The Heart of the South American Rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus

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

Metabolic, ventilatory, and hygric physiology of a South American marsupial, the long-furred woolly mouse opossum

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Chromosomal location of heterochromatin and 45S rDNA sites in four South American triatomines (Heteroptera: Reduviidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

New sources of oilseeds from Latin American native fruits

Three Latin American oilseeds obtained from native fruits: nopal (tuna) (Opuntia ficus-indica), cherimoya (chirimoya) (Annona cherimola), and papaya, Chilean variety (Carica pubescens or C. candamarcensis) were studied for their fatty acid composition and bioactive compounds, such as tocols and phytosterols, looking for new sources of special oilseeds for this region. The results indicated that each species represents an interesting possibility. Nopal oilseed is a good source of linoleic acid (62%), with a good balance between SFA and MUFA (1: 1.3). Cherimoya oilseed presents quite a different composition, with 24% SFA, 43% MUFA and 33% PUFA. Palmitic and stearic acids (15% and 7.6%, respectively) are the main SFA. A good balance between oleic acid (42.7%) and linoleic acid (31%) was observed. Papaya oilseed is a highly MUFA oil (72% with 71% oleic acid), with a very interesting composition, according to the new nutritional and technological recommendations.With respect to bioactive compounds, the main tocol in these three oilseeds was gamma-tocopherol, with 136, 300 and 317 mg/kg for cherimoya, papaya and nopal oilseeds, respectively. According to the total tocol content, papaya oilseed presented the highest value with 384 mg/kg. The total amount and distribution of phytosterols was different, with values of 3092, 3554 and 5474 mg/kg for nopal, cherimoya and papaya oilseeds, respectively, with beta-sitosterol forming 47.6%, 65.0 % and 78.7% of the total phytosterol fractions, respectively. From the results obtained, Chilean papaya oilseed can be considered as a very promising new source of special plant oil for different applications, followed by cherimoya and nopal oilseeds.

Crystallization and preliminary diffraction data of a platelet-aggregation inhibitor from the venom of Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus (North American water moccasin)

Applaggin (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus platelet-aggregation inhibitor) is a potent inhibitor of blood platelet aggregation derived from the venom of the North American water moccasin, the protein consists of 71 amino acids, is rich in cysteines, contains the sequence-recognition site of adhesion proteins at positions 50-52 (Arg-Gly-Asp) and shares high sequence homology with other snake-venom disintegrins such as echistatin, kistrin and trigramin, Single crystals of applaggin have been grown and X-ray diffraction data have been collected to a resolution of 3.2 Angstrom. The crystals belong to space group P4(1)2(1)2 (or its enantiomorph), with unit-cell dimensions a = b = 63.35, c = 74.18 Angstrom and two molecules per asymmetric unit. Molecular replacement using models constructed from the NMR structures of echistatin and kistrin has not been successful in producing a trial structure for applaggin.

Upper-mantle seismic anisotropy from SKS splitting in the South American stable platform: A test of asthenospheric flow models beneath the lithosphere

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Hylin a1, the first cytolytic peptide isolated from the arboreal South American frog Hypsiboas albopunctatus ('spotted treefrog')

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A review of some south american species of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) described by Mello-Leitão from Brasil, with resolution of the genus Asaphobelis

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

Leishmanial antigens in the diagnosis of active lesions and ancient scars of American tegumentary leishmaniasis patients

Cutaneous biopsies (n = 94) obtained from 88 patients with American tegumentary leishmaniasis were studied by conventional and immunohistochemical techniques. Specimens were distributed as active lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (n = 53) (Group I), cicatricial lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (n = 35) (Group II) and suggestive scars of healed mucosal leishmaniasis patients (n = 6) (Group III). In addition, active cutaneous lesions of other etiology (n = 24) (Group C1) and cutaneous scars not related to leishmaniasis (n = 10) (Group C2) were also included in the protocol. Amastigotes in Group I biopsies were detected by routine histopathological exam (30.2%), imprint (28.2%), culture (43.4%), immunofluorescence (41.4%) and immunoperoxidase (58.5%) techniques; and by the five methods together (79.3%). In Group II, 5.7% of cultures were positive. Leishmanial antigen was also seen in the cytoplasm of macrophages and giant cells (cellular pattern), vessel walls (vascular pattern) and dermal nerves (neural pattern). Positive reaction was detected in 49 (92.5%), 20 (57%) and 4 (67%) biopsies of Groups I, II and III, respectively. Antigen persistency in cicatricial tissue may be related to immunoprotection or, on the contrary, to the development of late lesions. We suggest that the cellular, vascular and neural patterns could be applied in the immunodiagnosis of active and cicatricial lesions in which leishmaniasis is suspected.