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Yellow Fever (YF) is a viral arbovirosis of Public Health importance. In Brazil, surveillance is focused mainly on detecting epizootic events of Platyrrhini. Herein, we compared the detection and phylogenetic analysis of YF virus in two neotropical primates (NTP), a Callithrix detected in the previous epidemic period (2016-2020), and a Callicebus nigrifons, showing a new introduction of YF in 2023. This paper illustrates the importance of joint actions of laboratory and field teams to ensure quick response to Public Health emergencies, such as the intensification of vaccination of susceptible human populations., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The present case is the first description of a co-infection with canine distemper virus (CDV) and canine adenovirus type 1 (CAdV-1) in a free-living hoary fox pup from Brazil. The animal was found and rescued with poor body condition, dehydration, incoordination, ataxia, excessive vocalization, and "blue eyes" phenomenon. Despite the efforts, euthanasia was elected due to worsening clinical signs and poor prognosis. Pathologic examination revealed a mild, acute, random, necrotizing hepatitis, acute bronchopneumonia, hydrocephalus, corneal edema with epithelium degeneration, and acidophilic intracytoplasmatic inclusion bodies in different epithelial cells types with rare syncytial. Through immunohistochemistry, CDV antigen was observed in the tongue, trachea, lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, intestine and urinary bladder. Adenovirus antigen was identified in the nucleus of scattered hepatocytes. Polymerase chain reaction and sequencing demonstrated high similarity with CAdV-1 and wild-type strain of CDV close related to Brazilian viral lineages isolated from domestic dogs. Disease surveillance in wildlife animals is essential to assess possible conservation threats and consider the implementation of mitigation or control measures., (© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia.)

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the ubiquitous coccidia Toxoplasma gondii. Rodents play an important role in maintaining its life cycle, as they are one of the main diet sources for felids (wild and domestic), the unique definitive hosts. However, reports of toxoplasmosis in porcupines (Order Rodentia) are uncommon, with gaps concerning its pathophysiology. South America is the continent with the greatest genetic diversity of rodents and T. gondii. A free-ranging hairy dwarf porcupine was admitted to a wildlife rescue centre with a history of trauma. During rehabilitation, the animal presented neurological symptoms (sporadic episodes of hind limbs paresis) and died 5 months later. The main findings during necropsy were brain congestion and severe incisor overgrowth associated with maxillary perforation. The histopathological exam showed moderate encephalitis, with variable-sized round cysts, positive for PAS stain and immunohistochemistry for T. gondii. Additionally, two cysts were observed in the medulla of the adrenal gland. Molecular techniques were performed to characterize the parasite load by qPCR (Cq = 30) and the genotype by PCR-RFLP with 11 markers, which revealed a potential new genotype. This case adds to the body of knowledge in comparative pathology of Neotropical Rodentia and reports a new potential genotype circulating in South America., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

In collaboration with the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

COVID-19 has posed a worldwide public health challenge affecting millions of people in different countries. Rapid and efficient detection of SARS-CoV-2 is essential for pandemic control. Reverse Transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) of nasopharyngeal swabs is the gold standard method for the virus detection, but the high demand for tests has substantially increased the costs and reduced the availability of reagents, including genetic material purification kits. Thus, the present study aimed to compare two bead-based RNA extraction methods (an in-house and a commercial kit) from nasopharyngeal swabs and RT-qPCR detection of SARS-CoV-2. Twenty-five positive and five negative nasopharyngeal swab samples were subjected to extraction of nucleic acids using both methods in an automated platform. Both protocols revealed a high correlation between Cycle Quantifications (Cqs) (r = 0.99, p < 0.0001). In addition, the in-house kit was 89.5 % cheaper when compared to the mean cost of commercial RNA extraction kits. The results show that the in-house protocol is an affordable and reliable option for RNA extraction for SARS-CoV-2 detection from nasopharyngeal swabs., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The use of cadaver donors for transplantation is often the only alternative in the treatment of patients with organ failure. The purpose of this study was to draw a comprehensive profile of solid organ donors in Ceará, northeastern Brazil, from 1998 to 2012. The study was retrospective and based on secondary data regarding sex, age, blood typing, and cause of brain death obtained from the solid organ donor database of the Ceará Transplantation Center covering the period November 1998 to December 2012. During the study period, 976 donors (69% male) were used. Donors were distributed in 4 age groups as follows: 12.9% <18 years, 50.9% 18-40 years, 28.5% 41-60 years, and 7.7% >60 years. The average age was 35 ± 16 years. On the average, female donors were older than male donors (38.4 ± 17 y vs 33.5 ± 16 y; P < .0001). Men were predominant in the age groups 18-40 y (75.3%; P < .0001) and 41-60 y (59.4%; P < .0001). The main causes of brain death were traumatic brain injury (TBI) (56.7%) and stroke (33.1%). The former was more common in men (P < .0001), the latter in women (P < .0001). TBI was caused by traffic accidents (51.4%), of which 50.7% were motorcycle accidents, and urban violence (22.6%), of which 71.2% were associated with firearms. The number of donations increased in the study period (11.2 donors per million population in 1998-2002 to 68.1 in 2008-2012). In Ceará, solid organ donation is on the rise. The predominant donor profile was young men aged 18-40 years with brain death due to TBI caused by traffic accidents and urban violence., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Anesthetics can affect the structure and biological function of tissues and systems differentially. The aim of the present study was to compare three injectable anesthetics generally used in experiments with animals in terms of the degree of hemolysis and glycogenolysis occurring after profound anesthesia. Twenty-four male Wistar rats (330-440 g) were divided into three groups (N = 8): chloral hydrate (CH), ketamine + xylazine (KX), Zoletil 50(R) (zolazepam and tiletamine) + xylazine (ZTX). After deep anesthesia, total blood was collected. The liver and white (WG) and red gastrocnemius (RG) muscles were also immediately removed. The degree of serum hemolysis was quantified on the basis of hemoglobin concentration (g/L). Hepatic and muscular glycogen concentrations (mmol/kg wet tissue) were quantified by the phenol-sulfuric method. The CH and KX groups exhibited serum hemolysis (4.0 +/- 2.2 and 1.9 +/- 0.9 g/L, respectively; P < 0.05) compared to the ZTX group, which presented none. Only KX induced elevated glycogenolysis (mmol/kg wet tissue) in the liver (86.9 +/- 63.2) and in WG (18.7 +/- 9.0) and RG (15.2 +/- 7.2; P < 0.05). The CH and ZTX groups exhibited no glycogenolysis in the liver (164.4 +/- 41.1 and 176.8 +/- 54.4, respectively), WG (28.8 +/- 4.4, 32.0 +/- 6.5, respectively) or RG (29.0 +/- 4.9; 25.3 +/- 8.6, respectively). Our data indicate that ZTX seems to be an appropriate general anesthetic for studies that seek to simultaneously quantify the concentration of glycogen and serum biochemical markers without interferences. ZTX is reasonably priced, found easily at veterinary markets, quickly induces deep anesthesia, and presents a low mortality rate.