Numerical study of the thermal performance of a single-channel cooling PV system using baffles and different nanofluids.

The present numerical study reports the performance of a cooling system for solar photovoltaic panels (PV) using different nanofluids (Al2O3, CuO, and ZnO). A novel parallel flow channel with strategically placed baffles was analyzed to improve the heat transfer between the back of PV and the nanofluid. The nanoparticles' Brownian motion and the nanofluid temperature effect were considered. Computational fluid dynamics was used to simulate the interaction between the fluid in motion and panel materials. Various nanoparticle concentrations, Reynolds numbers (18-1800), and solar radiation values (200-1000 W/m2) were examined. The results showed that the nanofluid composed of CuO was the most effective, improving thermal efficiency by 5.67 % compared to pure water in the lowest Re range. A 10 % vol. concentration of Al2O3 reduced temperature by up to 15 % and increased electrical efficiency by 4 % when the Re varied from 18 to 42. However, increasing the Re number and having low solar radiation values decreased the contribution of the nanofluid. Additionally, using baffles in the flow channel improved electrical efficiency by 2 %.

Tropical tree foliage supplementation in ruminants improves rumen fermentation and the bacterial profile and decreases methane production.

The main of this study was to evaluate the effect of supplementation of tropical tree foliage in ruminant diets on the in vitro fermentation, bacterial population, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and enteric CH4 production. Seven experimental diets were evaluated: a control treatment of Pennisetum purpureum (T7) and six treatments of P. purpureum supplemented (30%) with the foliage of Neomillspaughia emargiata (T1), Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia (T2), Caesalpinia gaumeri (T3), Piscidia piscipula (T4), Leucaena leucocephala (T5), and Havardia albicans (T6). The T2, T7, and T5 treatments had the highest (p < 0.05) digestibility of dry matter. Overall, supplementation increased (p < 0.05) the concentrations of propionic and butyric acid and decreased acetic acid. Methanogenic bacteria decreased (p < 0.05) in T1, T2, T5, and T6. Ruminococcus albus decreased in T1, T2, T3, and T5 and Selenomonas ruminiantum increased in T3. Fibrobacter succinogenes increased, except in T5. Methane production decreased (p < 0.05) in T1, T4, T5, and T6. The supplementation with Leucaena leucocephala, Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia, Neomillspaughia emargiata, Piscidia piscipula, Havardia albicans, and Caesalpinia gaumeri is a potential alternative nutritional strategy for ruminants that results in positive changes in VFAs profile, a decrease on CH4 production and methanogenic bacteria, and changes on fibrolytic and non-fibrolytic bacteria composition.HIGHLIGHTSTropical tree foliage supplementation increased propionic and butyric acid and decreased acetic acid concentrations.Fibrolytic, non-fibrolytic, and Methanogenic bacteria were selectively modulated with the supplementation of tropical tree foliage.The enteric methane (CH4) production decreased with the supplementation of tree foliage.The supplementation of Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia and Leucaena leucocephala had the highest digestibility and is a potential alternative nutritional strategy for ruminants.

Profile of COVID-19 in Brazil-risk factors and socioeconomic vulnerability associated with disease outcome: retrospective analysis of population-based registers.

OBJECTIVES: To classify the most up-to-date factors associated with COVID-19 disease outcomes in Brazil. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Nationwide Brazilian COVID-19 healthcare registers. PARTICIPANTS: We used healthcare data of individuals diagnosed with mild/moderate (n=70 056 602) or severe (n=2801 380) COVID-19 disease in Brazil between 26 February 2020 and 15 November 2021. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Risk of hospitalisation and mortality affected by demographic, clinical and socioeconomic variables were estimated. The impacts of socioeconomic inequalities on vaccination rates, cases and deaths were also evaluated. RESULTS: 15.6 million SARS-CoV-2 infection cases and 584 761 COVID-19-related deaths occurred in Brazil between 26 February 2020 and 15 November 2021. Overall, men presented a higher odds of death than women (OR=1.14, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.15), but postpartum patients admitted to hospital wards were at increased odds of dying (OR=1.23, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.34) compared with individuals without reported comorbidities. Death in younger age groups was notably higher in most deprived municipalities and also among individuals <40 years belonging to indigenous backgrounds compared with white patients, as shown by descriptive analysis. Ethnic/racial backgrounds exhibited a continuum of decreasing survival chances of mixed-race (OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.12), black (OR=1.34, 95% CI 1.32 to 1.36) and indigenous (OR=1.42, 95% CI 1.31 to 1.54) individuals, while those in most deprived municipalities also presented an increased odds of death (OR=1.38, 95% CI 1.36 to 1.40). Deprivation levels also affect the prompt referral of patients to adequate care. Our results show that the odds of death of individuals hospitalised for less than 4 days is more than double that of patients with close-to-average hospital stays (OR=2.07, 95% CI 2.05 to 2.10). Finally, negative vaccination status also increased the odds of dying from the disease (OR=1.29, 95% CI 1.28 to 1.31). CONCLUSIONS: The data provide evidence that the patterns of COVID-19 mortality in Brazil are influenced by both individual-level health and social risk factors, as well as municipality-level deprivation. In addition, these data suggest that there may be inequalities in the timely provision of appropriate healthcare that are related to municipality-level deprivation.

Population-based surveillance for congenital zika virus syndrome: a latent class analysis of recorded cases from 2015-2018.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to describe clinical findings and determine the medium-term survival of congenital zika syndrome (CZS) suspected cases. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study using routine register-based linked data. It included all suspected cases of CZS born in Brazil from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018, and followed up from birth until death, 36 months, or December 31, 2018, whichever came first. Latent class analysis was used to cluster unconfirmed cases into classes with similar combinations of anthropometry at birth, imaging findings, maternally reported rash, region, and year of birth. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted, and Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to determine mortality up to 36 months. RESULTS: We followed 11,850 suspected cases of CZS, of which 28.3% were confirmed, 9.3% inconclusive and 62.4% unconfirmed. Confirmed cases had almost two times higher mortality when compared with unconfirmed cases. Among unconfirmed cases, we identified three distinct clusters with different mortality trajectories. The highest mortality risk was observed in those with abnormal imaging findings compatible with congenital infections (HR = 12.6; IC95%8.8-18.0) and other abnormalities (HR = 11.6; IC95%8.6-15.6) compared with those with normal imaging findings. The risk was high in those with severe microcephaly (HR = 8.2; IC95%6.4-10.6) and macrocephaly (HR = 6.6; IC95%4.5-9.7) compared with normal head size. CONCLUSION: Abnormal imaging and head circumference appear to be the main drivers of the increased mortality among suspected cases of CZS. We suggest identifying children who are more likely to die and have a greater need to optimise interventions and resource allocation regardless of the final diagnoses.

Mortality from Congenital Zika Syndrome - Nationwide Cohort Study in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to Zika virus has potential teratogenic effects, with a wide spectrum of clinical presentation referred to as congenital Zika syndrome. Data on survival among children with congenital Zika syndrome are limited. METHODS: In this population-based cohort study, we used linked, routinely collected data in Brazil, from January 2015 through December 2018, to estimate mortality among live-born children with congenital Zika syndrome as compared with those without the syndrome. Kaplan-Meier curves and survival models were assessed with adjustment for confounding and with stratification according to gestational age, birth weight, and status of being small for gestational age. RESULTS: A total of 11,481,215 live-born children were followed to 36 months of age. The mortality rate was 52.6 deaths (95% confidence interval [CI], 47.6 to 58.0) per 1000 person-years among live-born children with congenital Zika syndrome, as compared with 5.6 deaths (95% CI, 5.6 to 5.7) per 1000 person-years among those without the syndrome. The mortality rate ratio among live-born children with congenital Zika syndrome, as compared with those without the syndrome, was 11.3 (95% CI, 10.2 to 12.4). Among infants born before 32 weeks of gestation or with a birth weight of less than 1500 g, the risks of death were similar regardless of congenital Zika syndrome status. Among infants born at term, those with congenital Zika syndrome were 14.3 times (95% CI, 12.4 to 16.4) as likely to die as those without the syndrome (mortality rate, 38.4 vs. 2.7 deaths per 1000 person-years). Among infants with a birth weight of 2500 g or greater, those with congenital Zika syndrome were 12.9 times (95% CI, 10.9 to 15.3) as likely to die as those without the syndrome (mortality rate, 32.6 vs. 2.5 deaths per 1000 person-years). The burden of congenital anomalies, diseases of the nervous system, and infectious diseases as recorded causes of deaths was higher among live-born children with congenital Zika syndrome than among those without the syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of death was higher among live-born children with congenital Zika syndrome than among those without the syndrome and persisted throughout the first 3 years of life. (Funded by the Ministry of Health of Brazil and others.).

Assessing the nationwide impact of COVID-19 mitigation policies on the transmission rate of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil.

COVID-19 is now identified in almost all countries in the world, with poorer regions being particularly more disadvantaged to efficiently mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. In the absence of efficient therapeutics or large-scale vaccination, control strategies are currently based on non-pharmaceutical interventions, comprising changes in population behavior and governmental interventions, among which the prohibition of mass gatherings, closure of non-essential establishments, quarantine and movement restrictions. In this work we analyzed the effects of 707 governmental interventions published up to May 22, 2020, and population adherence thereof, on the dynamics of COVID-19 cases across all 27 Brazilian states, with emphasis on state capitals and remaining inland cities. A generalized SEIR (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected and Removed) model with a time-varying transmission rate (TR), that considers transmission by asymptomatic individuals, is presented. We analyze the effect of both the extent of enforced measures across Brazilian states and population movement on the changes in the TR and effective reproduction number. The social mobility reduction index, a measure of population movement, together with the stringency index, adapted to incorporate the degree of restrictions imposed by governmental regulations, were used in conjunction to quantify and compare the effects of varying degrees of policy strictness across Brazilian states. Our results show that population adherence to social distance recommendations plays an important role for the effectiveness of interventions and represents a major challenge to the control of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries.

Classification algorithm for congenital Zika Syndrome: characterizations, diagnosis and validation.

Zika virus was responsible for the microcephaly epidemic in Brazil which began in October 2015 and brought great challenges to the scientific community and health professionals in terms of diagnosis and classification. Due to the difficulties in correctly identifying Zika cases, it is necessary to develop an automatic procedure to classify the probability of a CZS case from the clinical data. This work presents a machine learning algorithm capable of achieving this from structured and unstructured available data. The proposed algorithm reached 83% accuracy with textual information in medical records and image reports and 76% accuracy in classifying data without textual information. Therefore, the proposed algorithm has the potential to classify CZS cases in order to clarify the real effects of this epidemic, as well as to contribute to health surveillance in monitoring possible future epidemics.

Mathematical modeling of COVID-19 in 14.8 million individuals in Bahia, Brazil.

COVID-19 is affecting healthcare resources worldwide, with lower and middle-income countries being particularly disadvantaged to mitigate the challenges imposed by the disease, including the availability of a sufficient number of infirmary/ICU hospital beds, ventilators, and medical supplies. Here, we use mathematical modelling to study the dynamics of COVID-19 in Bahia, a state in northeastern Brazil, considering the influences of asymptomatic/non-detected cases, hospitalizations, and mortality. The impacts of policies on the transmission rate were also examined. Our results underscore the difficulties in maintaining a fully operational health infrastructure amidst the pandemic. Lowering the transmission rate is paramount to this objective, but current local efforts, leading to a 36% decrease, remain insufficient to prevent systemic collapse at peak demand, which could be accomplished using periodic interventions. Non-detected cases contribute to a ∽55% increase in R0. Finally, we discuss our results in light of epidemiological data that became available after the initial analyses.

New Insights on the Zika Virus Arrival in the Americas and Spatiotemporal Reconstruction of the Epidemic Dynamics in Brazil.

Zika virus (ZIKV) became a worldwide public health emergency after its introduction in the Americas. Brazil was implicated as central in the ZIKV dispersion, however, a better understanding of the pathways the virus took to arrive in Brazil and the dispersion within the country is needed. An updated genome dataset was assembled with publicly available data. Bayesian phylogeography methods were applied to reconstruct the spatiotemporal history of ZIKV in the Americas and with more detail inside Brazil. Our analyses reconstructed the Brazilian state of Pernambuco as the likely point of introduction of ZIKV in Brazil, possibly during the 2013 Confederations Cup. Pernambuco played an important role in spreading the virus to other Brazilian states. Our results also underscore the long cryptic circulation of ZIKV in all analyzed locations in Brazil. Conclusions: This study brings new insights about the early moments of ZIKV in the Americas, especially regarding the Brazil-Haiti cluster at the base of the American clade and describing for the first time migration patterns within Brazil.

Case Fatality Rate Related to Microcephaly Congenital Zika Syndrome and Associated Factors: A Nationwide Retrospective Study in Brazil †.

BACKGROUND: The clinical manifestations of microcephaly/congenital Zika syndrome (microcephaly/CZS) have harmful consequences on the child's health, increasing vulnerability to childhood morbidity and mortality. This study analyzes the case fatality rate and child-maternal characteristics of cases and deaths related to microcephaly/CZS in Brazil, 2015-2017. METHODS: Population-based study developed by linkage of three information systems. We estimate frequencies of cases, deaths, case fatality rate related to microcephaly/CZS according to child and maternal characteristics and causes of death. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied. RESULTS: The microcephaly/CZS case fatality rate was 10% (95% CI 9.2-10.7). Death related to microcephaly/CZS was associated to moderate (OR = 2.15; 95% CI 1.63-2.83), and very low birth weight (OR = 3.77; 95% CI 2.20-6.46); late preterm births (OR = 1.65; 95% CI 1.21-2.23), Apgar < 7 at 1st (OR = 5.98; 95% CI 4.46-8.02) and 5th minutes (OR = 4.13; 95% CI 2.78-6.13), among others. CONCLUSIONS: A high microcephaly/CZS case fatality rate and important factors associated with deaths related to this syndrome were observed. These results can alert health teams to these problems and increase awareness about the factors that may be associated with worse outcomes.

Interdependence between confirmed and discarded cases of dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses in Brazil: A multivariate time-series analysis.

The co-circulation of different arboviruses in the same time and space poses a significant threat to public health given their rapid geographic dispersion and serious health, social, and economic impact. Therefore, it is crucial to have high quality of case registration to estimate the real impact of each arboviruses in the population. In this work, a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model was developed to investigate the interrelationships between discarded and confirmed cases of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika in Brazil. We used data from the Brazilian National Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) from 2010 to 2017. There were three peaks in the series of dengue notification in this period occurring in 2013, 2015 and in 2016. The series of reported cases of both Zika and chikungunya reached their peak in late 2015 and early 2016. The VAR model shows that the Zika series have a significant impact on the dengue series and vice versa, suggesting that several discarded and confirmed cases of dengue could actually have been cases of Zika. The model also suggests that the series of confirmed and discarded chikungunya cases are almost independent of the cases of Zika, however, affecting the series of dengue. In conclusion, co-circulation of arboviruses with similar symptoms could have lead to misdiagnosed diseases in the surveillance system. We argue that the routinely use of mathematical and statistical models in association with traditional symptom-surveillance could help to decrease such errors and to provide early indication of possible future outbreaks. These findings address the challenges regarding notification biases and shed new light on how to handle reported cases based only in clinical-epidemiological criteria when multiples arboviruses co-circulate in the same population.

High activation and skewed T cell differentiation are associated with low IL-17A levels in a hu-PBL-NSG-SGM3 mouse model of HIV infection.

The humanized NOD/SCID/IL-2 receptor γ-chainnull (NSG) mouse model has been widely used for the study of HIV pathogenesis. Here, NSG mice with transgenic expression of human stem cell factor (SCF), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin (IL)-3 (NSG-SGM3) were injected with peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL mice) from two HIV-infected (HIV+ ) patients who were under anti-retroviral therapy (ART; referred as HIV+ mice) or one HIV-seronegative healthy volunteer (HIV- ). Such mice are either hu-PBL-NSG-SGM3 HIV+ or HIV- mice, depending on the source of PBL. The kinetics of HIV replication and T cell responses following engraftment were evaluated in peripheral blood and secondary lymphoid tissues. High HIV replication and low CD4 : CD8 ratios were observed in HIV+ mice in the absence of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Consistent with high activation and skewed differentiation of T cells from the HIV-infected donor, HIV+ mice exhibited a higher T cell co-expression of human leukocyte antigen D-related (HLA-DR) and CD38 than HIV- mice, as well as a shifted differentiation to a CCR7- CD45RA+ terminal effector profile, even in the presence of ART. In addition, HIV replication and the activation/differentiation disturbances of T cells were associated with decreased plasma levels of IL-17A. Thus, this hu-PBL-NSG-SGM3 mouse model recapitulates some immune disturbances occurring in HIV-infected patients, underlying its potential use for studying pathogenic events during this infection.

Survival outcomes in patients aged 75 years and over with peritoneal colorectal carcinomatosis after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC): multicenter study of the Spanish Group of Peritoneal Cancer Surgery (GECOP).

BACKGROUND: The attitude toward cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC in peritoneal carcinomatosis from colorectal cancer is unclear. The aim of this study is to report the perioperative outcomes after cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC in patients ≥ 75 years. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study collected the data the Spanish Group of Peritoneal Cancer Surgery. Thirty-six patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis from colorectal cancer met the selection criteria for the study. Morbidity, mortality, disease-free and overall survival were analyzed. RESULTS: Morbidity (grade III-IV) was 17% and 2 patients died of complications related to the procedure (5.4%). Median disease-free survival (DFS) was 16 months. DFS at 1 and 3 years was 81% and 42%, respectively. Overall survival at 1 and 3 years was 96% and 75%. In the univariate analysis, preoperative comorbidities (p = 0.01), liver metastases (p = 0.02), blood transfusion (p = 0.001) and postoperative complications (p = 0.001); and in the multivariate analysis, perioperative blood transfusion (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.95-6.24, p = 0.03) and postoperative complications (OR 3.25, 95% CI 2.35-7.56, p = 0.02) were associated with a lower overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Age is not an absolute contraindication to perform cytoreduction surgery with HIPEC in highly selected elderly patients with colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Small nutrient molecules in fruit fuel efficient digestion and mutualism with plants in frugivorous bats.

Frugivorous bats often possess short intestines, and digest rapidly. These characters are thought to be weight-saving adaptations for flight. The hypothesis that they limit digestive efficiency was tested by assaying glucose and protein in fecal samples of a free-ranging bat, and in fruit of its main food plant. To assure the correct calculation of digestive efficiencies, seeds were used as a mass marker for nutrients in fruit and feces. Glucose represents 32.86%, and protein 0.65%, of the nutrient content of fruit. Digestive efficiencies for these nutrients respectively are 92.46% and 84.44%, clearly negating the hypothesis for glucose. Few studies have quantified protein in fruit. Instead, "crude protein", a dietary parameter solely based on nitrogen determinations, is used as a surrogate of protein content. This study shows that, for fruit consumed by bats, crude protein estimates typically are much greater than true protein values, implying that a large fraction of the crude protein reported in previous studies consists of free amino acids. The rapid digestion of frugivores has the potential to limit protein digestion, thus it may require free amino acids for efficient assimilation of nitrogen; therefore, the crude protein approach is inadequate for the fruit that they consume because it does not differentiate free amino acids from protein. Adding simple sugars and free amino acids, instead of protein, to fruit reduce metabolic costs for plants. Direct assimilation of these small nutrient molecules increases digestive and foraging efficiencies. Both factors contribute to the persistence of the mutualism between plants and frugivores, with community-wide repercussions.

Impact evaluation of Zika epidemic on congenital anomalies registration in Brazil: An interrupted time series analysis.

This study aimed to assess the impact of the Zika epidemic on the registration of birth defects in Brazil. We used an interrupted time series analysis design to identify changes in the trends in the registration of congenital anomalies. We obtained monthly data from Brazilian Live Birth Information System and used two outcome definitions: 1) rate of congenital malformation of the brain and eye (likely to be affected by Zika and its complications) 2) rate of congenital malformation not related to the brain or eye unlikely to be causally affected by Zika. The period between maternal infection with Zika and diagnosis of congenital abnormality attributable to the infection is around six months. We therefore used September 2015 as the interruption point in the time series, six months following March 2015 when cases of Zika started to increase. For the purposes of this analysis, we considered the period from January 2010 to September 2015 to be "pre-Zika event," and the period from just after September 2015 to December 2017 to be "post-Zika event." We found that immediately after the interruption point, there was a great increase in the notification rate of congenital anomalies of 14.9/10,000 live births in the brain and eye group and of 5.2/10,000 live births in the group not related with brain or eye malformations. This increase in reporting was in all regions of the country (except in the South) and especially in the Northeast. In the period "post-Zika event", unlike the brain and eye group which showed a monthly decrease, the group without brain or eye malformations showed a slow but significant increase (relative to the pre-Zika trend) of 0.2/10,000 live births. These findings suggest an overall improvement in the registration of birth malformations, including malformations that were not attributed to Zika, during and after the Zika epidemic.

Accuracy of the SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo for rapid point-of-care diagnosis of dengue.

BACKGROUND: Rapid diagnosis tests (RDTs) are easy to carry out, provide fast results, and could potentially guide medical treatment decisions. We investigated the performance of a commercially available RDT, which simultaneously detects the non-structural 1 (NS1) dengue virus (DENV) antigen, and IgM and IgG DENV antibodies, using representative serum samples from individuals in a dengue endemic area in Salvador, Brazil. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We evaluated the accuracy of the SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo RDT (Abbott, Santa Clara, USA; former Alere Inc, Waltham, USA) in a random collection of sera. Samples included acute-phase sera from 246 laboratory-confirmed dengue cases and 108 non-dengue febrile patients enrolled in a surveillance study for dengue detection, 73 healthy controls living in the same surveillance community, and 73 blood donors. RDT accuracy was blindly assessed based on the combined results for the NS1 and the IgM test components. The RDT sensitivity was 46.8% (38.6% for the NS1 component and 13.8% for the IgM component). Sensitivity was greater for samples obtained from patients with secondary DENV infections (49.8%) compared to primary infections (31.1%) (P: 0.02) and was also influenced by the result in the confirmatory dengue diagnostic test, ranging from 39.7% for samples of cases confirmed by IgM-ELISA seroconversion between paired samples to 90.4% for samples of cases confirmed by a positive NS1-ELISA. The RDT specificity was 94.4% for non-dengue febrile patients, 87.7% for the community healthy controls, and 95.9% for the blood donors. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo RDT showed good specificities, but low sensitivity, suggesting that it may be more useful to rule in than to rule out a dengue diagnosis in dengue endemic regions.

Sorption and inhibitory effect of octylphenol ethoxylate Triton X-100 on methanogenic and denitrifying granular sludges.

The aims of this work were to characterize the sorption and evaluate the inhibitory effect of octylphenol ethoxylate Triton X-100 (OPEOTx) on methanogenic and denitrifying sludges. According to Langmuir isotherm, maximums OPEOTx sorption values on methanogenic and denitrifying sludges were 60.70 mg (gVSS)-1 and 87.47 mg (gVSS)-1 respectively. The specific removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (rCOD) and the accumulated volume biogas (VBG) were used to evaluate the OPEOTx inhibitory effect on sludges. Experimental inhibition data were fitted to the models of non-competitive inhibition and modified Gompertz. Methanogenic sludges reached higher levels inhibition in the rCOD and biogas production potential Pmax (84.0 and 88.5%) comparing with denitrifying sludges (24.3 and 21.9%). Furthermore, in all OPEOTx concentrations, carbohydrates-proteins quotient value of the extracellular polymeric substances for the denitrifying sludges remained below respect to the same quotient in methanogenic sludges. The above contributes in part to explain the greater sorption capacity of the denitrifying sludges by OPEOTx and their granules resistance to be damaged by OPEOTx amphiphilic nature. The study gives insights to understand OPEOs interactions and their effects on methanogenic and denitrifying granular sludges.

Effect of tree foliage supplementation of tropical grass diet on in vitro digestibility and fermentation, microbial biomass synthesis and enteric methane production in ruminants.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of tree foliage species supplemented in ruminant diets based on Pennisetum purpureum on the in vitro digestibility and fermentation, microbial biomass synthesis and enteric methane production. Seven experimental diets were evaluated, including a control treatment based on P. purpureum (PT) grass, and six additional treatments supplemented with 30.0% foliage from Neomillspaughia emargiata (NE), Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia (TA), Caesalpinia gaumeri (CG), Piscidia piscipula (PP), Leucaena leucocephala (LL) and Havardia albicans (HA). A randomised complete block design repeated in two periods (block) was used. The highest gas production (P < 0.05) was recorded in treatments TA and PT (237 and 228 mL g-1, respectively). The highest in vitro digestibility of dry matter (IVDMD) and organic matter (IVOMD) (P < 0.05) was recorded in the control treatment PT (57.9% and 66.1%, respectively). Treatments LL, NE, TA and PP promoted greater microbial biomass synthesis (290, 223, 220 and 213 mg g-1, respectively) (P < 0.05). The proportion of propionic acid also increased in these latter treatments and in treatments CG and HA (P < 0.05). Additionally, treatments LL, PP, NE and TA decreased methane production (25.8, 29.5, 30.6 and 31.8 L kg-1 of digested dry matter, respectively). In conclusion, supplementation with L. leucocephala, P. piscipula, N. emargiata and T. amygdalifolia in ruminant diets based on P. purpureum is one feed alternative that can promote greater efficiency and synthesis of microbial biomass, increase the proportions of propionic and butyric acid and decrease the production of enteric methane by 15.6 to 31.6%.

The correct subgeneric name of Trypanosoma rangeli Tejera, 1920 (Euglenozoa: Trypanosomatidae), a human-infective endoparasite of neotropical mammals.

Trypanosoma rangeli Tejera, 1920 is peculiar in being transmitted to mammal hosts through the bite of triatomine bugs. For this reason, it has been placed in its own subgenus, Tejeraia Añez, 1982. This name is a junior homonym of Tejeraia Díaz-Ungría, 1963, used for the roundworm Tejeraia mediospiralis (Molin, 1860). The mandatory substitute name of Tejeraia Añez, 1982 is Aneza Özdikmen, 2009. T. (Aneza) rangeli Tejera, 1920 is often referred to as T. (Herpetosoma) rangeli Tejera, 1920. According to nomenclature rules, both name combinations are available. Which one to choose depends on evolutionary and taxonomic considerations. Phylogenetic knowledge indicates that T. (Aneza) rangeli should be used.