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Human Visceral Leishmaniasis is an endemic public health problem in the Amazon. This article analyzed the spatial distribution of this disease and its relationship with socioeconomic, environmental and public health policy variables in four mesoregions of the state of Pará, from 2011 to 2022. This ecological study used secondary data obtained from official Brazilian agencies. Spatial analysis was performed using the Flow, Kernel and Global Moran bivariate techniques expressed in thematic maps. In the mesoregions studied, 2685 cases of the disease were confirmed, with the highest number of cases in Southeast Pará state. The epidemiological profile followed the national pattern of occurrence of the disease, with a higher number of cases in children below school age. Spatial dependence was observed between the prevalence of the disease and socio-economic indicators. The most intense movement of patients was towards the Belém Metropolitan mesoregion. The disease showed an inhomogeneous pattern of distribution of cases, with a direct relationship between areas with cases and deforestation associated with different anthropic activities. There is a socio-environmental production of the disease that goes beyond the border limits of the mesoregions, and its establishment is related to the unsustainable development model implemented in the region.

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INTRODUCTION: Its wide karyotypic variation characterizes the genus Ctenomys, and in Brazil, the genus is distributed in the country's southern, Midwest, and northern regions. Recently, populations of Ctenomys have been found in the Midwest and northern Brazil, with two new lineages named C. sp. "xingu" and C. sp. "central." METHODS: This work combines classical cytogenetic and molecular analyses to provide new chromosomal information on the boliviensis group distributed in northern and Midwestern Brazil. This includes the validation of the karyotype of C. bicolor and C. nattereri and the description of the karyotype of C. sp. "xingu" and C. sp. "central." RESULTS: We found three different karyotypes: 2n = 40 for C. bicolor; 2n = 36 for C. nattereri, and specimens from a locality belonging to C. sp. "central"; 2n = 34 for the lineage C. sp. "xingu" and specimens from a locality belonging to C. sp. "central." Furthermore, GTG banding revealed homologous chromosomes between species/lineages and allowed the identification of the rearrangements that occurred, which proved the occurrence of fissions. CONCLUSION: Considering our results on the variation of 2n in the boliviensis group, we found two possibilities: the first, deduced by parsimony, is that 2n = 36 appeared initially, and two fissions produced gave rise to 2n = 40, and an independent fusion gave rise to 2n = 34 from 2n = 36; moreover, the second explanation is that all karyotypes arose independently.

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Human visceral leishmaniasis is a major public health problem in the Amazon. Thus, we analyzed the spatial distribution of this disease and its relationship with epidemiological, socioeconomic, and environmental variables in the Carajás Integration Region, Pará state, from 2011 to 2020. Epidemiological data for this ecological study were obtained from the State Public Health Secretariat, environmental data were obtained from the National Space Research Institute, and socioeconomic data were obtained from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute. ArcGIS 10.5.1 software was used for classifying land use and cover and for the Kernel and Moran spatial analyses. It was observed in 685 confirmed cases that the epidemiological profile followed the national pattern of the disease occurrence, with a high prevalence in children who were not school-aged. The disease had a non-homogeneous distribution with clusters related to different human activities, such as urbanization, ranching, and mining. A spatial dependence between the disease prevalence and socioeconomic indicators was observed. The municipalities presented gradients of case densities associated with a direct relationship between areas with cases and deforestation. The disease is developing due to risk factors such as establishment and maintenance related to the non-sustainable development model implemented in the region, pointing to the need for its revision.

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Few studies were performed on the volatile components' properties of propolis from native Brazilian stingless bees. This work sought to extract, chemically characterize, and evaluate of the antimicrobial properties of volatile oils from propolis of the stingless bees Melipona quadrifasciata quadrifasciata (MQ) and Tetragonisca angustula (TA). The volatile oils from the pulverized propolis samples were obtained in a Clevenger apparatus and characterized by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and to flame ionization detector (GC-FID). All samples showed promising activity against Mycoplasma pneumoniae, with MICs from 103 to 224 µg mL-1 , nonetheless, they were less active against cell walled bacteria. Activity against Candida species was moderate, but one MQ sample showed a MIC value of 103 µg mL-1 against C. tropicallis. Oils' fractionation showed no improvement in antibacterial activity. The promising antibacterial effect against this microorganism is likely related to the synergism between the components of the volatile oils.

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Phyllostomid bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) are key elements for the maintenance of New World forests, but little information on their distribution is available in some regions of Brazil. Here we use occurrence records and bioclimatic variables to model the distribution of phyllostomid bats in Santa Catarina, a subtropical Brazilian state. Estimates of geographic variation in species richness were then obtained by stacking the generated maps. Lastly, we tested how associated species richness is to ecoregions and Protected Areas. Our results suggest that the phyllostomid bats species richness is closely linked to the regions climate gradient. Most species are restricted to the Serra do Mar ecoregion, where the temperature is high and varies less throughout the year. In contrast, the colder areas seem to house extremely simple communities, composed of a subset of the species present in the warmer areas. We found significant evidence that Protected Areas in Santa Catarina play an important role in the conservation of species, although there are still several places where species richness is high, but no Protected Area is available. The creation of new Protected Areas in these places can boost the species conservation, and, consequently, the ecological services provided by phyllostomid bats.(AU)

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Hydroalcoholic propolis extracts from the bee species Melipona quadrifasciata have been shown to possess antimicrobial activity against different mollicute strains, but a methanolic extract (ME) could contain an increased diversity of nonpolar bioactive components with a potentially higher antimicrobial activity. The ME obtained by maceration of the propolis sample was fractionated with solvents of different polarities and then, purified by silica gel column chromatography through biomonitoring of its antimicrobial activity against mollicute strains. Analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) enabled the identification of compounds using the NIST library. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the samples were determined by broth microdilution. Anti-adhesive assays were performed with Mycoplasma pneumoniae cells. The hexane (MIC=62.5 mg/L) and dichloromethane (MIC=125 mg/L) fractions presented the most promising results against M. pneumoniae. They were fractionated into 74 subfractions, and even the best ones did not show better results (MIC>250 mg/L) than their original fractions, likely due to the loss of terpene compounds that seem to act in synergy. The dichloromethane subfraction FD4 was highlighted in the anti-adhesive assay with an inhibitory activity of 21.6 %. A synergistic effect of the nonpolar compounds in M. quadrifasciata propolis may be responsible for its antibacterial activity, but several purified components can improve its anti-adhesive properties.

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Abstract Phyllostomid bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) are key elements for the maintenance of New World forests, but little information on their distribution is available in some regions of Brazil. Here we use occurrence records and bioclimatic variables to model the distribution of phyllostomid bats in Santa Catarina, a subtropical Brazilian state. Estimates of geographic variation in species richness were then obtained by stacking the generated maps. Lastly, we tested how associated species richness is to ecoregions and Protected Areas. Our results suggest that the phyllostomid bats species richness is closely linked to the region's climate gradient. Most species are restricted to the Serra do Mar ecoregion, where the temperature is high and varies less throughout the year. In contrast, the colder areas seem to house extremely simple communities, composed of a subset of the species present in the warmer areas. We found significant evidence that Protected Areas in Santa Catarina play an important role in the conservation of species, although there are still several places where species richness is high, but no Protected Area is available. The creation of new Protected Areas in these places can boost the species conservation, and, consequently, the ecological services provided by phyllostomid bats.

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Abstract Phyllostomid bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) are key elements for the maintenance of New World forests, but little information on their distribution is available in some regions of Brazil. Here we use occurrence records and bioclimatic variables to model the distribution of phyllostomid bats in Santa Catarina, a subtropical Brazilian state. Estimates of geographic variation in species richness were then obtained by stacking the generated maps. Lastly, we tested how associated species richness is to ecoregions and Protected Areas. Our results suggest that the phyllostomid bats species richness is closely linked to the regions climate gradient. Most species are restricted to the Serra do Mar ecoregion, where the temperature is high and varies less throughout the year. In contrast, the colder areas seem to house extremely simple communities, composed of a subset of the species present in the warmer areas. We found significant evidence that Protected Areas in Santa Catarina play an important role in the conservation of species, although there are still several places where species richness is high, but no Protected Area is available. The creation of new Protected Areas in these places can boost the species conservation, and, consequently, the ecological services provided by phyllostomid bats.

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BACKGROUND: The role of bats as reservoirs of zoonotic agents, especially pathogenic bacteria such as Bartonella and Coxiella, has been discussed around the world. Recent studies have identified bats as potential hosts of species from the proteobacteria phylum. In Brazil, however, the role of bats in the natural cycle of these agents is poorly investigated and generally neglected. In order to analyze the participation of bats in the epidemiology of diseases caused by Bartonella, Coxiella, Rickettsia, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia, we conducted a descriptive epidemiological study in three biogeographic regions of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. RESULTS: Tissues of 119 bats captured in preserved areas in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Santa Catarina from 2014 to 2015 were submitted to molecular analysis using specific primers. Bartonella spp. was detected in 22 spleen samples (18.5%, 95% CI: 11.9-26.6), whose phylogenetic analysis revealed the generation of at least two independent clusters, suggesting that these may be new unique genotypes of Bartonella species. In addition, four samples (3.4%, 95% CI: 0.9-8.3) were positive for the htpAB gene of C. burnetii [spleen (2), liver (1) and heart (1)]. Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma and Ehrlichia were not identified. This is the first study reporting C. burnetii and Bartonella spp. infections in bats from the Atlantic Forest biome. CONCLUSIONS: These findings shed light on potential host range for these bacteria, which are characterized as important zoonotic pathogens.

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Establishing the genetic basis that underlies craniofacial variability in natural populations is one of the main topics of evolutionary and developmental studies. One of the genes associated with mammal craniofacial variability is RUNX2, and in the present study we investigated the association between craniofacial length and width and RUNX2 across New World bats (Phyllostomidae) and primates (Catarrhini and Platyrrhini). Our results showed contrasting patterns of association between the glutamate/alanine ratios (Q/A ratio) and palate shape in these highly diverse groups. In phyllostomid bats, we found an association between shorter/broader faces and increase of the Q/A ratio. In New World monkeys (NWM) there was a positive correlation of increasing Q/A ratios to more elongated faces. Our findings reinforced the role of the Q/A ratio as a flexible genetic mechanism that would rapidly change the time of skull ossification throughout development. However, we propose a scenario in which the influence of this genetic adjustment system is indirect. The Q/A ratio would not lead to a specific phenotype, but throughout the history of a lineage, would act along with evolutionary constraints, as well as other genes, as a facilitator for adaptive morphological changes.

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