Larval and juvenile development of Tatia intermedia (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae).

This study describes the morphology, morphometry and meristic characters of larval and juvenile Tatia intermedia collected in the middle Tocantins River and some of its tributaries. Six larvae of T. intermedia were examined and they have a moderately elongate body, head slightly dorso-ventrally depressed with a convex snout, small and round eyes and a subterminal mouth. In five juvenile stages observed, the head and eye are relatively smaller than in the larval stage and the snout remains convex and mouth becomes terminal.

Thirtyfour years of liposuction: past, present and future.

Initial, variably successful attempts of fat sculpting date back to the beginning of the 20th Century, but Gerard Illouz was the first to introduce the modern, safe, widespread method of liposuction. Preoperative injection of local anaesthesia, saline, distilled water, adrenaline and hyaluronidase, defined wet technique, established as a safe and effective adjunct to lipoaspiration. This procedure was initially based on an automatic pump system, but then the accuracy of syringe aspiration was popularized by Toledo in the eighties. Liposuction in the subcutaneous tissue, just 3-4 mm deep to dermis, also called superficial liposuction, is a modern effective evolution of the technique, but requires a good mastery in order to avoid disfiguring outcomes. Ultrasound and laser lipoplasty methods have provided further advancement in the range of technical choices offered to the plastic surgeon. Liposuction is a purely surgical procedure, and as such, carries risks of minor and major complications. In the nineties, an interplay between abdominoplasty and abdominal liposuction as simultaneous procedures, also called lipoabdominoplasty, has become more and more popular. Reinjection of the harvested fat with the purpose of liposculpture for both reconstructive and cosmetic indications is a relatively recent development which has established as a successful, world-wide accepted procedure. Adipose stem cells, extracted from the unlimited source represented by human adipose tissue, are a great promise for future tissue-engineering. Liposuction has nowadays become a safe, effective, popular procedure for contouring adipose tissue and human body in general, in many reconstructive and cosmetic indications.

Identification and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the blue shark Prionace glauca, and cross-amplification in other shark species.

Two to 14 alleles were found to be segregating per locus (mean 5·2), with observed and expected heterozygosities ranging from 0·08 to 0·78 and 0·08 to 0·94, respectively. Cross-amplification of six of these microsatellite loci indicated that they are also polymorphic in three species of Carcharhiniformes and two species of Lamniformes. The newly developed primers reported here constitute a useful tool for genetic population analyses on Prionace glauca and, potentially, other related species.

Feline Lymphoma and a High Correlation with Feline Leukaemia Virus Infection in Brazil.

Lymphoma is the most important haemopoietic tumour in cats and has been associated with feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) infection. In Brazil, no studies have established a correlation between FeLV infection and lymphoma. The aim of this study was to characterize lymphomas arising in cats in Brazil anatomically and microscopically, and to correlate these data with FeLV infection as determined by immunohistochemistry for the FeLV gp70 antigen. Fifty-three cats with lymphoma were evaluated. The mean age of junior, prime, mature, senior and geriatric cats was 1.65 years, 4.34 years, 8 years, 12.14 years and 15.5 years, respectively. The anatomical types of lymphoma were multicentric (43.4%, 23/53), mediastinal (33.96%, 18/53), renal (11.32%, 6/53), hepatic (5.66%, 3/53), nodal (3.77%, 2/53) and alimentary (1.89 %, 1/53). The histological types were small noncleaved-cell (33.96%, 18/53), mixed diffuse (22.64%, 12/53), immunoblastic (15.11%, 8/53), lymphoblastic (11, 32%, 6/53), small lymphocytic (9.43%, 5/53), small cleaved-cell (3.77%, 2/53) and large cell lymphomas (3.77%, 2/3). Immunopositivity for FeLV was observed in 56.6% (30/53) of the samples. FeLV positivity was equally distributed between the genders, but predominated in junior and prime cats. The degree of association between lymphoma and FeLV infection in Brazil was higher than that found in other countries, demonstrating the need to prevent and control the factors associated with infection.

Colour vision and contrast sensitivity losses of mercury intoxicated industry workers in Brazil.

We evaluated vision loss in workers from fluorescent lamp industries (n=39) who had retired due to intoxication with mercury vapour and had been away from the work situation for several years (mean=6.32 years). An age-matched control group was submitted to the same tests for comparison. The luminance contrast sensitivity (CSF) was measured psychophysically and with the sweep visual evoked potential (sVEP) method. Chromatic red-green and blue-yellow CSFs were measured psychophysically. Colour discrimination was assessed with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test, Lanthony D-15d test and Cambridge Colour Vision Test. Patient data showed significantly lower scores in all colour tests compared to controls (p<.001). The behavioural luminance CSF of the patients was lower than that of controls (p<.001 at all frequencies tested). This result was confirmed by the electrophysiologically measured sweep VEP luminance CSF except at the highest frequencies-a difference that might be related to stimulus differences in the two situations. Chromatic CSFs were also statistically significantly lower for the patients than for the controls, for both chromatic equiluminant stimuli: red-green (p<.005) and blue-yellow (p<.04 for all frequencies, except 2 cycles per degree (cpd), the highest spatial frequency tested) spatial gratings. We conclude that exposure to elemental mercury vapour is associated with profound and lasting losses in achromatic and chromatic visual functions, affecting the magno-, parvo- and koniocellular visual pathways.

Exposure to Toxoplasma gondii and cat ownership in Nova Scotia.

In this survey, 998 children and adolescents between 7 months and 17 years of age who attended a hospital diagnostic center in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, for routine evaluation were tested for Toxoplasma gondii antibody. The 5.2% prevalence rate of antibody for children living in the outlying rural areas was significantly higher than the 1.1% rate among the urban children (P = .0006). Seroprevalence increased with age for both rural and urban children. Cat ownership was associated with antibodies to Toxoplasma among rural children but not urban children. Rural children who lived in a house with more than one cat were two times more likely to be infected than children who had one cat and three times more likely to be infected than children with no cats. The geometric mean titer was also significantly higher among the rural children with more than one cat, 1:152, than rural children with one or no cats, 1:63 (P = .02). In light of these findings for children and adolescents, the association of Toxoplasma infection with cat ownership needs to be thoroughly evaluated among pregnant women in rural areas.

Association of oral candidiasis with diabetic control.

Factors associated with oral candidiasis in 51 diabetics were examined. The prevalence of oral yeast infection was 49 (n = 25)%. The association with diabetic control, as measured by fasting blood glucose concentration, urinary glucose concentration, and glycosylated haemoglobin, with the presence of yeast was analysed in the 51 diabetic patients. Glycosylated haemoglobin above 12% was strongly associated with oral yeast infection (odds ratio = 13.00) (p less than 0.001), while fasting blood and urinary glucose concentrations were not. The risk of oral candidiasis among diabetics wearing dentures was significantly higher than among dentate diabetics (odds ratio = 4.78). After controlling for the effect of denture wearing, glycosylated haemoglobin greater than 12% remained highly predictive of oral yeast infection, particularly among diabetics without dentures.

Effect of Schistosoma mansoni infection on pentobarbital-induced sleeping-time in mice.

The sleeping-time induced by sodium pentobarbital is greatly increased in mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni. The degree of hypnosis is affected by the female worm burden, probably because the hepatic lesions produced by schistosome eggs cause slow metabolisation of anesthetics.

Prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides infection in a small Nova Scotian community.

A survey of Ascaris lumbricoides prevalence was conducted during 1976 and 1977 in a rural community of Nova Scotia. Of 431 individuals tested, 121 (28.1%) were infected. All those infected were under 20 years of age. There was no difference in the rate of infection between households with pigsties and those without. A significantly higher prevalence rate was found in homes where feces were disposed of in the yard and water was obtained from a dug well. In a concurrent random survey taken in the Halifax metropolitan area, none of the 276 individuals tested was infected.

Haematuria in experimental schistosomiasis mansoni.

Haematuria was found in 27% of mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni. The presence of red blood cells in the urine was detected only after the sixth week of infection. Haematuria was not due to the direct action of the parasite, since no eggs were found in the urinary system. The blood in the urine disappeared after two weeks of curative treatment with an anti-schistosomal compound.

In vivo cercaria-schistosomulum transformation: inhibitory effect of oxamniquine.

High doses of oxamniquine (given intramuscularly) produced inhibition of cercaria-schistosomulum transformation following intraperitoneal injections of cercariae into mice. Cercariae, tail-less cercarial bodies, and schistosomula were recovered from the peritoneal cavity of drug-treated mice in numbers significantly different from those recovered from untreated mice. Since untreated animals induced transformation of almost all the injected cercariae, the data suggest the compound is active during the process of host-larvae adaptation.

Are there interactions between schistosomes and intestinal nematodes?

A survey for intestinal parasites was carried out in a homogenous rice cultivation area, in which people had equal opportunities of acquiring the local endemic helminthiases, including schistosomiasis mansoni. The numbers of Schistosoma mansoni eggs excreted in faeces were counted. Infections with S. mansoni, Ascaris lumbricoides, ancylostomes and Trichuris trichiura were not randomly distributed, but were correlated, depending on the species of worms present. The S. mansoni egg counts were positively correlated with ancylostome infection but inversely correlated with A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura. Patients with schistosomiasis associated with 2 other helminth infections excreted more S. mansoni eggs than the patients with S. mansoni plus only one other helminth infection.

Mastomys natalensis as an experimental host for Leishmania mexicana mexicana.

Young multimammate rats (Mastomys natalensis) can be readily infected when inoculated intradermally with the amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana mexicana. Lesions appear at the site of inoculation in the second week of infection and continue to increase in size for the first month; amastigotes can be detected during this period. In the second month, lesions begin to decrease in size and it is more difficult to detect amastigotes. Three months after inoculation, the rats show no sign of infection. The results suggest that M. natalensis could be a useful laboratory host for immunological studies on dermatotropic Leishmania and for chemotherapeutic assays.

Iodinated soluble adult worm protein preparations of Schistosoma mansoni do not induce immediate hypersensitivity reactions but retain other immunogenic properties.

Samples of Schistosoma mansoni soluble adult worm proteins (SWAP) were iodinated with 4-15 mumol I/mg protein using iodine monochloride. The capacity to elicit immediate hypersensitivity reactions of the iodinated derivatives was compared to that of the native SWAP preparations. The degranulation of mast cells from infected mice decreased with increasing iodine incorporation and was absent in fully iodinated samples containing 15 mumol I/mg protein. The response of guinea pigs and humans to the intradermal test with iodinated SWAP also decreased in proportion to iodine incorporation, and no responses were obtained with fully iodinated samples. No false-positive tests were observed. Antibodies to the fully iodinated extracts generated in C57BL/10 mice reacted by ELISA with the unmodified proteins and by immunoprecipitation on agar gel. The immunoprecipitation pattern suggested that some epitopes were altered by iodination.

Activity of known antischistosomal agents on early-developing forms of Schistosoma mansoni.

Sixteen compounds, including several series of antischistosomal agents, were tested in mice (subcutaneous, oral, and intramuscular routes), previously injected intraperitoneally with 175 plus or minus 25 Schistosoma mansoni cercariae. Most drugs were given in a 5-day regimen, first dose being administered 3 hr before cercarial inoculation. Ten days after infection the animals were killed, the schistosomules collected from peritoneal washings, and counted under a dissecting microscopy (free organisms and larvae surrounded by macrophages). A high degree of activity (abscess of free larvae) was observed with Hoechst S-616 and S668, Ciba 17,581, Oxamniquine (Pfizer), and RD 12,869 compounds. A significant reduction (P less than 0.05) in the number of larvae was observed with A-16,612, Sb-EDTA, Hycanthone, Schistomide, Trichlorphone, and Antiomaline. No activity on nearly developing forms of S. mansoni was observed after treatment with Mirasan, Hoechst S-201, Schistocide T-109, Lucanthone, and Wellcome 153C51. In conclusion, from 16 compounds taken at random, all of which are active on mature schistosome infections, 11 displayed prophylactic activity. This indicates a high sensitivity of the technique using peritoneal schistosomules.

Refractoriness of Callithrix penicillata red blood cells to Plasmodium falciparum in vivo and in vitro.

Attempts to infect the New World marmot Callithrix penicillata with Plasmodium falciparum were unsuccessful. Attempts were also made to infect red blood cells of C. penicillata and Saimiri sciureus with P. falciparum in vitro, and these too were unsuccessful due to a high rate of hemolysis produced by apparently adverse culture conditions. It is concluded that modifications to the existing culture conditions will need to be made before successful parasitemia can be induced in vitro in simian erythrocytes.

A marmoset model for some New World dermatotropic leishmaniases.

Callithrix penicillata is a good model for dermatotropic strains of some New World Leishmania species (L. mexicana mexicana, L. m. amazonensis, and L. braziliensis guyanensis). Both amastigotes and promastigotes readily infect these primates, with a relative short period of incubation. The developed lesions parallel those found in man, and despite the self healing presented by some marmosets, cell and serum immunological responses are presented. Skin alterations are confined to the site of inoculum, and visceralization is very rarely found. A good response to standard antimonial treatment makes the model useful for preclinical experiments with promising compounds.

Experimental infections of simians with human malaria: attempts to infect Callithrix penicillata with Plasmodium falciparum.

After reviewing the use of non-human primates of the Old and New Worlds for human malaria research, we concluded that another experimental animal which is easily available to use and possible to rear indoors is needed. Thus, we studied the susceptibility of the marmoset Callithrix penicillata to Plasmodium falciparum erythrocytic infections. The marmosets received various P. falciparum human isolates, directly from a patient and from continuous cultures. The Palo Alto strain, which has been adapted to the night monkey Aotus trivirgatus and further maintained in the squirrel monkey Saimiri sciureus was also used. In a total of 20 marmosets we performed 31 inoculations, with 10(5) to 10(9) parasites, intraperitoneally, intracardiacly or intravenously. Blood samples from each animal were examined daily up to day 90 post-inoculation. None of the intact marmosets developed patent infections. Four out of 19 C. penicillata, previously splenectomized, showed circulating parasites for up to five days after intravenous inoculation with the Palo Alto strain, becoming negative thereafter. Neither the addition to the simian diet of p-aminobenzoic acid, essential for the parasite metabolism, nor drug-immunosuppression, improved the marmoset susceptibility to P. falciparum.

Schistosoma mansoni: preclinical studies with 9-Acridanone-hydrazones in Cebus monkeys experimentally infected.

Derivatives of acridine (9-Acridanone-hydrazones) were tested in Cebus monkeys experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni, at the dosages of 50, 25, and 12.5 mg/kg (p.o., single dose). At least, four compounds seemed to be very promising, promoting alterations in the oogram and reducing the worm burden drastically, even at the lowest dose (12.5 mg/kg). No side effects could be detected after drug administration.

[Susceptibility of Biomphalaria tenagophila and Biomphalaria glabrata from a same region to 2 Schistosoma mansoni strains]. / Suscetibilidade de Biomphalaria tenagophila e Biomphalaria glabrata de uma mesma região a duas cepas de Schistosoma mansoni.

B. tenagophila snails from Ouro Branco, MG, showed positivity for S. mansoni, with infection rates of 5%, 10%, (SJ strain), and 1% (LE strain) using a pool of miracidia. The mollusks were found to be susceptive from the 3rd generation reared in laboratory onwards. The B. tenagophila (OB, MG) when individually exposed to 10 miracidia, showed infection rate of 2% for LE strain. B. glabrata snails from Gagé, MG, showed a positivity rate of 58% for S. mansoni (LE strain), under experimental conditions. The B. tenagophila from Cabo Frio, RJ and B. glabrata from Belo Horizonte, MG used as a control for SJ strain showed infection rates of 47%-85% and 36% respectivily. For the LE strain, B. glabrata (BH, MG) used as control showed infection rate of 40%-75%.