Physa acuta Draparnaud, 1805 (Gastropoda: Physidae): a study of topotypic specimens

A description is given of Physa acuta Draparnaud, 1805, based on topotypic specimens from the Garonne river basin, and additional samples from the environs of the French cities of Montpellier and Perpignan. It proved indistinguishable, in shell and anatomy, from topotypic Physa cubensis Pfeiffer, 1839, thus leading the authors to admit the synonymy of the two nominal species under the older name, P. acuta.

Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke - Research Grants for 2010 in Respiratory and Cardiovascular Disease

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Respiratory syncytial virus infections during an epidemic period in Salvador, Brazil: viral antigenic group analysis and description of clinical and epidemiological aspects

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were studied in 482 children from Salvador, BA, Brazil, over a period of 12 months. The epidemic period of RSV infections in Salvador occurred from February (summer) to August (winter), with peaks in May, June, and July. The grouping characteristics of 84 RSV present in nasopharyngeal secretions of children seen at a reference university hospital were analyzed. RSV represented 17.4% of all cases and 54.5% of the positive samples. Sixty-four RSV strains were assigned to group A and 14 to group B. Both groups circulated in the five months of the epidemic period studied. Infections by both groups of RSV were more frequent in children up to one year of age. The incidence of RSV ARI was slightly more frequent in males, although group B had more infected females.

Trichomycetes (Zygomycota) in the digestive tract of arthropods in Amazonas, Brazil

Eight species of Harpellales and three species of Eccrinales (Zygomycota: Trichomycetes) were found associated with the digestive tract of arthropods from terrestrial and aquatic environments in the central Amazon region of Brazil. New species of Harpellales include: Harpella amazonica, Smittium brasiliense, Genistellospora tropicalis in Simuliidae larvae and Stachylina paucispora in Chironomidae larvae. Axenic cultures of S. brasiliense were obtained. Probable new species of Enterobryus (Eccrinales), Harpella, and Stachylina (Harpellales) are described but not named. Also reported are the previously known species of Eccrinales, Passalomyces compressus and Leidyomyces attenuatus in adult Coleoptera (Passalidae), and Smittium culisetae and Smittium aciculare (Harpellales) in Culicidae and Simuliidae larvae, respectively. Comments on the distribution of some of these fungi and their hosts in the Neotropics are provided.