Resumo A anestesia pode ser utilizada como um procedimento não letal que facilita o manejo de teleósteos e elasmobrânquios de cativeiro e de vida livre. Para isso, protocolos anestésicos devem ser estabelecidos de acordo com a espécie. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a concentração ideal do eugenol para anestesiar Zapteryx brevirostris. Foram testadas as concentrações de 21,25; 42,50; 85,00 e 170,00 mg L-1 (1:5 de álcool absoluto). A concentração de 85,0 mg L-1 de eugenol foi a mais adequada para a espécie, permitindo uma janela de trabalho de até trezentos segundos com o animal não respondendo ao manejo.

Abstract Anesthesia can be utilized as a non-lethal procedure to allow easy handling of teleosts and elasmobranchs in captivity or in the wild. For this, anesthetic protocols need to be established according to the species. The aim of this study was to determine the ideal concentration of eugenol for anesthesia of Zapteryx brevirostris. Four concentrations were tested: 21.25, 42.50, 85.00 and 170.00 mg L-1 (ratio of 1:5 with absolute ethanol). The perfect concentration of eugenol for this species was 85.0 mg L-1 , which enabled up to 300 seconds of work on the fish, without any response to handling.

BACKGROUND. The City of Cape Town (CoCT), South Africa, has collected cause-of-death data from death certificates for many years to monitor population health. In 2000, the CoCT and collaborators set up a local mortality surveillance system to provide timeous mortality data at subdistrict level. Initial analyses revealed large disparities in health across subdistricts and directed the implementation of public health interventions aimed at reducing these disparatities. OBJECTIVES. To describe the changes in mortality between 2001 and 2013 in health subdistricts in the CoCT. METHODS. Pooled mortality data for the periods 2001 - 2004 and 2010 - 2013, from a local mortality surveillance system in the CoCT, were analysed by age, gender, cause of death and health subdistrict. Age-specific mortality rates for each period were calculated and age-standardised using the world standard population, and then compared across subdistricts. RESULTS. All-cause mortality in the CoCT declined by 8% from 938 to 863 per 100 000 between 2001 - 2004 and 2010 - 2013. Mortality in males declined more than in females owing to a large reduction in male injury mortality, particularly firearm-related homicide. HIV/ AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) mortality dropped by ~10% in both males and females, but there was a marked shift to older ages. Mortality in children aged <5 years dropped markedly, mostly owing to reductions in HIV/AIDS and TB mortality. Health inequities between subdistricts were reduced, with the highest-burden subdistricts achieving the largest reductions in mortality. CONCLUSIONS. Local mortality surveillance provides important data for planning, implementing and evaluating targeted health interventions at small-area level. Trends in mortality over the past decade indicate some gains in health and equity, but highlight the need for multisectoral interventions to focus on HIV and TB and homicide and the emerging epidemic of non-communicable diseases.

An amendment to the South African Births and Deaths Registration Act has compromised efforts to strengthen local mortality surveillance to provide statistics for small areas and enable data linkage to provide information for public health actions. Internationally it has been recognised that a careful balance needs to be kept between protecting individual patient confidentiality and enabling effective public health intelligence to guide patient care and service delivery and prevent harmful exposures. This article describes the public health benefits of a local mortality surveillance system in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (SA), as well as its potential for improving the quality of vital statistics data with integration into the national civil registration and vital statistics system. It also identifies other important uses for identifiable cause-of-death data in SA that have been compromised by this legislation.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a prevalência de anticorpos contra linfadenite caseosa (LC) em rebanhos ovinos comerciais do Distrito Federal (DF). Foram coletadas 1.028 amostras de soro entre março e junho de 2004, de todas as propriedades (32) do Distrito Federal com pelo menos 20 fêmeas adultas no rebanho. A soroprevalência da linfadenite caseosa foi determinada por ELISA com proteínas secretadas de Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Cinquenta por cento das 32 propriedades apresentaram pelo menos um animal soropositivo para o LC e a prevalência real para animais foi de 44,0% (IC 95: 41,0; 47,0), portanto, esses dados sugerem que a LC está presente em rebanhos ovinos comerciais no Distrito Federal.

The objective of this study was to determinate the seroprevalence of caseous lymphadenitis (CL) in commercial sheep herds in the Federal District, Brazil. One thousand and twenty-eight serum samples were collected, between March and June 2004, from all the properties (32) with at least 20 adult females in the flock. The seroprevalence of caseous lymphadenitis was determined by ELISA with secreted proteins of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. The real prevalence value for the animals was 44.0% (CI 95: 41.0; 47.0), and 50.0% of the 32 herds had at least one animal seropositive for CL. Therefore, these data show that CL is fairly widespread in commercial flocks of sheep in the Federal District.

A four-year-old male goat with a history of neurological disorder was euthanized. It presented uncommon nodules in the brain and lungs associated with multiple abscesses, predominantly in the spleen and liver. Histological examination of brain and lung sections revealed yeast forms confirmed to be Cryptococcus gattii after a combination of isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedures. Moreover, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection was diagnosed by PCR of samples from the lung, spleen and liver. The present report highlights the rare concurrent infection of C. gatti and C. pseudotuberculosis in an adult goat from São Paulo state, Brazil, and indicates the necessity of surveillance in the treatment of goats with atypical pulmonary infections associated with neurological disorders.

The frequency and severity of human infections associated with Corynebacterium ulcerans appear to be increasing in different countries. Here, we describe the first C. ulcerans strain producing a diphtheria-like toxin isolated from an elderly woman with a fatal pulmonary infection and a history of leg skin ulcers in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area.

The stabilizing effects of staphylococcal nuclease (Nuc) and of a synthetic propeptide (LEISSTCDA, hereafter called LEISS) on the production of a model food allergen, bovine ß-lactoglobulin (BLG), in Lactococcus lactis were investigated. The fusion of Nuc to BLG (Nuc-BLG) results in higher production and secretion of the hybrid protein. When LEISS was fused to BLG, the production of the resulting protein LEISS-BLG was only slightly improved compared to the one obtained with Nuc-BLG. However, the secretion of LEISS-BLG was dramatically enhanced (~10- and 4-fold higher than BLG and Nuc-BLG, respectively). Finally, the fusion of LEISS to Nuc-BLG resulting in the protein LEISS-Nuc-BLG led to the highest production of the hybrid protein, estimated at ~8 µg/ml (~2-fold higher than Nuc-BLG). In conclusion, the fusions described here led to the improvement of the production and secretion of BLG. These tools will be used to modulate the immune response against BLG via delivery of recombinant lactococci at the mucosal level, in a mouse model of cow's milk allergy.

Gene vaccines represent a new and promising approach to control infectious diseases, inducing a protective immune response in the appropriate host. Several routes and methods of genetic immunization have been shown to induce antibody production as well as T helper (Th) cell and cytotoxic T lymphocyte activation. However, few studies have compared the nature of the immune responses generated by different gene vaccination delivery systems. In the present study we reviewed some aspects of immunity induced by gene immunization and compared the immune responses produced by intramuscular (im) DNA injection to gene gun-mediated DNA transfer into the skin of BALB/c mice. Using a reporter gene coding for ß-galactosidase, we have demonstrated that im injection raised a predominantly Th1 response with mostly IgG2a anti-ßgal produced, while gene gun immunization induced a mixed Th1/Th2 profile with a balanced production of IgG2a and IgG1 subclasses. Distinct types of immune responses were generated by different methods of gene delivery. These findings have important implications for genetic vaccine design. Firstly, a combination between these two systems may create optimal conditions for the induction of a broad-based immune response. Alternatively, a particular gene vaccine delivery method might be used according to the immune response required for host protection. Here, we describe the characteristics of the immune response induced by gene vaccination and the properties of DNA involved in this process.

DNA-based immunization has initiated a new era of vaccine research. One of the main goals of gene vaccine development is the control of the levels of expression in vivo for efficient immunization. Modifying the vector to modulate expression or immunogenicity is of critical importance for the improvement of DNA vaccines. The most frequently used vectors for genetic immunization are plasmids. In this article, we review some of the main elements relevant to their design such as strong promoter/enhancer region, introns, genes encoding antigens of interest from the pathogen (how to choose and modify them), polyadenylation termination sequence, origin of replication for plasmid production in Escherichia coli, antibiotic resistance gene as selectable marker, convenient cloning sites, and the presence of immunostimulatory sequences (ISS) that can be added to the plasmid to enhance adjuvanticity and to activate the immune system. In this review, the specific modifications that can increase overall expression as well as the potential of DNA-based vaccination are also discussed.

Forty-tree (31.4%) out of 137 serum samples obtained from two Indian communities living in the Amazon region were found to be positive for HTLV-I antibody, as tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa). Eighty-two sera were collected from Mekranoiti Indians, yielding 39% of positivity, whereas 11 (20.0%) or the 55 Tiriyo serum samples had antibody to HTLV-I. In addition, positive results occurred in 10 (23.2%) out of 43 sera obtained from patients living in the Belem area, who were suffering from cancer affecting different organs. Five (16.7%) out of 30 Elisa positive specimens were also shown to be positive by either Western blot analysis (WB) or indirect immunogold electron microscopy (IIG-EM).