Adopt a Bacterium: a professional development opportunity for teacher assistants.

Science teaching in most Brazilian Universities tends to focus mainly on lectures and provides few opportunities for the development of modern teaching skills. Our group developed an online tool called Adopt a Bacterium, which consists on a Facebook group where teacher assistants (TAs) can interact with students and have a first contact with student-focused learning approaches. This work shows the TAs' own assessment of how the tool could be further explored to help them develop skills and become better teachers.

Peritonite encapsulante esclerosante em cão (Canis familiaris): relato de caso / Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis in dog (Canis familiaris): case report

Um cão SRD, com cinco anos e histórico de ascite de evolução lenta com estruturas palpáveis foi submetido a exames clínicos, os quais foram inconclusivos. A laparotomia exploratória revelou que a cavidade abdominal estava repleta de líquido serossanguinolento e de múltiplos nódulos de diferentes tamanhos, com superfície irregular, aderidos aos peritônios visceral e parietal, sugestivos de neoplasia maligna. A eutanásia, seguida da necropsia para a coleta de amostras para o diagnóstico histopatológico, foi indicada. O exame anatomopatológico revelou nódulos sésseis e resistentes ao corte, constituídos de tecido conjuntivo fibroso e trabéculas ósseas em arranjo de osso esponjoso e osteoclastos em atividade. O diagnóstico definitivo foi peritonite encapsulante esclerosante.(AU)

A 5-year-old dog with chronic ascites was submitted to several clinical exams, which were inconclusive. Laparotomy revealed abdominal serosanguinous fluid and multiple nodules of several sizes with irregular surface, with visceral and parietal adhesion to the peritoneum, resembling malignant neoplasia. Euthanasia followed by necropsy and collection of samples to histopathological diagnosis was performed. Pathological exam revealed sessile nodules resistant to cut and the microscopy evaluation showed fibrous connective tissue and trabecular bone with sponge bone arrangement associated with active osteoclasts. The definitive diagnosis was sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis.(AU)

Demodicose suína no norte do estado do Rio de Janeiro: relato de caso / Demodicosis in northern Rio de Janeiro State: case report

Um leitão oriundo de um criatório do norte do estado do Rio de Janeiro, mantido no biotério do Hospital Veterinário da Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro e utilizado como caso piloto de projeto de pesquisa para investigações sobre o acesso videolaparoscópico retal (NOTES - Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery), foi eutanasiado e necropsiado. Amostras do ponto de acesso do tubo de inserção na região mucocutânea anal foram colhidas, fixadas em formalina neutra tamponada a 10%, processadas por inclusão em parafina e coradas pela hematoxilina e eosina para histologia. Observou-se o comprometimento de folículos que, dilatados, exibiam formações que lembravam Demodex spp. cortados em vários sentidos e, por se tratar de ácaros espécie-específicos, concluiu-se como D. phylloides. Na citopatologia, o ácaro foi recuperado e identificado a fresco, mostrando-se alongado, com quatro pares de patas ventrais e no terço anterior do corpo. Este se refere ao primeiro registro de demodicose suína no estado do Rio de Janeiro.

A piglet derived from a farm in northern Rio de Janeiro State, maintained at the Animal Veterinary Hospital of Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro and used as a pilot case for a research project on access to research video-laparoscopic rectal (NOTES - Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery Translumenal) was euthanized and necropsied. Samples from the access point of the insertion tube in mucocutaneous anal region were collected, fixed in buffered formalin 10%, processed by embedding in paraffin and stained with hematoxylin and eosin for histopathology. The impairment of follicles that exhibited dilated formations resembling Demodex spp. cut in various directions and due to the mite species-specific was observed, and was concluded as D. phylloides. The mite was recovered and freshly identified by cytopathology. It was elongated, with four pairs of legs, at ventral and anterior third of the body. This refers to the first report of swine demodicosis in Rio de Janeiro State.

A new set of bioinformatics tools for genome projects

A new tool called System for Automated Bacterial Integrated Annotation--SABIA (SABIA being a very well-known bird in Brazil) was developed for the assembly and annotation of bacterial genomes. This system performs automatic tasks of assembly analysis, ORFs identification/analysis, and extragenic region analyses. Genome assembly and contig automatic annotation data are also available in the same working environment. The system integrates several public domains and newly developed software programs capable of dealing with several types of databases, and it is portable to other operational systems. These programs interact with most of the well-known biological database/softwares, such as Glimmer, Genemark, the BLAST family programs, InterPro, COG, Kegg, PSORT, GO, tRNAScan and RBSFinder, and can also be used to identify metabolic pathways