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A relação entre Educação em Ciências e Educação Infantil apresenta-se ainda de maneira muito incipiente. Poucos são os trabalhos que tratam desta temática e, destes poucos, temos majoritariamente abordagens que transpõem concepções de pesquisas com crianças maiores (ensino fundamental e médio). Atuando nesta interface (Educação Infantil e Educação em Ciências) e a partir do referencial teórico-analítico da Teoria Ator-Rede (TAR), a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo central investigar a performance de crianças pequenas em atividades de exploração do mundo físico e natural. Para isso investigamos uma turma de crianças de cinco anos envolvidas em um projeto de investigação relacionado com a temática sobre o que tem no céu em uma Unidade Municipal de Educação Infantil (UMEI) de Belo Horizonte, durante o primeiro semestre de 2015. Estes dados foram obtidos por meio de banco de dados oriundo de uma pesquisa contemplada por um edital de financiamento por agências brasileiras de fomento à pesquisa (Capes/Fapemig). Na análise dos dados descrevemos os encontros que foram destinados ao projeto de investigação da turma. Os resultados deste trabalho nos possibilitaram refletir sobre o papel desempenhado pelas crianças, adultos e pelo conteúdo científico ali presente e destacar as possibilidades de trabalho com as ciências, a partir de uma perspectiva da criança The relationship between Education in Science and Early Childhood Education is very incipient. There are few studies that deal with this issue, always based on approaches that transpose research conceptions with older children (elementary and middle school). Acting in this interface (Early Childhood Education and Science Education) and based on the theoretical-analytical framework of the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the present research had as its main objective to investigate the performance of young children (five years) in physical and natural world exploration activities. For this, we investigated a group of five-year-old children involved in a research project related to the theme "What's in the Sky?" at a Unidade Municipal de Educação Infantil (UMEI) in Belo Horizonte during the first half of 2015. These data were obtained through a database from a survey contemplated by a bidding document by Brazilian agencies to promote research (Capes / Fapemig). In the analysis of the data we described the meetings that were destined to the research project of the class. The results of this work enabled us to reflect on the role played by children, adults and the scientific content present and highlight the possibilities of working with the sciences, from a child perspective

Vaccinia virus (VACV), the etiological agent of bovine vaccinia (BV), is widespread in Brazil and present in most of the milk-producing regions. We conducted a horizontal study of BV in Bahia, a state of Brazil in which the production of milk is increasing. During 2011, human and bovine clinical samples were collected during outbreaks for BV diagnosis, virus isolation and molecular analysis. We collected data for epidemiological inferences. Vaccinia virus was detected in 87.7 % of the analyzed outbreaks, highlighting the effective circulation of VACV in Bahia. The molecular data showed the spreading of group 1 Brazilian VACV to Bahia. We observed a seasonal profile of BV, with its peak in the drier and cooler season. Manual milking was observed in 96 % of the visited properties, showing its importance to viral spread in herds. Under-notification of BV, ineffective animal trade surveillance, and bad milking practices have contributed to the spread of VACV in Brazil.

In Brazil, serologic evidence of Orthopoxvirus (OPV) circulation showed positivity around 20% in cattle, humans, monkeys and rodents. Although OPV seropositivity has been described in buffalo herds in southeastern Brazil, no Vaccinia virus (VACV) (member of genus OPV) outbreaks in buffalo herds have been described in this country. This study aimed to investigate the detection of anti-OPV antibodies and to study the OPV genome in Brazilian buffalo herds. Our results demonstrated a high OPV seropositivity in buffalo herds on Marajo Island and molecular data confirmed the circulation of VACV. The geographical isolation conditionmight be a sine qua non condition to explain our results.

To the Editor: Since 1999, several zoonotic outbreaks of vaccinia virus (VACV) infection have been reported in cattle and humans in rural areas of Brazil. The infections have caused exanthematous lesions on cows and persons who milk them, and thus are detrimental to the milk industry and public health services (1,2). In Brazil during the last decade, VACV outbreaks have been detected from the north to the extreme south of the country (1–4). Because Brazil shares extensive boundaries with other South American countries, humans and cattle on dairy and beef-producing farms in those countries may be at risk of exposure to VACV. To determine if VACV has spread from Brazil to Argentina, we investigated the presence of VACV in serum samples from cattle in Argentina. During 2011, we obtained serum samples from 100 animals (50 dairy and 50 beef cattle) on farms in Cordoba, Corrientes, Entre Rios, and Santa Fe Provinces in Argentina (Technical Appendix, panel A). No VACV cases had been reported in humans or cattle in these provinces. However, Corrientes Province borders the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where VACVs (Pelotas 1 and Pelotas 2 viruses) were isolated during an outbreak affecting horses in 2008 (2). To determine the presence of neutralizing antibodies in the serum samples, we used an orthopoxvirus 70% plaque-reduction neutralization test as described (4). On the basis of previous studies that detected viral DNA in serum samples (4–6), we used real-time PCR to amplify the highly conserved orthopoxvirus vaccinia growth factor (vgf) gene DNA (P.A. Alves, unpub. methods). To amplify the hemagglutinin (HA) gene DNA from the serum samples, we used real-time PCR with primers as described by de Souza Trindade et al. 2008 (7). The HA PCR products were directly sequenced in both orientations by using specific primers and capillary electrophoresis (Genetic Analyzer 3130; Applied Biosystems, Grand Island, NY, USA). We used ClustalW (http://www.clustal.org) and MEGA4 software (http://megasoftware.net/) to align nucleotide sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree (neighbor-joining method, 1,000 bootstraps) from the obtained HA fragment. Of the 50 dairy cattle samples, 4 (8.0%) had neutralizing antibodies against orthopoxvirus; of these, 3 (75.0%) had titers of 100 neutralizing units (NU)/mL, and 1 (25.0%) had a titer of 400 NU/mL. Of the 50 beef cattle, 8 (16.0%) had antibodies to orthopoxvirus, 1 (12.5%) of which had a titer of 800 NU/mL. Most of the positive samples were from cattle in Corrientes and Entre Rios Provinces (Table). Table Diagnosis of Orthopoxvirus infection in beef and dairy cattle during a study of the spread of vaccinia virus to cattle herds, Argentina, 2011* Of the 100 serum samples, 5 (3 from beef and 2 from dairy cattle) were positive for vgf by real-time PCR. HA DNA was amplified from 2 of the 3 vgf PCR–positive beef cattle samples; plaque-reduction neutralization test results were also positive for the 2 samples (Table). Alignment of the HA fragment nucleotide sequence of the isolates from Argentina showed that the sequence was highly similar to that of the homologous gene of VACV isolates from Brazil. Furthermore, the sequences showed a signature deletion that is also present in the sequences of VACV isolates from Brazil. Compared with sequences for other VACV isolates, those from Argentina had 2 polymorphisms (Technical Appendix, panel C). The HA sequences from the isolates from Argentina demonstrated 100% identity among themselves and exhibited higher identity with group 1 (98.2% identity) versus group 2 (93.6% identity) isolates from Brazil (Technical Appendix, panel D). In the phylogenetic tree based on the HA nucleotide sequences (Technical Appendix, panel B), the VACVs from Argentina clustered with several group 1 VACVs detected during outbreaks in Brazil. Although no outbreaks of exanthematous VACV infection have been described in cattle or humans in Argentina, we detected neutralizing antibodies against orthopoxvirus and detected VACV DNA in serum samples from cattle in the country. Most of the seropositive samples were from cattle in Entre Rios Province, which shares a border with Uruguay, and Corrientes Province, which shares a border with Rio Grande do Sul State in Brazil, where Pelotas VACVs have been isolated (2). We believe that the seropositive cattle in this study may have been exposed to VACV, the only orthopoxvirus known to be circulating in South America (1–4,8–10). Despite veterinary surveillance efforts of border control organizations, VACV control may be hampered by the circulation of infected rural workers and the misdiagnosis of VACV infection; misdiagnoses occur because VACV lesions resemble those of other exanthematous diseases. Moreover, peridomestic rodents have been hypothesized to act as VACV hosts, and could facilitate the spread of VACV in border areas (10). In addition, we could not rule out the circulation of autochthonous VACV in Argentina, but this is a less likely explanation. Our findings suggest that cattle herds in areas of Argentina near the border with Brazil may be exposed to VACV from Brazil and, thus, may be at risk for VACV infection. Further research is needed to determine the risk factors for VACV infection and to assess the circulation of VACV in South America Technical Appendix: Map of Argentina, indicating locations where blood samples were collected from cattle and results of phylogenetic analysis of vaccine virus isolated from the samples. Click here to view.(611K, pdf)

RESUMO: O vínculo entre educação científica e educação infantil tem se constituído de modo tímido. Isso porque, muitas vezes, pensa-se equivocadamente que a maneira como a criança pequena interroga e investiga o mundo à sua volta não é apropriada. No entanto, fazendo uso da teoria ator-rede e de sua concepção de aprendizagem, analisamos episódio no qual crianças de 4 e 5 anos estavam engajadas na exploração de pistas deixadas em um jardim de uma Unidade Municipal de Educação Infantil. Nossos achados indicam que as crianças participam ativamente de atividades investigativas e aprendem a ser afetadas pelos elementos constitutivos do espaço designado para a exploração. Além disso, as crianças foram capazes de transformar os objetos tecnológicos disponibilizados em instrumentos científicos. Nossa análise foi possível por romper com uma concepção de aprendizagem como apropriação conceitual. Nesse sentido, procuramos entender a aprendizagem como capacidade de ser afetado e, portanto, como construção de um corpo.