Floristic survey of vascular plants of a poorly known area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Flona do Rio Preto, Espírito Santo).

BACKGROUND: The Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened biomes in the world. Despite that, this biome still includes many areas that are poorly known floristically, including several protected areas, such as the "Floresta Nacional do Rio Preto" ("Flona do Rio Preto"), located in the Brazilian State of Espírito Santo. This study used a published vascular plant species list for this protected area from the "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil" as the basis to synthesise the species richness, endemism, conservation and new species occurrences found in the "Flona do Rio Preto". NEW INFORMATION: The published list of vascular plants was based on field expeditions conducted between 2018 and 2020 and data obtained from herbarium collections available in online databases. Overall, 722 species were documented for the "Flona do Rio Preto", 711 of which are native to Brazil and 349 are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. In addition, 60 species are geographically disjunct between the Atlantic and the Amazon Forests. Most of the documented species are woody and more than 50% of these are trees. Twenty-three species are threatened (CR, EN and VU), while five are Data Deficient (DD). Thirty-two species are new records for the State of Espírito Santo. Our results expand the knowledge of the flora of the Atlantic Forest and provide support for the development of new conservation policies for this protected area.

Using online databases to produce comprehensive accounts of the vascular plants from the Brazilian protected areas: The Parque Nacional do Itatiaia as a case study.

BACKGROUND: Brazil is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, with about 37,000 species of land plants. Part of this biodiversity is within protected areas. The development of online databases in the last years greatly improved the available biodiversity data. However, the existing databases do not provide information about the protected areas in which individual plant species occur. The lack of such information is a crucial gap for conservation actions. This study aimed to show how the information captured from online databases, cleaned by a protocol and verified by taxonomists allowed us to obtain a comprehensive list of the vascular plant species from the "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia", the first national park founded in Brazil. All existing records in the online database JABOT (15,100 vouchers) were downloaded, resulting in 11,783 vouchers identified at the species level. Overall, we documented 2,316 species belonging to 176 families and 837 genera of vascular plants in the "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia". Considering the whole vascular flora, 2,238 species are native and 78 are non-native. NEW INFORMATION: The "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia" houses 13% of the angiosperm and 37% of the fern species known from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Amongst these species, 82 have been cited as threatened, following IUCN categories (CR, EN or VU), seven are data deficient (DD) and 15 have been classified as a conservation priority, because they are only known from a single specimen collected before 1969.

A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area.

BACKGROUND: Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity. A list of land plants of "Parque Nacional do Caparaó" (PNC) was previously built using online databases and published on the website "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil." Here, we provide and discuss additional information about plant species richness, endemism and conservation in the PNC that could not be included in the List. We documented 1,791 species of land plants as occurring in PNC, of which 63 are cited as threatened (CR, EN or VU) by the Brazilian National Red List, seven as data deficient (DD) and five as priorities for conservation. Fifity-one species were possible new ocurrences for ES and MG states. NEW INFORMATION: "Parque Nacional do Caparaó" houses 8% of the land plant species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, including 6% of its angiosperms, 31% of its lycophytes and ferns and 14% of its avascular plants. Twelve percent of the threatened species listed for the State of Espírito Santo and 7% listed for the State of Minas Gerais are also protected by PNC. Surprisingly, 79% of the collections analysed here were carried out in Minas Gerais, which represents just 21% of the total extension of the Park. The compiled data uncover a huge botanical collection gap in this federally-protected area.

Ineffectiveness for infants of immunization of mothers with pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine during pregnancy

Pneumococcal (Pnc) carriage is associated with pneumococcal diseases. Breast feeding and maternal vaccination may be a useful approach to prevent pneumococcal infection in young infants. We examined the risk of Pnc carriage by infants at six months of age after pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination of pregnant women. We selected 139 pregnant woman. The woman were randomly allocated to receive 23-valent polysaccharide vaccines during pregnancy (Group 1) after pregnancy (Group 2) or not receive any vaccine (Group 3). Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the infants at three and six months of age. The infants were evaluated monthly during the first six months. We included 47 mothers in Group 1, 45 mothers in Group 2 and 47 mothers in Group 3. Forty-seven percent of the babies were exclusively breast fed until six months, 26 percent received both breast feeding and artificial feeding and 13 percent received only artificial feeding. Among those patients, 26 percent were colonized by Pnc at six months (12 from Group 1, 13 from Group 2, and 12 from Group 3). There was no significant difference in colonization between the three groups. Thirty percent of the children were colonized by a non-susceptible strain. We concluded that young infants (three months old) are already susceptible to pneumococcal carriage. Vaccination during pregnancy with a polysaccharide vaccine did not decrease Pnc colonization.

Ineffectiveness for Infants of Immunization of Mothers with Pneumococcal Capsular PolysaccharideVaccine During Pregnancy

Pneumococcal (Pnc) carriage is associated with pneumococcal diseases. Breast feeding and maternal vaccinationmay be a useful approach to prevent pneumococcal infection in young infants. We examined the risk of Pnc carriageby infants at six months of age after pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination of pregnant women. We selected 139pregnant woman. The woman were randomly allocated to receive 23-valent polysaccharide vaccines during pregnancy(Group 1) after pregnancy (Group 2) or not receive any vaccine (Group 3). Nasopharyngeal swabs were collectedfrom the infants at three and six months of age. The infants were evaluated monthly during the first six months. Weincluded 47 mothers in Group 1, 45 mothers in Group 2 and 47 mothers in Group 3. Forty-seven percent of the babieswere exclusively breast fed until six months, 26% received both breast feeding and artificial feeding and 13%received only artificial feeding. Among those patients, 26% were colonized by Pnc at six months (12 from group 1,13 from group 2, and 12 from group 3). There was no significant difference in colonization between the three groups.Thirty percent of the children were colonized by a non-susceptible strain. We concluded that young infants (threemonths old) are already susceptible to pneumococcal carriage. Vaccination during pregnancy with a polysaccharidevaccine did not decrease Pnc colonization.

Ineffectiveness for Infants of Immunization of Mothers with Pneumococcal Capsular PolysaccharideVaccine During Pregnancy

Pneumococcal (Pnc) carriage is associated with pneumococcal diseases. Breast feeding and maternal vaccinationmay be a useful approach to prevent pneumococcal infection in young infants. We examined the risk of Pnc carriageby infants at six months of age after pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination of pregnant women. We selected 139 pregnant woman. The woman were randomly allocated to receive 23-valent polysaccharide vaccines during pregnancy(Group 1) after pregnancy (Group 2) or not receive any vaccine (Group 3). Nasopharyngeal swabs were collectedfrom the infants at three and six months of age. The infants were evaluated monthly during the first six months. Weincluded 47 mothers in Group 1, 45 mothers in Group 2 and 47 mothers in Group 3. Forty-seven percent of the babieswere exclusively breast fed until six months, 26% received both breast feeding and artificial feeding and 13%received only artificial feeding. Among those patients, 26% were colonized by Pnc at six months (12 from group 1,13 from group 2, and 12 from group 3). There was no significant difference in colonization between the three groups.Thirty percent of the children were colonized by a non-susceptible strain. We concluded that young infants (threemonths old) are already susceptible to pneumococcal carriage. Vaccination during pregnancy with a polysaccharidevaccine did not decrease Pnc colonization.(AU)

Ineffectiveness for infants of immunization of mothers with pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine during pregnancy.

Pneumococcal (Pnc) carriage is associated with pneumococcal diseases. Breast feeding and maternal vaccination may be a useful approach to prevent pneumococcal infection in young infants. We examined the risk of Pnc carriage by infants at six months of age after pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination of pregnant women. We selected 139 pregnant woman. The woman were randomly allocated to receive 23-valent polysaccharide vaccines during pregnancy (Group 1) after pregnancy (Group 2) or not receive any vaccine (Group 3). Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the infants at three and six months of age. The infants were evaluated monthly during the first six months. We included 47 mothers in Group 1, 45 mothers in Group 2 and 47 mothers in Group 3. Forty-seven percent of the babies were exclusively breast fed until six months, 26% received both breast feeding and artificial feeding and 13% received only artificial feeding. Among those patients, 26% were colonized by Pnc at six months (12 from Group 1, 13 from Group 2, and 12 from Group 3). There was no significant difference in colonization between the three groups. Thirty percent of the children were colonized by a non-susceptible strain. We concluded that young infants (three months old) are already susceptible to pneumococcal carriage. Vaccination during pregnancy with a polysaccharide vaccine did not decrease Pnc colonization.

Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis in children: report of two cases and literature review.

Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis (SPM) occurs sporadically, even with the increase of invasive streptococcal disease observed in the past years. We reported two cases of SPM in infants to alert pediatricians for the possibility of this agent as a cause of meningitis in previously healthy children.

Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis in children: report of two cases and literature review

Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis (SPM) occurs sporadically, even with the increase of invasive streptococcal disease observed in the past years. We reported two cases of SPM in infants to alert pediatricians for the possibility of this agent as a cause of meningitis in previously healthy children.

Menigite Pneumocócica na infância: características clínicas, sorotipos mais prevalentes e prognóstico / Pneumococcal meningitis in children: clinical findings, most frequent serotypes and outcome

Objetivo: Avaliar letalidade, morbidade, resistência bacteriana e sorotipos mais freqüentes em crianças internadas por meningite bacteriana. Métodos: selecionamos crianças com meningite bacteriana com cultura positiva para S. pneumoniae, entre 1 mês e 15 anos, internadas em dois hospitais em São Paulo, e analisamos dados clínicos e microbiológicos. A identificação do S. pneumoniae foi realizada através do teste de optoquina e solubilidade em bile. Todas as cepas foram testadas com disco de oxacilina 1µg e, nas cepas que apresentaram alo de inibição <20mm, foi avaliada a concentração inibitório mínima para penicilina, cloranfenicol, eritromicina, ceftriaxona, vancomicina e trimetroprim/sulfametoxazole pelo método do E-teste. As cepas de pneumococo foram sorotipadas através da reação de Quellung. A evolução clínica dos pacientes foi analisada através de revisão retrospectiva dos prontuários, com uso de um protocolo uniforme de avaliação. Resultados: incluimos 55 pacientes com meningite pneumocócica, sendo que 52,5 por cento delas apresentava idade menor de 6 meses. Das cepas isoladas, 36 por cento apresentavam infecção por cepa com resistência intermediária à penicilina (0,1µg/ml menor ou igual CIM menor ou igual 1,0µg/ml). Das cepas com susceptibilidade diminuída à penicilina, 35 por cento era resistente à trimetoprim/sulfametoxazole. Não houve resistência aos outros antibióticos testados. A letalidade foi de 20 por cento, e houve seqüelas neurológicas em 40 por cento das crianças avaliadas. Houve correlação estatisticamente significante entre letalidade e alteração neurológica com idade abaixo de 6 meses. Os sorotipos do pneumococo mais freqüentemente encontrados foram 1, 5, 6B, 14, 19A, 23F, sendo que 70 por cento dos sorotipos encontrados estão presentes na vacina heptavalente, recentemente liberada. Conclusão: meningite pneumocócica apresenta alta letalidade e alta morbidade, e a vacina heptavalente tem utilidade potencial na sua prevenção

[Pneumococcal meningitis in children: clinical findings, most frequent serotypes and outcome]. / Meningite pneumocócica na infância: características clínicas, sorotipos mais prevalentes e prognóstico.

OBJECTIVE: To determine mortality, morbidity, antimicrobial susceptibility and the most frequent serotypes in children admitted to hospital due to pneumococcal meningitis METHODS: Patients with meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae detected by culture in cerebrospinal fluid or blood, aged between 1 month and 15 years old, admitted to two hospitals in the city of São Paulo, were included in the study. Susceptibility to penicillin was determined by the disk diffusion test using oxacillin 1 microg disk. If the inhibition area with oxacillin disk was less than 20mm, the strains were tested for penicillin, chloramphenicol, ceftriaxone, vancomycin and sulfamethoxazole /trimethoprim using the E test. RESULTS: We identified 55 patients, 52.5% of which were younger than 6 months. The prevalence of penicillin-nonsusceptible strains was 36%. All the strains were intermediately resistant (0.1 microg/ml < or =; MIC < or = 1.0 microg/ml) and 35% of the penicillin intermediate resistant strains were resistant to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim. The mortality rate was 20% and impaired neurological outcome was present in 40% of the children. The audiometric test revealed alteration in 60% of the children tested. Age less than 6 months was associated with poor outcome. The most frequent serotypes were 1, 5, 6B, 14, 19A and 23F, and 70% of the serotypes were included in the new 7-valent vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that pneumococcal meningitis presents high mortality and morbidity and that the 7-valent conjugate vaccine would be potentially useful in preventing serious pneumococcal infections.