Abundance of Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) vectors in Baldim, a municipality in the Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve in Brazil.

Leishmaniasis is a zoonoses caused by protozoan parasites belonging to the Leishmania genus that is transmitted to humans through the bite of previously infected phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera:Psychodidae:Phlebotominae). In Brazil, 2 types of leishmaniasis are endemic, tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In Baldim, a municipality in the Espinhaço Range Biospere Reserve (ERBR), 5 autochthonous cases of TL, and one autochthonous case of VL were reported from 2017 to 2022. Owing to the lack of data on entomological fauna, we surveyed the occurrence and distribution of phlebotomine sandflies that could act as Leishmania vectors, as well as natural Leishmania infection. During 1 year, 918 sandfly specimens belonging to 12 species were collected. The predominant species was Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) (32.0%), a proven VL agent, followed by Evandromyia evandroi (Costa Lima & Antunes, 1936) (20.7%), Evandromyia cortelezzii (Brèthes, 1923) (17.0%), Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho, 1939) (12.2%), and Nyssomyia intermedia (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) (10.5%), all putative or proven TL agents. Seasonal fluctuations and endo-exophilic behavior were delineated for the main phlebotomine sandflies. The population of Lu. longipalpis was higher during the coolest and driest months, although different profiles were noted for the other species. Natural Leishmania infection was not detected in any of the 197 phlebotomine sandfly females analyzed. The results were compared with those previously obtained in other municipalities belonging to the ERBR. The presence of Leishmania vectors and human cases of leishmaniasis indicate a risk of Leishmania transmission in the region.

Integrated analysis of marine biotoxins and contaminants of emerging concern in bivalve mollusks from Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Santa Catarina is the main producer state of oysters and mussels in Brazil, reaching 98 % of national production. To assure the safety of bivalve mollusks production, control programs of marine biotoxins (MBs) have been continuously performed. Herein, the co-occurrence of MBs and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in oyster and mussels from the main production sites of Santa Catarina was reported, covering 178 compounds. Samples of wild and non-cultivated oysters and mussels were also assessed. Chemometric tools were used to evaluate and optimize several sample preparation techniques such as solid-liquid, ultrasound assisted, and pressurized liquid extraction. The optimized protocol was based on ultrasound assisted extraction followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed the incidence of several CECs and MBs. In the case of MBs, all results were below the regulatory limits for both cultivated and non-cultivated samples. Wild mollusks have shown a higher number of compounds. Regarding CECs, the more frequent compounds were caffeine, diclofenac, meloxicam, and sertraline. Domoic acid and okadaic acid were the main toxins detected. The results highlighted the need of monitoring for MBs and the potential of oyster and mussels as sentinel organisms to risk analysis of CECs in coastal regions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method to describe a simultaneous sample preparation and analysis of CECs and MBs in bivalve mollusks, as well as the first report of meloxicam and florfenicol in mussels and oysters.

Dataset about Southern-Brazilian geopropolis: Physical and chemical perspectives.

The dataset showed in this manuscript belongs to the investigation of the Southern-Brazilian geopropolis of stingless bees. Stingless bees are native species of insects from tropical areas; they produce honey, pollen and geopropolis that is composed of a mix of vegetal extracts, digestive enzymes, and mostly by soil. Used in folk medicine as antiseptic, antioxidant and antimicrobial agent, the composition is due to bee species, climate changes, local flora, and soil type. Moreover, the complex chemical content gives to the geopropolis a bioactive potential, with scavenging characteristics that is important to avoid free radical damages in the human health. Regarding the importance of exploring new natural matrices sources with bioactive potential, the first approach of chemical characterization of geopropolis is indispensable. Thus, ten samples of Southern-Brazilian geopropolis were analyzed and the bioactive responses obtained were discussed in the accompanying article titled "Southern-Brazilian geopropolis: A potential source of polyphenolic compounds and assessment of mineral composition". Furthermore, the physicochemical analysis of moisture and ash content, the yield of extraction, the reducing activity and free radical scavenging potential of ethanolic extracts, the antimicrobial activity, and the analysis of HPLC-ESI-MS/MS chromatograms are the main data presented in brief. The data can guide scientists in order to know methods and data for these samples.

Method development and validation for isoflavones in soy germ pharmaceutical capsules using micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

The separation of six soy isoflavones (Glycitein, Daidzein, Genistein, Daidzin, Glycitin and Genistin) was approached by a 3(2) factorial design studying MEKC electrolyte components at the following levels: methanol (MeOH; 0-10%) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS; 20-70 mmol L(-1)); sodium tetraborate buffer (STB) concentration was kept constant at 10 mmol L(-1). Nine experiments were performed and the apparent mobility of each isoflavone was computed as a function of the electrolyte composition. A novel response function (RF) was formulated based on the production of the mobility differences, mobility of the first and last eluting peaks and the electrolyte conductance. The inspection of the response surface indicated an optimum electrolyte composition as 10 mmol L(-1) STB (pH 9.3) containing 40 mmol L(-1) SDS and 1% MeOH promoting baseline separation of all isoflavones in less than 7.5 min. The proposed method was applied to the determination of total isoflavones in soy germ capsules from four different pharmaceutical laboratories. A 2h extraction procedure with 80% (v/v) MeOH under vortexing at room temperature was employed. Peak assignment of unknown isoflavones in certain samples was assisted by hydrolysis procedures, migration behavior and UV spectra comparison. Three malonyl isoflavone derivatives were tentatively assigned. A few figures of merit for the proposed method include: repeatability (n=6) better than 0.30% CV (migration time) and 1.7% CV (peak area); intermediate precision (n=18) better than 6.2% CV (concentration); recoveries at two concentration levels, 20 and 50 microg mL(-1), varied from 99.1 to 103.6%. Furthermore, the proposed method exhibited linearity in the concentration range of 1.6-50 microg mL(-1) (r(2)>0.9999) with LOQ varying from 0.67 to 1.2 microg mL(-1). The capsules purity varied from 93.3 to 97.6%.