Release of Lungworm Larvae from Snails in the Environment: Potential for Alternative Transmission Pathways

Background: Gastropod-borne parasites may cause debilitating clinical conditions in animals and humans following the consumption of infected intermediate or paratenic hosts. However, the ingestion of fresh vegetables contaminated by snail mucus and/or water has also been proposed as a source of the infection for some zoonotic metastrongyloids (e.g., Angiostrongylus cantonensis). In the meantime, the feline lungworms Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Troglostrongylus brevior are increasingly spreading among cat populations, along with their gastropod intermediate hosts. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of alternative transmission pathways for A. abstrusus and T. brevior L3 via the mucus of infected Helix aspersa snails and the water where gastropods died. In addition, the histological examination of snail specimens provided information on the larval localization and inflammatory reactions in the intermediate host. Methodology/Principal Findings: Twenty-four specimens of H. aspersa received ~500 L1 of A. abstrusus and T. brevior, and were assigned to six study groups. Snails were subjected to different mechanical and chemical stimuli throughout 20 days in order to elicit the production of mucus. At the end of the study, gastropods were submerged in tap water and the sediment was observed for lungworm larvae for three consecutive days. Finally, snails were artificially digested and recovered larvae were counted and morphologically and molecularly identified. The anatomical localization of A. abstrusus and T. brevior larvae within snail tissues was investigated by histology. L3 were detected in the snail mucus (i.e., 37 A. abstrusus and 19 T. brevior) and in the sediment of submerged specimens (172 A. abstrusus and 39 T. brevior). Following the artificial digestion of H. aspersa snails, a mean number of 127.8 A. abstrusus and 60.3 T. brevior larvae were recovered. The number of snail sections positive for A. abstrusus was higher than those for T. brevior. Conclusions: Results of this study indicate that A. abstrusus and T. brevior infective L3 are shed in the mucus of H. aspersa or in water where infected gastropods had died submerged. Both elimination pathways may represent alternative route(s) of environmental contamination and source of the infection for these nematodes under field conditions and may significantly affect the epidemiology of feline lungworms. Considering that snails may act as intermediate hosts for other metastrongyloid species, the environmental contamination by mucus-released larvae is discussed in a broader context

Topology by Design in Magnetic nano-Materials: Artificial Spin Ice

Artificial Spin Ices are two dimensional arrays of magnetic, interacting nano-structures whose geometry can be chosen at will, and whose elementary degrees of freedom can be characterized directly. They were introduced at first to study frustration in a controllable setting, to mimic the behavior of spin ice rare earth pyrochlores, but at more useful temperature and field ranges and with direct characterization, and to provide practical implementation to celebrated, exactly solvable models of statistical mechanics previously devised to gain an understanding of degenerate ensembles with residual entropy. With the evolution of nano--fabrication and of experimental protocols it is now possible to characterize the material in real-time, real-space, and to realize virtually any geometry, for direct control over the collective dynamics. This has recently opened a path toward the deliberate design of novel, exotic states, not found in natural materials, and often characterized by topological properties. Without any pretense of exhaustiveness, we will provide an introduction to the material, the early works, and then, by reporting on more recent results, we will proceed to describe the new direction, which includes the design of desired topological states and their implications to kinetics.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, 116 references, Book Chapte

PRONATEC: an?lise de um programa de pol?ticas p?blicas no IFPB

A reflex?o sobre Pol?ticas P?blicas, em um contexto marcado por grandes mudan?as foi primordial para a constru??o inicial deste trabalho. E a concep??o de Pol?ticas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional, no contexto brasileiro torna-se necess?rio para que se possa compreender como se deu a Educa??o Profissional no Brasil. O objetivo deste trabalho ? verificar os conceitos de Politicas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional e suas tipologias, seu alcance no contexto brasileiro, e assim, averiguar aspectos da gest?o na Educa??o Profissional a partir da cria??o dos Institutos Federais. E dentro desta perspectiva, descrever como ocorreu a implanta??o do PRONATEC como programa de extens?o, o seu universo no Instituto Federal de Educa??o, Ci?ncia e Tecnologia da Para?ba durante a pactua??o 2012, com respaldo da an?lise bibliogr?fica e documental que abordam o tema. Concluiu-se que o universo do programa no IFPB obteve ?xito ao serem mostrados que o modelo de gest?o adotado na implanta??o e execu??o foi primordial para o alcance dos objetos no que tange as a??es alcan?adas pelo IFPB

PRONATEC : an?lise de um programa de pol?ticas p?blicas no IFPB

A reflex?o sobre Pol?ticas P?blicas, em um contexto marcado por grandes mudan?as foi primordial para a constru??o inicial deste trabalho. E a concep??o de Pol?ticas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional, no contexto brasileiro torna-se necess?rio para que se possa compreender como se deu a Educa??o Profissional no Brasil. O objetivo deste trabalho ? verificar os conceitos de Politicas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional e suas tipologias, seu alcance no contexto brasileiro, e assim, averiguar aspectos da gest?o na Educa??o Profissional a partir da cria??o dos Institutos Federais. E dentro desta perspectiva, descrever como ocorreu a implanta??o do PRONATEC como programa de extens?o, o seu universo no Instituto Federal de Educa??o, Ci?ncia e Tecnologia da Para?ba durante a pactua??o 2012, com respaldo da an?lise bibliogr?fica e documental que abordam o tema. Concluiu-se que o universo do programa no IFPB obteve ?xito ao serem mostrados que o modelo de gest?o adotado na implanta??o e execu??o foi primordial para o alcance dos objetos no que tange as a??es alcan?adas pelo IFPB

A GEST?O DE PROCESSOS DE CERTIFICA??O DO ENSINO SUPERIOR -UM ESTUDO DE CASO

O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar a gest?o de processos de certifica??o do ensino superior no IFPB no campus Jo?o Pessoa, atrav?s de question?rio aplicado ao gestor e aos colaboradores na coordena??o de controle acad?mico. Onde evidenciou-se um alto ?ndice de inefic?cia no controle da gest?o de processos de cola??o de grau no IFPB campus Jo?o Pessoa. A import?ncia desse estudo se justifica para a sociedade, pois permitir? que o consumidor possa ser beneficiado com servi?os mais r?pidos, com qualidade e indo de encontro as suas necessidades. Para fundamentar teoricamente este estudo foram abordados conceitos de gest?o de processos, gest?o de controle e an?lise de distribui??o de trabalho. A pesquisa foi aplicada, quali-quantitativa, com aplica??o de question?rio, e teve como procedimento t?cnico a pesquisa de campo e estudo de caso; seu m?todo ? indutivo. A pesquisa permitiu constatar que na empresa, objeto do estudo, embora os gestores e colaboradores apresente conhecimentos sobre a import?ncia e as etapas necess?ria para gest?o de processos na pr?tica n?o fazem uso desse conhecimento e no tocante a gest?o de controle , equivalente aos procedimentos para controlar o processo de certifica??o do ensino superior, chegou-se ao entendimento que os envolvidos na pesquisa tem um parcial conhecimento sobre a import?ncia e sobre as etapas necess?ria para uma gest?o de controle adequada e que na pr?tica n?o h? padr?es de controle definido, ocasionando retrabalho, perca de tempo de mat?rias

Dialogue between social movement activists and a Master's Program in youth and adult education

This article presents the results of a qualitative study on the relationship between social movements and a Master's Program in youth and adult education in Bahia, Brazil. It pays particular attention to the importance of antiracism in and the decolonization of the program's curriculum

Ly6Chi monocyte recruitment is responsible for Th2 associated host-protective macrophage accumulation in liver inflammation due to schistosomiasis

Accumulation of M2 macrophages in the liver, within the context of a strong Th2 response, is a hallmark of infection with the parasitic helminth, Schistosoma mansoni, but the origin of these cells is unclear. To explore this, we examined the relatedness of macrophages to monocytes in this setting. Our data show that both monocyte-derived and resident macrophages are engaged in the response to infection. Infection caused CCR2-dependent increases in numbers of Ly6Chi monocytes in blood and liver and of CX3CR1+ macrophages in diseased liver. Ly6Chi monocytes recovered from liver had the potential to differentiate into macrophages when cultured with M-CSF. Using pulse chase BrdU labeling, we found that most hepatic macrophages in infected mice arose from monocytes. Consistent with this, deletion of monocytes led to the loss of a subpopulation of hepatic CD11chi macrophages that was present in infected but not naïve mice. This was accompanied by a reduction in the size of egg-associated granulomas and significantly exacerbated disease. In addition to the involvement of monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages in hepatic inflammation due to infection, we observed increased incorporation of BrdU and expression of Ki67 and MHC II in resident macrophages, indicating that these cells are participating in the response. Expression of both M2 and M1 marker genes was increased in liver from infected vs. naive mice. The M2 fingerprint in the liver was not accounted for by a single cell type, but rather reflected expression of M2 genes by various cells including macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils and monocytes. Our data point to monocyte recruitment as the dominant process for increasing macrophage cell numbers in the liver during schistosomiasis

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans: structure, protein interactions and cell signaling

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are ubiquitously found at the cell surface and extracellular matrix in all the animal species. This review will focus on the structural characteristics of the heparan sulfate proteoglycans related to protein interactions leading to cell signaling. The heparan sulfate chains due to their vast structural diversity are able to bind and interact with a wide variety of proteins, such as growth factors, chemokines, morphogens, extracellular matrix components, enzymes, among others. There is a specificity directing the interactions of heparan sulfates and target proteins, regarding both the fine structure of the polysaccharide chain as well precise protein motifs. Heparan sulfates play a role in cellular signaling either as receptor or co-receptor for different ligands, and the activation of downstream pathways is related to phosphorylation of different cytosolic proteins either directly or involving cytoskeleton interactions leading to gene regulation. The role of the heparan sulfate proteoglycans in cellular signaling and endocytic uptake pathways is also discussed.Proteoglicanos de heparam sulfato são encontrados tanto superfície celular quanto na matriz extracelular em todas as espécies animais. Esta revisão tem enfoque nas características estruturais dos proteoglicanos de heparam sulfato e nas interações destes proteoglicanos com proteínas que levam à sinalização celular. As cadeias de heparam sulfato, devido a sua variedade estrutural, são capazes de se ligar e interagir com ampla gama de proteínas, como fatores de crescimento, quimiocinas, morfógenos, componentes da matriz extracelular, enzimas, entreoutros. Existe uma especificidade estrutural que direciona as interações dos heparam sulfatos e proteínas alvo. Esta especificidade está relacionada com a estrutura da cadeia do polissacarídeo e os motivos conservados da cadeia polipeptídica das proteínas envolvidas nesta interação. Os heparam sulfatos possuem papel na sinalização celular como receptores ou coreceptores para diferentes ligantes. Esta ligação dispara vias de sinalização celular levam à fosforilação de diversas proteínas citosólicas ou com ou sem interações diretas com o citoesqueleto, culminando na regulação gênica. O papel dos proteoglicanos de heparam sulfato na sinalização celular e vias de captação endocítica também são discutidas nesta revisão.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de BioquímicaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de OftalmologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de BioquímicaUNIFESP, Depto. de OftalmologiaSciEL

Autonomic evaluation of hepatitis C virus infected patients

There are few studies reporting the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and disautonomia. We have evaluated the autonomic cardiovascular function in 12 patients with sensory small-fiber polyneuropathy infected by HCV. The mean age was 49±13 years old. The mean infection time was 9.6 years in six (50%) patients. Thermal and pinprick hypoesthesia was observed in distal legs in all patients. Autonomic symptoms were referred by eight (66.7%) patients. Among patients with abnormal autonomic cardiovascular test, five (41.7%) showed abnormal results in two or more tests. Valsalva maneuver was abnormal in seven (58.3%) patients. We can consider that there is an association of both parasympathetic and sympathetic efferent cardiovascular dysfunction in this group of patients