ABSTRACT Syphilis, an infectious disease considered a global public health concern, can cause stillbirths and neonatal deaths. This highlights the importance of continuous surveillance studies among women of reproductive age. A cross-sectional study was carried out to analyze the prevalence and risk factors associated with Treponema pallidum infection in women assisted by primary health care units in Dourados, a city located in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, which borders Paraguay. A questionnaire was applied to a population-based sample, blood samples were collected for syphilis testing and multivariable analyses were performed to screen associations with T. pallidum infection. The prevalence of T. pallidum infection was 6.04%. Bivariate analysis showed that women referring multiple sexual partners (c2: 6.97 [p=0.014]), income less 2 minimal wages (c2: 15.93 [p=0.003]), who did not have high school (c2: 12.64 [p=0.005]), and reporting history of STIs (c2: 7.30 [p=0.018]) are more likely to have syphilis. In the multivariate analysis, a highest prevalence ratio was observed in women with income less than 2 minimal wages (PR: 0.96 [95% CI: 0.85 - 0.97]), and who did not have high school (PR: 0.94 [95% CI: 0.90 - 0.98]). In addition, 80% of the women reported irregular use of condoms and 63.89% declared having sexual intercourses with multiple partners, which creates more opportunities for the transmission of the infection. These results highlight the need for healthcare systems to implement initiatives to monitor syphilis screening and the commitment of patients and their sexual partners to the treatment in order to achieve a decrease of new cases.

O fungo Ceratobasidium spp. é o agente causal da doença mal-do-fio ou queima-do-fio em várias plantas frutíferas, em cafeeiro e em chá. Esta doença ocorre com maior freqüência em zonas de alta precipitação e temperaturas elevadas, típicas de regiões de florestas tropicais como a Amazônica e a Mata Atlântica. Em São Paulo, o primeiro relato do mal-do-fio em caquizeiro ocorreu na região de Mogi das Cruzes. O objetivo deste estudo foi testar a patogenicidade cruzada de isolados de Ceratobasidium spp. de caquizeiro e chá para ambas as culturas e também para o cafeeiro e citros. Avaliou-se, também, a reação de oito cultivares de caquizeiro, sob condições controladas, a isolados de Ceratobasidium spp. obtidos da mesma cultura. Constatou-se que os isolados de caquizeiro e de chá, embora filogeneticamente distintos, foram patogênicos para ambas as culturas, além de afetarem cafeeiro e citros. Não foram verificados indícios de reação de resistência aos isolados de Ceratobasidium spp. para as oito cultivares de caquizeiro testadas.

The fungus Ceratobasidium spp. causes the white-thread blight disease, which affects several fruit trees, coffee and tea crops. This disease frequently occurs in zones of high precipitation and temperatures, typical of the tropical forest regions such as the Amazon and the Atlantic Forests. In São Paulo State, Brazil, this disease was reported by the first time affecting kaki plants in Mogi das Cruzes county. The objective of this study was to test the cross-pathogenicity of Ceratobasidium spp. isolates from kaki and tea to both host plants and also to coffee and citrus. This study also aimed to determine the reaction of local kaki varieties to Ceratobasidium spp. isolates from kaki under controlled conditions. Although phylogenetically distinct, kaki- and tea-infecting isolates were cross-pathogenic to both hosts, besides infecting coffee and citrus. There was no indication of resistance reaction among the eight kaki varieties tested.

O papel de Rhizoctonia spp. binucleadas (RBN), no biocontrole de doenças causadas por R. solani Kühn em várias culturas, tem sido relatado na literatura. No entanto, não há informação, no Brasil, sobre o potencial de RBN como agentes de biocontrole contra doenças causadas por Rhizoctonia na soja. A hipótese testada foi de que isolados de RBN podem induzir resistência na soja contra a mela, causada por R. solani do grupo de anastomose (AG) 1 IA. Desta forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar isolados de RBN, obtidos de amendoim, feijão e soja quanto à capacidade de induzir resistência na soja contra a mela, em condições de casa de vegetação. Esta pesquisa evidencia a ação de RBN na indução de resistência em plantas de soja contra a mela. Entretanto, a manifestação e a efetividade do fenômeno de indução de resistência são dependentes da época de cultivo da soja.

The role of non-pathogenic binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. (BNR) on the biocontrol of diseases caused by R. solani on many crops has been reported in the literature. However, in Brazil, there is no information about the potential of BNR as biocontrol agents against Rhizoctonia diseases on soybean. On this research we tested the hypothesis that BNR can induce resistance on soybean against the foliar blight caused by R. solani anastomosis group (AG) 1 IA. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate BNR isolates isolated from peanuts, snapbeans and soybean according to their ability for inducing resistance on soybean against the foliar blight disease, under greenhouse conditions. This research evidenced the role of BNR inducing resistance on soybeans against the foliar blight. However, both the occurrence and effectiveness of the phenomenon of induced resistance are dependent on the soybean cultivation season.

No Estado do Tocantins, no Norte do Brasil, a incidência de rizoctoniose no arroz é importante, causando danos significativos em lavouras de arroz irrigado. O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o grupo de anastomose (AG) de isolados de R. solani associados ao arroz naquela região, testando a hipótese de que esses isolados pertencem ao grupo padrão de anastomose AG-1 IA, que também é o agente causal da mela em soja em áreas úmidas do Norte do Brasil. Todos os quatro isolados de arroz foram caracterizados, através de fusão de hifas, como AG-1 IA. A caracterização cultural, em função das temperaturas basais (mínimas, máximas e ótimas), evidenciou que os isolados de R. solani de arroz apresentaram perfis semelhantes aos padrões AG-1 IA, AG-1 IB e AG-1 IC. Os isolados de arroz foram caracterizados como autotróficos para tiamina assim como os isolados padrões AG-1 IA, IB, IC, AG-4 HGI e o isolado da mela da soja. O teste de patogenicidade em plantas de arroz cultivar IRGA-409 e de patogenicidade cruzada à cultivar IAC-18 de soja (suscetível à mela), indicou que além de causar a queima da bainha em arroz, esses isolados causam mela em soja. Da mesma forma, o isolado SJ-047 foi patogênico ao arroz. As seqüências de bases de DNA da região ITS-5.8S do rDNA dos isolados do arroz foram similares às seqüências do AG-1 IA, depositadas no GenBank® - NCBI. A filogenia do ITS-rDNA indicou um grupo filogenético comum formado pelos isolados do arroz, o isolado da soja e o isolado teste do AG-1 IA. Assim, com base em características citomorfológicas, culturais, filogenéticas e patogênicas, foi confirmada a hipótese de que os isolados de R. solani patógenos de arroz do Estado do Tocantins pertencem ao grupo de anastomose AG-1 IA, além da indicação de que esses isolados podem também causar a mela em soja.

In Tocantins State, Northern Brazil, the incidence of Rhizoctonia sheath blight on rice is important, causing significant yield losses on rice crops under irrigation. The main objective of this research was to determine the anastomosis group (AG) of R. solani associated with rice in that area, testing the hypothesis that these isolates are from the AG-1 IA, which is also associated with the soybean leaf blight occurring in wet areas of Northern Brazil. All the four rice isolates were characterized, by hyphal fusion, as AG-1 IA. By cultural characterization, based on basal temperatures for mycelial growth (minimum, optimum and maximum), the rice isolates had growth profile similar to the tester isolates AG-1 IA, AG-1 IB and AG-1 IC. The rice isolates were characterized as autotrophic for thiamine, as well as the AG testers AG-1 IA, IB, IC, AG-4 HGI and the soybean leaf blight isolate SJ-047. The pathogenicity test on rice IRGA-409 and the cross pathogenicity on soybean IAC-18 (susceptible to the leaf blight disease) indicated that, besides causing sheath blight, these rice isolates also cause leaf blight on soybean. Similarly, the soybean isolates SJ-047 was pathogenic to rice. The sequences from the ITS-5.8S region of rDNA from the rice isolates were similar to sequences of AG-1 IA deposited at GenBank® - NCBI. The ITS-rDNA phylogeny indicated a common phylogenetic group formed by these rice isolates, the isolate SJ-047 and the tester AG-1 IA. Thus, based on cytomorphological, cultural, phylogenetics and pathogenic attributes, the hypothesis that the rice isolates of R. solani from Tocantins all belong to the AG-1 IA was confirmed, besides the indication that these isolates can also cause soybean foliar blight.

The main goal of our research was to search for SSRs in the Eucalyptus EST FORESTs database (using a software for mining SSR-motifs). With this objective, we created a database for cataloging Eucalyptus EST-derived SSRs, and developed a bioinformatics tool, named Satellyptus, for finding and analyzing microsatellites in the Eucalyptus EST database. The search for microsatellites in the FORESTs database containing 71,115 Eucalyptus EST sequences (52.09 Mb) revealed 20,530 SSRs in 15,621 ESTs. The SSR abundance detected on the Eucalyptus ESTs database (29% or one microsatellite every four sequences) is considered very high for plants. Amongst the categories of SSR motifs, the dimeric (37%) and trimeric ones (33%) predominated. The AG/CT motif was the most frequent (35.15%) followed by the trimeric CCG/CGG (12.81%). From a random sample of 1,217 sequences, 343 microsatellites in 265 SSR-containing sequences were identified. Approximately 48% of these ESTs containing microsatellites were homologous to proteins with known biological function. Most of the microsatellites detected in Eucalyptus ESTs were positioned at either the 5’ or 3’ end. Our next priority involves the design of flanking primers for codominant SSR loci, which could lead to the development of a set of microsatellite-based markers suitable for marker-assisted Eucalyptus breeding programs.