Atmospheric pollutants monitoring by analysis of epiphytic lichens

The Canoparmelia texana epiphytic lichenized fungi was used to monitor atmospheric pollution in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region, SP, Brazil. The cluster analysis applied to the element concentration values confirmed the site groups of different levels of pollution due to industrial and vehicular emissions. In the distribution maps of element concentrations, higher concentrations of Ba and Mn were observed in the vicinity of industries and of a petrochemical complex. The highest concentration of Co found in lichens from the Sao Miguel Paulista site is due to the emissions from a metallurgical processing plant that produces this element. For Br and Zn, the highest concentrations could be associated both to vehicular and industrial emissions. Exploratory analyses revealed that the accumulation of toxic elements in C. texana may be of use in evaluating the human risk of cardiopulmonary mortality due to prolonged exposure to ambient levels of air pollution. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Further evidences on a new diagnostic approach for monitoring human Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi infection in Amazonian Brazil

This was a prospective study carried out during a period over 2 years (May/2006-September/2008) with a cohort of 1,099 individuals of both genders, aged 1 year old and older, from an endemic area of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) in Para state, Brazil. The object was to analyze the prevalence and incidence of human Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi infection as well as the dynamics evolution of its clinical-immunological profiles prior identified: (1) asymptomatic infection (AI); (2) symptomatic infection (SI = AVL); (3) sub-clinical oligosymptomatic infection (SOI); (4) sub-clinical resistant infection (SRI) and; (5) indeterminate initial infection (III). The infection diagnosis was performed by using both the indirect fluorescent antibody test and leishmanin skin test with amastigotes and promastigotes antigens of L. (L.) i. chagasi, respectively. A total of 187 cases of infection were recorded in the prevalence (17%), 117 in the final incidence (6.9%), and 304 in the accumulated prevalence (26.7%), which provided the following distribution into the clinical-immunological profiles: AI, 51.6%; III, 22.4%; SRI, 20.1%; SOI, 4.3%; and SI (=AVL), 1.6%. The major finding regarding the dynamics evolution of infection was concerned to III profile, from which the cases of infection evolved to either the resistant profiles, SRI (21 cases, 30.8%) and AI (30 cases, 44.1%), or the susceptible SI (=AVL; 1 case, 1.5%); the latter 16 cases remained as III till the end of the study. These results provided the conclusion that this diagnostic approach may be useful for monitoring human L. (L.) i. chagasi infection in endemic area and preventing the high morbidity of severe AVL cases.

Monitoring of Group C Rotavirus in Children With Acute Gastroenteritis in Brazil: An Emergent Epidemiological Issue After Rotavirus Vaccine?

Group C rotavirus (GpCRV) has a worldwide distribution; however, its epidemiology and ecology are still unclear. Evidence for a possible zoonotic role has been postulated recently for Brazilian children strains. The aim of this study was to monitor GpCRV in children <= 15 years with acute gastroenteritis during the 2007-2010 national Brazilian rotavirus surveillance, and to undertake the molecular characterization of the major VP6 capsid protein. A total of 3,019 fecal samples were first screened for Group A rotavirus (GpARV). A total of 2,205 GpARV ELISA negative samples were tested further for the presence of GpCRV by SDS-PAGE, electronic microscopy, and RT-PCR for the VP6 gene. The genetic diversity of GpCRV was carried out by sequencing the VP6 gene. GpARV and GpCRV infections were detected in 24.6% (742/3,019) and 0.3% (8/3,019), respectively. The GpCRV detection rate increased from 0.2% (1/422) in 2007 to 1% (7/708) in 2008, and GpCRV cases were not detected in 2009 and 2010. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that the strains belonged to the human lineage, and showed a genetic relationship with the GpCRV strain from Japan isolated in 2009. None of the study sequences was related closely to animal GpCRV strains. This study provides further evidence that GpCRV is a minor cause of acute childhood gastroenteritis in Brazil, and does not suggest that GpCRV may assume epidemiological importance in the future, even after the introduction of a GpARV vaccine. In addition, the molecular analyses of the GpCRV samples in this study do not support the zoonotic hypothesis. J. Med. Virol. 83: 1631-1636, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Influence of Parasympathetic Modulation in Doppler Mitral Inflow Velocity in Individuals without Heart Disease

Background: The relation between left ventricular filing velocities determined by Doppler echocardiography and autonomic nervous system function assessed by heart rate variability (HRV) is unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the autonomic nervous system assessed by the time and frequency domain indices of HRV in the Doppler indices of left ventricular diastolic filling velocities in patients without heart disease. Methods: We studied 451 healthy individuals (255 female [56.4%]) with normal blood pressure, electrocardiogram, chest x-ray, and treadmill electrocardiographic exercise stress test results, with a mean age of 43 +/- 12 (range 15-82) years, who underwent transthoracic Doppler echocardiography and 24-hour electrocardiographic ambulatory monitoring. We studied indices of HRV on time (standard deviation [SD] of all normal sinus RR intervals during 24 hours, SD of averaged normal sinus RR intervals for all 5-minute segments, mean of the SD of all normal sinus RR intervals for all 5-minute segments, root-mean-square of the successive normal sinus RR interval difference, and percentage of successive normal sinus RR intervals > 50 ms) and frequency (low frequency, high frequency, very low frequency, low frequency/high frequency ratio) domains relative to peak flow velocity during rapid passive filling phase (E), atrial contraction (A), E/A ratio, E-wave deceleration time, and isovolumic relaxation time. Statistical analysis was performed with Pearson correlation and logistic regression. Results: Peak flow velocity during rapid passive filling phase (E) and atrial contraction (A), E/A ratio, and deceleration time of early mitral inflow did not demonstrate a significant correlation with indices of HRV in time and frequency domain. We found that the E/A ratio was < 1 in 45 individuals (10%). Individuals with an E/A ratio < 1 had lower indices of HRV in frequency domain (except low frequency/high frequency) and lower indices of the mean of the SD of all normal sinus RR intervals for all 5-minute segments, root-mean-square of the successive normal sinus RR interval difference, and percentage of successive normal sinus RR intervals > 50 ms in time domain. Logistic regression demonstrated that an E/A ratio < 1 was associated with lower HF. Conclusion: Individuals with no evidence of heart disease and an E/A ratio < 1 demonstrated a significant decrease in indexes of HRV associated with parasympathetic modulation. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2010;23: 762-5.)