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Abstract Nontuberculous mycobacteria infection is one of the most common chronic bacterial diseases in ornamental aquarium fish and appears to be directly related to stressful husbandry practices. Furthermore, it also represents zoonotic potential. Here we present the isolation and characterization of non-tuberculous mycobacteria from diseased freshwater angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) in São Paulo, Brazil. Nine discarded breeding females with signs of disease were evaluated. The fish exhibited lethargy, loss of appetite, cachexia, skin ulcers, and exophthalmia. At necropsy, four fishes presented macroscopic granulomas in the spleen. Mycobacterium chelonae, M. fortuitum, M. gordonae, M. intracellulare and M. peregrinum were isolated and identified by hsp65 PCR restriction analysis. Histopathological analysis revealed microscopic lesions compatible with mycobacteriosis, and Mycobacterium bacillus were observed by Ziehl-Neelsen stain. Notably, all Mycobacterium species identified in this study have already been reported in human patients; therefore, diseased animals may be a source of infection for people who handle fish and aquariums.

Abstract Microbiological studies of the sanitary and health status of psittacine birds that will be reintroduced is important in evaluating whether these animals act as carriers of pathogenic agents to other animals and humans. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a faster and more accurate method to identify bacteria than conventional microbiology methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health status of psittacines housed in captivity, by assessment of Gram-negative bacteria from fecal microbiota through MALDI- TOF MS identification. The results indicate high frequency of Gram-negative bacteria in feces (96.5%), especially from the Enterobacteriaceae family (88.7%). The most prevalent bacteria were Escherichia coli (39.0%), Proteus vulgaris (12.2%), Klebsiella spp. (12.1%) and Raoultella ornithinolytica (8.7%). Proteus hauseri, Citrobacter spp., Morganella morgannii, Providencia rettgeri, Enterobacter spp. and Escherichia hermannii were isolated with lower frequency. . All these agents are potentially pathogenic for parrots and can cause systemic infections in other animals and humans. These findings reinforce that MALDI- TOF MS proved to be a rapid and accurate method of identification of the microorganism and evaluation of the health status of psittacines, providing relevant data to assist decision-making regarding the sanitary protocols in wildlife centers, and possible future reintroduction of wild birds.

This paper has the goal of evaluating monotonic trends in the Xingu and Tapajós river basins in the Austral Amazon region, Brazil. Non-parametric statistical tests such as Mann–Kendall, Bootstrap Mann–Kendall, Sen and Bootstrap Sen are applied on streamflow gauging stations data, to determine the significance and magnitude of possible trends. Data in these river basins is relatively scarce, with time series ranging from twenty to forty years, having many gaps. Former studies indicate a decreasing trend for both annual average and minimum streamflow values in the Tapajós river basin, with 99% confidence level, and a decrease in maximum values in the Xingu river basin, with 90% confidence level. However, past analyses have only used one station near the basin outlet. This study uses data from 7 gauging stations in the Xingu basin and 14 stations in the Tapajós basin. Results indicate opposite trends at the 95% confidence level for different regions in the basins, and for different flow regimes. For the Xingu river basin, trends in the minimum flow for different sub-basins even out at the Altamira station, near its outlet. For the Tapajós river, the southeastern part of the basin has increasing trends, while the southwestern part decreases. At the Itaituba station, they also balance out.