Advances in genomics of multi-drug resistant Stenotrophomonas / 生物工程学报

Stenotrophomonas species are non-fermentative Gram-negative bacteria that are widely distributed in environment and are highly resistant to numerous antibiotics. Thus, Stenotrophomonas serves as a reservoir of genes encoding antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The detection rate of Stenotrophomonas is rapidly increasing alongside their strengthening intrinsic ability to tolerate a variety of clinical antibiotics. This review illustrated the current genomics advances of antibiotic resistant Stenotrophomonas, highlighting the importance of precise identification and sequence editing. In addition, AMR diversity and transferability have been assessed by the developed bioinformatics tools. However, the working models of AMR in Stenotrophomonas are cryptic and urgently required to be determined. Comparative genomics is envisioned to facilitate the prevention and control of AMR, as well as to gain insights into bacterial adaptability and drug development.

Innovación emergente para la COVID-19: taller virtual sobre el uso educativo de la plataforma Moodle / COVID-19 Emergent Innovation: Virtual Workshop about Moodle Platform Educative Use

Introducción: se requiere el desarrollo de competencias docentes para programar soluciones significativas a los problemas educativos identificados. Objetivo: analizar una innovación para la capacitación profesoral en el uso educativo de la plataforma Moodle, como estrategia emergente durante el aislamiento social por la COVID-19. Metodología: se desarrolló una investigación descriptiva, con enfoque cualitativo, aplicando la metodología de la sistematización de experiencias. Resultados: en la determinación de la situación a mejorarse se reconoció la escasa experiencia de los docentes del departamento con el uso de la plataforma Moodle; la elección de los contenidos, tecnología y actividades estuvo en función de organizar un aprendizaje gradual que contemplara el tratamiento de las esencialidades de las innovaciones educativas con las TICs, haciendo uso de recursos educativos disponibles en la plataforma Moodle. Conclusiones: la innovación desarrollada durante el aislamiento social por la COVID-19, puso de manifiesto su eficacia y transferibilidad(AU)

Introduction: it is required to develop professor's competences to program significant responses to identified educational problems. Objective: to analyze an innovation for instructing professors in the educative use of platform Moodle developed as an emergent strategy during social isolation due to the COVID-19. Methodology: it was developed a descriptive and qualitative investigation, applying the experience systematizing methodology. Results: the learning situation to activate was the departmental professor's experience with the Moodle platform use; the contents, technology and activities selection procured the use of Moodle recourses to organize a planned learning of educative innovation inner essentialities; to evaluate the innovation results there were considered its efficacy and transferability. Conclusions: the virtual methodological workshop developed during social isolation due to the COVID-19 evidenced its efficacy and transferability(AU)

Transferibilidad de marcadores microsatélites de Anas platyrhynchos al pato criollo peruano Cairina moschata domestica / Cross species transferability of microsatellite markers from Anas platyrhynchos to Peruvian Muscovy Duck Cairina moschata domestica

Resumen El pato criollo peruano (Cairina moschata domestica) es una de las especies de mayor importancia económica en la alimentación humana. Las especies de patos forman grupos genéticos complejos y difíciles de reconocer, por lo que el uso marcadores microsatélites (SSR) identificados en una especie relacionada como Anas platyrhynchos, representa una opción atractiva, de menor costo y útil para resolver temas relacionados con la conservación de la diversidad genómica, flujo génico e hibridación entre poblaciones. El objetivo de la investigación fue evaluar la transferibilidad de 24 SSR identificados para A. platyrhynchos a las poblaciones peruanas de C. moschata doméstica y determinar el grado de polimorfismo (PIC) de los marcadores transferibles. Para ello, se obtuvo ADN a partir de plumas alares usando el método cloroformo-alcohol isoamílico. Los SSR se construyeron con una secuencia adicional de 19 pb (cola M13) y se utilizaron fluoróforos 6-FAM, VIC, NED y PET para su etiquetado. Los fragmentos amplificados fueron visualizados en geles de agarosa 2% y separados por electroforesis capilar en un secuenciador automático ABI 3130XL. Los resultados mostraron 7 SSRs con un valor PIC alto (PIC>0.5) y que el marcador CMO211 se expresaba con un tamaño molecular menor del de la referencia. En conclusión, el presente trabajo demostró que el 75% de los SSR diseñados para A. platyrhynchos son transferibles a C. moschata domestica; y que sólo 7 fueron altamente informativos. Demostrando así que los SSRs son útiles en la detección de polimorfismos en especies relacionadas y pueden ser usados para mejorar las poblaciones peruanas de patos criollos.

Abstract Peruvian Muskovy duck (Cairina moschata domestica) is one of the most economically important species in human nutrition. Duck species form complex genetic groups which are difficult to recognize, thus the use microsatellite markers (SSRs) identified already in Anas platyrhynchos (related species), represents a very attractive option for its cheapness and usefulness for solving issues related to conservation of genomic diversity, gene flow and hybridization between population. The main goal of this work was to evaluate the degree of polymorphism (PIC) and the transferability of 24 SSRs identified for A. platyrhynchos to C. moschata domestica. In this study, DNA collected from wing feathers was extracted using the chloroform-isoamyl alcohol method. SSRs were constructed with an additional 19 bp sequence (M13 tail) and 6-FAM, VIC, NED and PET fluorophores were used for their labeling. The amplified fragments were visualized on 2% agarose gels and separated by capillary electrophoresis in an automatic ABI 3130XL sequencer. Results showed 7 SSR with high PIC value (PIC> 0.5) and the CMO211 marker expressed in a smaller molecular size that the one used as reference. In conclusion, we showed that 75% of the SSR designed for A. platyrhynchos were transferable to C. moschata domestica as well as we found only 7 SSR highly informative, thus we proved that SSR are highly useful for detecting polymorphisms in related species and improved the Peruvian populations of Muskovy ducks.

Prevalence and molecular characteristics of 16s rRNA methylase gene rmtB in amikacin resistant Escherichia coli isolated from South Korea / 대한수의학회지

The production of rmtB-encoded 16S rRNA methylases has emerged as a novel mechanism promoting high-level resistance toward aminoglycosides in Gram-negative bacteria. Between 2015 and 2017, 636 distinct commensal Escherichia (E.) coli isolates were collected from different farms in South Korea to determine the prevalence and molecular characteristics of rmtB. The positive rates of rmtB between all the isolates and amikacin-resistant isolates were 1.1 and 100%, respectively. High-level aminoglycoside resistance could be transferred by conjugation from rmtB-positive donors to higher amikacin-resistance efficacies. This is the first report of 16S rRNA methylase-encoding genes in E. coli isolated from food-producing animals in Korea.

Confirmation study of hepatotoxic quality marker in Euodiae Fructus decoction / 中草药

Objective: To confirm the hepatotoxic Q-marker of Euodiae Fructus decoction. Methods: The hepatotoxicity of target compounds was studied by hepatotoxicity index and flow cytometry. The targets and target organs were predicted by network pharmacology. The qualitative absorption analysis of 3-O-trans-caffeoylgluconic acid (1), 4-O-trans-caffeoylgluconic acid (2), 2-O-trans-caffeoylgluconic acid (3) was performed by LC-MS. Through the systematic study of Q-marker properties, the confirmation study of hepatotoxicity Q-marker in Euodiae Fructus decoction was performed. Results: Compounds 1, 2, and 3 inhibited the growth of L02 cells in G0/G1 phase and had direct toxicity to L02 cells, which led to hepatotoxicity. The target organ may be the liver by the network pharmacology analysis. After drug administration, compounds 1, 2, and 3 could be absorbed into the blood by prototype. Compounds 1, 2, and 3 had properties of structural confirmation, toxicity confirmation, measurability, and transmissibility. Conclusion: Compounds 1, 2, and 3 could be confirmed as hepatotoxic Q-marker of Euodiae Fructus decoction.

Microsatellite Development and Potential Application in Authentication, Conservation, and Genetic Improvement of Chinese Medicinal Plants / 中草药·英文版

Medicinal plants are popular and widely used as a major source of herbal drugs and pharmaceutical compounds. Ever-growing demands make medicinal plants faced to several problems including efficacy and safety to meet business requirements, conservation, and artificially assisted breeding. As a powerful molecular tool, microsatellites offer the great potentials for various purposes in plants. This review provides a scenario of microsatellites in medicinal plants including development from genomic or expressed sequence tag libraries, cross-species transferability, genotyping, and potential applications. We emphasized on the authentication of medicinal plants by microsatellite markers.

Aspectos bioecológicos e genético-comportamentais envolvidos na conservação da abelha Jandaíra, Melipona subnitida Ducke (Apidae, Meliponini), e o uso de ferramentas moleculares nos estudos de diversidade / Bioecological and behavioral genetic aspects involved in the conservation of the stingless bee Melipona subnitida Ducke (Apidae, Meliponini) and the use of molecular tools in studies of diversity

A abelha sem ferrão Melipona subnitida atualmente está presente em quase toda a região nordeste, em função da boa adaptabilidade ao semiárido nordestino e do potencial econômico-ecológico proporcionado pela produção de mel e pela polinização de cultivos em condições de confinamento. Apesar disso, é uma espécie ameaçada devido a processos de degradação ambiental, dentre os quais estão o desmatamento, o uso indiscriminado de agrotóxicos e o extrativismo. Tais interferências tendem a isolar as populações de Jandaíra, provocando uma queda na variabilidade genética e, consequentemente, uma redução na capacidade adaptativa da espécie. Porém, técnicas de biologia molecular estão sendo implementadas, possibilitando que populações desse tipo sejam avaliadas quanto ao seu grau de variabilidade genética. Marcadores moleculares do tipo microssatélites de DNA vêm sendo bastante usados, porém, em função do alto custo exigido para seu desenvolvimento, diversos estudos vêm empregando microssatélites transferidos de táxons próximos com amplo sucesso em estudos voltados à caracterização e à diversidade genética. Dessa forma, a presente revisão objetivou avaliar os mais relevantes aspectos bioecológicos e genético-comportamentais envolvidos na conservação da abelha Jandaíra, a fim de auxiliar na avaliação do grau de diversidade genética da espécie, bem como da sua distribuição entre indivíduos e populações da abelha sem ferrão M. subnitida.(AU)

The stingless bee Melipona subnitida is now present almost everywhere in the Brazilian Northeastern, as a consequence of its good adaptability to the semiarid and economic and ecological potential offered by the honey production and pollination of commercial crops under confined conditions. Nevertheless, it is an endangered species due to environmental degradation processes, among which are: deforestation, indiscriminate use of pesticides and honey extraction. Such interference tends to isolate populations of Jandaíra causing a decrease in genetic variability, and therefore a reduction in the adaptive capacity of the species. However, advanced Molecular Biology techniques have been used allowing such populations to be assessed for their degree of genetic variability. Molecular markers such as microsatellite DNA are widely applied to genetic diversity studies. However, due to the high costs required for their development, several studies have been focused on the use of microsatellites transferred from closely related taxa with much success in studies on the genetic characterization of species and their populations. Therefore, this review aimed to evaluate the most relevant ecological and behavioral aspects in order to assist the population genetic studies of the stingless bee M. subnitida.(AU)

Screening and application of SSR primers in plants of Clerodendrum L / 中草药

Objective: In order to obtain SSR primers which has good universality among the main tree species of Clerodendrum L., and then molecular screening of DNA fingerprints was used in closely related species and genetic research of these ethnical medicinal resources. Methods: An experiment was conducted to study the transferability of 19 pairs of SSR primers developed from C. izuinsulare and C. trichotomum and amplified in nine samples from nine species of Clerodendrum L. Results: Seventeen pairs of 19 primers had the amplification products in C. cyrtophyllum, a cosmopolitan species, the transferability ratio was the highest (89.5%). Seven pairs of primers were successfully amplified in all samples of Clerodendrum L. species, and the transferability ratio was 36.8%. Six pairs of polymorphism SSR primers were used to construct the DNA fingerprints of nine Clerodendrum L. species. In the primers, the CI140 identified seven Clerodendrum L. species except C. fortunatum and C. lindleyi. Coupled with CI132, CT042, CI107, or CI143, they identified all of the nine Clerodendrum L. species. Then, the genetic distances were used to generate a UPGMA tree. The results showed that C. fortunatum, belonging to Ser. Axilliflorae schauer, formed a cluster, and C. mandarinorum and C. cyrtophyllum formed another cluster, while the clusters of the others were difference from the shape classifications. Conclusion: The experiment proves a good way to develop Clerodendrum L. SSR primers from other related species. This study provides the important reference for the use of molecular markers of Clerodendrum L.

Cross-species amplification of microsatellite loci developed for Passiflora edulis Sims. in related Passiflora Species

The aim of this study was to evaluate the selected 41 SSR markers developed for yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Sims.) for their transferability to 11 different Passiflora species. Twenty-one SSR were successfully amplified in 10 wild species of passion fruit producing 101 bands. All the markers were amplifiable for at least one species. The mean transferability was 68,8%, ranging from 15,4% (primer PE11) to 100 % (PE13, PE18, PE37, PE41 and PE88). Transferability was higher for the species from the Passiflora subgenus than for those from the Decaloba and Dysosmia subgenus. The results indicated a high level of nucleotide sequence conservation of the primer regions in the species evaluated, and consequently, they could potentially be used for the establishment of molecular strategies for use in passion fruit breeding and genetics.

Adaptación a Colombia y Venezuela del modelo económico dasatinib primera línea del York Health Economics Consortium para el tratamiento de la leucemia mieloide crónica / Adaptation to Colombia and Venezuela of the economic model Dasatinib first-line treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, developed by the York Health Economics Consortium

Objetivo: Basados en una evaluación económica de costo-efectividad del dasatinib primera línea en el tratamiento de la leucemia mieloide crónica (LMC) realizada por el Consorcio de York, y previo análisis de transferibilidad de datos, se realizó una adaptación de ésta a Colombia y Venezuela. Se compararon los costos y la relación de costo-efectividad del uso de la dosis de 100 mg/día de dasatinib versus 400 mg/día de imatinib y 600 mg/día de nilotinib para cada fase de la enfermedad, como tratamientos de primera línea, con incrementos a 140 mg/día de dasatinib, 800 mg/día de imatinib y 800 mg/día de nilotinib en una segunda línea de tratamiento. Métodos: El modelo original consideró aquellos pacientes con diagnóstico de LMC que no hubieran recibido tratamiento previo. Para realizar la adaptación de la evaluación económica se asumieron las probabilidades de cambio, para lo cual se consideraron tres fases, crónica, acelerada y muerte, a lo largo de toda la vida y con una tasa de descuento del 3,5 por ciento para los costos y beneficios. Los resultados del modelo incluyeron los costos de cada alternativa de tratamiento con dasatinib, nilotinib o imatinib y los años de vida ajustados a calidad ganada. Los costos se expresan en pesos colombianos y bolívares fuertes del año 2011. Resultados: El dasatinib produjo la mayor cantidad de años de vida ajustados a calidad, tanto para Colombia como para Venezuela con 10,67 y 10,53 QALYs respectivamente, en comparación con 10,10 y 9,97 QALYs en cada caso para el imatinib y 10,50 y 10,36 QALYs para el nilotinib. Los costos esperados por QALY en Colombia fueron de $ 108.174.020 para el dasatinib, $ 80.826.556 para el imatinib y $ 134.747.281 para el nilotinib. En Venezuela fueron de BsF 222.970 para el dasatinib, BsF 213.142 para el imatinib y BsF 269.193 para el nilotinib. El dasatinib fue dominante sobre el nilotinib en ambos países. Conclusiones: El dasatinib fue más efectivo...

Objective: To adapt an economic model of frontline dasatinib treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia developed by the York Consortium to the health care settings in Colombia and Venezuela. Methods: The original model considered treatment of naïve patients with CML and a Markov's model with probabilities of change between chronic, accelerated phases and death, over a patient’s lifetime. The applied discount rate is 3.5 percent for both costs and benefits. Direct medical and treatment costs, and mortality rates were taken from the local published data and WHO life tables. Costs are expressed in 2011 Colombian pesos and Venezuelan strong bolivars. Results: Dasatinib 100 mg/day as frontline treatment for CML produced the greatest number of QALYs, both in Colombia and Venezuela with 10.67 and 10.53 QALYs respectively, compared with 10.10 and 9.97 QALYs for imatinib and 10.50 and 10.36 QALYs for nilotinib. The expected cost per QALY in Colombia was $ 108.174.020 for dasatinib, $ 80.826.556 for imatinib and $ 134.747.281 for nilotinib. The expected cost per QALY in Venezuela was BsF 222.970 for dasatinib, BsF 213.142 for imatinib and BsF 269.193 for nilotinib. Dasatinib was dominant to nilotinib in both countries. Conclusions: In the frontline treatment for CML in Colombia and Venezuela, dasatinib had greater QALYs than both imatinib and nilotinib, and demonstrated cost-effectiveness relative to nilotinib. There was an increase in overall costs, due to the increase in life years gained and thus a greater use of overall health care resources.

Use of EST database markers from M. truncatula in the transferability to other forage legumes.

In general tropical forage legumes lack microsatellites or simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Development of genic SSR markers from expressed sequence tagged (EST) database is an alternate and efficient approach to generate the standard DNA markers for genome analysis of such crop species. In the present paper a total of 816 EST-SSRs containing perfect repeats of mono (33.5%), di (14.7%), tri (39.3%), tetra (2.7%), penta (0.7%) and hexa (0.4%) nucleotides were identified from 1,87,763 ESTs of Medicago truncatula. Along with, 70 (8.5%) SSRs of a compound type were also observed. Seven primer pairs of tri repeats were tested for cross transferability in 19 accessions of forage legumes comprising 11 genera. At two different annealing temperatures (55 and 60oC) all primer pairs except AJ410087 reacted with many accessions of forage legumes. A total of 51 alleles were detected with six M. truncatula EST-SSRs primer-pairs against DNA from 19 accessions representing 11 genera where number of alleles ranged from 2 to 13. The cross-transferability of these EST-SSRs was 40.6% at 55oC and 32.3% at 60oC annealing temperature. 24 alleles of the total 50 (48%) at 55oC and 27 of 51 (53%) at 60oC were polymorphic among the accessions. These 27 polymorphic amplicons identified could be used as DNA markers. This study demonstrates the developed SSR markers from M. truncatula ESTs as a valuable genetic markers and also proposes the possibility of transferring these markers between species of different genera of the legumes of forage importance. It was evident from the results obtained with a set of Desmanthus virgatus accessions where Sequential Agglomerative Hierarchical and Nested (SAHN) cluster analysis based on Dice similarity and Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean Algorithm (UPGMA) revealed significant variability (24 to 74%) among the accessions. High bootstrap values (>30) supported the nodes generated by dendrogram analysis of accessions.

Informative microsatellites for genetic population studies of black-faced lion tamarins (Leontopithecus caissara)

Leontopithecus caissara is a critically endangered primate species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Nineteen microsatellite loci, previously developed for congeneric species, were tested with 34 L. caissara individuals from Superagüi Island. Of the 19 loci, 17 (89.4 percent) produced robust alleles, nine (47.4 percent) of these proved to be polymorphic, with a total of 23 alleles and an average of 2.56 alleles per locus. Expected and observed heterozygosity averaged 0.483 and 0.561, respectively. The exclusion power for identifying the first parent of an arbitrary offspring was 0.315 over all loci. The results thus indicate both the usefulness and limitations of these nine microsatellite loci in the genetic analysis of L. caissara, as well as their potentiality for genetic investigation in other congeneric species.

Costo efectividad del dasatinib en el tratamiento de la leucemia mieloidecrónica en pacientes resistentes alimatinib / Cost-effectiveness of dasatinib in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia patients resistant to imatinib

Objetivo: con base en una evaluación económica realizada previamente, se realizó una adaptación de ésta a Venezuela y Colombia, previo análisis de transferibilidad de datos.Mediante esta adaptación se compararon los costos y la relación de costo-efectividad deluso de la dosis de 100 mg/día y 140 mg/día de dasatinib, el uso de 800 mg/día de nilotinib y eluso de una dosis mayor de imatinib (800mg/día), para cada fase de la enfermedad, en pacientes que desarrollaron resistencia a la dosis habitual de imatinib.Métodos: para realizar la adaptación de la evaluación económica, se asumieron las probabilidades decambio de acuerdo al modelo de Markov, donde se consideró una cohorte de 10 000 pacientes con LMCen sus tres fases (crónica, acelerada y blástica) a lo largo de toda la vida y con una tasa de descuento del 3,5 % para los costos y beneficios. Los resultados delmodelo incluyeron los costos de cada alternativa de tratamientocon dasatinib, nilotinib o imatinib y los años devida ajustados a calidad ganados. Los costos se expresanen pesos colombianos y bolívares fuertes del año 2009.Resultados: en la fase crónica de la enfermedad, dasatinib100 mg/día produjo la mayor cantidad de añosde vida ajustados a calidad, tanto para Colombia comopara Venezuela (6,88 y 6,54, respectivamente) y la menorrelación de costo-efectividad. En la fase acelerada,dasatinib 140 mg/día también mostró la menor relaciónde costo-efectividad en comparación con imatinib ynilotinib. En la fase blástica, dasatinib mostró menorrelación de costo-efectividad que imatinib. Conclusiones: el dasatinib a dosis de 100 mg/día y 140mg/día mostraron los índices más bajos de costo-efectividad que en las dosis de 800 mg/día de nilotinib para el tratamiento de pacientes con resistencia a la dosis habitual de imatinib en la fase crónica de la LMC, así como en la acelerada y la blástica. Aunque hubo un aumento de los costos en general, especialmente debido al costo de dasatinib.

Objective: Based on a previously performedeconomic evaluation, we adapted a Cost-effectivenessmodel for Venezuela and Colombia, aftera data transferability analysis. We comparedthe costs and cost-effectiveness ratio of using100mg/day and 140 mg/day doses of Dasatinibversus 800 mg/day doses of Nilotinib or an increaseddose of Imatinib (800mg/day), for eachphase of the disease, in patients who developedresistance to habitual doses of Imatinib.Methods: To adapt the economic evaluation, weassumed the transition probabilities based on theMarkov model used for this economic evaluation,which considered a cohort of 10.000 CML patientsin its three phases (chronic, accelerated or blast phase), a lifetime horizon and a 3.5 % discountrate for costs and benefits. Model resultsincluded the costs of each treatment alternativewith Dasatinib, Nilotinib or Imatinib, and the QualityAdjusted Life Years (QALYs) gained. Costs weremeasured in Colombian pesos and Bolivares Fuertes(BsF) of year 2009.Results: In the chronic phase of the disease, dasatinib100 mg/day yielded the highest amount of QALYs both for Colombia and Venezuela (6,88 and6,54 respectively) and the lowest cost-effectivenessratio. In the accelerated phase, Dasatinib 140mg/day also showed the lowest cost-effectivenesscompared to Nilotinib and Imatinib. In the blastphase, dasatinib showed lower cost-effectivenessratio than imatinib.Conclusions: Dasatinib 100 mg/day and 140 mg/day showed the lowest cost-effectiveness ratiosthan doses of 800 mg/day of Nilotinib for thetreatment of patients with CML resistant to usualimatinib doses in the chronic phase, as well as inthe accelerated and blast phases. Although there was an overall cost increase, especially due to thecost of Dasatinib in 140 mg/day doses, this factwas explained by the increase in years of life gainedand, consequently, the use of medical resourcesand drugs in the timeline of treatment.

Evaluaciones económicas en el proceso de toma de decisiones en salud: El caso de Inglaterra / Economic evaluation in the health care decision making process: The case of England

Economic evaluation plays an increasingly important role in the health decision making process. Many countries, mainly developed ones, have incorporated these kinds of methodologies in their priority setting processes. The creation of NICE in England is one of the clearer examples of how economic evaluations can be incorpo-rated in a systematic, structured and explicit way, having a strong influence on what is or what is not finally funding by the National health Service (NHS).Although in Latin America the development and use of economic evaluations is neither massive nor systematic, there have been significant advances in recent years. Examples of this are the cases of Mexico and Chile. These two countries have incorporated economic criteria in the priority setting process and the selection of interventions in the context of their health reforms. Alternatives to go further in the incorporation of these kinds of approaches in Latin American countries are the generalizability and transferability. Even though these options must be considered with caution, they allow to apply in different settings the results of studies developed in specific settings.

Las evaluaciones económicas juegan un rol cada vez más importante en el proceso de toma de decisiones en salud, muchos países, especialmente países desarrollados, han incorporado este tipo de metodologías en sus procesos de priorización. La creación del NICE en Inglaterra es uno de los ejemplos más ilustrativos de cómo las evaluaciones económicas pueden ser incorporadas de manera sistemática, estructurada y explicita, teniendo finalmente una fuerte injerencia en lo que resulta o no financiado por el Servicio Nacional de Salud (NHS). Si bien en América Latina el desarrollo y uso de las evaluaciones económicas no es aún masivo ni sistemático, en los últimos años se ha avanzado en su incorporación. Un ejemplo de esto son los casos de México y Chile y la inclusión de criterios económicos en el proceso de priorización y selección de las intervenciones en el contexto de la reforma de salud. Una alternativa para avanzar en la incorporación de dichas evaluaciones en países latinoamericanos, que debe ser considerada con precaución, está dada por la generalización y transferibilidad, que permite de estudios realizados en contextos específicos, puedan ser aplicados a realidades distintas.

Comparative study on the use of specific and heterologous microsatellite primers in the stingless bees Melipona rufiventris and M. mondury (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Due to their high degree of polymorphism, microsatellites are considered useful tools for studying population genetics. Nevertheless, studies of genetic diversity in stingless bees by means of these primers have revealed a low level of polymorphism, possibly the consequence of the heterologous primers used, since in most cases these were not specifically designed for the species under consideration. Herein we compared the number of polymorphic loci and alleles per locus, as well as observed heterozygosity in Melipona rufiventris and M. mondury populations, using specific and heterologous primers. The use of specific primers placed in evidence the greater frequency of polymorphic loci and alleles per locus, besides an expressive increase in observed heterozygosity in M. rufiventris and M. mondury, thereby reinforcing the idea that populational studies should be undertaken by preferably using species-specific microsatellite primers.

Genetic characterization of 12 heterologous microsatellite markers for the giant tropical tree Cariniana legalis (Lecythidaceae)

Twelve microsatellite loci previously developed in the tropical tree Cariniana estrellensis were genetically characterized in Cariniana legalis. Polymorphisms were assessed in 28 C. legalis individuals found between the Pardo and Mogi-Guaçu River basins in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Of the 12 loci, 10 were polymorphic and exhibited Mendelian inheritance. The allelic richness at each locus ranged from 2-11, with an average of 7 alleles per locus, and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.07-0.88. These loci showed a high probability of paternity exclusion. The characteristics of these heterologous microsatellite markers indicate that they are suitable tools for investigating questions concerning population genetics in C. legalis.

Transferability of microsatellite loci from Cervidae species to the endangered Brazilian marsh deer, Blastocerus dichotomus

Blastocerus dichotomus, the marsh deer, is the largest Brazilian Cervidae species. The species is endangered because of hunting and loss of its natural habitat, i.e., flood plain areas, because of hydroelectric power station construction and agricultural land expansion. In the present study, we tested 38 microsatellite loci from four Cervidae species: Odocoileus virginianus (7), Rangifer tarandus (17), Capreolus capreolus (7), and Mazama bororo (7). Eleven loci showed clear amplification, opening a new perspective for the generation of fundamental population genetic data for devising conservation strategies for B. dichotomus.