RESUMO Localizadas em áreas de difícil acesso, a população ribeirinha do alto rio Amazonas apresenta grande demanda assistencial de saúde, seja ela no âmbito de promoção de saúde básica seja no atendimento médico geral ou especializado, procedimentos cirúrgicos, atendimentos odontológicos e farmacêutico. Frente a isso, foi idealizado e concretizado o projeto do Barco Hospital Papa Francisco, que visa o atendimento de saúde às comunidades ribeirinhas através de expedições que deslocam os recursos de saúde de forma segura até as populações situadas às margens do rio. Tendo participado de uma das expedições, foi possível realizar levantamento de dados referente aos atendimentos e redação de relato pessoal sobre o impacto na atividade profissional. A expedição proporcionou a realização de grande número de procedimentos cirúrgicos em um período condensado, abrangendo ampla variedade de abordagens técnicas imprescindíveis à atuação do cirurgião geral, entre elas, pode-se citar hernioplastias inguinal e incisional, herniorrafia umbilical e inguinal, postectomia e laqueadura, exérese de lipomas, exérese de cisto sebáceo, exérese de nevos, entre outras (dados disponíveis em sistema Wareline® da embarcação).

ABSTRACT Located in areas of difficult access, the riverside population of the upper Amazon River has a great demand for health care, whether in the scope of basic health promotion or in general or specialized medical care, surgical procedures, dental and pharmaceutical care. Taking this to consideration, the Barco Hospital Papa Francisco project was conceived and implemented, which aims to provide health care to riverside communities through expeditions that safely transfer health resources to populations located on the banks of the river. Having participated in one of the expeditions, it was possible to carry out a survey of data regarding the attendance and writing of a personal report on the impact on the professional activity. The expedition allowed the performance of a large number of surgical procedures in a condensed period, covering a wide variety of technical approaches essential to the performance of the general surgeon, among them, we can mention inguinal and incisional hernioplasties, umbilical and inguinal herniorrhaphy, postectomy and tubal ligation, lipoma excision, sebaceous cyst excision, nevi excision, among others (data available in the vessels Wareline® system).

At present a complete mtDNA sequence has been reported for only two hymenopterans, the Old World honey bee, Apis mellifera and the sawfly Perga condei. Among the bee group, the tribe Meliponini (stingless bees) has some distinction due to its Pantropical distribution, great number of species and large importance as main pollinators in several ecosystems, including the Brazilian rain forest. However few molecular studies have been conducted on this group of bees and few sequence data from mitochondrial genomes have been described. In this project, we PCR amplified and sequenced 78% of the mitochondrial genome of the stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Apidae, Meliponini). The sequenced region contains all of the 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes, 18 of 22 tRNA genes, and both rRNA genes (one of them was partially sequenced). We also report the genome organization (gene content and order), gene translation, genetic code, and other molecular features, such as base frequencies, codon usage, gene initiation and termination. We compare these characteristics of M. bicolor to those of the mitochondrial genome of A. mellifera and other insects. A highly biased A+T content is a typical characteristic of the A. mellifera mitochondrial genome and it was even more extreme in that of M. bicolor. Length and compositional differences between M. bicolor and A. mellifera genes were detected and the gene order was compared. Eleven tRNA gene translocations were observed between these two species. This latter finding was surprising, considering the taxonomic proximity of these two bee tribes. The tRNA Lys gene translocation was investigated within Meliponini and showed high conservation across the Pantropical range of the tribe.

Mitochondrial gene rearrangement events, especially involving tRNA genes, have been described more frequently as more complete mitochondrial genome sequences are becoming available. In the present work, we analyzed mitochondrial tRNA gene rearrangements between two bee species belonging to the tribes Apini and Meliponini within the "corbiculate Apidae". Eleven tRNA genes are in different genome positions or strands. The molecular events responsible for each translocation are explained. Considering the high number of rearrangements observed, the data presented here contradict the general rule of high gene order conservation among closely related organisms, and also represent a powerful molecular tool to help solve questions about phylogeny and evolution in bees.