspects of their biology and vectorial competence

The aim of the present review is to give relevant information on aspects of the biology and ecology, including the vectorial competence of Lutzomyia sand fly species suggested as vectors of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil. The disease, due to Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, has been registered in most municipalities in all the Brazilian states and its transmission is associated with more than one sand fly species in each geographical region. A variety of Leishmania species can be found in the Amazon basin, where different epidemiological chains have been detected with the participation of different phlebotomine vectors. Finally, a discussion is presented on some sand fly species found naturally infected by Leishmania, but for which there is as yet no evidence regarding their epidemiological importance.