The ecology of horse cyathostomin infective larvae (Nematoda-Cyathostominae) in tropical southeast Brazil.

Experimental studies about the recovery, survival and migration to pasture of cyathostomin infective larvae (L(3)) from fresh feces depositions were conducted from February 2005 to March 2007 in a tropical region of southeast Brazil. Grass and feces were collected weekly at 8 a.m., 1 and 5 p.m. and processed by the Baermann technique. Multivariate analysis (principal components method) showed the influence of time and environmental variables on the number of infective larvae recovered from the feces and pasture. In the rainy period (October-March), more infective larvae were recovered on the feces and grass apex. In contrast, in the dry period (April-September), the recovery was higher only on the grass base, as well as the L(3) survival on feces and grass. More larvae were recovered at 8 a.m., except from the grass apex, where the highest recovery was at 1 p.m. Few studies investigating the seasonal transmission of equine cyathostomin have been conducted in South American tropical climates. These results demonstrate that in tropical conditions L(3) are available on feces and pasture throughout the year. Knowledge of climatic influences on the development and survival of L(3) is crucial to designing integrated parasite control programs that provide effective protection while slowing the development of anthelmintic resistance.

Optiz syndrome: audiological, speech and neuropsychological assessment

Optiz Syndrome, also named Hypertelorism-Hypospadias Syndrome, is determined by a dominant autosomic genetic condition linked to X chromosome. This syndrome causes anatomic and neurophysiological malformations and secondary impairments in different levels of development. The objective of this study was to analyze the speech, audiologic and neuropsychological aspects of a patient carrier of Opitz Syndrome, comparing the clinical and instru¬mental findings to the ones in the literature known. The subject focused in the research was R.A.C., a 16 year-old male attending the fourth grade of primary school. The results obtained highlight satisfactory performances concerning remote memory, opticum-spatial organization of the motor act, as well as complex forms of praxias. Maturational deficits were observed in the cognitive tasks related to the motorial and perceptional organization of the intellectual operations in space, pragmatic language and semantics. Handicaps in specific areas of reading, writing and numeric were significantly determining for the diagnosis of learning disorders.